"Mamamamama…" Was all Paulo heard as his eyes opened slowly; something was running around his room. He lifted his head from his pillow and glanced at the clock, 7.47 am. The thing that was in his room quietened down as it sensed him waking up and hid itself in the smallest shadow of the room. He mumbled something about being woken up and sat up; he groped around his bedside table for his watch but looked around as he couldn't find it. The shadow spread across the floor until the thing he wasn't used to was stood at the foot of his bed. He looked up and saw Eva held his watch in her hands and he was surprised to find that she knew she'd done something wrong. She smiled at him and held out the watch.

"Thanks," he moved forwards to take it but Eva took a step backwards, "hey," he muttered and moved forwards again but she moved back. "I really don't have time to play games kid," he mumbled, still half asleep. He flung his legs over the side of the bed and Eva tilted her head to see what he was doing. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the bedside table again; his wallet wasn't there. "Oh, you didn't?" He looked at Eva who held up his wallet, he stood up but she'd run out of the room before he had even taken a step. "Hey!" He shouted after her and walked out of his room to see where she'd gone, Li came out of her room at that same moment. She looked him up and down.

"Are you going to put some clothes on?" She said flatly, evidently Paulo had forgotten he was just in his underwear, he rolled his eyes.

"Tell no one." He said to her and she put a finger to her lips, chuckling to herself as he went back into his room. He went into his bathroom and when he emerged from it twenty minutes later he stood in his towel and watched as Eva put his belongings back on his bed with an innocent, apologetic look. "You're lucky you're cute." He said savagely and ruffled her hair as he walked past her, she ran out of the room a moment later.

"Paulo have you seen Eva?" He heard Alex say as he knocked at the door.

"Yeah she just ran out of here," Paulo said and he heard Alex suppress a heavy sigh.

"She's waking everyone up." He walked away from his friend's room, searching for his daughter who had recently developed a habit of running away from him. "Eva, get out here now!" He said loudly, finally losing his patience. Hex walked out of his room with Eva draped over his shoulder.

"Is this what you're looking for?" He said and sounded exhausted for some reason and Amber came out after him, smiling at Eva who was facing her.

"Sorry guys; she's only ever this hyper when family comes round…well I suppose you guys are pretty much family." Alex smiled at them and Amber nodded at Eva.

"Yep. I'm Aunty Amber." She said to Eva, wondering how much she could talk. "Aaammbbeerr." She said slowly, waiting for Eva to say it back, the little girl's face screwed up in concentration and she opened her mouth.

"Ammmuuurrr!" Hex laughed.

"We're still trying to master the letter b." Alex said as he took Eva from Hex. "When dad says get here he means it." Alex said to her and rolled his eyes as she pouted at him, "you learnt that look from your mother." He said to her.

"Hey," Li called to them as she walked out of the kitchen, "phone's ringing!" They all nodded and walked swiftly to the kitchen, everyone including Lily gathered around the phone as Li put it on loudspeaker. "This is Li Cheong, I've found them all." She waited for a response.

"Good," Brian Adams voice came through, "and they have all given consent?" They heard the sound of rustling paper, "Li, do you consent to this mission of which you have no idea?" He asked and Li looked around.

"Yes."

"Paulo?"

"Yes."

"Amber?"

"Yes."

"Me…Hex?" After a slight chuckle from the group;

"Yes."

"Alex."

"You're aware that I already work for the MOD?" Alex asked and put a hand over Eva's mouth as she began to attempt conversation with Li who was next to her. Adams seemed slightly surprised by Alex's question.

"Yes, as do I."

"Then why have I never heard of a Brian Adams working in the MOD?" He asked and everyone looked at Alex, Li raised an eyebrow; when she had met Adams he'd spoken as though he knew Alex.

"I work with MI7." He said and Alex laughed, everyone looked at him to elaborate.

