Okay this is the same as the story I posted just the other day but this one isn't so heavy on the cussing and later on certain torture scenes will be ommited so that those of you who don't read M fics can enjoy as well.

For those of you who do check out my livejournal account. .

Prologue

Thursday October 14 4:00 pm East African Time---Location: Bahrain

Information gathered through the investigation of three bombings in Liverpool, London and Manchester have initiated an investigation of a lead in Bahrain. Because of the nature of the zone, a combat ready espionage configuration was advised. After much disagreement, MI5 and the SAS reluctantly agreed to send K-unit in its entirety to investigate; Wolf Fox, Snake, Eagle and Cub. Alex was to portray a child witness under SAS protection en route to Jordan to testify against a fake offender with his older team members as his escort.

Now as their Envoy drove through the desert approaching the designated position to investigate, they were intercepted and violently captured by an unknown third party.

"Move! Get going."

Alex was maliciously shoved forward tumbling down a few stairs into Wolf who was just ahead of him in the steep, narrow stone stairway they were being led through. Wolf instinctively stopped to prevent Alex from falling any further. "You okay?"

"Yeah" Alex answered after a moment resuming their slow descent down into the earth. Because of the jet lag he'd been experiencing, Alex had been deeply asleep during the drive through the desert. When their-still unknown assailants- hijacked the vehicle, he had the benefit of an adrenaline burst to wake up and find out what was going on. But now that they were blindfolded and bound hands behind their backs, the lethargy was setting in again with a vengeance and he found himself struggling to stay awake.

When they finally stopped and were allowed to see again, they were in a small stone room measly lit with a lone bulb swinging from a raw wire. Three men stood before them examining them with scorn.

"Where are you headed?" barked one of the men in a slight German accent. He was short and rather ugly with a crooked nose and yellow teeth.

Before Wolf could answer, Alex irritably snapped back. "You could have asked that before you dragged us down into your rat hole!"

The bigger, seemingly quieter, man promptly backhanded Alex to the unforgiving floor.

"Speak only when spoken to child."

Alex glared up at him as he wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth. "You did ask something." he spat indignantly, uncharacteristically free with his tongue

Fox opened his mouth to tell Alex to cool it but thought better of it and decided he had to learn from now when to keep his mouth shut.

The man who had slapped Alex, picked him up by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into the wall causing him to see exploding lights in front of his eyes.

"We didn't ask you anything because you're nothing but a child. You either learn to stay in your place or feel pain." He banged him against the wall again for emphasis. "Do I make myself clear?"

Alex closed his eyes to ease the dizziness he felt but didn't answer. The man eventually dropped him on the floor were he decided to sit for fear that he would throw up if he stood.

Crooked Nose glared at him before asking the men the question again.

"We were on our way to the airport with the kid, but I wonder what concern is that to you." Wolf answered tersely

"You don't get to make demands and expect them to be met like you're used to in America." Crooked Nose spat

"We're not from America." Eagle interjected disgustedly

"Dimwit" Alex added silently seeing that the man could have determined that from their accent.

"Whether your idea of rights is different from ours is of no interest to me." Wolf continued. "Your bullshit is getting on my nerves and if you don't have a good reason for having us here then we'll be on our way to catch our plane."

The third man of fit medium sized build with dark hair and eyes, spoke up for the first time.

"Why didn't you speak up before we dragged you down here as you say?" he asked

"There was a friggin' gun in my face; was I supposed to tempt you to use it?" Wolf answered rapidly losing patience

"I see" the man answered. He walked over to Alex who was still sitting, pulled out a gun and cocked it at his head.

"So you will answer our questions if there is a gun in his face then?"

The members of K-unit stiffened at the sudden severity of the situation.

"Now the four of you are soldiers right?" the man asked, satisfied with their response

"Yes," Wolf answered tightly

"And why is the child with you?"

Wolf answered carefully "We are escorting him to Jordan."

The man scoffed and pulled Alex to a standing position beside him.

"Why does he need four soldiers to escort him to Jordan?"

"He is on his way to testify as a witness of a crime."

The man smirked as though he knew something and asked "And what is his name?"

Snake glanced at Wolf who shook his head.

"I said, what is his name?"

"Why do you need to know?" Wolf demanded

"You're about to ask yourself why didn't you just answer the damn question." He pressed the gun closer to Alex's head.

Wolf sighed "Michael" he answered cautiously

The man groaned and smacked Alex across the face with the butt of his gun, knocking him backwards and into Snake.

