CHAPTER 4

Li woke with a start, her eyes already focusing on the garage door, which had been lifted open slightly, a man peeking through at the sleeping immigrants. From what she could see, the sky outside was still dark, so she had no idea what the man would be doing here. He stepped fully into the garage and grimaced at the smell of sweat and urine. 'Is there a Yu Cheung here?' he whispered. Li froze, her breath catching in her throat. What was this? The man stepped further into the room and started to raise his voice, but she stood up quickly. His eyes moved to her, and she flinched, recognizing the eyes of An, Ricky's bodyguard. He smiled slowly – the evil smile which told her he knew he had won. 'Come on then, Yu,' said An. She swallowed back her anger and fear and began to step over immigrants and mats to get to him. Once by his side, she glowered up at him. 'Couldn't hold yourself back?' hissed Li accusingly. 'You just had to tell him, didn't you?'

'Oh, I held myself back alright,' said An, still smiling. 'I've kept my word.' He held her wrist in an iron-strong grip and started to drag her out of the garage. She stared at him, confused, not even struggling. 'What?'

'Ricky found out by himself. And besides, did I ever tell you I was your ally? No, I didn't. If I told him about you, it would be because I hate you and I don't care about peace. I'd be able to sit back and watch while he kills you and your friends.'

'My friends? What are you talking about?' asked Li.

'Don't play that game with me,' snapped An, pulling her up the steps so she could see the house before them. 'I know they've been following us. And definitely don't play that with Ricky.'

'How did he find out?' asked Li, giving up. 'How did he know about me?'

'He recognized you when he saw you, despite the fact you're dressed in rags and look like a street urchin. So he did his research. And he asked two special people who told him all about you and your friends that day they followed you away from the café. So then he did more research and he found out how you and your friends met on that ship and were stranded on that Indonesian island. Of course, he didn't hear about all your crime fighting tactics until he did more research, but he got enough information about you and your friends to know you're not who you said you were.'

Li felt both her anger and her fear rising. She tilted her chin upwards defiantly, hoping Alpha Force was listening to this. She decided to go all out. 'And what about you? Does he know you were also on that island?' hissed Li.

An paused, and she could see she'd caught him by surprise. 'Ah, you've finally realized who I am,' said An quietly, stopping for a moment and smiling faintly down at her. His face sharpened just as quickly and he snorted. 'Of course he does. He knows I was a pirate as much as I know he's a human trafficker.'

Li refused to let it go. She hoped her friends could understand what she was trying to tell them through the transmitter. 'How did you get out of jail? You should have gone to jail with those two other pirates from the island. How did you escape?'

'Ricky Chang,' said An simply.

'What about Ricky Chang?'

'He's my brother!' snapped An. 'He told me that if he let me out of jail, I would have to work with him for the rest of my life, and I accepted.'

'You want to work for your brother for the rest of your life? Seriously? How's working for him forever any different to being in jail?'

'Shut up.' An was seething now, and he shoved her up more steps.

'If you let me go, everything could work out fine,' persuaded Li. 'Make it even between us, An. Please.'

An snarled and shoved her against the screen door of the house. She reeled from the contact, but she wasn't hurt. In the next second An had bent to whisper into her ear. 'I can't. Those two people in there will never be saved if I let you go.'

Li swallowed as he leaned away, wondering why he'd told her that. Was he on her side or was he her enemy? And who were these two people he was talking about?

The main door had already swung open behind her, and a large cross-breed guard dog was standing in front of her, separated only from the mesh. It sniffed her, eyes bloodshot and menacing, and then began to bark, growling in between each outburst. A large man behind it grabbed its collar viciously and snapped at it to be quiet. The barks died down immediately and the man grinned up at An. 'Is that little rat causing you trouble?'

An shook his head and opened the screen door, shoving Li unceremoniously inside. 'Not at all.'

Li looked off down the street before it disappeared from view, her mind screaming what her mouth could not. I'm in danger! Come! Come now! Please! Ricky knows who I am - who we all are! Help me!

An shoved her through into a long white corridor which opened out into a beautiful modern living room, furnished with mahogany wood and cream-coloured carpets. She stopped and managed to get a good look around before the man with the dog at his heels and An began to drag her towards the lounge. They dropped her to her knees once in the centre, right at Ricky Chang's feet. He glanced down at her with a mixture of disgust and amusement. 'Yu Cheung. Hello.' He glanced down at some papers in his hands. 'Or would you prefer I call you Li?'

