As the boot was thrown open, Amber couldn't help but whimper and cringe. Lilia chuckled and pulled Amber from the boot, dumping her on the ground. She turned her back and started to walk away, but not before she heard Amber's muttered comment.

'What did you say?' Lilia hissed, turning back to Amber.

Realising she had just landed herself in even hotter water, Amber tried to bluff her ay out. 'Huh? What? I didn't say anything.'

Lilia growled and reached Amber in two huge strides. She viciously kicked Amber in the knee, grinning as Amber gasped and clutched her leg in agony. 'Watch your mouth,' she added, walking away again.

Tears of frustration and pain welled up in Amber's eyes but she blinked them away. Still gripping her injured knee, Amber looked around her properly, knowing that if she was to have any chance of escaping she'd need to be familiar with the surrounding area. They appeared to have ended up in a warehouse. A solid block of concrete stretched for 20 metres in either direction. Boxes were piled in one corner and, Amber noticed with secret delight, a few metres to the left of them was a window. There were no other windows in the warehouse and the doors had padlocks attached to them. In the opposite corner to the boxes sat four cars and, leaning on the bonnet of one of the cars, were Lilia and Tanya. Tanya had a lit cigarette hanging out one corner of her mouth and she was sucking on it anxiously.

'What do we do with her now?' Tanya asked. She took the cigarette out of her mouth and blow out a puff of smoke.

'We have to leave,' began Lilia. 'We're both in deep shit now. We'll get rid of her and all the evidence.'

'How?'

Lilia pulled Tanya's cigarette lighter out of her friend's grip and flicked it. A small tongue of flame leapt upwards. 'Fire. Start a fire, boxes destroyed, she's burned to death... Everyone's happy and we're home free.'

Tanya nodded slowly before dropping her cigarette on the ground and grinding it under the toe of her boot. 'Do we have to kill her?' she asked suddenly.

'What?' Lilia looked at Tanya and gave her a reassuring yet threatening smile. 'Of course we do.' She put her hands on Tanya's shoulders and squeezed gently. 'You know we have to.'

'I don't know if I can do this, Lilia,' mumbled Tanya, trying to turn away from Lilia, but being stopped by the hands holding her shoulders tightly.

'I think you can,' said Lilia forcefully. 'I know you can.' Releasing her grip on Tanya's shoulders, Lilia picked up the lighter again and pressed it into her friend's hand. 'Prove me right.'

Tanya flicked the lighter, making a flame leap then die, leap then die. In an almost trance-like state, Tanya started to walk towards the boxes, still flicking the lighter. As she passed by, Amber called out to her.

'Tanya, please. Think about this.' Amber had to stop as her eyes once again filled with tears. 'Please.'

Tanya halted a metre in front of Amber. For a few seconds she just stood there, staring at the boxes. Suddenly she turned around towards Amber.

'Tanya!' Lilia called sharply. 'Hurry up.'

'I'm sorry, Lilia,' whispered Tanya, before she rushed towards Amber.

There was a howl of rage before a crack echoed about the warehouse. For a split second Amber thought Tanya had stumbled, but then she fell heavily to the ground and Amber knew she'd been shot.

'Tanya!' she cried. Despite the fact that just minutes before, Tanya had been about to set fire to the warehouse and leave her to burn, Amber felt sick. She wanted to go and help Tanya but, beside the fact that she was tied up, Lilia had a gun and she was angry as hell.

Tanya was lying deathly still on the cold concrete. Amber had no idea where the bullet had hit, but blood was oozing from her body and forming a huge pool. Amber felt bile rise in her throat and she turned away, unable to bear the sight any longer. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, but she could still hear Lilia bustling about, tutting quietly to herself.

'I think I'll take you, Licketty Split,' Lilia cooed, patting a lime green car on its bonnet. 'We'll be outta here as soon as I've dealt with a teensy little problem.' Amber heard Lilia's footsteps get closer and she couldn't help but open her eyes, though as soon as she did she wished she hadn't. Lilia had casually grabbed Tanya's shoulder and rolled her over before grabby her clammy hand and pulling the lighter from her grip. The blood spreading about her didn't seem to faze Lilia in the slightest. She sighed.

'Sorry, Tanya, but I guess I should never have trusted you.' For a split second, sadness showed in her eyes, but all too quickly it was gone. Lilia barely glanced at Amber before she hurried over to the boxes, bending down and touching the flame to several bits of cardboard. The flames quickly took hold, lunging greedily at the boxes and engulfing them with fire. Lilia surveyed her handiwork before hurrying back to her car and chucking two bags into the backseat. The door was unlocked and Lilia drove through. Amber felt a glimmer of hope, but it was quickly squashed when the car stopped and Lilia once again locked the door, but this time from the outside.

