It took about fifteen minutes to get the other car and drive them both back to the mansion.

As they pulled into the grounds they saw Camilla and Hex standing on the steps waiting for them. "What the hell happened?" Was the first thing out of Hex's mouth as his friends debussed. Camilla watched in obvious distress as Alex slowly climbed from the passenger seat with his bandaged arm in a sling. In one concerned sweep Hex took in his friends appearances. One of Paulo's eyes had began to puff up and was going an ugly purple colour, Amber's injury also did not go unnoticed by the by the young hacker. It seemed to him that the only person who looked unscathed was Li.

"Lets get inside and cleaned up, then I'll fill you in on what we've found." Camilla suggested, taking up one of Alex's sides and helping him up the steps.

Taking various seats in the lounge Camilla and Hex stood proudly in front of their whiteboard that was now covered with photos and writing in a tidy curved font. Cups of tea and coffee now adorned the short table as the group settled in to hear what had been found out. Alex removed his blood stained charcoal shirt as Paulo began undoing the bandage around his arm.

Hex started his talk as the two teens carefully undressed the wound.

Pointing to the words on the board he narrated. "All that we have found points to this group Taken Inc. as the party responsible for taking John Middleton." He eyed Amber gauging her reaction as he carried on.

"After doing a bit of digging we found out a few things. Firstly this group is operated almost entirely by one of the biggest mafias based here in New York. Secondly the head of this mafia and the man who is rumoured to personally involve himself in each kidnapping is this man."

He pointed again, this time to a photo of a sullen looking stout man

Amber scowled at the ugly man on the whiteboard and Camilla took over to explain his background "His name is Dimitri Ivanovich and he is head of the Ivanovich crime syndicate here in New York. Wanted in connection with countless kidnapping and murder, rumour is he likes to interrogate and send the ransom messages himself."

The blonde froze in mid presentation at an almost inaudible gasp of pain from Alex as the last of the bandages came away slowly.

Alex was sweating with the agony of holding his arm outstretched for Paulo to examine. With held breath Camilla stared at the wound willing it not to bleed as pressure was taken off it. Alex's shoulders slumped in relief as the small bloody slit in his arm remained still without compression and the only blood appeared to be old. The blonde standing at the front finally breathed in relief too and had to combat the urge to hug her boy who looked so pale and weak.

"Knife can't have been that sharp for it to have stopped already." Paulo whispered to Alex as he opened the sterile packaging on some fresh bandages.

Explaining further he went on in a hushed whisper the two unaware that they were now the centre of attention.

"Arteries are funny like that, a very sharp cut like an incision doesn't cause such a strong spasm of the vessels smooth muscle to close the cut." Alex could merely nod weakly and wince as pressure was reapplied to his arm with gauze and bandage.

Camilla seemed to break from her spell and notice the others eyes upon her, clearing her throat loudly she carried on ignoring their amused looks. "Hex did a bit more digging and looked into the man's finances, which turned up some interesting results."

Hex retook the floor as he explained what he had found. "With a little investigation I found that I could track his transactions and it turns out Mr. Ivanovich owns a shell company that is paid for by previous ransoms. This shell company is involved heavily in shipping and storage around the docks."

He nodded back to Camilla who had the next piece of information. "The company owns one registered property a set of warehouses down at the docks that are supposably rented out for freight storage. After a bit more research we discovered that there are no account records at all for clients of these warehouses." She finished with raised eyebrows.

"Very suspicious" Li commented understanding what was implied.

Hex sighed, "I hate to say it but it is the best bet we have at the moment to find something out there and find where they are keeping your uncle." He admitted, looking frankly at Amber.

Amber nodded "I'm still pissed that we lost Miguel."

"Where could he have gone?" Li pondered.

"Where would you go if you thought you were being pursued and had to leave town?" Alex asked, finally speaking up and nursing a water bottle that Paulo had forced into his hands.

Li responded automatically "Honestly? I would probably want to swing by home first and grab a few things."

"Like a bug-out kit or something right?" Camilla agreed, suddenly looking more excited as they developed the idea.

