What I Do For My Country - chapter 2
Alex stood frozen as Blunt's words echoed through his mind.
Tom? What had Tom got to do with any of this? He hadn't seen Tom in a year and a half. Was he in trouble?
He slowly turned back around and glared. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Ben looking from him to Blunt and back again.
"What does Tom have to do with any of this?"
Blunt stared at him impassively, his fingers linked together and resting on the top of his desk. Alex had the feeling that if Blunt could, he would've smirked at how easily Alex fell into that trap. Slowly he unfurled his fingers and reached forward, picking up the small pile of paper on his desk and tapping it sharply three times to bring them back into order.
Not that they were ever out of order.
After what seemed like hours, Alex was getting rather twitchy about the whole deal. Tom was his best friend, even after they had parted ways. Tom was the only person who had stood by him through the whole hellish ordeal of his teenage years.
True, Alex had never told him much later on. But what he had told him would've been justifiable as something to run as far as possible from.
Tom never had. It was only ambition and preparing for an adult life that had separated them.
He would do anything for him.
And now Blunt knew something, something about Tom, that may mean that Tom was in a lot of danger, and he wasn't telling him!
"In has come to our attention," Blunt started, when he had obviously decided that he had mentally tortured Alex enough, "that there has been a breach of security."
Alex felt himself pale. Had someone realised how close friends they had been in their earlier years and guess that Tom would know information relating to Alex's 'job'? One of his old enemies? Scorpia? The Chinese Triads? Or was it an enemy he had made recently?
Each option was both better and worse than the others and it was with a start that Alex realised that his breath had left him in a giant rush and he had yet to take another.
As he tried to calm his pounding heart he thought about the situation rationally. Or as rationally as he was able to.
Blunt had said that there had been a breech in security and that Tom was involved. And, whilst an enemy might have found out about Tom knowing details he wasn't supposed to, they wouldn't know about it without Blunt...knowing...about it...
Oh no.
Alex felt his stomach drop and the room spun dangerously.
Blunt knew. Knew about Tom, knew about everything. The only thing Alex could do now was play the ignorant card and hope to get out of this without destroying his best friend's life.
"A breach in security? That doesn't sound good."
And so the game begins...
"No." Blunt smiled genially and laid down the papers. "No, it's not."
"And," Alex tested the word out, not really wanting to finish the thought but needing to know just what Blunt knew, "what has Tom got to do with this?"
Blunt shot him a blank eyed stare, and it was only because Alex was actively looking, that he saw the miniscule twitch in his left eyebrow.
Alex waited with baited breath for what Blunt's answer would be. Alex had no doubt that Blunt would carry on this charade for a while longer yet.
"Tom is the breach."
...Or maybe not. Alex thought with some surprise at Blunt's...well...bluntness. Then had to try to swallow the hysterical laughter that was threatening to burst from his lips.
He had been out of this game for too long, it seemed. Or maybe it was because something precious to him was being threatened and he couldn't just barge in and save it like he had been doing for years.
"Do you," Blunt continued, cutting through Alex's inner panic, "have any idea how this could have happened?"
Ignorant! Play ignorant!
"No." Alex considered adding a 'sir' to that but in the end decided that it would probably be a bit to out of character and therefore suspicious.
"Hmm, that's strange. Seeing as it was you who caused the breach."
Alex pressed his lips together, refusing to say anything that might damn him even more. Unfortunately, Blunt didn't seem to need him to confirm anything and Alex was left in the uncomfortable position of being caught out.
After a few moments of silence he decided that he really didn't want to ask the next question but would have to anyway. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Do?" Blunt sounded surprised and Alex reluctantly gave him some credit on his innocent act. "Isn't it obvious? Mr. Harris knows too much to be deemed safe."
He made it sound so reasonable too.
"What...are you going to do to him?" Alex asked hesitantly, already condemning himself for putting his friend in danger, even though said friend had no clue that his life was being battled out in a game of wits, politics and hesitancy.
Blunt traced his fingertip across the top of his desk, wiping away imaginary dust. "I'm afraid that we will have to transfer Mr. Harris to a secure holding cell." He said, inspecting his fingertip in an act of nonchalance. "The knowledge he carries is, after all, of utmost importance."
