Sorry it took me a while to update - Word broke down on my computer and all that bla bla bla. Thanks for the reviews I've had so far!

They arrived at the park five minutes later. John Middleton had flown through the traffic, and Paulo was still trying to work out how he did it. Amber's uncle stopped outside the entrance, and Amber got out as if she was a movie star. She flicked her hair and leaned in to kiss John goodbye, before shutting the door and waiting for the others to get out. It was interesting to see how different they reacted to Amber, with their heads down trying not to be seen.

"Oh, come on, guys. Who wouldn't want a lift in a car like that?" She glared at Hex as he suddenly had a particularly violent coughing fit, then waved at her uncle as he drove off. She turned to the park with a flourish, and found a spot under a tree. The others followed and sat around her, looking uncomfortable.

"Do you come here often?" asked Li, eyeing the children playing on the swings and the slide nearby. There were a few women with pushchairs, and old men walking dogs, as well as a few other groups of people their own age scattered about the grass. Amber shrugged.

"Occasionally," she replied, sitting down and opening her bag, "Uncle gave me some sandwiches for lunch, if you guys want one,"

"Gosh, how much stuff can you fit in there?" Paulo leaned forwards, inspecting the contents of Ambers bag, "Ouch!" he cried as Amber slapped his hand and glared at him. She pulled out five sandwich bags.

"Wait, I'm not eating that…" began Hex, but was interrupted with a look from Amber. He shrugged. There was no point in arguing. Amber never listened.

Amber continued handing out the sandwiches and lastly kept one for herself. Before she started, she injected herself, making sure no one else in the park saw. She didn't mind the rest of Alpha Force seeing, as they were used to it and made no reaction. She saw an eight year old kid standing nearby, staring at her in wonder. She put away her kit and gave him her best glare, before he blushed and turned away, running back to his mum.

Li leaned back in the sunshine. It had to be at least thirty degrees, and she felt the warm sun beating down on her face. Her sandwich was delicious. She didn't know what was inside it but she liked it, for sure.

"Mm, this is the life," she murmured. Paulo looked at her and laughed.

"I think I might join you," he said and leaned back next to her. Alex cast a glance at Amber and Hex and shook his head.

"Those two…" he began and turned his attention back to his sandwich.

The day passed lazily and drew near to evening. They were still wandering around the streets of Boston after they'd finished talking in the park. Amber led the way towards a café she knew, while the others followed. She loved being with them. She had plenty of friends at her school, but it wasn't the same being surrounded by girls who only knew her because she was rich, or because they pitied her when her parents were killed. Although she had grown up with most of the girls at her school, she felt much more at home with the rest of Alpha Force, who didn't judge her in any way. She laughed inside as she thought of how different they were: Alex, enjoying the cold mountains of Northumberland with his mother and father; Hex from a rough area of London, knowing how to take good care of himself; Paulo from his ranch in Argentina, surrounded by cows and Li, who travelled all around the world with her zoologist parents. They couldn't be a more different group. However, she thought, maybe it was because of their differences that they were such a close team.

Amber found the cafe and joined the queue, before turning towards the other four.

"Do you guys wanna find a table, and I'll place an order? And Alex? Can you come back and tell me what the others want?" Alex nodded and they walked over towards a round table next to the window. Jack, the manager of the cafe, was busy serving another customer so Amber watched the others as she waited. Li ordered first, and took her time over her decision. Paulo didn't even look at the menu, he just ordered the same as Li. Hex just glanced at it and ordered the first thing he saw. Probably fast food, Amber thought.

"Amber! And how can I help you?" It was Jack. He'd finished serving the man in front and was smiling enthusiastically at Amber. She smiled back and moved up to the till.

"Hey Jack," she began," I dunno what I want yet. My friend's just getting the order now." She nodded over towards the table. Jack looked past her shoulder to see who she was talking about.

"They're new. Never seen them before."

"No, I know. They're not exactly local."

"Really? Where they from?"

"London, Northumberland, Argentina, and everywhere." Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"You're serious? You've a wide range of friends." Amber laughed, just as Alex came back with the order.

"This is Alex. He's the one from Northumberland." Alex glanced at her.

"Hi, Alex, I'm Jack. Nice to meet you." Alex smiled back. He wasn't used to being surrounded by Americans, and every time someone said something he was a little taken aback by their accent.

"Oh - hi. Um, can we have two portions of chips, two cheeseburgers and whatever Amber wants..." Alex began. Amber smirked when he mentioned the chips and cheeseburgers. That was so fast food.

Hex looked up from his palmtop when Li made a particularly loud shriek. She was playing noughts and crosses with Paulo on a table napkin, using a fork to indent it instead of a pen, and Paulo had just beat her for the fifth time in a row. Paulo laughed and looked up.

"See, Hex, this is how you survive when you don't have a pen or paper. Table napkins and forks do just fine." Hex frowned.

"Of course, and you need to play noughts and crosses to survive, don't you?" he said sarcastically. Paulo grinned again.

"You any good?" Hex shrugged and leaned forwards. Paulo handed him a fork and drew out the grid, while Li watched intently.

And Hex finished by putting a cross next to his other two. He sat back, grinning at Paulo, with his arms crossed casually against his chest. Paulo was staring at the napkin in disbelief.

"Wha - how...?" he started, and the banged his hand against the table, "Right, we're doing a rematch." Li laughed and Paulo drew out another grid, "And I'm starting this time," he said.

He proceeded to lose three matches out of three, when he gave up. He couldn't bear the look of triumph on Hex's face, but he had to admit he'd been beaten badly.

"Don't know what you're grinning at. It's not like - it's not like being great at noughts and crosses is anything to be proud of, anyway." he muttered under his breath. Hex shook his head and put his palmtop away when he saw Amber and Alex approaching with their meal.

"Mm, smells good," Li sniffed as the tray came closer. Hex peered at the five plates balanced on it.

"Trust Amber to get the most expensive meal on the menu. It probably costs as much as all of ours together." He said, as Alex and Amber sat down, Amber still fumbling to get the change in her purse.

"Actually," she said, "It was half price. Only as much as two of your meals put together." Her eyes twinkled. Hex scowled and took one of the cheeseburgers, unwrapped it and took a bite. The others all followed, and within a few minutes, every plate was clean. Except for Amber's, of which was too much for her to finish.

Paulo had his back to the window. He had finished his portion of chips, and half of Li's and was full up. They had been huge portions, and each plate was about the size of a cow's head. Not a great comparison, but he was very familiar with sizes of cow's heads.

Amber was talking about other sights in Boston which they could visit over the next week or two, but nobody was really listening. They weren't used to life like this at all. Usually, at Easter, they would be caught up with homework or revision, but Amber had insisted they'd leave it all behind. Usually, on their missions, they might bring along a piece of coursework or something that they could work on during their free time, but now they were almost bored with nothing to do.

"... and there's the Beacon Hill, which you guys might want to try out... Hex?" Amber stopped abruptly and Paulo looked up. Hex was staring out of the window at something, a look of shock steadily growing on his face.

"Get down!" he suddenly yelled, and ducked under the table. Paulo and Li and the others didn't need telling twice. Immediately they ducked, pulling other customers down with them, not even knowing what they were ducking from.

Someone screamed.

And then Paulo realised what Hex had shouted for. As if in slow motion, the windows along the cafe smashed as one, and every person in the cafe shrieked, using anything within their reach to protect themselves.

And then there was the sound of an immense amount of shattering glass, by what could only be a lorry on fire, driven crazily into the building, ready to kill anything in its way.

And that would be all! For now! Again, reviews would be greatly appreciated, as it's my first story. Thanks to you guys who did!