'Hello,' replied Li through her teeth, glaring up at him. He smiled a snake-like smile, ironic since he was a snakehead, and looked past her at where the two other people An mentioned must be sitting behind her. She started to turn her head, afraid of who they might be – who would give Alpha Force away? Maybe it was the organizers at the school, or maybe it was someone Alpha Force had run into in the past who bore grudges.

'Mr. and Mrs. Cheong,' said Ricky pleasantly. 'Would you come over here?'

Li's body froze; her heart nearly stopped beating as her breath caught in her throat. All her muscles and her bones began to ache in both love and pain as she turned her head completely and saw her parents neatly restrained by two more of Ricky's men. They looked worn out and bedraggled, not hurt, but still Li couldn't help the surge of anger and protectiveness which rose with the sight of them.

'Li…' whimpered her mother, her eyes brimming with tears. Her parents were zoologists who travelled the world; their bravery had been passed on to Li through blood and influence. Seeing her mother cry, which she so rarely ever did, was a sickening thing.

Li felt a sudden wave of black anger and she launched herself to her feet, spinning towards Ricky with a dangerous glint in her eye. Her foot caught his nose before anyone in the room could even move, and just as her foot reached his stomach, An's arms grabbed her from behind and held her back. She struggled fiercely, shouting obscenities at him and swearing loudly. Ricky held one hand to his nose as blood poured around it, her eyes locked darkly on her face.

'Put them in the truck and start driving,' said Ricky to the big man with the dog. 'Me and An will come later. I've got some things to sort out before I follow.'

By things, Li knew he meant Alpha Force. She started to struggle once more, tears now running down her face, and the man began to take her from An's arms, but Ricky Chang stopped him with one hand. He stood up, removing his bloody hand from his still-spurting nose and walking up so close to her she could smell the last meal he'd eaten on his breath. He reached to her neck, and at first she thought he was going to strangle her, but instead, he jerked his hand away and she could see her locket resting on two of his fingers. He smiled, and then hit her hard across the face. She cried out despite herself and almost fell, her cheek stinging and aching. 'The next time you try to fight back against me, you won't be the only one paying the price,' snapped Ricky, glancing at her parents pointedly before straightening and composing himself.

The man finally began to drag her out of the house, Ricky's two other men also bringing her parents behind her. She felt the dragging weight of failure, fear and grief in her heart. She and her parents were going to be taken somewhere and soon killed – Alpha Force wouldn't know where and wouldn't be able to save them, and the immigrants downstairs in the basement would never be saved. The mission wasn't Alpha Force's anymore; it was Ricky's. It had officially failed.

Paulo woke with a start and realized he had fallen asleep with the earphones in. It was already nearly sunrise, and he had forgotten to wake Amber up for the next shift. Dios.

Something could have happened while he was sleeping! He looked down at Hex's palmtop and saw Li's tracker still in the house. He managed a sigh of relief. She was still there. Everything would be fine. He looked around at his sleeping friends and then climbed out of the car, stretching his legs and walking slowly over to the hedge to peek around. His heart stopped in his throat.

The truck wasn't there.

The truck had been there all last night as long as he was awake, waiting for the immigrants. How could it be gone? He quickly looked down at the palmtop again but Li's tracker was still in the same place. He swallowed back a curse and hurried back to the car to wake the others up. Amber immediately started grumbling at him about the fact he hadn't woken her up for her shift, and Alex was about to join in when Paulo shoved the palmtop in their faces. 'There is something wrong! The truck is gone but Li's tracker is still in the house!'

'What?' Amber grabbed the palmtop and set it on her lap, ignoring Hex's mistrusting gaze. 'He's right,' said Amber slowly. 'But that doesn't mean anything, does it? They could have just taken the truck for a clean out before coming back to take the immigrants to the ship.'

'Unlikely,' muttered Hex. 'I don't think either the driver or Ricky care whether the truck smells like urine, vomit and sweat. Neither care what the immigrants think.'

'So what are you suggesting?' asked Paulo.

'I'm not suggesting anything. I was just disagreeing with Amber's idea. The truck wouldn't have been moved because of the immigrants. Maybe it's because of Ricky. Perhaps he thinks someone's watching him.'

'Or they've found out who Li is,' said Alex worriedly. 'And they put her in the truck to take her somewhere else while her tracker was left in the house as a red herring.'

