Mrs Jones sat down in her office, 3 months after Alex had been kidnapped, a file in front of her, but her mind was on other things. One thing in particular: Alex. Always Alex.
Mi6 had tried negotiating with scorpia. All the intelligence agencies had tried to negotiate with scorpia. But they had bluntly refused. They had the world's best agent in their grasp, they weren't going to let him go.
But that's wasn't Mrs Jones' biggest worry. The world's best agent wasn't a normal agent. The world's best agent was a child. An unstable child. Easily molded.
Mrs Jones knew. Without a shadow of a doubt, that scorpia had not taken Alex for hostage, or to use as a bargaining chip. They had taken him to use him. To train him to be one of them. If it were any other agent, Mrs Jones would have laughed at the notion that an agent could turn enemy, but she'd seen Alex's state, and from what k-unit told her, scorpia would have it very easy to train Alex.
This was what scared Mrs Jones. Caused her bone deep fear like no other. With a tool like Alex in scorpia's grip, scorpia was unbeatable.
That's why the hour before, Alan had told Mrs Jones what he was planning. Alan had decided that the blackmail mi6 used to prevent scorpia from exercising revenge back when Alex was fourteen, would have to be used.
But could mi6 really do it? Could mi6 really stoop to the level of exposing a person's life and secrets to the world? Could they really ruin a person's life to that extent?
'You've already ruined it' a little voice sang in her head.
They had, hadn't they. So what would one more thing matter? Right?
The blackmail might not even work, a part of her countered.
But it wasn't supposed to do anything other then degrade scorpia and show that mi6 are serious. There was no chance that scorpia were handing back Alex. No chance at all.
Mrs Jones put the file down and held her head in her hands. This wasn't what she wanted to think about, but still the cryptic words of scorpia's message came back to her.
'Teach the rider how to ride a horse rather than a wave'
As soon as Mrs Jones had heard the soldier read the paper, Mrs Jones had known what it meant. Known that Alex was taken and would be turned into the enemy..
'when the rider is ready, the rider will return, but that rider won't be the same as the one who was taken.'
This was the threat from scorpia. That they would turn mi6's best agent against them.
'And that is who you must fear.'
Mrs Jones was already scared because she knew what Alex was capable of. She also knew that Alex had only let her see a fraction of what he could truly do. She was afraid of what would happen if scorpia managed to gain full control over Alex. Then Alex would be the most feared person on the planet. No remorse, no mercy, the perfect weapon against anyone and anything.
Yes Mrs Jones was scared.
Mrs Jones was really scared.
That was why she picked up the phone and called Alan.
"Alan, I agree, send it to the public."
Mrs Jones shut the phone and rubbed her eyes.
"Alex I'm so sorry."