Chapter Three

Hex


I stopped just inside the lobby at Headquarters, my hand hovering over the pocket holding my phone. After going so far as to start to pull the phone out, I stopped and really considered what I was about to do. If I called Amber and she didn't answer her phone, what could I do apart from worry? And if she did answer her phone and realise it was just me checking up on her, I'd be in a huge amount of trouble. Sighing, I slipped the phone back into my pocket and continued across the lobby towards the lift.

Alex's office was on level three, right down the very end. It had the sort of clutter that didn't look untidy but gave it a great lived in, homely feel. He was also one of the lucky few that had been assigned their own office, small though it was. I didn't bother knocking, just pushed open the door and walked straight in.

'Hello,' I said cheerfully, plonking myself down in the visitor's chair. Alex barely glanced up before he went back to reading the pile of paper in front of him and I immediately sensed he wasn't himself. 'What's wrong?'

Sighing, Alex chucked the paper down on the desk and put his head in his hands. 'I stuffed up.'

My thoughts leapt to work; had Alex missed some important detail that would have Abigail skin him alive? 'How?'

'Laura.'

I'd only met Alex's girlfriend once or twice in the 18 months or so they'd been dating and she seemed like an okay sort of person. Perfect for Alex, were Li and Amber's opinions. Paulo had made some wisecrack about Alex being the only guy getting any action and Li had hit him. Usual stuff. We'd been snowed under with work with hardly any time for social outings, so any further "getting to know you" had had to be postponed.

'You stuffed up?' I asked, feeling a bit confused. 'How did you stuff up exactly?'

Alex sighed again and slumped in his seat. 'She was... getting clucky. Constantly talking about us settling down, starting a family...'

'And you don't want to?'

'Of course I do,' he replied defensively, 'it's just that now isn't the best time. In a few years, when I've sorted out all these work issues and actually have a place to live that's bigger than your average shoebox, of course. And Laura would be a great mum. She works with kids every day. She loves children. She's all sorted as to how she'd raise them...'

I looked at Alex's forlorn face and it clicked. 'She doesn't know about you being with the Secret Service, does she?'

'No. She thinks I work in a bank,' Alex mumbled. 'I just- I hate lying to her and I couldn't deal with having to lie to my kids.'

'But if you told her you'd be breaking that thing we signed- Official Secrets whoever- and-'

'Putting her in danger,' Alex finished. 'Not to mention what could happen to our kids.'

'So how did you stuff up?'

A third sigh whistled through Alex's lips. Why do sighs make you feel so depressed? 'I told her, loosely, why I didn't want to have kids just yet and she flipped. Said I obviously didn't love her as much as I say I do, that I wasn't as committed to our relationship as she was.' He shrugged, his face sad. 'And then she finished with "maybe we should have a break" and walked out.'

'So she broke up with you?'

'Basically.' Alex leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. 'Hex, I'll give you some advice. If Amber ever gets clucky like that, you've got two choices: one, say something dumb like I did and wind up single again; two, just agree to whatever she's saying.'

My expression must have been one of absolute panic because Alex laughed. I pushed the rather terrifying thoughts now floating around in my head away and joined in.

Li bursting through the office door, definitely not chuckling along, halted our laughter.

'You look like you've seen a ghost,' remarked Alex. He seemed a bit more relaxed now, less tense and stressed, and I mentally patted myself on the back for a job well done.

Li, leaning heavily against the door, looked straight at me and said two words that made the panic I'd felt at the thought of Amber getting clucky seem like nothing at all. 'Price escaped.'

I swear I stopped breathing and I had to force out a strangled, 'What?'

'Price escaped,' Li repeated in the exact same tone with the exact same expression. 'I overheard Abigail talking to some guy about it.'

'When?' My voice still wasn't functioning properly, my thoughts on the phone call that we'd all more or less chosen to ignore.

'Late last night, very early this morning. He was there when the inmates were all locked up for the night, gone when they were let out of their cells.' She bit her lip, ran a hand through her hair. 'They've got every available police officer for half of London out searching but it's not looking good.'

'Do they think he's skipped the country or something?' I asked . 'Or just hiding out?'

Li shrugged.

Thoughts were tumbling around in my head faster than I could process them. Had Price escaped purely because he couldn't handle prison? When Amber had gone to see him in jail shortly after he'd been sentenced, she'd said something about him not being able to handle it. So was it just him being a coward, trying to run away from the consequences he inflicted on himself? Or was it something else, something much worse? Had he escaped to get revenge? I rubbed my temples and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down.

