Having visited only once or twice before, the group was a little bit awkward about their destination.
Amber remembered the house exactly; indeed it would a hard memory for her to forget. As the group stood in front of simple, single story house, she couldn't help but think that the outside hadn't changed at all since Hex and her had visited eighteen months ago.
On the outside there was no change, but inside it was a whole different matter altogether.
Inside, the home and the family had lost a son.
A cold Northumbrian wind haunted across the group, creating an eerily similar feel to what it had been like last time.
Amber clutched Hex's hand as the sad memories arose from their last visit to Alex's house.
The four young adults shared a nervous glance at each other, the streetlights barely reaching them on the small suburban street. The presence of Paulo and Li helped, last time it had only been Amber and Hex who made the guilty journey up the small path to the door.
In trepidation, Amber raised a shaking hand and rapped firmly on the door.
Anticipation grew among the friends when movement could be heard inside, as someone came to answer their knock.
The heavy oaken door was bravely pulled back from inside to reveal Alex's father.
Standing at over six foot, he was a formidable looking man, with a hard physique despite his age. The resemblance between father and son was strong, the father however appearing much larger in build, the result of decades of fitness work. Having only met him once or twice prior, Li thought he looked exactly how she imagined an old Alex.
The only outward concessions to age were found on his head and in his face. Like his son, the man's hair was the same light blonde colour, the only difference being the peppering of grey throughout and the faded lustre at the edges. His face was creased with wrinkles; the aftermath of countless times of suffering, happiness and concentration.
Paulo got the feeling that lately the wrinkles wouldn't have been made much from happiness.
Lynx-eyed and tall enough to look Hex in the eye, he was a formidable presence for the unannounced guests.
Upon seeing the number of guests and their respective sizes, the homeowner took a half step back and his hands slunk to his collar. A modified defensive posture that went unrecognised by everyone but their master of self-defence, Li.
The stormy grey eyes seemed to pierce the group, guardedly.
The four friends stood in awed silence as they were overwhelmed by the resemblance to their missing mate.
"What do you want?" He enquired in a slow voice as deep as thunder, seeming to not recognise the young people in front of him.
The grim baritone almost made Amber want to apologise for getting the wrong house and leave, but the hand in hers helped her stay. Unsteadily she spoke up for the group.
"Uh, Mr. Miller? Sir, I don't know if you remember us, but I'm Amber and this is Hex."
She paused in her reintroduction, as he didn't respond.
"We were, ah rather are, friends of Alex. May we come in?" she finally continued, wondering again to herself if it was such a good idea.
At the mention of his son, the seasoned soldier seemed to grow taller and harder looking.
"What is this all about now?" He asked coldly, the question a warning, as he stepped aside to allow the friends into his home.
Mr. Miller appeared to relax as the group moved into the light of the house. As if recognising them for the first time, he greeted them each properly in turn before guiding them into the modest lounge.
I guess a guy with his history is bound to have few enemies, Hex concluded, noticing the change. Is this going to be us in a few years time? Suspicious every time there is a knock on the door? He suddenly realised with a jolt in his gut.
"Alex was lucky to have such good friends, even if all you did was get up to mischief." Mr. Miller conceded sadly, a compliment with a backhand to it.
Paulo lowered his head at the statement. He felt sorry for the hardened man, who obviously missed his only son something fierce.
Amber and Hex shared a silent look, reassuring each other that they did the right thing in telling Alex's parents about Alpha Force. The group discussed it and they felt obliged to do so after he disappeared.
"Well that is part of what we are here about Mr. Miller." Amber confessed. "Recent events have led us to believe that we may be in danger because of past actions as Alpha Force.
Alex's father narrowed his gaze on her and grunted, "Go on."
"We have reason to believe that Alex might also be in danger Sir." Paulo elaborated.
The wizened man sidestepped the second half of the explanation and latched onto the first.
"What makes you think that you are endanger?" He questioned them obtusely.
"The attempts on each of out lives was the give away for me Mr. Miller." Li decided with sarcasm.
Now he was really listening.
"Individual attempts?" He reiterated, seeking further clarification.
"With poisons, firearms, bombs and no regard for collateral damage." Paulo explained morosely.
"Please just call me Steve," Alex's dad replied and he stood suddenly.
He addressed the group at large.
"It certainly sounds serious, what is going on and I think you are right in thinking the deadly side of things may carry as far as my son."
The group rose to their feet and followed Steve to the garage of the suburban home.
The passed photos of a proud father and son, with a happy mother. A young Alex playing with matches in the garden. Uniformed hardmen and pictures of the two males in the bush looked out at them from their frames in the hall.
Li's chest gave a little jump to see that their group photo had made the wall of fame too.