Smoke curled towards her and Amber gave a racking cough. Panic whelmed up inside her and Amber realised with horror that if she didn't get out in the next few minutes, she was going to burn to death. The window was the only option, but to climb up to and out of it, she'd need her hands untied. Steeling herself, Amber wriggled over to Tanya's body and gently nudged through her pockets, trying to find a knife or something sharp enough to break through the ropes. A small knife in Tanya's sock provided Amber with the break she needed. Awkwardly holding the knife between her feet, Amber sawed carefully at the rope, all too aware of the fire raging nearby.

Inspector Fenway grabbed her radio and listened intently. Immediately Harry, Hex, Li, Alex and Paulo all sat up straighter and tried to hear what was going on, but the radio static was terrible and it was obvious that even Fenway was having a hard time deciphering the message.

'What was it?' Li asked as the Inspector dropped the radio and grabbed her hat.

'It might be nothing,' she answered, 'but there's a report of a fire down by the storage warehouses on Kings Street. No one lives down there but apparently the smoke's fairly visible now.' Fenway ended up talking to herself as her five companions leapt out of their chairs and darted out of the door.

The last strand of rope finally snapped. Amber coughed again, feeling the smoke sear her lungs and throat, but she pushed herself upright and staggered towards the window. The heat closer to the fire was almost unbearable, but Amber gritted her teeth and moved nearer, determined to get out. One of the cars was parked fairly near to the window and Amber clambered on top of it. Standing on the roof, arms stretched up, the window was still just under a metre above her. Tiredness overwhelmed her and Amber felt a sudden longing to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. She felt desperately thirsty and light-headed, but put it down to the fire.

Gathering every last ounce of strength and courage, Amber crouched slightly and sprung towards the window. Her hands flailed for the edge and just managed to snag it. A split second later, Amber's body slammed into the concrete wall and she felt a wave of pain explode in her knee again. Ignoring it, Amber pulled herself desperately up, trying to get her whole body up and out of the window, but she just didn't have the energy. Her fingers were in danger of slipping and Amber wondered what would happen if she just let go.

Suddenly, the wail of sirens cut into her thoughts. It sparked Amber's last reserves of strength, knowing that help was on the way and, with a furious cry, she pulled herself up to the window ledge. Half hanging out the window, Amber's vision swam slightly but she shook her head and cleared it. Flashing lights, wailing sirens and people rushing every where. Amber looked down and saw, just to her left, a group of firemen rushing about, trailing a fire hose after them. Police swarmed in from her left and then, finally, someone looked up and noticed her.

'Get a ladder!' someone yelled. Amber smiled in relief, glad that someone else was taking over, making decisions for her, and lost consciousness.

'How are you feeling?' Alex asked.

Amber shrugged and indicated "so-so" with her hand. 'Been worse but then I've been a lot better as well.'

'I'm just glad you're ok,' said Li with feeling, hugging Amber with one arm.

It was the day after the warehouse incident, as Harry had now dubbed it, and Amber was recuperating in hospital. After she'd been rescued from the warehouse, Amber had been put in an ambulance, given oxygen and insulin, before being whisked off to hospital. This was the first chance that the five friends had had to catch up.

'They caught Lilia,' Paulo said quietly. 'She was trying to leave for Spain but they nabbed her at the airport. She'll be in prison for a long time.'

'Good,' Li nodded. 'After what she did she deserves to never come out.'

'Harry was mortified to learn about Tanya,' added Hex.

'The fact that she's dead or the fact she betrayed his trust and endangered God knows how many lives?' Amber raised an eyebrow.

'Both, but I think he was more shocked than angry that she was working with Lilia.'

There was silence for a few minutes before Amber ventured, 'Speaking of Harry... What did he say exactly?'

'About what?' Li asked.

'This mission as a whole.'

'Oh. He said that we did well under the circumstances and, considering it was our first mission, he was amazed that we got a result.'

'Not much of a result though, is it?' sighed Amber sadly. 'Tanya wound up dead and I was almost burnt to death. Lilia almost got away and heaps of evidence was destroyed.'

'Harry didn't seem to think it was that bad.' Alex leaned back in his chair and grinned. 'He even said something about having another mission for us already.'

'Yeah right,' scoffed Amber. 'We'll be up to our ears in paperwork until we retire.'

'You never know,' Alex continued. 'But all that matters now is that we're alive and relatively well. Focus on that for the moment and don't worry about our next mission, if and when we get it.'

Harry stepped away from the ward door, smiling to himself. They have no idea what I've got in store for them, he thought. Pulling out his mobile phone, Harry walked outside; he had a few phone calls to make.

The first chapter of my next fic will most likely be up tomorrow. Like I said, it ties in with this one sort of, but not too much. Hope you've enjoyed this fic and I'll apologise for my writing towards the end. It sounded a bit sloppy to me, but I've rewrote parts of it time after time and couldn't really do much else to it. Some chapters just are difficult to write.