'How would they find out? She's a good actress,' pointed out Amber. 'And there's no one other than Ricky's bodyguard who could tell him who she is - and he didn't seem to want to.'

'Hex, is it possible to… what's the word?' Paulo winced, his language failing him due to exhaustion, and then his eyes lit up. 'Rewind? Could you listen and hear if anything happened during the night?' They all stared at him.

'But surely if you kept the shift to yourself, you were listening the whole time?' questioned Amber, sounding unsure, her dark eyes glinting dangerously. Paulo slumped his shoulders, ready to take the blame if something bad happened to Li. 'I fell asleep. That is why I did not wake any of you up.'

There was a long pause as the rest of Alpha Force took this in. Then Hex jumped up, snapping into action. 'Yes, I can rewind it. It'll just take a second,' he said. He snatched his palmtop from Amber's lap and began to swipe his finger across the mouse pad, tapping a few codes into the tracking program as he rewinded back to the beginning of the night. While they were waiting, Alex noted Paulo's depressed expression and sighed. As angry as he was at laid-back Argentinian for putting their friend in danger, he knew all too well the feeling of guilt. 'It's alright, mate. We all make mistakes. And we'll get her back in the end – you know that.'

'But she might not be alive,' murmured Paulo quietly. 'What if-'

'She'll be fine,' said Alex, sounding confident, although inside he felt a pang of fear for his friend in the field. After one year in the army he already knew that feeling better than any of the other soldiers in his squad, something that made him stand out. It wasn't something he was particularly proud of.

Paulo shook his head, unbelieving, and turned to peer over Hex's shoulder. 'Here,' said Hex suddenly, green eyes brightening. He unplugged the earphones from his palmtop again and set it on the seat next to him so they could all hear. 'Is there a Yu Cheung here?' The moment they heard the whispered voice, Hex's eyes narrowed and he looked up at them. 'It's Ricky's bodyguard. The man who knew who Li was.'

'Dios,' Paulo whispered. Then followed a heated conversation about how An couldn't keep her secret to himself even though he had said he would. 'And what about you? Does he know you were also on that island?' she hissed.

'Ah, you've finally realized who I am,' he spoke in a quiet voice.

All of Alpha Force leaned in, their eyes wide as saucers. They had already heard about the two people who had given Li's true identity away. Paulo had sworn loudly at that part, and only Hex had managed to shut him up with a glare, pointing at the palmtop's speakers. Now, they were about to find out who this mysterious bodyguard of Ricky's was. The man who had attacked them in the alley and had somehow escaped being thrown in jail. 'Of course he does. He knows I was a pirate as much as I know he's a human trafficker.'

All of Alpha Force froze and stared at each other.

'How did you get out of jail? You should have gone to jail like the others! How did you get out?'

'Ricky Chang,' he said simply.

'What about Ricky Chang?'

'That is none of your business.'

'You've made it my business! Tell me!'

'He's my brother!' snapped An. 'He told me that if he let me out of jail, I would have to work with him for the rest of my life, and I accepted.'

Amber choked out a noise of surprise and anger. 'So this is the ass who tried to kill Phillipe, his family and us on that island?'

'It seems so,' said Alex faintly. 'Is it me or is it too much of a coincidence that he's here?'

'Li…' muttered Paulo. 'Remember that night before she began the mission, when she was acting unusual?'

'Yes,' the other three members of Alpha Force spoke in unison.

'He was who Li was fighting in the alley. She must have known. He must have shown to her who he was somehow. I think you are right, Alex. This cannot be a coincidence. This man is here at this particular time for a reason.' He looked at them all in turn. 'I think he knew we would come to China and get mixed up with Ricky.'

'How would he know that?' asked Amber, raising her eyebrows.

'I have no idea,' sighed Paulo. 'But I want him locked up once and for all or dead. And I will not stop until that happens.'

'Amen,' said Amber, nodding in agreement. The rest of Alpha Force also nodded their heads meekly, just as a bullet ripped through the air towards their car and smashed through the windshield.

Amber shrieked, Alex shouted in surprise, and Paulo and Hex flinched. The fight was on.

Paulo and Alex climbed out of the car and ducked down below the wheels. Alex pulled his knife from its holster, obviously pained from having to use it on these great big thugs. They didn't have a gun; they had never expected to be attacked on an undercover mission. So their assailants had large advantages.