A single, bare bulb dangled from the ceiling and cast shadows in the neat and orderly garage, everything had its place and Steve knew exactly where to go, to find what he needed.
It's nothing like my fathers garage, Paulo thought in amusement, remembering the cluttered work desk and overflowing bins full of spare machinery parts. It could not have contrasted stronger with the very neat, very organised room he now stood in. Back home, the floor was bare shingle, stained from spilled oil and dripped grease.
His dad always seemed to have a project to work on in there, whether it was one of the bikes or a saddle for the horse. There was always an empty space on the far bench though, this was where Paulo had sat when he was younger to watch his father work to maintain the ranch's fleet. When he got older he started to help more and watch less, the whole time he learnt in fascination about the wonderful nature of machines.
Taking in the simple room Hex revised his previous thoughts about it being Spartan, as he noticed posters on the walls calling for troopers; the words silhouetted by a winged dagger. Challenges for Selection, were emblazoned over the shadow of an armed assault team. Plaques, trophies and various other military awards decorated the space, giving it the feel of a shrine to achievement embodied in a room.
A weightlifting bench was tucked neatly in one corner with an impressive load in the collars. Is Steve lifting all that, Hex thought in amazement, eyeing the extreme weight and thinking it would be too much for him or Paulo to move. On the beam above the bench, a bar was suspended horizontally, for what Hex assumed was for doing chin-ups on.
"So you know where Alex is?" Amber pressed the older man, as she followed him around the double garage.
From under the workbench he slid out a heavy, locked mortar crate. He found his key for the padlock before answering her.
"I've got a pretty good idea where to start looking." He firmly declared, as if it was the only logical place he could be.
He gestured to several fish boxes stacked against the wall.
"It's going to be nippy where he is, grab whatever cold weather gear you need from the boxes."
Everyone bar Hex, started sifting through the loaded containers of gear, finding gloves, balaclavas, shemaghs and smocks.
Hex was preoccupied with watching Steve, as he withdrew a weathered looking snow camouflage MOLLE daypack.
"Boys, there will be boots in your sizes at the bottom. Ladies; we will have to pick you up some on the way." He informed them.
"Wait, you're planning on coming with us?" Hex asked suddenly, picking up on the 'we' in the last sentence.
Steve Miller rounded on him, drawing his considerable height.
"You bet your arse I am. It sounds like you are dealing with professionals, to beat them you may need one yourself."
He followed up his declaration with a sad smile, his grey eyes holding the exact emotion his son's had when he left.
"Besides, it is long overdue that I visited my son."
The four friends slept on the couches that night and they left the next morning before it was light.
A single note on the bench from Steve was enough to explain things to his wife, it read:
Alex needs me.
S.
"She would understand," was all the answer he gave Amber, as she watched him scrawl the message.
"Is it alright for you to just leave like this without telling the SAS?" Li asked him from the passenger seat as they drove to the airport.
Steve didn't break contact with the road for a second, as he hesitantly answered her in his gravely voice.
"I'm uh, not with the Group anymore actually. Not operationally anyway, I'm helping with the selection and training of new Troopers."
"I'm getting a bit too old to be kicking in doors and making forty km tabs in the desert." He finished, sounding a little bit despondent but giving her a wink all the same.
"Oh." Li responded in astonishment, not really knowing what else to say.
"From what Alex always told me about your groups activities on the books, I half-expected to see one of your names on my nominal role for selection one day." He admitted with typically slow Miller smile.
Amber listened to the exchange with interest; she was surprised that Steve had retired to a teaching and directing staff role. From Alex had always told them, his dad was one of the best and loved the work.
What had caused that change?
She sent Hex a questioning look and received a nod for her effort. It was becoming increasingly frequent that her partner was on the same wavelength as her and they were able to communicate without a word passing between them.
A honk and some angry shouts threw Amber from this pleasing thought, as Steve swerved through an intersection, cutting off a milkman.
Beside her, Paulo shuddered at the older man's poor driving.
If he taught Alex to drive, then it is the last time we're letting our boy drive the Unimog! He though smarmily.
To Steve's credit they arrived at the airport alive, albeit having not had the smoothest ride there.
They entered the terminal and Steve immediately took charge.
"Follow my lead five minutes apart, if you have a fake passport, use it." He instructed before walking up to the booking counter.
Luckily, because of Hex's skills on a computer and some of the less the reputable friends he had made in cyberspace, they had all acquired a couple of forged passports for this eventuality. Hex had even backed them up electronically so there would be no problems with the chips in them.
Steve spoke in a clear loud voice when he made his booking.
"One-way, economy class ticket to Calgary Canada please." He requested making sure the others heard him.
