Faint Hearted chapter two
Alex Rider stared out his bedroom window with a frown. There they were. For the past few days, three men had been watching him, and there they were now, standing outside of his house. Two were smoking cigarettes, and Alex could see the ashes glow red every time they put their cigarettes to their mouths.
One would think that M16 would be more inconspicuous when spying on someone, but these men were not hiding it.
The teen had been sure that is was M16 ever since he saw Crawley drop the men outside his house. Alex just wished he knew why he was being watched. No one from M16 had been in touch with him.
Knowing that he was being followed and watched had Alex constantly on edge. The spying had began a few days ago and Alex had recognized a schedule.
There were two shifts, with three men on each shift. The teen wanted to get out of the house. Maybe he would confront one of his watchers about why he was being watched. Maybe he would just wander around the neighborhood, knowing that he was finally free from watchful eyes.
The night time shift was about to end. It was five in the morning and any second now a car would pull up, pick up the men, and let three out.
Their attention would be diverted from the house at that moment and that would be when Alex would move. The teen quietly made his way down the stairs. While Jack was heavy sleeper, Alex did not want to risk drawing her attention.
Alex only had to wait as few minutes for the car to show up. Since there was no back door, the teen had to slip out the front. The car blocked Alex’s view of the men and the spy hoped that they would not see him.
Quickly but silently, Alex turned the corner of his house and walked down to the road.
At the stop sign Alex paused. What did he want to do now? It was nice to be out of the house, but there was nowhere he really had to go. The teen made up his mind to go to the park. It was Saturday, so maybe he would meet some of his friends there later in the day.
Alex had not spent time with his friends in months. He was not even sure if they considered him a friend anymore.
There were rumors that Alex had heard-rumors that many at school had spoken loudly around him, aiming to draw some kind of reaction. It never worked and Alex never told what really happened to him when he went away, ‘sick.’
Tom was the only one who knew the teen’s secret and Alex was sure that his friend would never tell his secret. Thinking of his loyal friend made Alex grin in the soft morning light.
Even thought the school said that Tom was committing social suicide by being around Alex, he never wavered. He had even got in a fight once when some other boy had said something really horrible about Alex.
The Alex never figured out what the bully had said to make Tom had attack him. And Tom would not tell Alex no matter how many times he asked, so the he had finally stopped asking.
Alex decided to take the long way to the park and he walked along the sidewalks of grubby apartment buildings.
Suddenly Alex was attacked on all sides
One second the sidewalk was empty except for Alex, the next, men had grabbed the teen. Alex fought against the men the best he could.
A burly man with brown hair grunted as the teen’s foot slammed into his nose. Another man slapped the blond harshly and suddenly Alex went limp.
The sudden change in weight made the men holding Alex let go. The teen struck out before he had even hit the pavement. With a tight grip on one man’s foot, Alex pulled, the man fell with a cry and toppled over one of his teammates with him as he fell.
Alex kicked another man in the knee and a sickening crack mixed with the man’s yells of pain rang up and down the street.
The teen stood quickly while the men were still confused and started running as fast as he could, more then five pairs of footsteps followed right behind him.
Get to a busy area, Alex chanted in his head. If he got to a busy area with a lot of people, it would provide cover for him.
Maybe the man who were trying to capture him would be cautious and stay away from crowds so that they would not draw attention to themselves.
With his lungs burning and legs pumping Alex turned onto another empty road. Almost groaning aloud Alex realized that he had taken a wrong turn, but by the sound of running feet behind him he knew there was no way he could turn back.
Questions ran through the teen’s surging mind as he ran. What did these mwn want with him? Was this M16 or was Scorpia finally coming after him to get revenge?
Pushing these questions away, Alex surged forward faster. There was a main intersection that was just around the corner and Alex gasped as he ran to get there.
He never made it.
Strong arms wrapped around his legs and before he could do anything besides wiggle, the cold barrel of a gun was placed on his temple. Alex froze and right above him a man with wavy black hair, brown eyes, and a cruel smile chuckled as he held the gun steady.
“If you try anything funny, I’ll blow your brains out,” he growled out with the smile still on his face. The teen was flipped onto his stomach and his hands were pinned behind him.
The teen did not know what to do. It was not supposed to turn out like this. He should be free now and half way to the park. Not lying face down on the ground surrounded by men with guns.
One man was grumbling about something and then wrapped something cold and thin around Alex’s wrists.
A zip tie, Alex’s dizzy brain realized. The tie was pulled painfully tight and Alex’s breath hitched against his own will.
The men did not seem to care that they were probably cutting off the circulation in the teen’s wrist as they pulled him roughly off the ground.
The man who had previously held the gun to Alex’s head smirked at the scared teen.
“Sleep well,” he mocked and the last thing Alex heard was the sound of his captors laughing before the butt of the gun came down on his head.
………………………………..
The cement floor rubbed harshly against his knees and legs as he was dragged down the hallway. Two men, one on each side, had a hold on one of his arms in a fierce grip. They were laughing and talking when Alex woke up.
Though he was awake, Alex didn’t move.
He wanted to surprise them when he decided to attack. It was hard not to show any signs of consciousness; all Alex wanted to do was punch the people that were dragging him through the halls.
But he knew that he could not do that, so Alex lay limp as possible and tried to ignore the pain in his arms. Instead, the teen tried to focus on what his captors were saying. Anything he could learn might come in handy.
