CHAPTER 2

Amber turned and frowned at Hex. 'He didn't answer his phone.'
'Maybe he put it on silent,' murmured Hex, still watching the tracers on the screen. His comment did nothing to ease her worrying. 'I doubt that,' said Amber, but Hex wasn't finished. 'Or…' He turned the screen of his palmtop towards her so she could see the three dots moving away from the café. 'They couldn't answer because their case was blown. And the only reason they could be walking so quickly is because they're being followed.'
'Followed? By who? By Ricky? He doesn't seem the stalking type.'
'You're right. He doesn't. I don't think it is him.' Hex's hands paused over the keyboard thoughtfully. 'A man as powerful and as rich as he is must have hired a few people to get all the dirty jobs done.'
'So they're being followed by assassins?'
'I never said that.'
'Well, make yourself clearer then,' muttered Amber, irritated. 'I don't speak code.'
'Why don't you concentrate on driving on the road instead of the sidewalk and leave the figuring out to me?' drawled Hex. Amber rolled her eyes and turned back to her driving. 'You're lucky I'm wearing my seatbelt right now, code boy, or I'd be in the back and your precious little palmtop would be in pieces on the floor.'
'No it wouldn't,' said Hex smoothly, not missing a beat, 'Because it's the only way to know where our friends are.'Amber sighed, finding she had no answer to counter his with. 'Fine. Whatever. Just tell me what street they're on so we can go and pick them up.'

Hex smiled. Over the years Alpha Force had been together he had grown used to Amber's snooty rich girl attitude, and was nearly up to the point where he could write a book about how to counter her insults. Though she had been his arch enemy at one point in the past, they were now closer than they both wanted to admit. Li had teased them both enough about their fondness for each other; they didn't want to give her anything else to use against them.

'Jasmine Road,' he said after a quick look at the map. Amber nodded and turned right onto the next street, automatically typing the street name into the GPS. She was Alpha Force's navigation expert, as she had been learning how to navigate on her parent's yacht from a young age. When her parents died in a plane crash years before, she had become sad and quiet, though her rich snobbiness had never quite left her. When Alpha Force had come together for the first time on The Phoenix, a boat created in memory of her parents, she had been wearing their rings beaten into the sign of omega around her neck. Omega: the end. After their survival and rescue on the island, they'd decided to create Alpha Force as a new beginning. They took over the work her parents had died doing, and still worked with it to fight injustice. Hex had only been on the cruise because he had hacked into his little brother's gym teacher's email and altered a few things. As punishment, he was sent on the trip, though it turned out to be much better than he had thought it would, and he earned four new friends from it. Now, hacking was his job, and he was glad for it. He was more at home on the net than in his house in London, and nothing would ever change that – even Amber's endless complaining.

With the map now displayed on the GPS screen, Amber began to follow the streets towards Jasmine Road. Hex looked up once from his palmtop to see a concentrated look on her beautiful ebony face as she focused on the road, and smiled inwardly. Though he acted as if she was a nuisance most of the time, he really did enjoy her company.
'We're getting close,' said Amber after a moment, oblivious to his gaze. Hex quickly snapped his eyes back down to the screen of his palmtop and watched as the three red dots stopped in an alleyway just off Jasmine Road. He relayed this information to Amber and her mouth tightened, but she didn't say a word. She hoped they would get there in time.

They had walked for a long time, attempting to look carefree and curious like the tourists they were pretending to be, but nothing they did seemed to shake the two men off their tail. Li felt the hairs prickle on the back of her neck every now and then as she walked, and wished there was a way to stop those eyes from staring at her. Paulo walked so close to her that his arm brushed against hers with every step. She was glad for his nearness, but was starting to feel closed in as she was pushed closer to Alex. After about five minutes of steady walking, she glanced back to see the pavement behind them empty. The men had disappeared. She nudged Alex and Paulo and they glanced back too, but they didn't stop just yet. They kept on walking for a few more minutes just to make sure the men weren't coming back and then turned into an alley, heading back to the point they had been dropped off earlier in the day.
They hardly made it past the mouth of the alley.

Gangly figures seemed to appear out of the shadows, grasping their arms with grips like iron and dragging them back. Li saw the two earlier men restraining Alex and Paulo, but wasn't sure who was tightening her arms behind her. She started to struggle, but stopped when she felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed against her head.

Paulo stopped struggling the moment he saw the gun and stared in horror as the tall, powerful figure clicked off the safety and twitched his finger as if to press the trigger. His arm came up around Li's neck tightly and she stumbled back against him, her eyes filled with rage. 'Do not move. Use your friend as a good example.' Paulo looked sideways and saw Alex standing still, his eyes locked on the gun. Paulo returned his eyes to Li and tried to jerk his arm out of his assailant's grip, but he was only restrained tighter – the old gunshot wound from last year throbbed and he winced. The gunman laughed, his voice deep and booming, reverberating off the pale concrete walls of the alley. 'Now, now, I don't want to hurt you.'
'I doubt that,' growled Alex.
'Well, I wouldn't mind hurting her to bend you to my will, but I have no wish to harm you in particular.'
'So you work for Ricky-' managed Li, her voice choked off at the end of the sentence as the man's arm tightened around her neck. He glared down at her and knocked the side of her head with the gun gently, as if to remind her it was there. 'Just because you're about to die doesn't mean I'm going to willingly give up everything I know. This isn't a movie or a book. This is real life.'
'You work with him, don't you?' asked Alex. What he could see of the man's face twisted into a sneer. 'With him? Now why would you say that?'
'Because you're not one of the two men who were following us. I don't know where you came from, but it's obvious you work with them. And you seem to be the leader, so I suppose you've got higher status. When they disappeared, they must have gone to get you. To help them finish the job.'
'Well, you're quite perceptive, aren't you?' The man grinned. 'And all of you are very good at hiding your true identities. But not good enough. There's definitely something behind this – something more than you just not minding your own business. See? I'm perceptive too. We're not all that different.' He lowered his voice. 'Now, I was asked to question you about what you were doing watching Ricky in that café. Why are you following him?'

