Hex had this weird feeling of light-headedness. His vision swam as his head hit the concrete floor. He barely felt the kicks delivered by the other two guards and he didn't register them leaving. Black edged across his vision and he struggled to stay awake. He felt Amber take his head and put it gently on her lap. He heard her and Li crying; Paulo asking questions and then talking quietly to Alex. Then his vision swam one last time and he felt himself slip out of consciousness.
The guards came back just two minutes after Hex lost consciousness. Amber was still sitting with his head in her lap, and she gave a cry when she spotted the four figures crossing the clearing towards their cell. Alex, Li and Paulo stood in front of Hex and Amber protectively. The guards grinned sadistically at the sight of Hex lying on the ground, then unlocked the door and beckoned them over. Alex, Paulo and Li stood their ground. The grin left the guards face and he stepped forward. With a lightening quick flick, he had grabbed Li and pinned her arms behind her back. A second guard beckoned to Alex and Paulo and they had no choice but to follow. The door clanged shut behind them and Amber and Hex were left alone in the cold cell.
Cho grinned and clasped his hands together on the wooden table in front of him. He turned to look at Li, who was sitting furtherest away from him, next to Paulo.
'Hello again. Why don't you introduce me to your friends?' Li clamped her mouth shut. Cho sighed and unlaced his hands, putting them, palms down, on the desk. 'It will be so much more pleasant if I knew your names. I am Ling Cho, by the way.' He directed this last comment at Alex and Paulo. They didn't acknowledge it. When Cho still got no response, he stood up and shrugged. 'Well, I tried. If you don't want to be friends...' He had his back to them and they couldn't see his wicked grin.
Li couldn't control herself.
'Friends!? Friends!?' she shrieked. 'I wouldn't be friends with you if you paid me.' Paulo clapped a hand over her mouth and wrestled her back into her seat.
'He is trying to get at you,' Paulo hissed in Li's ear. 'Do not give him the satisfaction.' Cho smiled at Li.
'I'm glad that we had this chance to chat,' Cho said as he made is way to the door. 'Give my regards to the other two.' He strode out of the room with a satisfied smirk on his face. How he loved winding people up, especially the little one. She was especially fun to taunt.
Paulo took his hand off Li's arm and pushed his chair back. It gave a squeal and Alex winced.
'I hate that sound. Oh. And fingernails down a chalkboard.' He shuddered. Paulo gave him a small smile. Good try, the smile said. Alex shrugged. He thought that his attempt to take their minds off Cho had been feeble, but Li looked a bit more relaxed.
'Yeah. I also hate squeaky chalk down a chalkboard.' She made an imitation of the sound which had all of them covering their ears. Paulo laughed.
'Very good.'
A harsh cough made the three of them spin around. A guard was standing by the door, tapping his foot. Alex hurried across, closely followed by Li and Paulo. Now that their "meeting" with Cho was over, they could go back to their cell and check on Amber and Hex. Li found herself studying the guard leading them. Was he the one who had hit Hex? Or had he held onto him? They all looked the same.
A minute later, the small group reached the cell. The guard drew back the canvas and unlocked the door. Amber's frightened face greeted them. Hex had woken up, but he was still lying with his head on Amber's lap. His face was pale, but he didn't look too bad considering what had happened to him. Paulo moved across to Amber.
'How is the patient?' Amber gulped, then gingerly reached across to Hex's stomach. Holding onto the edge of his t-shirt, she edged back the material. Paulo's eyed almost popped out of his head. Li gasped and Alex stared. The guards must have kicked him incredibly hard. Already Hex's stomach was turning purple and black. Hex groaned and Amber hurriedly let go of the t-shirt.
'Is he going to be ok?' Amber whispered to Paulo. Paulo saw the look of utter concern in her eyes and he stifled a triumphant grin. He was now even surer that Amber had feelings for Hex. Over their past few missions, he had slowly slid piece of the jigsaw into place and now he was almost done. Paulo shook his head and turned his attention back to Amber, who was watching him with growing panic. Amber had obviously interpreted his moments silence as bad news and Paulo decided to put her mind to rest.
'He will be fine. It will hurt, but nothing appears to be damaged internally.' Amber breathed out a sigh of relief, then reached out and squeezed Hex's hand.
'You hear that, Hex. You're gonna be fine.' Hex tilted his head so he was looking at Amber and smiled back.