“--will tear the kid up, there’s no way he’ll last that long,” the man on his right said with a disbelieving snort. The man on Alex’s left tightened his grip on the teen’s arm in anger not even realizing he war hurting the teen.
“You didn’t see the tapes of him in action, though. He’s pretty good for a kid and you saw what he did to Sean, Jerry,” the man contradicted in a careless voice, but his grip on Alex’s arm showed his anger.
Jerry on Alex’s right started snickering, “Yeah, I did see what the kid did to him.” He paused and the teen could hear the Jerry’s hair move as the man shook his head.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t bet on how long Rider lasts. Sean is going to beat him to death as soon as he gets the chance,” Jerry said with humor in his voice that made Alex feel sick.
“The scientists want to see how long he’s going to last, though. They won’t let Sean near him,” the unnamed man said. Jerry sighed. “Rider will piss one of them off, they’ll give him to Sean to do whatever he wants to with and in the end the kid will be dead.”
Alex could not stand to hear the men talk about his fate anymore and he tried to tune them out. I have to escape and it’d better be sooner then later, Alex thought worriedly.
There were no other people around and Alex figured now was as good a time as he would get. Suddenly the teen pulled his legs up to stand and yanked his arms backwards and out of his captor’s grips.
The men stumbled slightly and one cursed and spun around--just to get a fist in his surprised face.
Alex twisted his body and aimed a powerful kick at Jerry’s abdomen. Jerry fell to his knees with a grunt and Alex kicked the man’s jaw relentlessly. The man fell to the ground, limp and unconscious.
Alex turned in time to dodge the other man’s arms and as the man stumbled past, the teen turned his palm and chopped into the back of the man’s neck.
He fell with a moan of pain right next to his partner.
Alex grabbed the two guns that were in the holsters at the guard’s sides and wondered why the men had not grabbed them immediately.
The teen turned to go back up the long corridor but stopped to listen just after taking a few steps. He could just barely hear the sound of laughter. He did not want to run into the people.
Alex would need all the time he could get and as soon as someone saw the unconscious guards the alarm would sound. The teen turned and ran as quietly as possible up the corridor and he jumped over the two unconscious men blocking the hall.
The blond ran with the guns held carefully away from his body but ready to shoot if he had to. At the end of the corridor he saw a heavy metal door.
When he reached the door Alex took a deep breath and closed his eyes momentarily.
He hoped that the room would be empty. The teen did not want to spill any blood, but to protect himself, he would. Alex decided to open the door quickly instead of slowly.
If someone saw the door opening they would have more time to arm themselves. The teen could not risk that. With his guns held steady and ready to fire Alex threw open the door.
After quickly surveying the room, Alex realized that he was the only person out in the open. The walls were made of heavy cement and Alex knew that the room was designed not to let any noise pass through the walls. The teen shut the door with his leg before moving to look around some more.
He took a step into the room and a sudden movement made him jerk around to aim both guns at the source of the movement. From behind thick bars a familiar face stared at him in surprise.
It was from shock that Alex lowered the guns. “Wolf?” he whispered to the man that was still staring at him. More faces that Alex recognized appeared around Wolf.
The teen blinked as he took in the K Unit behind bars and tried to figure out what was going on. “Cub,” Wolf said and that was all he seemed to be able to say.
Without waiting for anything else, Alex clicked one of the guns on safety and tucked it into his jeans as he moved toward the cell.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked bluntly as he studied the door to the cell to try and figure out how to set his old teammates free.
“We were taken prisoner by this group of wackos. What’s to tell?” Eagle asked sarcastically. Alex did not answer but studied the door. There was an old-fashioned padlock that held the door shut and Alex bit his lip in thought.
“I don’t know where the key--” Fox started to say but Alex cut him of with a command of, “Move.”
The K Unit quickly got away from the door and Alex shot the padlock, which flew off to the side and landed with a heavy thud.
The teen pulled the door open and moved out the way for the surprised K Unit to come out.
Wolf came out first and he nodded at Alex in thanks while looking at him curiously. The teen did not say anything but he pulled the other gun from his pants. He held it out to Wolf while the rest of the K Unit came out of the cell.
Wolf took the gun with a grateful look. Alex turned to leave the room, after all they only had a little time make an escape but another man standing in the doorway of the cell caught his attention.
“Alex,” Yassen said without any emotion in his voice. The teen wondered if his day could get any weirder and if anyone could hear the gears shifting in his head. The man was supposed to be dead.
Alex had been there when he had died. But this was no time to ask question so the teen just said, “Yassen,” in a steady tone.
Alex turned away from the assassin to look around the room. There were no guns in sight, but there was a large Swiss army knife sitting on a table.
The teen went over and grabbed the knife Anything could come in handy. With that in mind, Alex turned back the K Unit and ignored Yassen. It was just to weird to see him alive. The K Unit was also looking for weapons Snake pulled open a drawer and found another gun, but that was all they found in their search.
“Okay Cub, how many people are in this place and where are we at?” Wolf asked all business as him and all the other men turned to face the teen.
“I don’t know I woke up as two of them were dragging me down the hallway They’ll be found soon,” Alex said and Wolf nodded. “We should go quietly, try to take them by surprise, and then we’re going to have to fight our way out,” Wolf said.
Fox, Snake and Eagle nodded seriously, “Can you handle that gun, Cub?” Wolf asked in a no-nonsense tone.
Alex nodded without saying anything and together the five men and the teen headed toward the door. It opened quietly and they moved out of the room and down the hall.