For Better Or For Worse Chapter 2
For Better Or For Worse
Category: Books » Alex Rider
Author: Karai III
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Adventure/Angst
Published: 11-09-07, Updated: 04-17-11
Chapters: 10, Words: 67,154
[Chapter 2]
I thought it wise to point out a few things here. First of all the name James has been borrowed from Amitai's In Loco Parentis, second
this story takes place in the AU that Von created in her story Intermission. Hopefully neither of them mind.
Alex was in the ICU in a coma. The shock to his nervous systems from the tranquilizer's intrusion in his young body had caused his heart and lungs to shut down among other things.
In order to keep him alive, he was attached to an ECMO1 machine to continue oxygenating his blood. Meanwhile his IV drip included the anti-agent for Modecate to fight it's hold on his systems. Nevertheless, his body was still shutting down little by little.
If after the 48-hour period required to safely infuse his blood with the antidote for the tranquilizer, his body did not begin to come around, it would be safe to assume that it never would and plans for his burial were to be made.
Wolf made his way down the pristine and quiet halls of the hospital towards Alex's room, thinking.
Alex wasn't that bad. He wasn't bad at all. Sure, he had intruded on the established unit that they had and brought a certain stigma to the team with him, but he hadn't wanted to. Even though Wolf had made it clear that Alex was not wanted or welcome there, he had never fussed or complained, and no one in the unit had gotten binned because of him. Wolf least of all, who would have been if it weren't for the literal butt kicking Alex had given him to conquer his fear of heights and get out of the plane.
At Point Blanc, he had to admit, Alex had done his job well. With the information Alex had given him, Wolf and his team were able to save all the boys at the school and stop both villains. He definitely deserved credit. However, all this did not explain the actual worry he was feeling for the kid right now. He was anxious for his recovery.
If he really had done what MI6 said he was doing then perhaps he did deserve this, but Wolf personally had trouble believing that, after seeing the sort of attitude Alex had at the school in France: somewhat reluctant but dutiful.
Passing an elevator, he met Fox coming out.
"What are you doing here?" Wolf asked
"I was just going to see how Cub is doing."
Wolf raised an eyebrow.
"Well I know he wasn't all that much liked back at camp, especially by you, but he stilled pulled his weight. I think he deserves his fair share of sympathy, you know?"
"Yeah, but if he's supposed to be a rogue spy, then why bother?" Wolf felt the need to grill Fox so he could better understand his own feelings.
"I don't know if it's just me but he looked too shocked when we came down there for that to be true. It's like he didn't expect it. Wouldn't an evil spy at be expecting a bust, he can't be that good. Besides, he does not seem like the evil type. "
"I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt; otherwise I guess he gets what he deserves."
Wolf didn't answer but thought over what Fox had said.
They finally came to Alex's room, and with a stern warning from the nurse stationed two doors away, to be quiet, they entered.
The sight before them was not a pretty one. Alex lay on his back with a sheet covering his lower body and numerous electrodes plastered all over his chest. Protruding from his chest and neck, were large seemingly red catheters2 carrying blood to the ECMO machine in the corner of the room to be oxygenated and returned to him in addition to smaller ones in his nostrils. Separating him from the rest of the room was an Aerogel3 and plastic wall to maintain a high temperature on Alex's side of the wall to keep him warm.
As Wolf and Fox came closer, Wolf noted to himself that he had never seen a child with so many cuts, bruises, and scars on his body. However, the bullet scar was not visible. His chest did not rise and fall with breath and the sight of him was overall depressing even for a supposed evil spy.
"Did we do that?" Fox asked in dismay. He would never condemn a child to that, what ever it is they did.
"No, Wolverine did."
Wolf watched, with a stony face, the various machines taking stock of Alex's working and non-working systems and Alex's face seeming to be getting progressively paler.
A split second later Wolf realized that something was wrong.
He nudged Fox; "Go get the nurse, NOW!"
The next second an alarm sounded in the room and an automated female voice said; Leak detected. Leak detected.
The next moment the nurse from before and six other people, burst into the room.
In a flurry of activity that lasted no more than a minute, the doctors, specialists and technicians corrected the error and had things running smoothly once more fortunately he didn't lose much blood. As medical personnel filed out Wolf stopped the doctor to asking him about Alex's condition. The doctor eyed him warily but conceded.
