The lake stretched out before them, a blue smear in an otherwise green and brown landscape. Paulo pulled the car up and stared at the water.

'This is the place, right?' he asked without turning around.

'Yep.' Hex packed his palmtop away into its protective case before opening his door and climbing out. Amber followed him, eyes squinting against the glare.

'Where are all the animals?' Li wondered aloud as she joined her two friends.

'Um...' Amber scanned the lake and frowned. 'I don't see any.'

'That's really odd,' Li said as she walked towards the lake. Her four friends followed close behind.

'What do you mean?' Alex couldn't help picking up a few flat stones and skimming them across the lake.

'Look at this place!' Li exclaimed spreading her arms wide and turning to her left and right. 'It's got a huge water supply, trees for shelter and browsing, grass for grazing... It should be overflowing with animals! And yet there's nothing here.' She shook her head. 'No zebras, no gazelles, no wildebeest, no lions, no cheetahs... It's not right.'

There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the gentle plops as Alex continued to skim stones on the lake.

'So you think it's the water then?' Hex said eventually.

Li nodded. 'It's gotta be. The only possible link between the sudden sicknesses in the village and the nonexistent animals here is the water.'

'Ok.' Hex pulled his palmtop out of his case and sat down by the lake edge. 'So is it deliberate or not? Natural or caused by humans?' His fingers flew across the keyboard, accessing a host of websites not meant to be available to the general public.

'I don't think it's natural,' Li mused, a slight frown on her face. 'Why would it be?'

'So humans are causing it,' Amber put in. 'The question now is, is it intentional?'

'Let's suppose it is,' Paulo said. 'Who would benefit from having an entire village struck down by sickness?'

'Doctors?' Li said. 'Drug companies?'

'The villagers are too poor to afford medical care. They wouldn't benefit.' Alex flicked another rock into the lake. It skipped six times before sinking with a gentle plop.

'Maybe whoever did this didn't want the villagers sick,' Hex said.

Amber scoffed. 'Yeah right! What other reason would they have?'

Hex raised his eyes from the computer screen. 'They didn't want the villagers to just get sick. They wanted them to all die or move away.'

'What?' Amber raised her eyebrows. 'Why would someone want to have that happen?'

'I think I found a candidate. Dominic Chance.'

'Never heard of him,' Alex said, dropping the rest of his stones into the lake before sitting down next to Hex.

'He was a British inventor who failed miserably at inventing anything. On the verge of a mental breakdown, he packed it in and moved here five years ago in the hope of starting fresh.'

'What's that got to do with the lake?' Paulo asked.

'Hang on. I'm getting to it. A few months ago he decided that he wanted to build a sort of resort. People would pay money to stay in five star accommodation with breathtaking views of African landscape and animals at your very fingertips. Not only did he want to run a resort, Mr Chance loved the idea of safari tours, getting up close and personal with various African animals. He applied for all the licences, drew up plans and set about finding the perfect piece of land.' Hex looked at his friends, one eyebrow raised.

'Let me guess,' Amber sighed. 'It was either right on top of or very close to the village.'

'Got it in one. The resort would press on the village boundaries. The villagers didn't like the idea of having some of their grazing land taken off them and Dominic Chance didn't like the idea of having a poverty stricken village right beside his luxury resort. The villagers refused to simply pack up and move on; Chance couldn't force them...'

'So he puts a toxic yet undetectable substance in their only source of water, the lake, in order to force them to leave,' Li finished. 'I don't believe it.'

'The last bit is purely hypothetical,' Hex added,' but it seems like it could be true.'

'What are we going to do?' Alex studied the red dirt he was sitting on. Tiny insects scuttled across the soil; by poisoning the lake, not only the villagers would be affected, but every other living thing that depended on the lake and its tributaries.

'We're going to stop him. Before it's too late.'

Alpha Force were crouched in a clump of dense scrub. They were dressed in black, with camouflage cream smeared on any exposed flesh. Even without the cream, Amber was almost invisible, her dark skin blending perfectly with the night.

'Go through it one more time,' Amber said.

'Ok.' Hex called up a map on his palmtop and displayed the screen to his friends. 'This is the lake and this is the village,' he explained pointing to each part of the map. 'The line here is a fairly wide river running into the lake from a spot near Dominic Chance's house. We have to find the house, gain access, find any documents that would incriminate him. Even better would be actual footage of him dumping stuff in the river. Alex, Paulo and Amber,' Hex continued pointing at each of his friends,' you will go inside the house and look for any documents while Li comes with me to try and catch anything on film. Clear?' Four heads nodded solemnly back at him. 'Let's do it.'

'Li.' Hex sounded exasperated. 'Can you sit still?'

'Sorry,' Li sighed. 'But nothing's happening.' She sighed again before flopping on the grass next to Hex.

'Chill.' Hex turned his attention back to the river, scanning the surface for any sign of life. Half an hour and still nothing. Li was still twitching beside him. He sighed, wishing that she had gone with the others. Physically restraining himself from throttling her, Hex fiddled with the camcorder, deliberately blocking her out.

Li looked sideways at Hex, frowning. Suddenly her Anglo-Chinese features lit up, her face splitting into a wide grin.

'Hey, Hex.' Her grin got wider as he spun around, suspicion all over his face.

'What?'

'Remember back when we were in India?' Li continued without waiting for an answer. 'I asked you a question that you never actually answered.'