'Hex?' Li was standing next to me, peering at me with concern. 'Maybe you should call Amber. You know, just to check she's- I mean, she's probably fine, you know, but just in case...'

I nodded and slipped my phone out of my pocket. The rings continued for what seemed like forever and then I heard Amber's voice.

'...not here at the moment. Please leave a message and we'll call you back.'

The beep sounded and I said, 'Amber? It's Hex. Can you pick up if you're there? Hello? Amber, this is sort of important and I think-'

'Hey, Hex.'

'Oh, thank God.' I gave a sigh of relief and slumped back in my chair. 'You're okay?'

She sounded a bit confused, a bit guarded, as she replied, 'Of course. Why wouldn't I be?'

I frowned, but before I could respond, Amber was babbling away again.

'I need to speak to you. And Alex, Paulo and Li. Mara and Neil as well. Soon. Now would be great. Can you bunk off work and come home?'

'Yeah,' I replied slowly. Something really wasn't right. 'Are you sure you're-'

'Gotta go! See you all soon.'

The dial tone sounded in my ear and I slowly lowered the phone. Li and Alex were both watching me carefully.

'Well?' Li demanded when I stayed silent.

I put my phone away and stood up. 'She said she needs to speak to us- and Paulo, Mara and Neil- as soon as possible.'

'Why?' Li shuffled out of the way as I fetched my coat and then grabbed my arm when I tried to continue past her.

I shook my head. 'Dunno.'

'But she's okay?'

'She said she's fine,' I answered, shaking her off. 'But we should really get going.'

Li nodded and then turned around to Alex. 'Come on.' There was a pause and then Li added, worriedly, 'Alex?'

I spun around and headed back inside Alex's office to find him sitting in his chair, looking a bit stunned. For the first time since Li had come into the office, I realised he hadn't said a word since we'd been told Price had escaped.

'Alex?' Li repeated. She shot me a help! look and I moved further into the room.

'It's okay, mate,' I said softly. We all hated Price for various reasons, had all been affected by Harry's death- murder more likely- but it really had hit Alex the hardest. And who could blame him? He'd been there when Price had shot Harry, had seen our boss die. Then there was the fact that Alex still blamed himself for Harry's death. We'd all had counselling of one form or another at various intervals over the past ten months, but Alex still wasn't quite right. Post-traumatic stress was what Mara said he had. Whatever it was, counselling had been helping bugger all and the news that Price was out of jail was the last thing he needed right now.

Inhaling deeply, Alex gave his head a brief shake and then stood up. 'Sorry,' he said as we all walked to the door.

Li put her arm around his shoulders, somewhat awkwardly as she was fairly short. 'Don't apologise, Alex. Take all the time you need.'

He smiled his thanks and then jerked backwards suddenly, darting to a half open doorway. 'You lot!' he called. 'Come on. We're being rebels.'

Paulo, Mara and Neil emerged and followed Alex back to Li and I, waiting patiently in the hallway.

'Where are we going?' Mara asked with something resembling an evil glint twinkling in her eyes.

'Amber and Hex's flat,' Li explained as we continued walking.

'Any particular reason?' Neil asked, then added, looking at me, 'Or do you just want to piss Abigail off?'

I grinned and shrugged. 'Bit of both. Well, mainly the former; annoying Abigail is just a bonus.'

'So what's the occasion?' Mara piped up from the back.

In a hushed tone, Li quickly filled her, Neil and Paulo in on what had happened. Mara ground her teeth together and snarled, while Neil's eyes just widened. Paulo didn't look fazed, just nodded and frowned slightly.

As we reached the lobby, Neil did a quick head count and came to the conclusion that we wouldn't all fit into one car.

'I can drive,' he offered, 'but I'll need to either follow behind or have someone come with me that can provide directions.'

'I'll come with you and Mara,' Li decided.

The three of them split off and trotted in the direction of the main entrance. I glanced at Paulo who was already taking his keys out of his jacket pocket.

'No offence, Hex,' he said with a grin, 'but your driving makes me feel ill.'

I pasted on an expression of mock shock, but it quickly fell from my face. I was just a tiny bit anxious, a tiny bit worried, about Amber's safety, even though she'd insisted she was fine.