"His situation seems grim; he hasn't responded to any of the medicine we've given him and if when we give him the maximum dosage his body can handle right now, he still doesn't respond, then its time to pull the plug."
"How long is this maximum dosage period?" Fox asked as he watched the still body behind the glass.
"From the onset of the treatment, he has 50 hours max to respond positively. Approximately 8 have passed"
Then doctor looked at them as if for the first time. "Do you know him personally?"
"He's a team mate." Wolf answered
The doctor looked at them quizzical but nodded and went his way muttering; "I'll never understand the way these organizations operate, but God help those unfortunate children."
Wolf shook his head in disgust at the situation and left the room.
On his way out of the hospital, he decided to head over to Liverpool Street to find out exactly what was going on.
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When he entered the lobby, he ran into Tiger from I-unit on his way out.
"You look grim Wolf? You don't feel sorry for that brat do you?"
Wolf ignored him and walked pass
When he got no answer, Tiger laughed harshly "Isn't he the same 'Double O' Nothing that you hated back at camp? Why the change of heart?"
Wolf turned and gave him a very wolfish glare and said, "Let's just say, he earned my respect."
"Really? How? By bending over backwards and kissing you ass? We all know you're impossible to please."
Wolf looked at him with contempt and said
"No, by standing up straight and kicking it."
He savored the look of shock on Tiger's face and stepped into the elevator.
In Blunt's office, he cut straight to the chase, as was his habit, when Mrs. Jones asked what brought him around.
"It concerns Cub's charge."
"Yes?" Mrs. Jones prompted
"From what I've seen of Cub, he doesn't seem to be the type to suddenly get it into his head to bring down his country out of spite. As the leader K-unit, I think I have a right know what exactly is up with the youngest member of my team."
"I understand your concern. Alex is not the most loyal agent we have but he definitely wouldn't betray the UK."
"Then why say so?" Wolf asked testily
"Alex isn't very cooperative at times so we have to use other methods of enlisting his help."
"So to get a hold of him, you send the SAS under the pretense that he's a threat to the safety of the populace." Wolf responded, anger mounting.
"We need his help." She said simply.
"Isn't he a bit young to be doing this sort of work?"
"He has shone himself extremely competent-" she paused to pop another peppermint in her mouth. "-more than once."
"What about parental consent? Don't his parents have anything to say about his wanting to work for you or not."
As of now, Alex has no legal guardians; his family has passed away and his recent guardian is going back to the States. So in answer to your question, no the decision is ours to make."
Wolf thought about this for a moment; Alex, was in a strange situation and his conscience was telling him he needed to do something to help. It was a nasty situation one was in if he was at the mercy of the government.
"So this guardian of his just up and left is what you're saying?"
He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Alan Blunt was watching him suspiciously.
"She's going back to the states as a result of a crippling injury."
"So where is he going to stay?"
"If he survives, then arrangements will be made with the hospital to have him stay there until he can be of use or until we find him a suitable temporary guardian. Either way once he is well enough, he will take on the task we have for him."
"And what is that?"
"That is classified information Wolf."
At this point, Mr. Blunt decided it was time to find out were this was going.
"Is there a purpose to all these inquiries Wolf?"
Wolf thought over the question for a few seconds, partly to make Alan wait since he'd never liked him and secondly to really ask himself what he hoped to gain from this.
"Well Alex is in a rather tough situation don't you think? I'm trying to see if I can help him out."
"He doesn't need any help except to wake up and the doctors are doing a fine job."
Somehow, Wolf got the feeling that Alan Blunt wanted him to drop the whole thing and get out of his office. He obviously felt he was a threat to what ever he was planning, and so it was with this assumption that Wolf made a reckless or perhaps simply hasty decision.
"No, I could take him in myself once he's out of hospital until you find someone better."
Blunt was quick to try and dissuade him from that notion in a cold way.
"I hardly think a man of your status has time to look after a sickly teenage boy for any amount of time, because if he does survive, he's not going to be himself for a while, if ever again." A hint of annoyance flickered behind Mr. Blunt's eyes at the mention of Alex's recovery chances but it disappeared as quickly.
"Actually the CRW and CT wings have shifted the troops again so my unit is going to be virtually free for awhile."