'Don't know what you're talking about,' Hex said evenly, his face expressionless, his voice betraying no emotions.

'We were waiting while Amber and Paulo went after Alex.' She studied his face. 'Remember?'

Hex shrugged, seeing no way out. 'I guess so. But you didn't stay up long enough, so I didn't have to answer.'

'If you don't like Amber then why are you so concerned about answering the question?' Li mentally rubbed her hands and cackled. Let's see how he reacts to that one.

'I never said I didn't like Amber, but,' he continued as Li's face looked triumphant,' I never said I did like her either. What's it to you anyway?'

Li shrugged. 'You're my friend and as a friend it is my duty to annoy you over the person you fancy.'

'Well, Li, I'm sorry to say but you're out of a job. I don't fancy anyone.' He picked up the camcorder and busied himself adjusting the focus and lighting settings. Li regarded him with annoyance. Why can't he just answer me? It's not like it isn't obvious. She was about to push the issue further when Hex grabbed her arm.

'Be... very... quiet,' he murmured slowly. Li nodded and sank further down onto the ground.

'Got someone?' she whispered back. Hex nodded instead of answering, all his attention focused on the five people by the river's edge, about 20 metres upstream.

Zooming in as much as the camera would allow, Hex could clearly make out the drums of poison being emptied into the waterway. He shifted the camera so it focused on the writing on one of the drums, before filming each of the five men's' faces.

'Got 'em,' he said quietly. Li squeezed his arm as the men finished their job and disappeared in the direction of the house. Hex turned the camera off and looked at Li.

'Let's get going. The others will be finished soon.' He stood up slowly and led the way back to their rendezvous point, a large acacia, set back from the house and surrounded by dense scrub.

'Now we wait,' Li said.

Hex nodded. 'We wait.'

Amber crept as close as she could to the house. She heard Paulo come up beside her and felt Alex brush against her on her other side.

'We breaking in or waltzing up?'

'Breaking in, though hopefully not too conspicuously,' Alex answered.

'Let's go. It looks deserted.' Paulo led the way carefully towards the house, using the bush and the lie of the land as much as he could.

'Ok,' Amber murmured. 'Ready?' Alex and Paulo nodded. 'Off we go then.'

Thanks to Hex, they had managed to obtain floor plans of the house. Amber deliberately chose a window that opened into a store room. Paulo pulled a few tools out of his belt pouch and set to work, getting the window open quickly. He sat on the edge of the window before swinging his legs around and jumping down to the other side. Amber went next, followed closely by Alex.

'Right.' Amber consulted the map. 'We need to find an office or somewhere similar where he could keep important documents and stuff.'

'"Important documents and stuff"?' Alex echoed, grinning. 'Could you choose worse words next time?' Amber rolled her eyes and cautiously edged towards the door.

'We need to get out of here and go up to the next floor.' Nervous as hell, Amber tried to keep her breathing steady. Why was she so nervous? This certainly wasn't the first time she had been in a potentially dangerous, not to mention illegal, situation. Her instincts screamed at her to go back but Amber ignored them, pushing down the queasy feeling in her gut.

Ten minutes later the three of them were in Chance's office, sorting through wads of paper. Amber still felt uneasy and she kept shooting nervous glances around the room. Alex noticed and put his hand on her arm. Amber jumped a foot in the air, before realising it was just Alex.

'Are you ok?' Alex asked. He looked anxiously at Amber, noticing her rapid breathing and darting eyes.

'What? Me? Ah, yeah. Right as rain.' Amber chewed her lip. 'I just feel really...funny. Like something bad is going to happen.'

'Don't worry about it. We've got one more cabinet to look in, then we're going.' He gave Amber's arm a squeeze before turning back to Paulo. 'Have you found anything?'

'Possibly.' Paulo held up a fat manila folder, inconspicuously stamped with huge red lettering spelling out "TOP SCERET". 'What do you think?'

'Looks good.' Alex glanced at his watch and his eyes widened. 'We don't have time to look at it now,' he said, stuffing files back in the cabinet. 'We better get going.'

Amber was more than happy to oblige. She handed Paulo her backpack before leading the way down the corridor. Alex followed her with Paulo bringing up the rear, zipping the film safely in the bag.

'Feel better now?' Alex asked softly.

'Not really,' Amber admitted. 'I still feel like someone's going-' Amber cut off abruptly as a man appeared in front of them. He stared at Alex and Amber in shock before drawing his gun.

'Go!' Amber screamed. She ducked and sprinted away. Catching glimpse of Paulo pressed into a corner, gripping the bag, she changed direction, deliberately leading the man away from her friend. 'Run!' The man wouldn't know that she was yelling it purely for Paulo's benefit. He looked torn, but scuttled away, knowing he had to get the evidence out.

Once Paulo started to move, Amber turned all her attention to escaping. She'd lost sight of Alex and hoped he was ok. The man was still running after her, gun clutched in one hand. Several times he could have easily shot her, but he hadn't. He must want me alive then, Amber thought. She wasn't sure if this was good or bad.

I tend to do this a lot and I guess it must be pretty annoying. The next chapter will either be all flashback to their last mission or three quarters flash back, one quarter funeral. If it's all flashback, the chapter after that will be fairly short and just back at the funeral. Sorry if that's confusing so I'll just say that there will either be one or two more chapters after this one. Hopefully updating soon.