Amber sprinted down the hall, not knowing where she was going, only wanting to get away. She was fit and young but the man was gaining on her. Panic gripped her chest and Amber tried to push down the overwhelming urge to start bawling. The night threw shadows up, making her disorientated and confused.

Too late she saw the corner. Trying to turn at the last second made her feet shoot out from beneath her. Amber hit the floor, gasping as the breath was knocked out of her. The man slowed as he approached her, gun drawn and aimed straight at her head.

'Don't move.' The man's voice sounded frightfully loud. Amber tilted her head slightly and couldn't help recoiling in shock. His head was bent down, just inches from her own. 'You're a girl!' A sounded surprised.

'Duh,' Amber couldn't help muttering.

The man's expression turned hard. 'What?' Amber didn't answer and he kicked her shoulder, making her wince. 'What did you say?' Another kick, bringing tears to Amber's eyes.

'Nothing,' she mumbled.

'Good.' He stood up, pulling Amber roughly to her feet. 'You are in serious trouble little girl.'

Amber scowled at him, her eyes like daggers. 'What sort of trouble?'

The man kicked her in the ankle and shoved the gun in her side. 'Shut up or I'll shoot you. It doesn't matter to me whether you live or die.' He pressed the gun against her side harder. Amber chewed on the inside of her mouth, determined to show no pain. He grinned at her before taking hold of her wrist and pulling her down the hall, towards a flight of stairs hidden by darkness.

Amber casually stuck her hand up to her neck, feeling for the chain and tracer that she had put on just two hours ago. Her breath froze in her chest; it wasn't there.

Alex had run the opposite way to Amber, but he hadn't escaped. Just as he thought he might have a chance, he turned a corner and ran straight into a security guard. Within minutes he was being manhandled down a flight of stairs and chucked into a concrete cell. Ok. How do I get out of this one? He was contemplating the possibility of an escape when a scuffling made him look up. The entire front of the cell was covered in thick, metal bars, spaced about two inches apart, and he could see Amber get pulled along the corridor towards him. The door was opened and she was shoved inside.

'Hi, Amber. Nice of you to pop in.' Alex smiled but it was forced. Amber didn't even respond; she was sitting in a corner, knees folded into her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs, head resting on her knees.

'Amber?' Alex sat down next to his friend and put a hand on her shoulder. 'You ok?'

'What do you think?' Amber snapped without raising her head. 'We're locked in a freaking dungeon, Alex.'

'Don't worry,' Alex said, feeling sounding more confident than he actually felt. 'Paulo got out. He'll get Li and Hex and they'll get help.'

Amber raised her head from her knees and gave Alex a withering look. 'How old do you think I am?'

'It won't do us much good if we panic or sit in a corner and give up.' He raised his eyebrows and stuck his hand out to Amber. 'Come on. We can look for a way out.'

After staring at Alex's hand for a few moments, Amber reluctantly took it and allowed Alex to pull her to her feet. 'You know, Alex, it's sometimes a good thing to be pessimistic.' He grinned at her before crossing the rather spacious cell and bending down in the corner of the room.

'Look for any cracks or loose bricks.' Alex ran his hand along the edge of the wall and floor, brow creased in concentration.

'Right,' Amber answered slowly. She knew just as well as Alex did that the chances of finding a loose brick was almost nil and the chance that a loose brick would lead them to outside was even slimmer, but at least it gave them something to do. Sighing, Amber got down on her hands and knees and started looking for loose bricks.

Paulo eventually found his way back to the storeroom window, although he knew that he had lost precious minutes. He leapt out of the window and hit the ground running, heading as fats as possible towards the rendezvous point.

'What do you mean the tracers aren't working?' Paulo could hear Li's voice, sounding annoyed and slightly worried through the thick scrub as he approached.

'I don't know why, Li.' Hex sounded just as ticked off. 'Even ours aren't working and we're standing right here.'

'Hi.' Paulo emerged from the scrub, leaves and twigs sticking into his curly hair. Li gave a squeak and hugged him.

'What took you so long? We were getting-' Suddenly noticing the lack of people, Li squinted past Paulo. 'Where are Amber and Alex?' Hex's head shot up, eyes worried.

'They were caught. We found a file but they were caught on the way out.' He pulled the file from Amber's backpack and dropped it by Hex. The Londoner didn't even glance at it.

'How long ago?' He was trying to keep the emotion out his voice and was only just succeeding.

'Half an hour?' Paulo looked guilty. 'I came back as soon as I could.'

'Never mind.' Hex stuffed the file into his backpack and packed his palmtop away. 'We have to get them out.'

Paulo shook his head. 'There's no way in. The guards are on high alert; I only just made it out.

'We have to get them out,' Hex repeated.

'There is no way, amigo.' Paulo grabbed Hex's arms and forced him to stop moving. 'Calm down. We'll get them out, but we can't just go rushing in there. We need to get closer and watch the house, see what's happening. Once we find a way in, we'll get them out.' Hex's shoulders slumped and he nodded meekly.

'Ok.'

Li wriggled forward as much as she dared. They were only 20 metres from the house, on the far side of a slight hill.

'You're right, Paulo. The place is crawling with guards.' She squinted and gulped. 'Make that armed guards.'

'What do we do?' Hex looked at Paulo, his green eyes worried.

Biting his lip, Paulo shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't know. I don't know.'