"And you feel that you have what it takes to take care for him properly until he's well?"
"If my fiancée agrees then we definitely will for the time it will take for you to find someone more permanent."
Wolf was temporarily hesitant when he mentioned his future wife, Rachel. Recently she'd been talking of moving in with him soon and she was at the house often. If she didn't like the idea then he would not force it upon her, but then again Rachel was a reasonable and caring creature; she'd understand.
Besides Wolf had a sneaking suspicion that Alan Blunt had something nasty in store for Alex and saw his chances of getting Alex grow dim if he was in Wolf's care. Therefore, Wolf decided he was going to find out what it was and stop it. Cub deserved that much.
Blunt realized that to further disagree, was to raise more questions than he wished to answer and Wolf was not a timid man, so he conceded.
"Alright, Alex will stay with you, if your fiancée agrees, until we either find him well enough to work or until we find somewhere preferable. However, keep in mind that you will be under constant surveillance in case there is an ulterior motive to your good will. You have 24 hour to confirm your decision."
"Expect me back before then." Wolf said as he dismissed himself.
He knew that Blunt did not suspect him of foul play, but that Wolf suspected him of it and that he might try to pry it out of Alex.
He left and went straight home to the two story Victorian house Rachel had persuaded him to buy in Kentish Town; said she planned to fill it with children.
Feeling starved, he hoped that it was one of those evenings when she came over and really cooked.
"Rae, you here?" he asked as he opened the door, but he hardly needed asked since the smell from the kitchen spoke for itself.
"You'd better get in here before all the foods finished you prat." Eagle's voice spoke.
Wolf hung his coat on the hook in the foyer and entered the kitchen.
"What the heck are you three doing in my house?" he asked in a low-level growl when he saw the rest of K-unit stuffing there faces.
"I invited them since you had me thinking that my good cooking was going to waste being so late."
"And since we had no one to feed us then we gladly accepted." Fox concluded
"Yeah right, she planned to have you guys over 'cause she knows how pathetic you are."
He decided as he sat down, seeing how much she had cooked.
"How was your day?" Rachel asked as she gave him a steaming plate and a peck on the cheek.
"Hmm…different." he paused a moment "and I think I might have made a hasty decision."
"How so?" she asked interestedly, sitting down next to him with her own food.
"First, let me ask you a question and give me your honest answer; how would you feel about a 14 year-old boy staying here for a few weeks?
She looked at him strangely while Eagle and Snake choked on their food and Fox just stared.
"It depends on what he's like and why would he need to come."
"Do you remember the kid I told you about who was a part of our unit during training some months back?"
"You mean Cub? Ben and Adrian told about your meeting him today and what happened. Poor child, why a kid would do something like that is beyond me."
"Just how much did they tell you?"
"They just said he basically tried to bring terrorist into the country through the power bestowed upon him by his employers and that he got a fatal shot with a tranquilizer in the process. Now he's in a coma. I still feel sorry for him despite what he did."
"That's a good way to put it. But the worst thing about it is that he didn't do that or anything else for that matter."
Fox's face grew dark "You mean you went and talked to them about it?"
"Yeah and you'd be surprised to find out just how unjust they really are."
"What do you mean unjust? They just up and out of the blue decide to accuse him of bullshit and send us in like a bunch o' jackasses to shoot him down?" Snake asked.
Rachel looked at Wolf questioningly, her eyes see blue eyes ablaze. She was wonderfully gracious when she was in a good temper, but when she was angry she was aflame, and nothing ignited her more that dishonesty and injustice especially to children.
"Worst, it's because he isn't exactly cooperative as they put it, when it comes to working for them, why they use these sorts of dangerous methods to bring him in."
"Then why the hell don't his parents do something about it. I was wondering why the blast would someone send their barely teenage son to SAS training." Snake wanted to know
"That's the thing; he has none. No more family and no guardian. The kid is alone in the world."
"I don't believe this!" Rachel exclaimed in rage. "So where do they intend for him to stay once he's discharged?" she demanded.
"Said they'd arrange with the hospital for him to stay till he can 'be of use', but I don't believe that they're actually going to wait until he's recuperated; I mean he's going to be out of commission for at least a month and the hospital doesn't exactly have beds reserved for those who hardly need them. But if no one is found or volunteer's to take him in then he's left to the mercy of the people he doesn't want to work for."
