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Alex has always had nightmares ( Read more... ) -
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The next few days are defined by a deep, drowning exhaustion that hollows out his feelings, leaving no room for anything but sadness and anger. He barely remembers anything about leaving Sarov, just waking up a day later in a hospital with five stitches in his wrist and bruises on his throat. He answers questions put to him, but doesn’t start any ( Read more... ) -
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The next he's awake and aware, he's in a deep, comfortable four-poster bed, and General Alexei Sarov is sitting by with water, awaiting his return to consciousness. He apologizes, most sincerely, for Alex’s treatment, and informs him kindly that he is to think of himself as a guest at the Casa de Oro (a guest of, course, who cannot leave). He makes ( Read more... ) -
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He wakes - he's not sure if he wakes. He's not sure if he was ever asleep. There's a bag over his head (it smells bad, stale, and he'd like to throw up but he doesn't dare), so there's practically no difference between consciousness and unconsciousness ( Read more... ) -
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It takes a bit of snooping into the Belinda and Tom's business, but Alex manages to work out what the agents are searching for: bombs. Rather than a simple recon mission as he'd been told they were doing, the two CIA agents are actually searching for nuclear weaponry with a Geiger counter they'd smuggled onto the island in his luggage in the form ( Read more... ) -
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There's irony in it, really. Alex has always wanted parents, proper ones, ever since he was a kid and he realized that other boys had adult family who stayed home all the time and didn't miss important things like losing their first teeth and learning to write letters and their third, fourth, and sixth birthdays. But then Jack Starbright came along ( Read more... ) -
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Jack takes over quickly upon her arrival. After one more day to recover at the Pleasures', she bundles him off to Chelsea, where they find an MI6 agent waiting for them. Although he claims he was dispatched to sweep their house for bugs or explosives, it's obvious he was sent round to ensure that Alex came to headquarters as soon as he arrived in ( Read more... ) -
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After the fiasco at Wimbledon, Alex is relieved beyond belief to meet Sabina's parents - her very kind, welcoming parents who have absolutely no problem with their daughter inviting a boy she'd only just met on holiday with them. Jack gives him the go-ahead with stern instructions to stay out of trouble and check in at least once a day before ( Read more... ) -
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June came; and with June, Wimbledon. In the days before, excitement about seeing the games firsthand mingled with his few doubts about accepting a trip from someone involved with MI6 - no matter how many times he told himself that nothing bad was likely to happen at Wimbledon. Whether or not he believed himself, well. Sometimes it’s just easiest ( Read more... )