"Canada?" Li mouthed to Paulo, who shrugged.
With their mystery destination revealed, the team brought their tickets as instructed and had boarded within the hour.
The flight was virtually empty and the group relaxed a bit, confident they were safe for the journey.
Several hours and a broken sleep later, they touched down in Canada; where the people are friendly and the snow is abundant.
The group silently thanked Steve for outfitting them correctly for the journey. It only struck Hex as ominous that all their cold weather gear was in a muted white colour.
With a rented car they set off for some obscure point that Steve knew of in Northern Canada.
Thankfully the older man had to focus on the navigation and relinquished the wheel to the four friends instead.
It was a journey of over six hours and Paulo took the first shift before he swapped out with Hex, so he could get some shuteye.
The three in the back were all soon asleep, Amber and Paulo leaned into the middle, squashing the smaller Li in their slumber.
The hacker smiled into his mirror at the view of his girlfriend asleep on the pile, happier then he had seen her in a long while.
Steve caught his expression and shook his head disapprovingly, despite the easy grin he wore.
"Fraternisation within a unit, I've never approved." He declared in amusement.
Hex hesitated, not quite knowing what to say to that.
"In my experience, it compromises both the integrity and battle efficiency of a unit." He explained, still not sounding to reproachable.
"Well I wouldn't exactly call us a battle unit." Hex redressed, dodging the main thrust of the point.
"Any unit that gets into trouble and has to fight their way out is a battle unit aren't they? Even if fighting wasn't their original intention." Steve suggested, with a slight rebuke to his tone.
Hex took a moment to check his passengers were sleeping before he replied.
"To be honest, I don't know how much longer we can be called a unit for." Hex admitted plainly, vocalising months of accumulated thoughts.
"Why's that?" the soldier asked, his curiosity roused by the intelligent hackers negative statement.
"Well to start with, we aren't much good without Alex. I don't quite know everything it was he added but now that it's gone we barely get by as a group." Hex awkwardly explained, all to aware he was mentioning the man's missing son.
Steve didn't reply but seemed to grow with a father's pride.
"And nowadays, everyone is becoming so busy outside of the group, saving the world in their own ways that we barely see each other anymore. We've all got lives and jobs that demand more and more of our time." He continued, spilling his thoughts.
The passenger nodded in acknowledgment, but let the driver carry on his toil uninterrupted.
"Finally our missions just seem to get harder too, nothing is black and white anymore. It has taken its toll on everyone and I think that was part of why Alex left. Jeez the last mission we did without him was a bloody disaster." Hex finished in exasperation.
He cringed internally, remembering the fiasco in Mexico, the unanswered questions and unresolved problems. It was the first time they tried to do something since Alex left and it all went to hell in a hand basket. Amber and him especially lost a lot of sleep over that mission and its outcome.
It felt better having shared his thoughts and Hex realised that he hadn't minded talking to Alex's dad about these things. He actually felt a wave of jealousy towards his absent friend, considering the lacking father figure from his own life. It was something he hadn't known about to miss, but now he felt as though he had really lost out. Thanks dad, he cursed his paternal figure with sarcasm and not for the first time either.
Steve took all this in with silence, finally he spoke.
"Life becomes harder as things change Hex, one thing you will notice is that when that happens people have a tendency to take the easy way out. In this instance, the easiest option for you and your friends is to focus on your own civilian endeavours and slowly phase out your collective missions. You all feel like you are helping people in a way, but it denotes a reduced risk them the quasi-legal operations you conducted as Alpha Force. It is understandable too, for so long you guys have grown and adapted to combat global injustice however it presented right?"
Hex nodded dryly at his correct assessment and Steve continued.
"The changes you have all made to keep being Alpha Force hasn't always been pleasant though, have they? You've come face to face with suffering and death, even dealt it at times, I can see the scars."
Hex was speechless from the soldier's summary.
"The way I see it, you are left with only two options really aren't you?" Steve presented, eyeing him intently and holding out one in each hand.
"You could take the easiest way and further integrate yourself into society, finding a path and place where you can get some fulfilment from helping others or fighting injustice in the world. Or you can further adapt, grow as a team and a force into the people you have to be to get the results in a changing world. The changes may not be easy, or pleasant but they will mean you survive and keep surviving."
When he boiled it down to that it made a lot of sense to Hex. Adapt to overcome or call it quits and be happy with what we have done and still can do.
"So what's the right answer then?" Hex finally asked him, unsure of his own stance on things.
Steve chuckled sadly, "Well that is a choice you need to make as a group now isn't it?"
With the new choice to consider, Hex slipped back into silence and concentrated once more on the road.