Just thought I'd let everyone know: I did attempt research for this fic and my next one (MI5 etc) but it did my head in. I got a bit confused with "agents" and "officers" and loads of other stuff. Apologies if some things aren't right in this fic or details are hazy but I did attempt the research. I was unsure as to what Paulo and Hex's last names were so I have made them up. Just to let everyone know, this story will not just be all action, mission, excitement. There may be a few trivial little "extra storylines" running through the entire thing. I'm really working on my writing for this fic and trying to set it out like an actual book-book. If you're confused, don't worry as it isn't really important.

Alex had never felt more nervous in his life. He twitched and jumped his leg up and down, making a gentle thump on the floor. A hand on his arm made him stop.

'Alex, mate. Relax.' Hex's face was serious, but his green eyes twinkled, betraying his own excitement.

'I know,' sighed Alex. 'But it's just so...'

'Awesome?' Anglo-Chinese Li peeped around Hex's shoulder, her head tilted on one side.

'Freaky was the word I would use, Li.' Ebony skinned Amber, sitting across from Hex, raised an eyebrow, her American accent sounding loud in the relative quiet of the corridor.

Paulo, perched on a chair beside Amber, waved his hand in the air. 'I vote awesome,' he grinned. 'Just think, in a few moments we could-'

'Sorry to keep you all waiting.' Tanya Henderson, a pale skinned young women with flaming red head, appeared in the doorway a metre or so from where Alpha Force sat. 'He'll see you now.'

Alpha Force slowly stood and shuffled towards the office, glancing anxiously at each other. Once inside the spacious office, their nervousness increased.

'Don't look so worried,' a voice chuckled. 'Take a seat.' A 40-something man sat behind his desk, smiling a welcome at the five newcomers and pointing to several chairs in front of where he sat.

'Do you mind if I go?' Tanya asked. 'Or do you need me for anything?'

'No, no. You can go. Last time I checked you were severely behind on your paperwork.' The man tried to look stern as Tanya grinned, making a hasty exit from the office.

'But it's so boring,' Tanya whinged, her voice muffled by the door.

'I can hear you, Tanya!' The man shook his head and turned back to Alpha Force. 'Right. Amber, Li, Paulo, Hex and Alex. I'm delighted to meet you all. I'm Harry Field.' He reached over the desk and shook the five friends' hands. 'But enough chatter. You're probably itching to find out what I have in store for you.' Harry reached into a draw under his desk and pulled out a Manilla folder. 'It's probably best if you read it for yourselves. You all did excellently in training and have been shut up in here for months. After what John Middleton has told me about you five as well, I felt that you are all more than capable of going on your first mission.' He handed a sheet of paper to each member of Alpha Force. They eagerly took them and began to read.

Mission Briefing

Amber Middleton, Li Cheong, Alex Craig, Hex Smith, Paulo Varela

Information Contained In This Briefing Is Classified

Equal Rightsis a radical extremist group based in Bournemouth. They are against cruelty to anything or anyone in any form. Animal, environmental and human rights supporters, Equal Rights has been responsible for a number of violent protest stunts in recent years (see section titled past and present) and believe that their way is the only way.

Alva Silva is the leader of Equal Rights. At 43 years of age, she has been arrested numerous times, all in relation to acts brought about through Equal Rights. It is believed that she is paying various high ranking police officials as she has never been convicted and any evidence proving she was responsible will always disappear.

Greta (18), Theodore (25) and Lilia (23) Silva are Alva's three children. They are all active members of Equal Rights. Greta has one daughter, Heidi Silva (2) and is expecting her second children in November. Theodore is married to Tricia Parks (24) who is also involved in Equal Rights.

Past and present events that Equal Rights have been involved in number many. Various protest marches in front of laboratories that test on animals have been held, the majority getting out of hand. A fire in a warehouse that supplied one of these laboratories was reported last year, however no charges were made, despite the fact that Equal Rights claimed responsibility for the arson attack.