"Lie again and he'll lose his big toe. I know that his name is not Michael anything because my sources tell me that this boy," he took out a black and white photo of Alex in a suit in an upscale restaurant "is Alex Rider."

Alex glanced up at Wolf in concern who cursed under his breath.

"Now let me ask again. What are you doing in Bahrain?"

There was a long pregnant pause in which K-unit refused to answer.

"Fine, we'll find out from the boy himself, after all he's the spy." he began to lead Alex towards a very narrow dark passage way. "Blindfold them again and lead them out." he commanded

"No!" Eagle shouted as the leader was leaving with Alex "He won't know anything."

"Get Back HERE you coward!" Wolf yelled desperately wrestling against the burly man who was about to slip a black hood over his head. "You want information you have to ask us!"

The man paused and turned back to them. "You have already proven that you don't intend to answer." His moment of divided attention gave Alex a chance to strike. He had no intention of being led away into some hell hole away from his team to be interrogated by mad men. So he used the opportunity to kick the man in the knee as hard as he could and when he stumbled, he kneed him in the crotch. Then he quickly squeezed past him and back into the open room they had come from and stood between Fox and Wolf, hardly panting but definitely agitated. To put it simply, the prospect of going down that hallway alone with that man, terrified him and he decided that either K-unit came with him or else-more preferably- he didn't go at all.

The burly man tried shoving past Eagle, who had moved to stand in front of Alex, out of the way to grab Alex again while Crooked Nose aimed to shoot him in the leg but the leader came limping back into the room and signaled for them to stop.

"You all are very attached." he spat in a pained voice "Now it will cost you, ALL of you are going to regret it." he yelled "take them to a cell." he barked.

He glared at Alex menacingly as they passed. "You have no idea of the horrors that await you on the other side of that door." he hissed "When I'm through with you we will know everything you have to tell; EVERYTHING!" he screamed at their retreating backs.

"Why couldn't you keep your damn mouth shut?" Wolf demanded to know but Alex didn't answer. The five of them were locked in a tiny room--no more than 2.5 meters in either direction with only a dirty wooden bench in it and a tiny metal urinal in a 2 foot extension from the room. The ceiling was rather low with another grimy bulb hanging from it and while the men stood around trying to peek through the peephole in the heavy wooden door and whatnot, Alex just sat in a corner with his arms around his knees trying to make himself smaller.

"Don't ignore me Cub; if you'd kept quiet we might have had a chance to get out and you know that."

"And now that you went and attacked him, who knows what he plans to do to you and we can't protect you all the time." Snake added

When Alex still didn't answer they looked at him more closely. He was looking at them as they spoke but didn't seem to be listening.

"Alex have you heard anything we said?" Eagle asked

"Yes." Alex responded and went back to staring at the wall.

"Then why don't you answer?" Wolf snapped irritably

"I don't want to! Okay?!" Alex yelled

Fox stared at Alex curiously for a moment. "Oh shit." he exclaimed "You're claustrophobic." he half asked half stated.

Alex grimaced "Congratulations you found a name for it," he responded sarcastically "Now leave me alone."

"You sound like a brat Alex; if I didn't know better I'd say you were one. Why don't you just try and get some sleep while we figure out what to do. Maybe when you wake up you won't be such a bastard." Eagle suggested brusquely

Alex nodded, slightly shamed face and tried to get comfortable against the surprisingly cold wall. After a few minutes of Alex's shifting around, Fox who was sitting next to him, lost patience. "I'm not gonna kill you for leaning on my shoulder you know. I don't imagine that leaning that cheek against a stone wall would help you sleep and your squirming sure isn't helping me."

Alex had the presence of mind to blush before resting on Fox's sturdy but comfortable shoulder. He was asleep five minutes later.

As Alex slept, the men contemplated their situation and who these people were. It was confusing because the coordinates they had received for their investigation had been very clear and very recent and they had not reached them yet. Indeed the designated safe house had been at least another 30 minutes away. Yet these people seemed to believe that Alex was here to investigate their activities. There seemed to be a connection between the two but at this early stage they couldn't yet find it.

The men drifted back and forth between reluctantly dozing off and talking quietly amongst themselves. After a while the men were startled to hear a scream come from somewhere in the compound. Eagle glanced at Alex's sleeping purple cheeked figure in concern. The man had threatened them with horrors in store for him. Eagle shook his head miserably "You really messed this one up Cub." he whispered

"I think that man had it in for him anyway." Wolf answered following Eagle's train of thought. He nervously tapped his foot thinking. "He knows that Alex is a spy and he must think he's here to spy on him." He glanced at Alex too. "I'm really worried about this interrogation though, I don't know what they'll do."