Paulo felt the man's eyes on him but didn't speak, watching Li instead. She mouthed something at him and he inclined his head slightly. The man frowned, and looked from him to Li, pulling the gun away from her head for a second. That was all she needed.

She suddenly bent forwards, butting him in the legs and loosening his arm around her throat, which she grabbed and twisted around, slamming against the wall. She then elbowed him in the solar plexus, and while he was bent over in pain, she spun and lifted her knee up to his face, hearing the crunch as his nose broke and blood began to gush down his face. He growled and straightened up, launching himself at her, but she leapt away nimbly, noting Alex and Paulo by her side also unleashing their fists and feet on their assailants. As he turned around, Li dropped to a crouch and swept a leg out from under her, knocking her attacker's legs out from under him and sending him crashing to the floor. Kneeling on his chest, one knee pressed against his neck, she ripped the gun out from his right hand and held it to his forehead. 'Who are you?' hissed Li.

He only laughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. 'Some things are meant to be kept secret, Li Cheong.'
She raised her eyebrows, shocked to hear her name come from this stranger's mouth. Now she could see him properly, she found his features quite familiar. She was certain she had seen them before, but wasn't sure where. 'You recognize me,' said the man. He laughed again, a painful raspy sound, and she lost her patience, bringing the butt of the gun down on the side of his head, which resonated with a loud crack, his head lolling to one side. Before she even had a chance to get up, strong arms grabbed her from behind. She pulled against them angrily, spinning herself around and managing to dislodge the arms from around her waist, her fists clenched and ready to launch at her new assailant -

'Hey!' Paulo held his arms up in front of his face, looking surprised and a little hurt. She lowered her arms immediately, brushing strands of inky black hair out of her face. 'Sorry. I thought you were…'
'It's fine. My fault,' said Paulo, reassuring her with an easy grin. 'Are you okay?'
'Fine. Where's Alex?'
'Here.' She looked past Paulo to see Alex standing by the mouth of the alley and breathed out a sigh of relief. 'Where are the other two of Ricky's men?'
'Catching some sleep,' said Paulo. She saw them both lying against the wall. 'How?' Alex held up a metal water bottle, which was now dented and slightly red with blood. 'My bag broke and this fell out. I never thought it would come in handy.'
She giggled despite herself, picturing Alex beating up the poor men with a water bottle. 'Your bag broke? I thought you were always the one with the indestructible luggage.'
'No, that was only his bergen,' remarked Paulo, grinning. He was referring to the bergen Alex had used several holidays ago in Belize. His bergen had survived both a falling tree in the rainforest and an earthquake, and all of his friends had marveled at its luck. 'I think we had better get going. Amber and Hex are probably wondering why we're standing still-'

His last words were cut off as a silver SUV jerked to a stop at the end of the alley and Hex's irritated voice snapped at the driver to stop trying to kill the pavement. The driver door opened and Amber climbed out quickly, her face flooding with relief when she saw Alex, Paulo and Li all safe and uninjured.
'Thank God you're all here,' drawled Hex behind her, climbing out from the back seat. 'I don't believe Amber was telling the truth when she said she got her driver's license.'

She cuffed him around the head and he ducked away, smirking.
'Shut up, Hex,' said Amber. She caught sight of the three men lying in the alley, her dark eyes widening a fraction. 'Are they dead?'
Alex shrugged and held out his metal water bottle. She stared down at it. 'Why are you giving that to me?'
'I don't know. I thought maybe you needed a closer look to see the brains and blood.'
'What? You beat them up that bad?' she exclaimed, stepping backwards in disgust. Alex grinned at her distaste and lowered the bottle. 'No. Well, we did beat them up pretty bad, but I don't think they're dead. And I don't think Li's is either.'
'No. I just knocked him out,' agreed Li.
'Well, are we just gonna leave them here?'
'Yes, actually. We are,' said Hex, smiling as he picked up his phone. He handed it to Li. 'Can you tell the police that these three men got into a fight? Say we just came across it while on a walk. I can bet you that none of these men will leave the police station for the next few years.' Li nodded and started speaking into the phone rapidly, her voice high and shocked as if she was in panic. The police bought it, it seemed, and she slowed her torrent of Chinese so that they could understand. Finally, after giving them directions, she ended the call and handed the phone to Hex. 'All right,' said Alex. 'Let's get out of here.' He thought for a moment, and then dropped his bloodied water bottle on the ground beside the leader of the trio. He then picked up his broken bag and climbed into the SUV with the rest of Alpha Force.

Paulo switched the gear to reverse and backed smoothly away from the alley and on to the road. Hex made another sarcastic comment about Amber's driving and she reached over Li to slap him. He managed to flatten himself against the window to avoid her hand, but her shoe hit his shin before he had time to avoid it and he swore loudly. As they drove back to the hotel, all of Alpha Force was grinning.