"MI7 is a defunct department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence." He said knowledgeably, "it was part of the war office, set up to work in the fields of propaganda and censorship." Li bit her lip; had she been tricked? "In other words, MI7 no longer exists." He concluded and everyone looked back at the phone.

"What do you think happens to half of the unsuccessful operations run by your department?" Adams said, "who do you think picks up the pieces? Cleans up the mess?" He replied, "Talk to your head of department-"

"Mil's aware of MI7's operations?" Alex was shocked.

"Yes; he orchestrates the transfers. Here I'll put him on." They heard Adams say and they could hear the shuffling of positions so Mil could get to the phone.

"Alex?"

"Mil, since when was MI7 running?" Alex couldn't believe it, if what Adams was saying was true, being Head of Special Operations, that meant that Alex's missions were passed on to MI7 without him even knowing it.

"It's been running since the end of World War two," Mil's voice sounded slightly quieter and he spoke quicker than Adams so everyone had to lean in a little further to hear him properly. "All our failed or unexecuted missions get sent to them-"

"Why?" It was Lily who spoke, perhaps for the first time that morning, everyone looked to her in surprise and she shrugged. "If the missions are passed on that must mean MI7 is willing to do things other departments aren't, or their resources are wider but then why not hand the resources to MI6 or MI5?" What she said made sense and everyone was silently impressed, they turned back to the phone.

"Lily?" Came a voice, even quieter than before.

"Hey Milton," she said happily.

"That's true," he said after a moment, "MI7 are willing to do things we aren't-"

"So we're going to be working for either a corrupt or unorthodox department of the British government?" Amber asked, beginning to look concerned.

"Of course not." Mil said quickly, "when MI6 took on a mission seven years ago, before Alex joined us, we needed the best to see that this mission was successful. Unfortunately we lacked the survival expert, the navigator, the defence, the doctor, the hacker…" his voice trailed away, "so the mission was put away to MI7 until the time came where we could find the best. It's not that this mission will be unorthodox; it just needs to be completed." He stopped and they all looked around at each other, a little more at ease.

"Adams?" Paulo said and they heard the shuffling of Adams and Mil on the other end of the line.

"Yes?"

"When will we find out what this mission is exactly?" Paulo asked.

"We need to send you out for T&A first-"

"T&A?" Amber asked.

"Training and assessment," Alex answered her.

"If all goes well then you'll be signed up, you can drop out at any point if you don't want to carry on during the training. But once that's over you have no option; you'll know too much about the mission." Adams paused, "is that understood?" They all nodded but then realised he couldn't see them.

"Yes." They said slowly.

"A car will pick you up from where you are in four hours, be ready, and pack for all weathers." The line went dead; everyone looked around at each other.

"Is everything always this secretive with the Military Intelligence departments?" Li asked and Alex nodded sagely. He looked down at Eva as she pulled his chin towards her and smiled; she giggled at something and pointed at Amber.

"Amur!" She said.

"What's an amur?" Lily asked.

"She means me." Amber sighed and everyone laughed. "I think we'd better go shopping; I didn't really bring clothes for all weathers." Everyone nodded at her and the house was suddenly a buzz of chaos with everyone talking to each other from room to room as they prepared to leave, everyone trying to find Eva as she prepared to play hide and seek and finally leaving in two cars to go shopping in Granada. Completely unaware of what was happening just over a thousand miles away.

In an office block overlooking the Thames in London, a man was sat with a gun to his head, unmoving, waiting for the dreaded sound of a bullet ripping through his skull. No sound came, just his slow, rapid breathing.

"They're not stupid," he rasped to his potential murderer, but the man wasn't listening.

"You think Lily is as pretty as she sounds?" He asked and his victim was speechless for a moment.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason," the gun was taken away from his head but he couldn't move as he was tied to his chair, "thank you for your cooperation Mil, it's much appreciated." He moved away.

"Adams!" Mil shouted to the man, but he was gone.

Did everyone get what happened? I don't know if I explained it well enough…?