Rachel was indignant. She got up and paced about for a second then asked in a decided way. "When is he to be discharged, assuming he wakes up?"
"I have no idea. The doctors aren't even sure he'll live."
"If and when he wakes up you're going to take me to see him so I can get an idea of the kind of boy he is, but I believe he's coming here at any rate so I'll prepare the guest room for him."
She sat back down to finish the meal, marginally calmed.
Wolf nodded in agreement "I have to carry your answer back by tomorrow evening to confirm it, but you should know that we'll be under surveillance."
"Fine, tell them we'll still do it gladly."
"Good."
"I can't see why you'd say you made a hasty decision; you made a damn good one if you ask me." Eagle commented.
"Yeah" Rachel agreed.
Wolf shrugged "I wasn't too sure how you'd react." He said to Rachel.
Rachel gave him a withered look "You've known me for three years and you still don't know me."
"You're unpredictable."
Later when the others were leaving, Snake said something to Wolf before he closed the door that he hadn't considered. "Good luck persuading him to believe it's for the better good mate and not another underhanded plan against him."
Wolf nodded and decided to leave that to Rachel.
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By the next Thursday, Alex was showing signs of making a full recovery. He was awake and alert. There was very little memory loss and reasoning and cognitive abilities were almost completely up to par and would be in a few days time. His body was little by little over coming a wide spread paralysis as he body purged the toxins from his system, starting from his neck with full mobility to a faint tinge his fingers. He also was not in the mood for any visitors once he found out from Mrs. Jones that Jack was now gone back to the States permanently. The loving audio message she left for him, since she couldn't see him, as a good-bye, helped to ease the feeling of lonely abandonment but he was still very irritable especially since he still had no idea, no thanks to Jones, why the SAS had been sent to capture him. It had to be something bad why she wouldn't speak of it and it infuriated him to no end.
So it was little wonder why he answered the knock at his door in such a crabby manner.
When Wolf and Rachel reached the door of his room in Recovery, Wolf was about to simply step in but she grabbed his shoulder and hissed at him. "Don't be daft. You're supposed to knock."
He sighed and knocked loudly on the door.
"Who is it?" Alex's testy voice answered
Wolf looked slightly taken aback, but only slightly.
"Wolf."
There was a few seconds pause
"What do you want?" more annoyed than before.
Wolf looked at Rachel in exasperation; this was nonsense. But she just shrugged.
"To talk to you."
"About what?"
"Cub if you don't stop this crap I'm going to-"
"You're going to what? Have your men shoot me again. Not interested, go away."
"I'm not going to stand out here and have this conversation Alex, let up." Wolf answered sternly
"What part of go away don't you understand? I'm not interested!" Alex shouted, but the shout in it self had little power because his lungs were still weak.
"He's going to aggravate himself James. Lets come back when he not so angry." Rachel suggested
"No. He's going to listen to reason." And with that Wolf opened the door anyway. When he saw Alex he concluded that he definitely looked better than when he last saw him but the exhaustion and wariness showed plainly in his face along with an unhealthy dose of rage.
"I said go away, not come in. You're not even alone. You cannot simply say that you have someone with you, another trick eh! I don't have anything to say to you and your bunch so you're wasting your time!" Alex glared wickedly at him from his propped up position in bed. Wolf had never seen this side of Alex but he suspected that it was a temper to be reckoned with when he was well, not unlike Rachel's.
However, Wolf essentially ignored the outburst and said calmly as he sat down at the foot of the bed. "Sure but I've got plenty to tell you and you're going to listen and when I'm finished you're going to be glad you did."
Instead, Alex closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but Wolf began anyway.
"First, I want to say I'm glad you're alright. That business with the tranquilizer was never supposed to happen." He waited for a response but there was none. Alex was adamant.
"And I have some good and bad news for you."
"So you're not going to introduce the lady you sneaked in are you?" Alex asked with his eyes still closed.
Wolf was momentarily silenced while Rachel smirked behind him.
Stepping forward she said graciously;
"If you would allow me the privilege of looking you in the eye I could introduce myself."
Alex opened his eyes and looked at her to see if she was making fun or not, but she wasn't.