"They're not going to be gentle that's for sure." Snake pointed out

Wolf glanced at Alex again "I've never been tortured before," he began thoughtfully "but we can't let them torture Cub." He stopped tapping his foot. "We just can't."

They heard the scream again, more agonizing this time.

"And there's no doubt that they're capable of it." Snake added

"Of course they're capable of it." Eagle exclaimed somewhat agitated "The short ugly guy looked like a regular Nazi, if they could roast babies back in the forties, a fourteen year-old is nothing."

Fox looked at Eagle "That's strange." he thought aloud "You'd think-" he was cut short by the opening of the door.

"Where's the boy?" A different man, much taller than the others, shouted causing Alex to startle awake.

Fox immediately commanded Alex to be quiet, so as not to take any chances with his smart mouth. Alex was slightly offended but didn't speak.

"What do you want with him?" Wolf demanded of the man, standing up.

"We need information he has. Get out of the way!" He tried to push past Wolf to get to Alex who had wisely remained in the corner next to Fox.

"Anything he knows we know as well." Eagle declared "You don't need him."

"Oh yeah, well we want him, now move before this gets unnecessarily bloody!"

"Maybe we shouldn't resist some much." Alex suggested quietly "It might be worse."

Fox shushed him again. "Wait."

Wolf struggled with the man until managed to shoved him back out the door causing his head to collide with the door post being as tall as he was.

"Someone is going to pay for that!" the man yelled whipping out a knife as he advanced on them again rubbing the back of head. He pushed past Wolf anyway. "and it's not you." He added.

Fox quickly stood up. "One of us is coming with him." he announced

"You don't make demands." the guard barked "You are actually making it worse for him."

Upon hearing this Alex got up and went over to the man voluntarily. "I really don't want this to be any worse than it would be." he explained to his comrades when they stared at him incredulously.

Then the man grabbed Alex by the arm and yanked him out of the room slamming the door soundly behind them before they could protest further.

"Damn it!" Wolf yelled trying to open the door again " Damn the #$% bastard to hell!" He slammed the wall "Why the #$% didn't you let me do the talking Fox?"

"So you could get him killed out of spite! Fighting wasn't the answer Wolf. You think that man wouldn't have brought out three maybe four more guards to wrench him from us anyway and then take out their frustration on him." He poked Wolf in the chest. "How would you cope with that huh? Knowing you made it that much worse for him."

Wolf reluctantly backed down, which he rarely did and the four of them sat and anxiously waited for Alex's return. "I had to try." he answered quietly after a moment of thought "I couldn't just hand him over."

"I know what you mean." Eagle agreed patting him on the shoulder "None of us wanted to."

"But obviously fighting isn't the best way of preventing that." Fox repeated worried now about what would happen to Alex as a result of their resistance.

"Sometimes it is Fox." Snake countered in his brooding way "We just need to do it at the right time in the right way."

"Maybe." Fox reluctantly acknowledged as they fell silent waiting for Cubs return.

Alex had been gone for a while, maybe two hours and they still hadn't heard anything. Eagle was beginning to wonder if they had moved him to a different compound altogether and left them here. He voiced these thoughts to the rest of them.

"I don't think so." Snake answered slowly "The guy wants to punish us as well."

"Punish us for what?" Wolf insisted angrily "What the hell does he think we know or have that he wants?"

"I'm thinking he's linked to the other organ-"

Snake's reply was cut short by a loud angry yell. "Just answer! You know what I'm talking about!" the shout belonged to the man whom Alex had attacked and he was obviously talking to Alex since he yelled back.

"NO I DON'T! I don't know half of the things you're asking me!"

There was some muffled cursing and Alex shouting, terror was evident in his voice as he repeatedly protested against something then screaming, loud and agonized, Alex's without a doubt. Constantly for maybe five seconds. Eagle's hands shook from a mixture of fear and rage and Wolf jumped up to pound on the door.

There you have it chapter one (I know it was cruel of me to leave such a cliffie but I'm not revealing anymore than that for now. Stay tuned for the next piece most likely two weeks from now. (Hint I could post sooner than that since its already written and betaed if I was asked to, it depends... ) Anyway hope you enjoyed.

Please let me know what you think: what was good, what stinks, what you didn't understand etc. it really helps.


P.S. I'll be posting bios for my version K-unit here soon. It was so much fun thinking out a whole background story and personality for each member in my spare time:).