We headed out of the side exit and came out in the parking lot. My guess was that Paulo must have arrived at work super early that morning because his car was parked within half a mile of Headquarters. Because I'd left to meet Amber while some people were still arriving, my car now sat at the far end of the car park, completely out of sight.

As we piled into Paulo's car, I couldn't help the little niggling feeling of worry that kept chewing away at my insides. Call me paranoid, call me overprotective... I was both of those and more, but there was something about Amber's weird behaviour and the fact that Price had escaped from jail that just didn't sit right with me.

The short car trip was uneventful and Paulo pulled up just as Li, Mara and Neil were getting out of the car.

'We beat you!' Li taunted, looking very smug and sure of herself standing outside the front door.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed past her to get to the door. 'Amber?' I called.

'In the kitchen.'

Paulo, Li, Alex, Neil and Mara followed behind as I headed in the direction of Amber's voice. She was perched on one of the kitchen stools, paper and yellow manila folders spread all over the bench.

'What's all that?' I asked.

'Huh?' Amber looked at me, a distracted frown on her face. 'What's all what?'

I pointed at the paper.

'Oh.' She sighed and dropped the pages she'd been clutching onto the bench, rubbing her forehead. 'Come and sit down, guys. Does anyone want a water? Juice? Tea? Coffee?'

After everyone declined, Li sprang up and sat on the edge of the bench leaving Paulo, Neil, Mara and Alex to take the remaining four seats. I went and stood beside Amber, wondering what the heck was going on.

'Okay,' Amber said once we were all settled. 'Do you know that Jasper escaped from prison?'

We all nodded and Amber looked a bit shocked. As Li gave Amber a quick summary of what had happened while we'd been at work, I couldn't help but notice that Amber was the only person who called Price by his first name. That fact was a tad unsettling but I tried to push it out of my head.

'How do you know?' Mara said. 'I mean, we wouldn't have ever known unless Li eavesdropped.'

Li grinned like a monkey with a bunch of bananas.

Amber cleared her throat. 'I... bumped into him on my way home.'

For the next minute there was complete silence as we all gaped and blinked at Amber. She shrunk down in her seat, averted her eyes and eventually continued.

'He wanted to talk to me about something,' she added in a rush. 'Something he said was really important.' Avoiding my gaze, Amber pushed one of the files towards me and flipped open the cover. 'It's probably best if you read it for yourselves.'

Slowly, I picked up the top page and read the sheet. The page was filled with tiny, neat handwriting and it took me a while to reach the bottom. When I'd finished, I carefully replaced it in the file and looked at Amber in confusion.

She bit her lip and dropped her gaze again. 'Jasper thinks that there's a group of rich businessmen who have created something, some machine that could wreak havoc across the globe. He wants us to look into it. That's why he escaped from jail, to come and ask us for help.'

There was a cry of outrage from Alex that was quickly echoed by Neil and Mara. Li and Paulo stayed silent, their eyes fixed on Amber who was staring at me.

'What?' I demanded.

Amber didn't answer, just kept looking at me.

I blinked at her in astonishment. 'Amber, this is the man who tried to kill you, who killed Harry, who just escaped from prison. You can't seriously be considering trusting him, believing him, and actually looking into this.'

'What if he's right?' she said softly.

'What if this is a trap?' I snapped. 'Have you even considered the real reason he escaped? Revenge maybe?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Hex. He's not going to-'

'And how do you know that? This man is a criminal. A murderer. A drug dealer. You can't trust him. Ever.'

'People change, Hex. You should know that.'

All my arguments fell out of my head and crawled away under the sofa. I swallowed hard and looked pleadingly at Amber. If anything happened to her... She turned away, her eyes flicking from Li, to Paulo, to Mara, to Neil and finally to Alex who was huddled in the corner, his eyes shut.

'I'm going to look into it,' she announced in a small voice, sounding so unlike Amber I almost jumped. 'I'd appreciate any help you guys could give me, but I'll understand if you don't want to.'

No one answered.

'Why are you doing this?' Alex's eyes snapped open, his voice thick with emotion.

Amber shook her head slightly, like she wasn't sure of the answer, but when she answered she sounded confident and certain of her reasons. 'People change. They deserve second chances. You can't go through life holding grudges, disliking people for the rest of eternity.'

'I sure as hell can,' Alex murmured.

I felt sick. The situation had moved way beyond my control and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.