Robert Hilders (63), Gerald First (58) and Iola Martin (35) have all been murdered during the past month. Although no one has claimed to be responsible, it is believed that Equal Rights is the organisation that carried out the murders. The three deceased were all part of One Way Forward, a committee working on a development in the Middle East that would force hundreds of poverty-stricken villagers from their homes, leaving them with nothing. One Way Forward argued that the villagers would not be evicted from their homes, but Equal Rights discovered that the development would cause potentially fatal harm to anyone left in the area. Several endangered or threatened species of animals would also suffer as would the environment. Petitions and peaceful protests got them nowhere and it is believed that Equal Rights took the next, drastic step and killed the three high ranking committee members as a warning to One Way Forward. The development is still going ahead and the committee members fear for their safety. Already a number of them have resigned. It is believed that the three deceased were blown up in their own homes, though how this was achieved is uncertain.

The five officers on this mission will be required to infiltrate Equal Rights, befriend the Silvas and find out as much as possible about the organisation's involvement in the murders of the three committee members and what plans Equal Rights has for the future, especially concerning One Way Forward.

For the duration of this mission, the five officers will pose as friends who have met through various environmental, human and animal rights protest events. They will assume the following identities (see separate booklets for more detailed information);

Amber Middleton: Amber Henry. Came to live in London from Boston three years ago and moved to Bournemouth one year ago. Involved in extensive activist work for animal, environmental and human rights. Parents both environmental activists.

Li Cheong: Li Yang. Animal rights activist. Born and raised in London but travelled extensively. Started residing permanently in Bournemouth six months ago. Became interested in animal rights after seeing cruelty cases in China and Korea.

Alex Craig: Alex Hood. Human and animal rights activist. Met Hex Johnson in young offender's institution and convinced him to join in with activist work. He has lived in Bournemouth for two years. Served time when 15 years of age for robbery.

Hex Smith: Hex Johnson. Served time in a young offender's institution for breaking and entering when 15 years of age. Involved in activist work after meeting Alex Hood. Moved to Bournemouth four months ago.

Paulo Varela: Paulo Ortiz. Moved from Argentina to London two years ago and to Bournemouth from London eight months ago. Environmental activist with an interest in animal rights.

'So?' Harry asked. 'Do you all think that you can handle it?'

Alpha Force nodded eagerly.

'Definitely,' Amber said for them all.

'I'm a bit short on senior officers at the moment; half of them are helping MI6 with an overseas investigation.' Harry took the papers back and slotted them into the Manilla folder before tucking it back into his drawer. 'As I said before, John told me a lot about you five and the work you've all done over the past few years. He said that you're perfectly capable of dealing with bad situations and you work well as a team. Normally I would only put a few officers on a case like this but it's your first mission and you seem to work better as a group.' He smiled at his five officers. 'So do you want to give it a go?'

'Sure thing,' Alex nodded. 'We'll do our best.'

'Excellent!' Standing up, Harry beamed. 'You've got two weeks to memorise everything about your new identities. We'd get you all in there sooner, but you'll need time to work on your IDs and there's a big protest rally on the...' He flicked through a notebook on his desk. '13th of August. I'll see you at the end of the week to check up on your progress.'


'What young offender's institution did you serve time in and for how long?' Amber was sitting sideways on a ripped armchair, her legs draped over the armrest. She drummed her fingers on her leg.

'Feltham, West London. 90 days. Alex was in for 30 days.' Hex smirked and pointed a finger at Amber. 'It's right. I know it is.'

Sighing, Amber flung the booklet at Hex. It was the day before they would leave to start their mission. The week before they had returned to Harry Field's office and impressed him with their memory skills. Now, with rain pouring down outside, Amber was making sure Hex had learnt everything possible about his new identity.

'Glad to hear it,' Amber said, getting up from the chair with difficulty. 'I'd hate it if I ended up dead because you couldn't remember some small, trivial detail about yourself.' She stretched and started walking towards the living room door, towards the hallway and the kitchen beyond it. 'I hear a pizza and it's calling my name.'

'It's probably swearing at you,' remarked Hex as he trailed after Amber.

Pulling open the freezer door, Amber pulled a frozen pizza out and chucked it into the microwave, jamming the dial around and slamming the door shut.

'Prepared with love,' Hex snorted.