"Rachel Bertrand, nice to meet you." She said stretching out her hand for him to shake it but he just looked at it.
"Sorry, my body refuses to do what it's told, it just ignores me; temporary paralysis the doctor calls it. But the name is Alex Rider." He said instead.
Retracting her hand, she said "Sorry to hear but a pleasure having your attention. I totally understand why you're so mad at him but it's not how seems, give him a chance to explain." She added jerking her hand towards an annoyed Wolf.
Although Alex was somewhat softened he was still irritable so ignoring her last statement, he asked, "Who exactly are you? As in do you work with Wolf or for MI6 because you seem to know more than you let on?"
"Actually I'm James's fiancée and he's told me a lot about you."
Alex looked mildly surprise, but stayed silent
After a moment of silence he said "Actually I do have a question for you." A look of frustration crossed his eyes. "What did I do? I know MI6 was after me, probably for some crazy mission but why send the SAS and why did this have to happen?" He gestured vaguely to the hospital room with his eyes. "It just doesn't add up, and what ever it is that they've accused me of I'm sure I have proof that I didn't do it." A kind of desperation came into his face as if begging not be told again that he would find out later.
Rachel looked at Wolf for a second and he started.
"Well Alex the truth is you haven't done anything." Confusion clouded Alex's face. "You see the whole thing was a scheme set up by MI6 to bring you in for some mission but it back fired. Down in the subway we were to use the tranquilizer dart to knock you out and bring you in but one of the men under my command, the one you socked, he got mad and deliberately hit you like that, it knocked you straight into a coma." He paused seeing the raw rage in Alex. His eyes were bright with it and you could see his body struggling to overcome the paralysis, anger driving him to throw or hit something.
"What did they tell you?" he said in a dangerously low voice.
"They said that you had been trying to reveal vital information about England to our enemies."
When Rachel saw Alex's reaction she said, "I don't think you should have told him that."
"He deserves to know what they did."
Alex looked as though he wanted to kill someone. "So allow me to get this straight, MI6 wants me to come in and go on some mission for them that is obviously so dangerous and outrageous that they can't simply ask. I do so much for them even though I never wanted to, but they lie to the SAS so that they will come for me under the pretense that I am a very dangerous person repay me and then I get shot in the neck because someone lost their temper." He asked loudly, his right hand twitching violently.
"Yep." Wolf responded
Alex looked at Wolf long and hard and then he laughed and laughed and laughed.
Wolf and Rachel thought he had gone mad, but after a minute of this, he stopped and said seriously, "Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones have made their last mistake concerning me. I will be sure to make that clear to them when I see them after I'm discharged, end of discussion."
"I don't think that's all the bad news you had for me so what else?" He continued
"Well I'm not sure if you know about your guardian heading back to the States."
Tiredness came over his face that made them realize just how weak and weary he was.
"Yes I know, Mrs. Jones told me that Jack's parents persuaded her to come back home with them, after what happened I can't say I blame them."
"What did happen?" Rachel asked gently
"An attempt on my life by my arch enemies that I care not to mention, but in the process of trying to avoid bigger problems, I caused Jack to lose her arm below the elbow." He sighed heavily "She's safer away from me. I'll take care of myself."
Rachel could not imagine how he must feel, all of these things coming down on his head mercilessly. She touched his shoulder in a gesture of kindness and he nodded his thanks.
"So what kind of good news could you possibly have?" he asked
"Well I know you're good at the looking after yourself stuff and all, but after you leave the hospital you're not going to be able to for a little while; you're going to need someone to help you." Alex began to realize why Wolf was here in the first place, why he'd brought his fiancée and why they'd been looking at him so critically and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"So Rachel and I decided that for the time being you could come and stay with us. Regain your strength get you're bearings and relax a bit, you need it badly."
Alex's expression was unreadable for the moment so he continued, "But since you can't seem to stand the sight of me I'm not sure if that's going to work." Wolf tried to lighten the mood somewhat hoping to cheer him up a bit.
"No it's not that I can't stand you, I was angry before you came because no one would answer any of my questions, and then I felt, well, kind of betrayed so I didn't want to see you."
"What do you mean?"