Alex gritted his teeth at the unfairness of it all. They were going to lock Tom away, probably for the rest of his adult life, just because he had 'important information' in his head. Information that Alex had put there. "But he hasn't done anything! I'm the one who told him! I'm the one who should be punished!"
"Nevertheless..."
"You would ruin his future because of me?"
And that was the crux of the matter now wasn't it? Blunt would quite easily and happily destroy the futures of people he had never met to suit his own needs and that of the country's.
A small part of Alex agreed that this was probably the most logical conclusion that should be taken but it was ruthlessly squashed by the much larger part of him that was horrified.
"Alex, not everything is about you." Blunt said gently. Only, it seemed that when it came down to these types of missions, it always, always, did come down to the fact that everything was about him.
"If...if I do this mission..." Alex didn't want to do it. He had freedom. Would he really sacrifice it all?
"Oh, well. If you do this mission for us then I'm sure that we can come to some...arrangement."
Yes. Yes he would. "I don't want you messing with my friends lives."
"That is not how it works Alex. Your word first."
Damnit, Blunt knew him better than he thought. Because, whilst the word of a spy didn't usually spark such trust, Alex had made it part of his job to always follow through on any promises that he made.
Unless, of course, they were given to an enemy.
"Fine." He spat out. "You have my word that I'll take part in this mission."
"Wonderful!" Blunt didn't smile, but Alex knew that if he did he would be doing so with a smug look on his face.
"And Tom?" He asked.
"I'm sure that we can set a number of guards around him to keep an eye on the proceedings without having to interfere too much." And that was the best Alex could hope for. He only hoped that it would be enough and that Tom wouldn't hate him if he ever found out.
Or if he ever saw him again.
"Now, to discuss your mission." Blunt glanced down at the papers on his desk before looking back and staring Alex in the eye. If it was at all possible he became even more serious than he usually was. "It has recently come to our attention that the Russian Ambassadors daughter has received some very...delicate...information. We need you to infiltrate her school and get close to her. Fortunately she is the same age as you so that shouldn't be a problem."
Alex nodded, and then froze as his brain processed the words. "Wait a minute; I have my own classes to finish! How long is this mission going to take?"
"It is a long-term mission. We have already transferred your details and enrolled you at the college."
Alex glared. "Even though you weren't sure that I was going to take this mission in the first place?"
Blunt paused, and then said delicately, "We have...a number of ways to persuade you Alex."
"Fine. So you want me to get close to this girl and get the information. Is that it?" Alex was getting fed up now. First they had threatened Tom and now they reveal that they had already finished the proceedings leading up to this mission without his consent.
He was also not in a rush to find out about these 'other ways' though. He suppressed a shiver at the thought.
"Basically, yes. Ben here is going in with you as your uncle. He's your contact between us and you."
"Wonderful."
"Now Alex, don't be like that!" Ben sounded almost too chirpy, despite what he had just witnessed. It made Alex edgy. "I'm sure I'll make a wonderful uncle."
"My last one was KIA." It was callous but he needed to take the edge of Ben somehow.
"Um..."
He sighed, both an apology to Ben and Ian. "So, when do I leave?"
"Your first day is the third of February."
"A week?" He asked a little shocked. Usually he didn't get such a large gap between briefing and leaving.
"Correct. You'll need to prepare yourself." And...that didn't sound good.
"Is that it?" He asked, standing up, trying to suppress his nerves. The whole thing smelt rotten and he was getting increasingly twitchy the longer he spent in the room.
"Yes, I believe...oh. Wait. Here, this is for you." Blunt passed him a bag from beneath his desk. Alex had the strangest thought that Blunt had been waiting a long time for this moment.
With just a little trepidation he opened the bag and looked inside, his brow creasing in confusion as he pulled out a piece of material and held it up so that the other occupants of the room could see.
"What...is this?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"That's a skirt my dear nephew." Ben said grinning. Alex really wanted to retort to that feat of observation but he found that his voice didn't seem to be working. Instead he turned to look at Blunt, who smiled at him.
"It's your new uniform."
And Alex didn't know what he found scarier. The fact that he had to wear a skirt or that Blunt was smiling.