Yes! So far I've had two reviews for every chaper. Thanks to Elledreamer and SuperTD for all your reviews! xxx

The windows in Amber's room - in fact her whole house - were flung wide open. It was very hot, and they'd all just eaten an ice cream from Amber's walk-in freezer. They were all in the lounge, Hex and Amber sharing a sofa, Paulo and Alex on armchairs and Li sat on the floor. The morning news was on Amber's wide screen TV, showing the latest headlines.

"...and finally, last night a lorry on fire smashed into a cafe in Boston. Fortunately nobody was injured, as everybody managed to get outside before the lorry exploded. Over in Boston, right outside the scene, we chat to some witnesses." The screen changed to show the ruins of Jack's cafe. The building looked about ready to collapse any moment, and the area was surrounded by yellow tape to keep the public away. The reporter, a middle-aged man with greying hair and round glasses, stood outside with the woman whose son Hex and Alex had rescued from the toilets.

"It was like - these kids, they were only kids. Fifteen or sixteen years old, I'd say? They seemed to know what they were doing. They rounded everyone outside, and two of them went back to get my son, who was in the toilets at the time." She said. Then Amber noticed her son at her side, smiling goofily at the camera.

"And what was it like to see a lorry flying towards you?" asked the reporter, probing forwards with the microphone.

"Well, as you can imagine I was terrified..." Amber picked up the remote and turned the volume down. Turning to the others, she said,

"So I guess they're not revealing any information to the public, like why the heck someone would want to drive a lorry into random cafes..." She sighed and sat down. Nobody knew what to say. They hadn't heard from Jack since the incident, and Amber assumed he was living with his wife a few miles away. Hex got out his palmtop and started tapping away at the keyboards. Amber looked over his shoulder, "So now what are you looking at?"

Hex answered with a question: "Do any of you guys remember seeing the name on the lorry?" Li thought for a moment.

"Yeah, I had a quick look before I ran out. Knew it might come in useful. It was - " Li stopped to think for a moment, and Hex looked up eagerly, " - somebody and Son. Brady - Brody? Yeah, that's the one! Brody and Son." Li finished with an 'I told you so' look, but Hex just turned his attention back to the screen.

"I could probably find out some stuff..." he said, eyes transfixed on the screen.

Ten minutes later, Hex leaned forward with a satisfying smile on his face. They were still in Amber's living room, and while the others had been talking, Hex had been finding important information about the lorry crash. He turned the screen round so the others could see, and showed them the contents of the web page with a flourish. The others peered at it in anticipation.

"I hacked into Brody and Son's email account," he explained, "and found some emails adressed to a particular Mr Scrivens - "

"What?" Amber almost shouted, grabbing the palmtop and looking closer for herself. Ignoring Hex's protests, she opened one up and read it aloud.

"Dear Mr J Scrivens. We have noticed that you have failed to tell us where it is. You know what we mean. Failure to do this by the 22nd March, we will be forced to consider taking serious action. Yours, Mr O. Brody. It's dated last year." Amber finished.

"Didn't tell him what?" said Paulo, "Brody and Son could be anything. Jack just didn't tell them his credit card number, that's all. Hex, did you find out what they did for a living?" Hex shrugged.

"Plumbing."

"You're kidding, right?" Amber looked up startled. When Hex shook his head quite seriously, she opened up the next email and read that one out too. It was similar to the first, only more urgent, and a hint of a threat. She continued to open all the ones adressed to Jack, about fifteen in all, and the most recent only five days ago. She read the eleventh one in silence, too taken aback to read it out loud. "Oh my gosh," she whispered.

"What? What does it say?" probed Li impatiently.

"They - they robbed his house because of this - whatever he won't tell them." She continued to open more emails. "Stole his car and crashed it." She shook her head, "This has to be something big."

"Look at his inbox," said Hex, "See if Jack ever replied." Amber nodded subtly and obeyed. There was nothing. Not one email.

"Either he didn't reply, or they deleted every email they got from him." She said, smiling ruefully.

"Or he communicated by phonecalls, or something. We could find that out if we could get hold of either Jack's or Brody's mobile network." Hex replied.

"But why would he delete his inbox but not his outbox?" Alex spoke up for the first time. Paulo shrugged.

"He forgot?"

"Oh, brilliant, Sherlock." Hex's voice dripped with sarcasm. Nobody knew what to say. Jack had disappeared - Amber had already tried calling his mobile but it was switched off. They were caught up in the middle of something. Suddenly Alex snapped his fingers and sat up straight, excitement in his eyes.

"Wait a minute - why didn't we think of this before?" He said. The others looked at him in bewilderment. He continued, "Hex - when you were watching the fire, was anybody actually in the cabin? I mean, lorries don't drive into buildings on their own. There must have been someone in there." Hex frowned. He hadn't got too close to the cabin, so he hadn't seen anything inside. But then he remembered catching a glimpse of empty seats. He shook his head.

"There was no one in there." He said.

"Sure?" Alex said. Hex nodded confidently.

"I see what you mean, though. They could have crashed it and done a runner. It was only glass they went through so it wouldn't have done the lorry much damage, and the fire wasn't big when they crashed it." Hex thought.

"A runner where?" Paulo voiced all of their thoughts. No one had an answer to that.

"Or maybe - maybe he quickly got out and pretended he was one of the customers. I guess that's our only option. The rest of the building was completely smashed, so he couldn't have gone anywhere. And we would have seen him if he'd ran out." Li spoke up, and the others nodded. Paulo frowned.

