Black Sabre
It is two years since the events of Untouchable. Alpha Force has been transformed from an espionage and recon team into a Black Unit, trained to carry out devastating strikes against terrorists and international criminal groups. If they get caught, they are on their own. However, catching five people with their skill set is never easy, and they have never been even noticed by police on an operation. They have one rule above all: help those in need.
Closing Statement
2003, Anchorage, Alaska
"We, the members of the jury, find Daniel Usher to be guilty of all charges." The foreman stated, rising to his feet to deliver their verdict.
"So noted. Daniel Usher, You are hereby found guilty as charged. You are sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Take him down."
As he was marched out of the box, Usher half turned and spat towards a girl sitting in the public gallery. She had been one of the key witnesses in the prosecution's case, and had swung the balance firmly against Usher by withstanding all attempts by his $10,000 per hour barrister to convince the jury he was guiltless. Amber just smiled back at him, and then turned to leave the room. As he was frogmarched towards the waiting prison van, his head forced down, the officers could hear his dire threats of vengeance.
2007, Arizona
As she stepped out of the air-conditioned luxury of her family and corporate jet, Amber began to sweat in the heat. As she walked the short distance to the terminal building, the pressure of the sun seemed to be burning a hole between her shoulder blades.
In comparison to the tarmac, the arrivals lounge was cool, dark, and comfortable. After being handed her baggage by a strangely nervous attendant, she began heading for the pick-up zone, where a corporate SUV was waiting to take her to a presentation she was giving to a business federation.
When she noticed that the customs gate was unmanned, despite her flight having arrived from Europe, she reached inside her dress and drew a Lilliput .25 pistol. Even as she was flicking off the safety, however, a report sounded from behind an advert for the local water park. She tried to roll clear, but before she could do so, a XREP shotgun round stuck her in the stomach, doubling her over, before sending a massive 500v shock through her body. As the thugs rushed from cover, one of them took possession of her pistol, while another two pushed her face down, secured her hands behind her back with hinged cuffs, then gagged and hooded her. As they, marched her away, their hands under her arms, she kicked out, aiming for the man she could hear in front of her.
He had no warning as a narrow, steel-capped shoe smashed into his left kidney, causing him to crash to the floor in agony.
As she stuck, her to guides thrust her to the floor, taking no care whether she was hurt or not, then once she was on the ground, they blasted her in the small of the back with a Taser, hurling her into a sea of black unconsciousness.
On a small rise overlooking the airport, three ghillie suited figures observed the take.
"Looks like she got one of them." The largest commented
Another simply stated "hook, line and sinker"
When she came to, Amber was in the boot of a car, which, from the vibrations, seemed to be hammering across an open area of tarmac, occasionally moving from side to side. Her knees and ankles were bound together with Velcro straps, making a repeat of her attack at the airport far more challenging.
An hour late, Hex, driving a hired SUV drove up the front entrance of the same airport Amber had been taken from, seemingly expecting an irate welcome. As he enquired as to where she was, two masked men walked up behind him, carrying assault rifles. One of them deliberately recocked his rifle, and he spun round to find two silenced M4 rifles aimed at his head. He surrendered without a fight.
After what felt like several weeks, the vehicle, without any apparent reason, began to decelerate until coming to a virtual crawl. It then crawled along for what seemed like hours to Amber, before coming to a complete stop. As soon as the vehicle had stopped, she heard the sound of a woman asking the driver what was in the boot. The reply was indistinct, but after she heard the questioner laugh, she guessed he had told her something irrelevant. As the vehicle moved off, she attempted the kick the side of the boot to attract attention, but her legs were too secure for her to strike with any force.
After another indeterminable period of travel, Amber felt the vehicles motion change, from a simple vibration of it moving along the road, to bouncing about on a poorly made track, before coming to a halt on a gravel surface.
When the boot was opened, she felt a wave of hot air enter the boot, making her securely trussed body begin to sweat all over. A powerful hand grasped each of her arms, and she was half carried, half dragged, into a cooler place she guessed must be a building, before being dumped onto the floor. Her gag was ripped off and then she heard a door slam, the sound of a bolt being driven home, and then silence.
To Amber, it seemed several days passed before the door was opened and someone walked into her cell. After a few seconds, a heavy bundle was dropped to the ground, eliciting a grunt, and the door was closed and relocked. "Amber," she heard from the darkness, "what the fuck are we doing in here."
"Hex?" she asked, sounding surprised he was here too.
"You remember I was coming to collect you from the airport."
"Yeah?"
"They grabbed me too."
After it grew cooler, a sound at the door indicated someone entering the cell. As the two captives lay there, he walked over to amber, before running a strip of cold metal across her throat. She barely dared to breathe as the man stalked around the cell, before speaking.
"Amber Middleton. How good it is to see you again. I won't ask you to get up."
It was the voice of a man she knew all too well. The last time she had heard it, he had been threatening her life in a courtroom. How Usher had got free, she had no idea. "Don't worry, Amber. After all, you will be joining your parents soon," the voice continued. "This peace of limey vermin will be joining you there," he said, kicking Hex in the gut. "However, you owe me four years of my life first."
"You got what you deserved, Usher," she spat back at him. "That prison is where you belong."
"I was found innocent when I appealed. It cost me 10 million dollars to get that result. Some judges like the finer things in life."
"It was the medicine for your illness, you murdering bastard."
"When I talked with the judge, it was decided you have been hallucinating because of a hypoglycaemic fit, and the man you thought to be me was my mine manager."
"You piece of cowardly shit." She screeched
"Sadly, I can't leave you to die of that anymore. Still, we have a large desert, and you have a history of high risk sports in this sort of terrain. We have located your final resting place, and will, in six months, find both your bodies, only identifiable by jewellery, and return them to you families."
"This is insane. I told what I believed to be the truth."
"Goodbye, Miss Middleton. I hope you have a pleasant demise." He told her, as he stalked out.
The next morning, they were loaded into the back of an ATV and driven to a cluster of rocks in the desert. Once there, the two captives were dumped off the back of the vehicle then heard it drive off. That had been the one factor beyond their control.
After it had grown too dark to see more than a few yards, they heard a rustle, followed by a thud, then a volley of blue language. The fact the curses were in a northern accent confirmed the species, gender and name. Alex, the de facto leader of alpha force, had found hook and sinker, as the two had been codenamed for the exercise.
After simply checking they were both alive, he tapped them both on their left shoulder, and they simply got up, their bonds in a neat heap.
After passing them their rifles, body armour, and balaclavas, Alex led them back to the rented unimog, and they went to complete their mission.
The first thing the two armed sentries knew about Li was when she attacked them from behind, her carbon fibre katana cutting through both men's necks in one stroke. The only sound from the attack was two bodies striking the ground.
Even as they two guards were falling, Paulo and Alex were throwing grenades through the windows of the two accommodation blocks, causing them to blow out, before taking up firing positions near the doors.
When the grenades blew, Amber squeezed the trigger in her hand, blowing the doors to Usher's million dollar bunker from its hinges, and then stormed inside.
The charge had been linked by det cord to a second charge, which destroyed the latch on the garage door, trapping Usher when he tried to escape that way. As he turned round, he became aware of a red light, and when he realised what it was, he felt his bowels loosen in terror. Then, Amber shot him, clinically, putting two rounds between his eyes in the time it took them to widen.
When the sun rose over the compound, it was deserted, except for a desert fox, sniffing a decapitated head. As the local sheriff raced to discover the cause of the smoke pall hanging over the area, he found no survivors.
Unbeknownst to him, justice had been meted out that night. This time, there would be no appeals process, just a coffin in the local cemetery for Daniel Usher.