'You wish.' Amber hunted around in the cupboard for plates and, failing to find any, ended up grabbing two pieces of paper towel off a roll on the kitchen bench. She dropped the paper towel onto the table and glanced about her with her hands planted on her hips.

'What?' Hex asked suspiciously.

'Do you actually have anything to eat off or drink from?'

'Um...' Frowning, Hex wandered about his tiny kitchen, pulling open various cupboards and drawers. After a few minutes searching he returned to the table and sat in one of the chairs. It creaked ominously as it took his weight and Hex looked at it in alarm.

'I take it that's a no,' sighed Amber. She pulled a bottle of soda from the fridge and put it in the centre of the table. 'You'll have to put up with my germs then.'

The microwave pinged, announcing that the pizza was ready and would love to be eaten. Amber eagerly jabbed at the button and pulled the pizza out. 'Ah! Hot!' She flicked the pizza onto a piece of paper towel and sucked her fingers, gagging at the taste of the sticky dough that had also attached itself to her hand. 'Burning!'

'You ok?' Hex asked, grabbing a relatively clean knife from the drawer and hacking into the pizza.

'Fine.' As Amber went across to the sink to run her fingers under the cold water, her mobile vibrated in her jeans pocket a second before it began to ring. 'Crap.' She glanced around at Hex as she tried to peel the dough from her fingers. 'Can you grab that?'

Hex raised his eyebrows but walked across to Amber and pulled the phone out of her pocket, glad she was wearing baggy jeans. 'Hello?'

'Hex? Is that you?' The voice sounded tinny through the phone but there was no mistaking the Geordie accent.

'Yeah, Alex. It's me.'

'Harry just rang. He wants us to go and meet him now for a final briefing. Bring any clothes and other bits you'll need for the mission as we'll be leaving for Bournemouth straight after.'

'What? Why?' Hex sat down on the plastic chair again, wincing as his knee cracked against the table leg.

'We're meant to live there so it'll look better if we go to the event from where we'll be staying. Got it?'

'Yep. I'll tell Amber. Um... We might be a little while though because we're at my flat and Amber will have to go back home to pick up her stuff.' In the kitchen, Amber had her head pressed next toHex's trying to hear the conversation.

'Give me the phone,' she whined.

Hex pushed her head away and stood up. 'We'll be there in about half an hour, 45 minutes. See ya.' He flipped the phone shut and handed it back to Amber.

'What's that about having to get my stuff?'

'We're leaving for Bournemouth after a final briefing with Harry. I'll go grab my stuff and then I can drive you over to your flat.' Hex was already leaving the room, trying to remember where the list of things he had to take was.

'Need help?' Amber called.

'No.' Muffled by three walls, Amber had to strain to hear Hex's voice.

'I'll clean up then.' Amber regarded the pizza with distaste, not having forgiven it for burning her. Who knew how long they would be on this mission for and she doubted that Hex would want to come home to a mouldy pizza. Sliding four pieces into a takeaway container, she dumped the other half of the pizza in the rubbish. After knotting the rubbish bag, she walked to the front door, carrying the bag and the container.

'Ready?' Hex was already standing by the door, coat on with his keys and bag in one hand.

'That was quick,' Amber said, blinking at him.

Hex shrugged. 'Don't need that much stuff. And,' he added, 'we have a deadline.'

'Is there a rubbish bin somewhere?' Holding up the black bin liner, Amber tapped her foot.

Handing Amber his bag and car keys, Hex took the rubbish off her. 'If you go put that in the car, I'll dump this is the bins round the back.' He walked out the door and turned left, heading towards a rickety staircase on the end of the walkway. 'Won't be long,' he called over his shoulder.

Amber went right, down a staircase and unlocked Hex's battered car. She chucked his suitcase in the back and slid into the passenger seat. Their mission would be starting in a matter of hours. Their first mission with MI5. Amber felt nervous but also excited; she didn't want to muck it up- lives could depend on their success or failure- but she was back doing what she loved, with the four people she loved most in the world. Things couldn't have been better.

There we go; chapter one. Hope everyone liked it. I am on my Easter break (only 10 days unfortunately) starting tomorrow afternoon so I may have another chapter up by the end of the week or earlier. The final chapter of A Haunting Truth is on its way and should be finished soon as well.