"I kind of had it that it was an established fact that we were both on the same side. No one trying to bring anyone down, you know, mutual respect. Then when I saw you and your unit coming to haul me off for what I saw as no reason, I felt like 'what happened'. But now I know what was going on and I don't blame you at all, but I want to ask, how come you're doing this for me? And you" he addressed Rachel "You don't even know me."
"Alex you need help and we are capable and willing to give you it. After all the things that you have done and been through, I do not think you deserve to be left alone like that. I am going to help you until you don't want or need my help anymore; it's not a whole lot to ask of me. Consider it helping a friend in need."
"And a friend of James is a friend of mine. So don't worry Alex you're in good hands." Rachel added.
Alex took this in and smiled genuinely for the first time since the visit. "Thanks. That means a lot."
The door opened and a nurse walked in, when she saw Alex smiling, she stopped short and grabbed her chest. "You've bewitched him. All we poor nurses know that he was as mad as a hippo with a hernia not to long ago and now you've got him beaming. What ever you did, I hope it last." She said cheerily coming over to check him out again.
Wolf and Rachel stepped back to give her space and the nurse kept up a steady stream of chatter while she worked.
"You're doing well young man, at this rate you'll be out of here by early next week."
"Really?" Alex asked hopefully
"Yep. Try and move your arm for me please."
His right hand was still vibrating but he could move it somewhat. His left hand still stubbornly refused to work.
"Excellent, very good, they're coming around. Are you comfortable, hungry, itchy, what?"
"Now that you mention it I am famished."
"Alright then, food it is, I'll have the cafeteria send you a detailed menu and you choose what ever you want."
When she left Rachel asked with a sly smile, "How many nurses do you have Alex, because with such a handsome patient in this ward I'm sure they're all clamoring for a chance to be of service to you."
He laughed, "I think six, I haven't seen the same nurse twice yet."
"I thought so." she laughed
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By Monday afternoon Alex was pass ready to leave and the doctors had finally granted his wish. At this point, he had total control of his upper and lower body. He was still a little unsteady and fine tuned movements like writing and eating with utensils were still rather elusive but his doctor said that if he followed his instructions carefully, within a month time he would be as good as new. Therefore, when Wolf finally arrived to pick him up he neither hesitated nor lingered. Rachel must have been right about his nurses too, because all seven of them gave him a personal good-bye to the immense annoyance of Wolf who had to stand by and wait. One pretty young one even kissed him on the cheek. When they left him alone at last, Wolf began pushing his wheelchair towards the exit again. "Can't I just walk? My muscles are getting lazy from all the down time?" Alex nearly whined.
Wolf ignored the question and instead asked "So you want to stop at Liverpool Street first you said?"
Alex was instantly serious again "Yeah and I'd rather you don't come in though, if you don't mind. It's kind of personal."
"No problem at all. I can't stand looking at his face for too long anyway." They both smirked as they entered the black Hummer that belonged to Wolf.
In room 1605 of the Royal and General Bank, sat Mrs. Jones talking quietly with Mr. Blunt about serious matters then there was a sharp knock at the door.
"Alex Rider"
"Enter" Mr. Blunt answered
In came a somewhat slimmer pale faced boy leaning slightly on the door for support as he made his way to the chair in front of the desk and sat down.
"Well Alex what a pleasant surprise, we were just talking about you. What brings you around?"
The look on Alex's face could be described as secret triumph as he told Mr. Blunt what he was there for.
"I'm here to tell you I quit." He stated in an emotionless voice.
"Alex we've had this conversation before and the answer is the same; you're too good at what you do to, so the answer is no we aren't letting you go."
"You misunderstand me Mr. Blunt I wasn't asking for leave, I am taking it." In the same deadly voice
Blunt realized there was something different about Alex, but he refused to acknowledge.
"As a child, Alex you have no say, understand?"
"I understand Mr. Blunt" he answered "but I don't think you understand what I'm saying. Perhaps if I elaborate you will."
"The simple fact of the matter is that you and Mrs. Jones have abused me enough, especially in this last week, so I want no more part in what you do."
"Perhaps you'll change your mind when you see just how important this mission is."
Alex smiled sympathetically at Mr. Blunt as though at a misguided child. "You're welcome to try."
