Zero action in this one. Bit of Amber/Hex, not that they realise. This is a bit more of a "set the scene" type of chapter and it also reveals an important factor in my plot. I've probably just given the whole chapter away so I'm going to shut up now and let you get on with reading. Cheerio!

Amber crouched behind the bush, staring at the centre's doors.

'How are we gonna get in?' she murmured. 'Locked doors, no windows, security guards...' She rubbed her forehead in frustration.

Hex patted Amber's arm.

'Relax. We'll figure something out,' he attempted to soothe Amber. His words had no effect.

'Why, of all the friggin' research centres, we had to pick one with such tight security is completely beyond me,' she muttered.

'Because we like a challenge,' Hex said calmly as he peered at the white building through the binoculars. 'Also, with this much security, I'd say that they have something pretty big to hide. Bigger than animal testing.' Amber looked at Hex in surprise.

'What do you mean?' she asked him.

Hex put down the binoculars and turned on his palmtop. The small computer took just a few seconds to load and within two minutes, Hex was searching the 'net.

'Let me see,' he murmured to himself. 'Where did I...? Ah ha!' Hex spun the palmtop so that the screen was facing Amber.

'What am I looking at?'

'The screen, the screen.' Hex sounded exasperated. 'Look at the bloody screen.'

Amber looked at the screen and frowned.

'And...'

Hex gave a muffled cry and flicked Amber's head. 'Fine. I'll give you a brief summary,' he said shutting down the palmtop. Hex's photographic memory came into play as he mentally sorted through the thousands of pieces of information tucked in his head, trying to find the relevant ones. 'Righto. I'm not saying anything concrete, but a website that I found revealed that this centre has been under investigation quite a few times over the last couple of months. The police didn't find anything illegal, but that hasn't stopped them from keeping a very close watch on the centre.'

'What has that got to do with the price of fish?' Amber asked.

'Nothing. But it is rather suspicious don't you think? That by itself isn't the reason I wanted us to check up on this particular lab. Combine that with the fact that there has been an unusually large number of adoptions in this area and in the surrounding towns over the last few months, I think that warranted our attention.'

Amber was puzzled. 'What are you saying?'

Hex looked deadly serious. 'I'm saying that this lab is most likely using humans to test their drugs and cosmetics. I read that some country in the Middle East had a lab that used unwanted or orphaned babies to test new drugs.'

Amber gaped at Hex. 'Humans? Like people humans?'

'Didn't know there was any other kind.'

'But that's illegal!'

'So is drug running, people trafficking, poaching, stealing, breaking and entering, armed robbery, abduction, rape, murder, grievous bodily harm, assault... The list goes on. Just because something is illegal or wrong doesn't mean that no one is going to do it,' Hex said. Amber looked doubtful. 'Look. You don't have to believe me. I know I sound like a nut case and it sounds really far fetched when I say it out loud, but it's a possibility and I wanted to follow it up.'

Hex looked so deflated Amber gave him a hug. 'I'm not saying I don't believe you, but it is very unlikely. I'm still with you though if you do want to try and get to the bottom of this.'

Hex gave her a grateful smile and Amber felt her heart do a little somersault. She quickly picked up the binoculars and trained them on the centre. What was that? One minute she was fine, the next... Oh please no, she thought frantically. I am not in love with Hex. I don't even like him as a really good friend sometimes. He's annoying and too smart for his own good and... Ahhhhhhhh! Stop thinking! Amber shook her head and focused on the centre again.

'Hello. What have we here?' she muttered.

'What?' Hex pushed in beside her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. Oh Christ! Amber screamed silently.

'You mind giving me some room here?' she grumbled. Hex looked surprised and a bit hurt but he quickly wiped the expressions of his face. What's up with her? he thought.

'Gee, Amber. You're not that fat!' He shuffled reluctantly over a few centimetres, but couldn't move any further due to their limited space. You really didn't want to move, did you? Hex groaned inwardly. Bloody voice. Lots of people had a little voice at the back of their mind but he was sure that none of them were as annoying as his. Shut up! Hex mentally strangled the voice. Just 'cause you can't hack it, hacker. The voice seemed to giggle at its little joke and Hex blocked it out, turning all of his attention to the building that he and Amber were supposed to be watching.

'What did you say before?' he asked Amber. She had appeared to have gotten over how close he was to her and eagerly handed him the binoculars.

'Take a look. Down there by the back entrance.'

Hex pot the lenses to his eyes and focused on the spot Amber had mentioned.

'Well, well, well. What's going on down there?'

A large lorry had pulled up and several workers wearing blue and white jumpsuits were unloading medium sized crates from the van. The crates were covered but Hex's imagination was working rapidly.

'The perfect size for a small kid to fit in if they were crunched up,' he murmured. Amber overheard and quickly shook her head.

'Oh no. Don't you jump to conclusions. Now we will do as planned and meet back at the hotel to discuss this with the others. All right?' Hex didn't answer so Amber seized the binoculars and started to move back towards the quad bike. 'Come on!'

Hex cast one last look at the centre and frowned. Something was going on there and he was determined to find out.