I do not own all of the characters.

Dan Brightworth was afraid of heights. Everyone knew that. He was divorced and had an 18-year-old daughter who lived with him. He had a pretty happy life and had no reason to commit suicide on himself.

Josh Warner couldn't understand why his best friend had fallen out of the glass window at his work. He didn't think it was an accident though.

He knew that his friend Dan was a scientist and lately had been working on a new project called the phoenix.

He also had a firm suspicion that M16 had a very big part in this. He got on the computer to check his email. 1 new message. Seeing that it was from Dan his heart beat quickened. He clicked on it. It read.

JOSH. IF SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO ME PLEASE FAX THIS EMAIL TO ALAN BLUNT THE HEAD OF M16. IF NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER.

THE PHOENIX IS READY HOWEVER IT WAS STOLEN BY THE SAME PERSON WHO KILLED ME.

DAN

Josh sat in shock reading the email in front of him. Dan had known he was going to be killed and not done anything about it? He hadn't told anyone?

He quickly emailed the message to Alan Blunt. A second later the phone rang. He picked it up. "Josh, this is Alan Blunt. Thank you for the message. Do you know anything else that might be useful?"

"No," said Josh. "Mariah, Dan's daughter was kidnapped," Blunt informed him with no emotion in his voice. "Will she be okay?" asked Josh in shock. "I hope so," said Alan Blunt with no emotion in his voice.

Alex got up and looked out the window of his hospital room. WHITE. The walls were white, the bed was white, he was wearing white, even on the floor there were white tiles. That's all he had seen for 6 weeks.

He wasn't allowed to have visitors so he hadn't had anyone to talk to except the nurses. He didn't know why. He felt fine besides the fact that 2 months ago he had been shot with a bullet and almost died.

He heard a knocking on the door. He went and opened the door. "Hello Alex," said Mrs. Jones who was from M16. He shut the door in her face.

2 minutes later she opened the door and came in. She obviously had gotten a key to the room. He glared up at her. "Alex, how are u feeling," she asked ignoring the fact that he was glaring at her.

"I got shot by a gun and you wait 2 months and then decide to visit and no doubt see if I want to go on another mission. "Alex, we need your help," she said. "I'm not helping you idiots," said Alex bluntly. "It's up to you," replied Mrs. Jones.

"But first let me tell you the situation," Alex shrugged and she took this as a sign to go on. "Alex, there was a girl who went to your school.

"Her name was Mariah, her father was killed and she was kidnapped, we need your help to find her." "She was a year older than you."

"Four other kids who were trained in the martial arts were sent by us to try and find her." "They were either killed or kidnapped as well."

"What!" said Alex. "You trained other kids to go on missions?" "You got them involved like me?" "How many of them did you have to blackmail before they agreed?" he asked his voice full of hatred.

"Alex, please settle down. "The lives of five children are in your hands. "What do I have to do," he asked sighing wearily.

"First you will go to be trained as you have been resting for 2 months." "You will stay there for ten days." "You will be training with other kids around your age." "If they ask what your mission is you will tell them nothing."

After that time you will go to America where we believe them to be hidden. Your name will be Alex Montoy and you will be a schoolboy on a trip to America to see the scenery.

You will be working alone. However if you need help we will come and take you back. You will be going to Flordia. The mission shouldn't be that hard. Find the girl and we come in and get you and her out.

"Yeah right, with you guys nothing is simple," said Alex.

The next day when all of Alex's stuff was packed he got on a private plane heading somewhere around Germany. He realized that there was also a lot of snow.

When he arrived he got off the plane and met his training master. To his surprise it was a woman who looked to be around 25.

She informed him that his name would be Red 5. She also warned him not to get close to anybody here.

There were 4 other boys training with him. Red 1, Red 2, Red 3, and Red 4. They greeted him with stiffness.

"Are you some wimp who came here to learn how to be a spy?" asked Red 1. "I bet he's never been on any field assignments," said Red 2.

"I've been on 5 field assignments," "What are you doing here then," asked Red 1 with a lot more respect. "Why do you need training?"

"I didn't think a spy would be so stupid," said Alex coolly remembering what Red 1 had said to him before. "You can always learn something new." "Plus what makes you think that I'd tell you anyway?" "I am undercover you know," he said.

"I'll tell you though," said Alex feeling that he needed to get the story out to someone who would listen and maybe understand.

I was finished with a mission when I was shot with a bullet. I was nearly dead and have been in the hospital for 2 months until M16 decided that I was ready for another mission.

All the boys stared at him with so much respect that Alex began to feel a little uncomfortable. The boys were a lot nicer to him now.

That night they had karate fights. Alex fought against Red 3 and Red 4 and won both matches. He was more advanced than all of the other boys.

The next day they ran 3 miles in the morning, ate breakfast, had karate lessons, had a break, ate lunch, had gun and aiming practice, then they would have a training course, dinner, karate match, bed.