"There were fourteen customers, two waitresses and Jack. That makes seventeen people."

"And it could have been any one of them." muttered Hex, "So what now?"

"Well, I dunno about you guys, but we've only just arrived. So why don't we have a bit of fun, work off the stress, and get back to it? It's better than nothing." Li jumped up. her mind already set on the idea. Paulo grinned and stood up too.

"I'm with you on that one," he said.

Amber's swimming pool was in the corner of the grounds, surrounded by paved flooring, deckchairs and tables. It was olympic-sized but with a different shape, with more curves, and there was a jacuzzi at the far end. There were three huts next to it, for changing, and two diving boards at different levels at the deep end. The shallow end was only two feet deep, sloping down gently along the length of the pool. Opposite the huts was a shed, which included inflatables and a fold-up water slide. It wasn't too bad, Li thought.

With a shout like a war cry, Paulo ran forwards and leapt in from the hut he used to change in, creating a splash which Li was sure soaked half Amber's grounds. Li shrieked and dived underwater to avoid getting splashed. Not that it made her any drier in the long run. As soon as Paulo's splash calmed down, Alex and Hex weren't far behind. They were lucky it was a deep pool, or they would have hurt themselves on the bottom. Li started splashing Paulo, who grinned and splashed back. Alex and Hex started a game of tag in the water, and Amber was still in her hut getting changed.

"Probably applying her waterproof make-up." said Hex. Alex grinned and swam away from Hex, who quickly dived and followed. He caught up quickly, grabbed Alex's leg and and yelled, "Gotcha!", before quickly turning and swimming away from Alex. Alex quickly gave chase, wanting revenge.

Amber finished tying her hair back and opened the door. The sunlight spilled in, warming her smooth bronze skin almost instantly. She stepped outside, shutting the door behind her, and watched with pleasure as her friends mucked about in the pool. That was when Hex caught sight of her.

He stopped, halfway down the pool with Alex about five metres behind him and gazed at Amber's perfect curves and skin tone, before remembering himself and seeing Alex charging towards him. Quickly turning red and hoping nobody saw, he dived and pushed off again. He was too slow, however. Alex took advantage of his falter and leapt on his back, pushing him underwater and yelling "It!" in triumph. Hex twisted and pushed Alex off him and gave chase again, unaware that Paulo had seen his every move.

Amber moved slowly towards the higher diving board and perched on the edge. Hex stopped to watch again. He couldn't help it. She looked so different in a swimsuit in perfect weather. Not caring that Alex was moving further and further away from him, he watched as Amber's back arched in a perfect dive, and she hit the water with hardly a splash. He shook his head, scanned the pool quickly for Alex and saw him heading for the shallow end. He'd need a lot of power to catch up with him quickly. With a burst of energy, he pushed off, trying to take his mind off Amber.

"Ooh, Amber! Little miss perfect!" Called Li, teasing her as Amber surfaced. Amber grinned and splashed Li, joining in the water fight.

Hex sat down under one of the huge umbrellas next to Amber's swimming pool. It was hot - much hotter than England ever was. He was still wearing his swimming trunks but didn't bother to get his towel - he decided he liked the water on his skin. It helped to cool him down. The others were still in the pool but soon even the water had gotten too hot, with the glare of the sun constantly reflecting off the water.

Panting, he reached for his water on the table and took a sip. The ice cubes had already melted. Very soon, he found his eyes drifting off towards Amber again. They were so different, him and her. This was what Amber's life was like every single day. Nearly. And London at the moment seemed worlds away. He thought of the dominant rain, and the thugs hanging round the streets, ready to knife anyone who came near. He thought of his dad's tiny flat where he stayed each weekend, and his mum's house that she shared with her boyfriend. Parents that wouldn't even look at each other. How could he and Amber ever have a chance?

He was suddenly aware of Alex approaching him, wiping his face with a towel. He took a seat nex to Hex and had a bit of his water, too.

"What do you think about the whole Jack situation?" He asked, leaning back on his deck chair so the sun could dry him better. Hex shrugged.

"I'm guessing these guys wanted to know something that Jack knew, and he wouldn't tell them, so they crashed a burning lorry into his cafe. Seems likely." Alex sighed and nodded.

"We need to find Jack first, really, don't we?"

They were interrupted by Amber's housekeeper running urgently towards them with a portable phone in her hand. She arrived at their table, panting hard to get oxygen in her lungs after the long run from the house to the pool.

"Amber!" She cried, "Amber, phone call! It's urgent, they said!"

Amber quickly heaved herself out of the pool, getting to her housekeeper's side.

"Hey, calm down, OK? Who is it?"

The housekeeper gasped, "I don't know. A man. He didn't sound too happy - " Amber snatched the phone, turned away and held it to her ear. Li and Paulo continued flirting in the pool, while Hex and Alex watched Amber intently.

"Who is this?" A pause. "Jack! Where are you?" Amber's brow furrowed. Then her eyes widened, and she waited for a while, before hanging up. She gave the phone back to her housekeeper who turned and walked slowly back to the house, still trying to get her breath back.

"Oh my gosh," she said to Alex and Hex.

"What is it?" ventured Hex, taking another sip of water.

"It was Jack. He didn't say much. All I heard was that he's being held by someone called Brody - being held in a council house somewhere - and it sounds like he's in trouble."

Oh the dreaded cliffhangers! Please tell me what you think! xxx