Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider or any associated characters.

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With a sigh Ben extracted an arm from the warmth, the cocoon of his bed covers offered, and turned off the alarm, thus ceasing the incessant beeping that accompanied. Flopping onto his back, he stared blankly at the ceiling. He lay there for a few more minutes, before pushing back the covers and shuffling into the en-suite. Twenty minutes later a freshly showered and dressed Ben made his way downstairs. He spent the next ten minutes scrolling through his email and news sites, absentmindedly shovelling spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth. Heading back upstairs he brushed his teeth before grabbing his jacket and slinging his bag over his shoulder. Snagging his keys off the table, he was out the door.

Entering the 'bank' Ben ignored the hustle and bustle that came with the authenticity of the cover, real customers, with real bank accounts, with real banking issues. Flicking his wrist he glanced at watch. 9.54. The joys of just coming back from a mission, at least two weeks before the next one and a late start the next day to compensate for the likely jet lag. Maybe having Jones as head wasn't so bad, even if there did seem to be more paperwork. Weaving his way through the hordes of customers, Ben made his way to the elevators, pushing the button to call the elevator he stood tapping his foot waiting. Once inside, he swiped the key card dangling from his neck and punched the button for the seventeenth floor. It was several minutes later when the elevator dinged, jolted to a stop and the doors slid open.

Striding down the hall, Ben nodded in greeting to the agents rushing about the place, filing briefing packs, mission reports and the like. Arriving at his office he slipped in and closed the gap between himself and his desk. Dropping his bag to floor, he shrugged off his coat and slung it across the back of his chair. Sinking into the leather confines of his desk chair, Ben booted up the laptop sitting slightly to the right of him. While waiting for the login screen to upload, Ben found his gaze settling on one of the few pictures adorning his office. In the pictures there were four adults and one teenager. Ben smiled as he recalled the day the photo was taken.

It was about nine months previous. Ben and Alex had been sent back to Brecon Beacons for a refresher training course, in the form of a two week stay. The photo was taken on their last day. They'd just finished a three day survival hike, and with K-Unit being shipped out on a six month tour and Alex going off a deep cover op, this would likely be the last they saw of each other for a while, so Cheetah - Ben's replacement - had kindly offered to take a picture of the mismatch group when they returned to camp. Alex being the youngest and smallest of the group had been squeezed in the middle, Ben and Snake on his left, with Wolf and Eagle on his right, each with their arms slung across another's shoulders, smiles on all of them.

Thinking back to when they first met Alex, he realised how much he had changed. He was no longer the scrawny five foot four, one hundred twenty pound blonde that had been tacked onto their unit. There he stood five foot seven, still a little short for age, slightly muscled, and his once pale, almost white skin, was now tanned. He was also now willing in his work for MI6. Following Blunt's forced retirement and Jones' appointment as head of MI6, Alex was given the chance to return to his former life. What seemed like a great idea at the time, they soon realised wasn't when put into practice. And so after careful deliberation and a long chat with Mrs. Jones Alex decided to come back to the world of espionage but on his own terms; pay, adequate training, adequate rest and recuperation time between missions, back up where needed, means to protect himself, and the option to say no to a mission without consequence. Mrs. Jones, although still as reluctant as the first time, agreed. K-Unit, too, had changed. Though physically they were still the same, certain events led them to accepting Alex and essentially adopting him as the little brother of the group. 'Cub' had now become not only a code name, but a term of endearment.

And so when three weeks ago, they received word of Alex being declared MIA, their hearts clenched with worry. Why they were the first to volunteer for raid parties. Anything to find their unofficial fifth member.

When the login screen had finally loaded, Ben entered his details when prompted and once again found his eyes sliding to the last picture taken of 'their Cub' and then to the calendar. Three weeks. It had been three weeks since their last scheduled check in. One Alex didn't make. 19 days since he was declared MIA. 19 days of Ben waiting to wake up one morning and find a bloody and battered Alex passed out on the sofa in their sitting room. Or to wake up to a phone call. But it had been 19 days of nothing. Silence. 19 days of searching for leads. They had reached out to all their contacts, hoping someone, somewhere had heard something. 19 days of dead ends. With a heavy sigh, Ben averted his gaze back to the laptop screen and began filing a report his last mission.

It was about forty minutes later, when a notification popped up on Ben's screen.

One new email.

Curious, Ben minimise the Word document he had open and logged into his email. Sure enough, there was one unread email sitting at the top of his inbox. Skimming the sender's address he noted it was one of his contacts. With the subject field labelled 'urgent' in bold, Ben wondered if this could possibly be the break they were hoping for. Clicking on the email, he held his breath.

56*22'34.3''N 23*24'13.9''E

Even though Ben knew there was a possibility of this being another dead end, Ben couldn't help the feeling of hope that rose in him. Quickly opening a new tab he copied and pasted the co-ordinates and hit enter. It looked they would be sending the rescue team to the Latvia Lithuania border. Grabbing a pen and a scrap of paper, he scribbled down the coordinates, before tearing out of his office and up a flight of stairs to Jones' office. Knocking on the door once, Ben all but stormed into the office.

"Agent Dan-", Mrs. Jones began to reprimand Ben but was interrupted when Ben shoved the paper in her direction. "Are these..."

"As trustworthy as you can when dealing with criminal informants." Ben answered as she trailed off. "It's somewhere near the Latvia Lithuania border, about three hours from here."

With a nod, Mrs. Jones picked up the phone and dialled a number she'd dialled too many times in the last few weeks.

"Col. Lynch, it's Mrs. Jones, we have new coordinates."

And so began what Ben hoped would be the last mobilisation of the search and rescue team.