It was dark. The twins had been taken into the campus dojo and made to do ninety minutes’ sparring against tough eighteen-year-olds. Then they got canned meat, biscuits and orange juice for dinner, followed by another march with the heavy packs, this time taking them through waist-deep drainage channels at the back of campus.

‘Accommodation,’ Capstick shouted, as he grabbed a battered army tent off the muddy ground and hurled it at just the right angle to knock both boys off balance. ‘Build it, sleep in it. Instructor Smoke will be up super early for your first morning drill session.’

Daniel picked up the tent and squelched a few paces.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Capstick roared.

Daniel pointed towards some trees where the ground was drier. ‘I’ll pitch it over there.’

‘Here’s good,’ the instructor teased, sloshing his boot through mud to make his point. ‘Crack on!’

The tent was a pop-up type. The twins had used them in basic training and had no bother unfurling and driving anchor pins into the mud. Capstick had vanished by the time they got to the tricky business of getting inside without filling the tent with liquid mud. There were also sleeping bags, which smelled like previous occupants had spent a lot of time in them.

The tent floor was keeping out the water, but it was squelchy and freezing as the twins huddled up, catching sounds wafting across campus.

‘Sounds like the demolition party’s in full swing,’ Leon said, keeping it to a whisper in case there was a training instructor lurking outside with some extra torment. ‘I’d kill for a cold Sprite and a plate of party food right now.’

‘This is tougher than basic training,’ Daniel whispered.

‘I reckon it’ll get easier,’ Leon said.

‘We’ll get used to it?’

Leon shook his head. ‘Capstick and Smoke are being extra tough to try and scare us. But think about it, we’re trained agents. We’ve both got our navy shirts. They want us to get punished, but do you really think they want to lose us?’

‘I still don’t regret what we did,’ Daniel said, squelching as he tried to get comfortable.

‘Not for one millisecond,’ Leon agreed.

‘And you’re probably right. They can’t keep working us this—’ Daniel stopped talking as his brother yelped. ‘You OK?’

‘There’s a rock under the ground sheet and it just dug the spot where I took a hit in the dojo.’

‘I don’t care how uncomfortable this is,’ Daniel said. ‘I am gonna sleep so hard!’

Before Leon could respond, they heard boots splashing in the mud.

‘He’s back!’ Leon said, sitting bolt upright.

Daniel rolled over and reached out to open the tent flap and take a look, but someone unzipped from outside first. There was a flash of torchlight through the flap, followed by the nozzle of a high pressure fire hose.