'I will if Paulo's looking after me. Now you. You I'm not to sure about.' Amber flicked his ear then looked up at Li who was watching them with an amused expression on her face.
'What?' Li grinned. 'What?' Amber felt panic rising again. Oh no. Li's on to me. With an angry glare, she gently slid out from underneath Hex's head, stood up and went over to Alex, who was sitting in the corner of the room. Li caught Hex's expression of surprise and- Li stifled another grin- disappointment, before he quickly made his face unreadable. Paulo bundled up one of the blankets that the guards had so kindly provided them with, and pushed it under Hex's head. He settled down beside his friend to discuss things.
Amber was fuming. Bloody Li. She was so perceptive. Amber would have to be careful now. Gotta keep my guard up, Amber thought as she sat down next to Alex.
'So why were you guys whisked off so suddenly? Our captor wanted to greet you formally and invite you to dinner?' To her surprise, Alex nodded.
'Something like that.' He looked up at Amber and she was surprised to see desperation in his grey eyes. This wasn't right. Alex was the strong one of the group. The leader. The survival expert. Had he given up hope?
'What do you mean "something like that?" she questioned. Alex sighed.
'Mr Ling Cho-' He broke off at Amber's puzzled look. 'The guy who kidnapped us.' Amber nodded. 'He wanted to say hi. Tell us what a privilege it was to meet us.' Amber's jaw dropped.
'What is he? A maniac?' Alex nodded and sighed again.
'He just seems so confident. It's like he knows that there's no possibility of us escaping. He's holding all the cards and he's going to milk it for all it's worth.' Alex's voice was dull. It sounded like he had given up hope. Amber squeezed his shoulder.
'It'll be ok, Alex. We'll get out.' Alex gave a bitter laugh.
'How? Amber, they're all armed and won't hesitate in killing us if we put a foot wrong. You saw what they did to Hex. All he was doing was shouting out for water. What'll they do if we try to escape? Shoot us. We're on the top of a mountain. All cleared. They only was down is by helicopter or climbing. Both going to attract attention. We're stuck here, Amber. Stuck until someone realises that we're missing and figures out where we are. Number one is possible. Number two... Well. My hopes aren't too high.'
Amber stared at Alex in shock. He had given up. Instead of feeling sympathetic, Amber felt angry. She glared at Alex's bowed head, then grabbed the back of his t-shirt and pulled his head up. Alex was taken by surprise and stared at Amber. Her brown eyes flashed with anger. Li, Paulo and Hex all watched warily. When Amber was mad...
'How dare you, Alex! How dare you say that we're not going to escape! Of course we're not if you go around thinking like that. What about when we all first met? We were stranded but we got off ok. The pirates had guns.' Alex opened his mouth to remind Amber about the helicopter, but clamped it shut when Amber glared at him. 'I'm not done yet. And what about when we were in Quito? With the Rat-catcher? We escaped from him and he was using dogs. And when Li got captured by the Scorpion last time we were all together. We got her and the other kids out safely.' Amber paused to study Alex's face. Good, she thought. Let him feel bad. 'And Alex. We've helped people out each time we've been captured. That's what Alpha Force is about. Remember, Alex? It hasn't all been in vain. And this time we're going to stop the baby-trafficking. Ok? We will get out. I know we will.' Amber looked down at her hands. Now that she had finished her monologue, it all seemed so ridiculous. It was like she was campaigning for the army. She was surprised when she felt Alex's arms around her. He gave her a quick hug, then gave and embarrassed smile.
'Sorry. I just... I don't know.' Amber smiled back and shook her head.
'Doesn't matter. I shouldn't have lost it like that either.' Paulo gave a cheer from his position beside Hex.
'Yah! Go Amber! You tell him.' Amber shot him a withering look.
'Bit late Paulo. We've just apologised for loosing it.' Paulo gave a grin anyway and turned back to Hex. Li had been sitting on the ground, studying her friends. Amber looked at her in wonder. Getting to her feet, she walked over to where Li was siting and crouched in front of her friend.
'Earth to Li. Earth to Li.' She waved her hand in front of Li's face, just centimetres from her nose. Li jerked upwards and grinned at Amber. Bugger. Amber cringed inwardly. Now she's going to make some smart comment about me and Hex. But to Amber's surprise-and relief- Li directed her comment to the whole group. And it wasn't anything to do with Amber or Hex.
'Guys. I know this sounds crazy, but I have a plan.'