"Maybe not a bad idea to check out his place and see if we can still catch him?" Alex put out there.

Amber nodded her head with a mean smile "I wouldn't mind having a word with that little weasel."

Hex's fingers were already staggering across the keys as she spoke and he looked up as Amber finished, turning his computer so she could see. "That's his address." He declared.

"Ok two leads, we split up to check them out?" Paulo suggested.

"I'm chasing the Rat." Amber instantly demanded, a vote that was seconded by Li beside her.

"No way I'm sitting this out either." Camilla declared stubbornly with a challenging look at Alex.

"I don't mind checking out the warehouses." Paulo suggested with a shrug, "Wouldn't mind some company though." He looked at Hex.

Hex had other ideas however; "I wanted to get my hands on the guy who sold out John actually." He admitted, torn between helping Paulo and keeping an eye on Amber.

Alex settled the issue for him.

"There is some pretty hi-tech surveillance equipment in the van that probably only you can use Hex. Do you mind taking the van with Paulo and checking out the warehouse? I can go in you place to Miguel's flat if you want?"

Hex fumed internally but nodded all the same, lately it felt like he was kept back from the action and that meant being separated from Amber. Neither he was particularly happy about.

Paulo looked happier for his company anyway and the two young men clutched up their gear and headed for the door.

"You guys be careful." Hex warned with a pointed look at Amber before he followed Paulo to the tinted van.


"So the rest of us go to have a chat with your gardener then?" Alex asked carefully pulling on a shirt much to his girls regret. He gently shrugged his arm into a sling that Paulo had already tied for him and popped a couple of Ibuprofen with water.

Alex ignored the worried looks he received from his friends as he prepared to head out to the car with them. Camilla stopped him in his tracks with a steely glance.

"There's no way you are coming in to find this guy with us Buster." She declared. Alex tried to play nonchalant and confused.

"Why not?" He demanded, "I'm fine my arm isn't even bleeding anymore."

The girls eyed his appearance, sure his colour had improved a little bit since they had returned but he had lost a bit of blood at the time.

"It could start again at any time though, come on Alex it wasn't a paper-cut, you were bloody stabbed." The blonde insisted, with the other two girls nodding their agreement.

Alex was starting to get a bit brassed off, he was fine to go with them and he felt responsible since he reassigned Hex from doing so.

"Fine." He sullenly said before snatching another sling from the first aid kit and looped it around his injured arm above the injury site. He crossed the ends tightly once and then oddly enough reached for a bread knife from the set table beside him. Alex carefully balanced the knife on top of the knot leaving the blunt blade and the handle hovering in the air. With a final deft movement of his good hand he tied another knot locking the steel knife securely in place on top of the white bandage.

"There" he announced triumphantly, "If It starts bleeding again I just twist the handle creating a tourniquet and securing it like that until it stops."

The girls didn't at all seem convinced by his confident assurances and reluctantly they allowed him to follow them to the BMW. Li drove as Amber locked in the coordinates for their destination in the GPS unit suckered to the windscreen.


Hex gazed in awe at the array of complicated surveillance equipment that lined the wall of the van and contents he had removed from the side lockers. "This is amazing!" He declared over the road noise to Paulo who was driving in the front.

"There is tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment back here."

He held a pair of infrared goggles up to his eyes and tested them out. "Top of the range stuff too." He added excitedly.

Paulo sighed to himself as his friend geeked it up in the back slobbering over the vast stores of technology they had came into possession of. Flicking his eyes across to the palmtop that lay forgotten on the passenger seat, he checked he was on the right course and merged across into the correct exit lane.

"Amazing." He heard Hex exclaim from the back. I almost forgot how much that guy like his gadgets, Paulo thought to himself sarcastically.

Reluctantly the hacker climbed through the gap in the front seats to take the passenger side once more, his eyes were still bright from his latest discoveries.

"Damn we got everything back there Paulo; audio, visual, mics, cameras, all manner of scopes and even a few weapons too." He chattered.

Paulo rolled his eyes in affection and didn't look up from the road; "You know Amber is going to be hellishly pissed if she finds any of those cameras in her shower?" He ribbed lightly.