"I'm sure you realize that Scorpia is hell bent on killing you." there was no smart aleck comment from Alex; Mrs. Jones noted worriedly, only stony silence. "Well they have been more so lately because they see you as a threat to there latest scheme. They have given the British government exactly one month to make an impossible decision; break all ties with America, switch our diplomatic status to enemy, and supply the whole Al Qaeda regiment in Iraq with powerful state of the art weapons, or have the population of England cut by a third by the end of the year."
Alex remained completely still except for his vibrating right hand, through out the narration and although the look of triumph had left his face it was still set with stony, silent determination and no interest in what Blunt said. Deep down he was worried about it but he wouldn't show he cared.
Blunt continued, "As you already know, Scorpia doesn't make idle threat so this is serious. The only ways to infect that many people is through a water or air supply and we know that schools are to be the target distributors of the virus. The children would spread it to their parents and so on. What we need you to do is simply go to school and be vigilant."
But as Blunt finish detailing the mission to Alex, Mrs. Jones realized that it was no use; Alex didn't care anymore, he wasn't going to help."
"I ask you Mr. Blunt, should the Head and Deputy Head of MI6 Special Operations be stupid enough to leave the fate of millions of innocent people in the hands of a fourteen year-old boy? What if he is sick, or dies?"
No answer
"Consider that, to be the case with me. Because if I am the only person in the whole of England who can prevent this disaster from happening, then England is in a sorry state indeed. Now I will say it again; I. Quit. Good day."
With that last cold statement, Alex made his way unsteadily through the door.
"He'll reconsider." Mr. Blunt stated in a confident tone that belied his true feelings.
"No Alan, he won't and you know it. If you wait for him to reconsider then many innocent people are going to die. What we did to him has finally drove him over the edge, he's not coming back." Mrs. Jones argued.
Alan nodded and came to decision, "Call in our next best operative. He'll have to do until Rider gets over his temper."
When Alex got down to the lobby, he was changed from the confident boy that went up. Tired and burdened is how he looked and Wolf saw it when he came over to help him to the truck. He asked about it but all he got was "Nothing", so he left him be.
He was silent through out the drive until he snapped because Wolf wouldn't stop glancing at him.
"Will you just look at the damn road so we don't crash?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he bit his lip, regretting them. "I'm sorry Wolf I didn't mean to snap not at all it's just…"
"What happened in there?" Wolf asked in a no nonsense tone.
"It isn't safe to talk here."
"You think you're the only one with secrecy issues?"
"I-I just don't want to talk about it right now."
"Okay when you're ready then."
They rode the rest of the way in silence until they reached the house.
"Nice place." Alex commented
"Thanks, just bought it."
Wolf hung up both their coats and led Alex to the kitchen. "You hungry?"
"Yeah I'll eat whatever you got." Alex sighed as he sat down at the table.
After Wolf made up some chicken soup for them and after they had been to eating a bit, he asked about the meeting again.
Instead of answering Alex concentrated on using his left hand to eat the soup because his right shook too much.
"Alex." Wolf prompted
He sighed "They told me about the mission they wanted me to do for them."
"And?"
"I know I shouldn't feel like this but they make it sound as if, if I don't do it then no one can and then I'll be responsible for the death of millions of people."
"Alex no one can hold responsible for that if it happens because no one person should have that responsibility. Who's trying to kill millions of people?"
"The same people who've been trying to kill me for about a month now. But I can't go into detail about it."
Wolf felt sympathy for the boy before him. Exhaustion showed all over his face and he looked as if the world was coming down on his shoulders. Perhaps that was how he felt right now. Anyhow Wolf thought it best he retire to bed.
"Come on, you're beat. You'll probably feel better in the morning." He pulled him up from the chair as he made no indication that he intended to move but he didn't resist either. He showed him to his room, gave him his required injections and tablets and generally made sure he was okay.
"Thanks Wolf. I really appreciate it."
"Sleep, you'll feel better when you do."
Later on when Rachel came over, she saw Wolf sitting in the living room sofa looking through a thick folder.
"Hi, how was your first day with him?"
"Not bad but he's not kidding when he says he's done a lot for them. See how thick his file is." While Rachel sat down next to him to see for herself, Alex was upstairs standing on the balcony of his room in the cold thinking about his predicament, none of them aware of the fact that they were being carefully watched by a very dangerous group indeed.
"We have the subject in our sights sir."
"Excellent." A very evil voice answered.