Hex stayed half in the car, and half out, ducking low so he couldn't be seen and at the same time shielding his palmtop from the action. Amber was doing the same, but she was also rifling around in the car for weapons of any sort. There were sweets and sandwich wrappers, empty bottles and Alex's phone, and lots of dust. Nothing else. Amber considered using one of the bottles to beat the firing men like Alex had apparently done in the alley fight, but the bottles were too light and small to inflict enough damage. She looked over at the car keys hanging from the ignition and slid them out quickly. Jamming them into an eyeball or scraping them against skin would have to be good enough for now. Outside, Alex had managed to peek over the bonnet of the car and get a good look at their attackers without being shot. They were both big and burly, and he recognized one of the men who'd had that dog the day before. The other man was indiscernible, but Alex saw Ricky standing behind them immediately. He wore comfortable trousers, a white shirt, and a button-up coat, and was standing with his back straight, his expression calm as if he was watching a ballet rather than a couple of killers attempting to assassinate a group of four teenagers. The man – An – was standing behind him, looking uncomfortable. Alex was glad to see slight bruising on Ricky's nose, even though he didn't know where it had come from.

Where were all the people in this part of town?

Alex glanced around, but all the houses were empty or broken-down and therefore unoccupied. Ricky had done a good job picking this house. Paulo looked over at him and shrugged, lifting his hands helplessly. What would they do? They couldn't hide behind the car forever. And Amber and Hex were still stuck inside. Alex wondered if it was possible to run up to them without them noticing. He glanced round the bonnet again, narrowly dodging a bullet which whizzed past his ear. No. It wasn't. But with nothing else to do, he had to at least try. After all Alpha Force had been through, Alex still felt like he was the leader of the team – maybe first it was something to do with the SAS skills he had learned from his father, but now it just seemed to be because his ideas and opinions were useful to the group, and because he was willing to give up everything to save them all. He wasn't alone on that prospect: all of Alpha Force would do anything to protect each other. So, if Alex died now, at least it would be to protect his friends.

He swallowed hard, and then looked back at Paulo, who nodded grimly. Alex looked around and saw an upturned dustbin nearby. It wasn't nearly big enough for him to hide behind it, but he could carry it and shield himself from bullets. He peeked around the bonnet again, and the bullets suddenly stopped flying. The two men were reloading. This was his chance. Alex jumped to his feet and sprinted the dustbin, his body nearly shivering in anticipation of bullets which could rip through his body at any moment. He got the bin just as he heard the men lift their guns. He threw himself behind the dustbin and lifted himself up just as bullets began to attack the ground all around him, and he could hear bullets inside the dustbin as they ripped through its walls. He cringed and tried to crouch behind it, feeling sick.

Suddenly, a searing pain exploded through his foot. He was hit.

Alex aimed his squinted eyes down at his leg and saw his barely visible sock already soaking with dark, thick blood. He bit his tongue to prevent himself from screaming out in pain and hunched his body up so small it was nearly impossible to imagine that really he was tall and gangly. The bullets carried on for a few more seconds until Ricky shouted at them and they stopped to reload, turning back to the car. Alex could see Paulo still hiding against the car doors.

'Are you okay?' Paulo mouthed. Alex managed to nod, and pointed to his foot. Paulo nodded as well. Then the bullets let rip – not at Paulo or Amber or Hex still hiding inside, but at the bonnet.

Paulo realized what they were trying to do almost immediately. He yanked open the driver's door and shouted at Amber and Hex to get out quickly. Amber flinched at his sudden appearance, but Hex simply looked at him grimly and then began to shift over the seat towards the door without lifting his body above the bottom of the window. Amber just sat on the passenger seat, frozen as he peered over the dashboard at the Ricky and his shooting men. 'Amber!' hissed Hex once he was crouched beside Paulo, his palmtop safely in its pouch at his hip. She didn't move, still frozen in the same spot. The bonnet was already steaming, and it wouldn't be long before it blew up, taking the rest of the car with it. Hex yanked open the passenger door, ignoring the fact that the men could now see him and shoot him, and reached in, grabbing Amber around the waist and yanking her out. One bullet hit the car's door, barely missing him, and Amber suddenly burst into action, grabbing his arm and dragging him into crouch beside her. Paulo was waiting for them. 'What were you doing?' hissed Hex into her ear.

'What were you doing? You almost got shot!' countered Amber.