Despite the fact it was just the two of them in the vehicle, Hex's face froze in shock at the comment and glared at the driver.

"I'm kidding amigo." Paulo surrendered at the withering stare he was receiving.

Hex shook his head unamused but conceded the scowl.

"How are things between you two anyway?" Paulo blurted out.

Expecting to be shot down again he was surprised when his friend sighed heavily in the seat beside him.

"Damn it mate, some days I just don't know." Hex admitted wearily. "I want to say something to her about how I feel but I always seem to freeze up and nothing comes out. Sometimes I just feel like maybe we are too different, people from two completely different worlds."

Paulo took his hand off the gear stick to clap his amigo on the shoulder and console him with a lowered voice.

"You are quite different people that is true but aren't opposites supposed to attract? Besides you both agree on the important issues and are united in trying to help others."

Hex nodded, still not entirely convinced, "How did you and Li pull it off?" He asked the South American.

Paulo turned to meet his eyes with a serious look.

"We didn't and that's the truth of it. While we care for each other very much it is nothing more then that, we decided long ago that we were perfectly happy just as friends. More brother and sister." He ammended before his cocky trademarked grin rolled across his easy features and he winked at Hex. "Besides hombre it leaves me free for all the other senoritas."

Hex laughed at his outrageous driver and smiled, the ability of the extraverted teen to cheer him up was never underrated.

"Camilla tried giving me the third degree about Alex before." Hex revealed, becoming more comfortable in their subject matter as it moved further from him and Amber.

"Oh yeah?" Paulo raised an eyebrow in interest as he indicated and turned left down a side street, the sight and sounds of the sea becoming clearer.

"Yeah I got the feeling things have been a bit rocky in their camp, Alex has been acting weird apparently."

Paulo chuckled "To be fair, Alex has always been a little weird right?"

The hacker laughed too, I don't think any of us are exactly what you would call normal he thought.

"It's Alex," Paulo explained with a shrug, "He will have some sort of silly responsible reason for ignoring such a beautiful Chica."

"Yea probably," Hex agreed, "I dunno, I know she's his girlfriend and everything but it all feels a bit weird having someone else know about Alpha Force and tag along helping us out."

Paulo considered this and thought back to Africa and remembered the girl walking right along with them even with her injured knee, fleeing a town under siege beside him and firing an assault rifle like a pro at an advancing enemy force.

He shrugged again, "She's a tough chick I'll give her that but yeah I think she distracts Alex a bit much."

Hex nodded his agreement before sitting upright in his chair, "Pull over here mate." He instructed.

Paulo complied and smoothly slid the van to a halt outside a chain link fence that surrounded a smattering of warehouses on the edge of the docks.


Given the late hour there was very little activity out on the street and Paulo was able to pull the van into a nearby alleyway without any witnesses.

"Now what?" he asked climbing into the back where the young hacker was already going through equipment again.

"We sneak on over and see what we can hear and see I guess." Hex replied holding up what looked like a pistol with a small dish around the base of where the barrel would run. He hefted a headset around his neck before he answered his friends questioning looks.

"This is a direction microphone," He explained "It greatly amplifies sound waves and makes it possible to eavesdrop on conversations even through walls."

"Cool." Paulo commented as he tightened the strap on a pair of night vision goggles that now sat on his head. "I've still got this stun gun, what have you got in the way of a weapon?"

The London teen gestured to a separate pile into which he had sorted weapons. It contained several small cylindrical canisters, a small can of high-powered pepper spray, two short silver rods with blackened handgrips that were unnaturally heavy and a long black riot baton in the same style as those that the police carried.

"I think those are grenades of some kind, Alex might know I don't really want to play with them." Hex decided sorting through his options.

"Pepperspray? Meh. I might have to go with the baton."

He lifted the heavy black stick from where it lay and was pleased by how it felt in his grip. The baton was a bit over a foot long with a second handle protruding from it about a third of the way down, it was made out of some kind of sturdy black material that gave it considerable weight and strength.

Armed and equipped the two teens slid out the sidedoor and into the quiet night.