Always prepared, Sam slipped on a backpack that held a first-aid kit, a water bottle, and some granola bars. She led the way, the others following in a single file.

Just then a golf cart roared around the corner, Alpha sitting at attention next to the driver. Sam and her team pulled up short. Havapopulas stopped on a dime. “Going hiking?” he asked pleasantly.

Sam stared into the silvery eyes and nodded. She didn’t know if she was seeing respect or suspicion.

“Okay. Don’t go too far, or I’ll have to send Alpha to fetch you back. Don’t get too tired, tomorrow you start your training. By the way, lights out at nine sharp. Reveille is at four.”

Kayla gasped. “Four in the morning!”

Alpha barked sharply as Havapopulas moved the cart forward. He didn’t bother to respond. Alpha barked a second time.

Team Three started off. “What’s the difference between woods and a forest?” Olivia asked.

“Density, underbrush, the terrain, or the grade would be my guess. I was never a Boy Scout or the outdoor type,” Hawkins said.

Sam thought his voice sounded defensive. She whacked at the underbrush with a broken limb she’d picked up when they’d started out. “Don’t touch the vines. Some of it is poison ivy and sumac. That stuff,” she said, pointing to a tree on her right, “is Virginia creeper.”

Sam noticed that Hawkins was more or less partnered with Slick. She was definitely going to have a talk with Slick later on.

As she hacked and whacked, Sam thought about the dark-haired man who would be calling the shots for a whole year. Who was Kollar Havapopulas? More to the point, what was he? He had a military bearing. Did that mean he was ex-military? Was he some kind of spook in his own right? Spook was a name given to CIA operatives, like fibby was the name given to FBI agents. He had to be someone with an impressive background to be in charge of an operation like Big Pine Mountain’s.