'I was trying to save your life,' said Hex. Amber shrugged, and then softened. 'Thanks.' Hex nodded.

'Dios,' muttered Paulo, staring at the car. 'It's about to blow.'

'What?' asked Amber, frowning.

'They were shooting at the engine,' he said. 'It's going to explode.'

'Crap,' said Hex flatly. Paulo grabbed their hands and yanked them after him, half-rolling half-running away from the car just as it suddenly exploded in a giant ball of flames and metal. Amber covered her ears, and Hex covered her body with his own, trying to shield her from the wave of heat which rippled over them. Paulo crouched with his head between his arms.

'Where's Alex?' Amber managed to scream. They all looked at each other, and then back at the flaming car and the fiery dustbin lying blackened on the road.

No. Alex couldn't be dead. Not after all this. His body wasn't there, was it?

Paulo felt his stomach writhe at the thought of losing another friend. Amber suddenly screamed, staring at something behind him. Paulo turned and saw a dark shadow silhouetted against the wall of a house by the bright flames of the fire. It limped forwards and grasped Paulo's and Hex's arms in his own, starting to pull them away and into the building. 'Alex! You're alive!' choked Amber.

'Yeah, but we have to get away from the car now. They need to think we're dead,' rasped Alex, pulling them through the broken door of the nearest house. They couldn't see Ricky and his men over the wall of flames and smoke, and hopefully that meant they couldn't be seen in return. They rested their heads back against the concrete, and Alex collapsed to the ground, gasping now from the pain. 'Thank God you're alive, Alex,' said Paulo in amazement, looking around the wall and pulling his head back as he saw the three men standing and watching through the curtain of smoke. He scooted forwards and took Alex's foot in one hand, knowing it was best not to remove the shoe. Alex did a great job of managing to hide his pain, but Paulo could see his face reddening with the effort of trying not to scream. His foot was bleeding a lot more than Paulo liked, turning his white socks a bloody crimson. There was a jagged hole in the top of Alex's shoe, but nothing at the bottom. Therefore, the bullet was still inside him. Paulo winced and looked up at Alex's face. 'We need to get you somewhere cleaner and with more supplies. A hospital would be best.'

'But Li-' Alex was cut off as Paulo ripped off a piece of his own shirt and began binding his foot tightly over his shoe, hoping to staunch the blood. 'I know. We need to find Li. She obviously doesn't have her tracker on anymore, and if we don't go now we won't find her. But you need proper medical care.'

'We should find a car first,' said Hex. 'And listen to the rest of the recording from her tracer. We didn't finish it. Maybe it'll tell us something useful.'

'Maybe,' said Paulo, attempting to sound cheerful but failing miserably. 'Come on. Let's go. We'll have to walk for a little bit. Are you okay with that Alex?'

'Yes,' Alex muttered.

'And I'll hotwire another car.'

'Great, something else illegal,' Amber muttered.

'Oh, don't worry, Amber. We'll leave a note,' Hex snorted. 'I have stolen your car. You won't ever get it back – or if you do it will most likely be covered in bullet holes or blown up. Sorry. Yours sincerely, the mysterious car robber.'

'That isn't even funny,' said Amber, scowling. 'I just meant… we don't want the police on our tail now, too, do we?'

'Who else have we got on our tail?'

'Ricky Chang and his men. Well, not really. But if they find out we're still alive, they'll definitely be putting us in some serious danger.'

'I've always been attracted to danger,' said Hex in a dreamy voice. 'I just can't help it.'

'Shut up, code boy,' Amber snapped, exasperated. She stood up, keeping out of sight. 'Let's see if they're gone.'

'They are,' said Alex. 'I saw them walk away and climb into a car. To them, we're dead.'

'So…' Hex looked up at them, a smile lighting up his face as he clutched his palmtop in his lap, showing them all the moving red dot on the screen. 'This idiot with Li's tracer is Ricky Chang?'

Paulo grinned for the first time since Li had gone undercover. 'Yes. That must be him.'

'The dumbass must have forgotten it was in his pocket,' grinned Amber. 'So? Are we gonna get a car and continue the chase?'

'You got it,' said Hex, jumping up. Paulo helped Alex up slowly and then looked at him worriedly. 'Think you can survive for now with just a bandage?'

'Yes. Of course I can,' said Alex, swallowing back a grimace of pain. He was holding on with all he had for Li. She had better thank him for this in the end.