"I beat you! Razim whimpered, trying to balance on the bridge, "I crushed you. I killed your friend. And you st—"

He cut off suddenly, as a voice behind him whispered, "Get away from my friend," and a gun barrel was pushed into the middle of his back. In amazement

, Alex recognized this voice as that of Jack Stabright, his best friend and legal guardian. Her red hair was mussed, and she had first degree burns and bruises on her arms but, otherwise seemed unscathed from the explosion of her Land Rover, which should have killed her. She continued saying, "There was one tiny flaw in your story. I'm not dead! Slowly turn around and walk toward the end of the bridge. Play any tricks, and you'll end up a paraplegic for life, or even better, dead!"

Razim turned slowly and started walking toward the end lf the bridge. Suddenly, Razim slipped a knife from the waistband of his pants and attempted to turn towards Jack. Before he could even raise the knife, he was dead. Jack had seen the knife and raised the gun to his heart and shot. His face had a look of shock on it, as his body tumble down to the ground.

Jack grabbed Alex, and they stumbled off the bridge together. When they were off it Alex asked the question that had been on his mind since he had heard her voice on the bridge, "Jack, how did you get out of the Land Rover before it exploded?"
"I knew. I knew when I first turned on the Land Rover. I felt it sort of short out. I could tell something was wrong, so I quickly slipped out of the door seconds before it exploded. I still go these," she said, pointing to the burns and bruises on her arms.

They walked slowly towards the gate. Whenever someone moved to intercept them, Jack would say something to them in Arabic that Alex didn't understand. When they got to the compound gate, Jack walked up to the Gate-keeper and whispered a few words in his ear. He nodded and opened the gate.

After they were safely in the taxi that would take them to the airport, Alex asked, "What did you tell the gate-keeper and all the other guards?"
Jack replied, "I'll tell you later." When they reached the airport, they got out of the taxi and went to their plane.

When they got off their four and a half hour flight, they picked up Jack's car from long term parking, and then Jack drove to MI6 Headquarters. When they reached the Royal and General Bank, they walked up the front steps of the building that secretly housed MI6 Headquarters. "Ready?" Jack asked, hoping that this would be the last time she or Alex would have to enter this building. Alex nodded and they headed in.

Jack knocked on Mr. Blunt's office door. It swung in silently and seemingly opened on its own. Alan Blunt was sitting at his desk. He said in his normal bland tone, "Miss Starbright, please come in. Alex, please wait outside."
A few minutes later, Jack came storming out of the office, obviously quite angry. She grabbed Alex's arm as she passed, and said, "Come on, Alex!"
As they were walking to the car, Alex asker her what was wrong. She answered, "That man is an evil, conniving, horrible monster!"

"What did he do to you?" Alex asked, suddenly very concerned, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her to face him.

She shook out of his grip and walked to the car. She waited until she was in the car before whispering, "He did it. He recruited the sniper and the helicopter pilot. He arranged the whole thing! Scorpia wanted to lure you to Cairo and the set up the trap. But, he made sure you fell into it!: By sending you to Cairo, and allowing me to go with you, he almost killed us He pretended to be on your side for so long, then set you up to go against Scorpia one more time!"
Jack, he was always among the best at .keeping secrets and living a lie. There was no way we could have known. Why did he tell you anyway? Why you, and not me?" Alex asked, suspicious as always at Mr. Blunt.

Jack replied, "I think because he knew I would tell you. He wanted you to know but, was too cowardly to tell you himself. I think he thought you would hurt him."
"Well, you're right. I will. "Alex stated in a determined voice.

"So, on a lighter note, when do you think you'll see Sabina again?" Jack asked, curious that he hadn't talked about his previous girlfriend since he returned from her house over spring break.

Alex's face darkened as he said, sadly, "I'm not sure she will ever want to see me again. Over spring break, we had a huge fight. I've tried to call her, but she never answers."

"Oh. It'll be ok, though. You'll find someone else!" Jack said, mussing his hair.

"Yeah. The good thing from this whole crazy mission is that we will never have to deal with Scorpia again. It'll just be weird not going in to MI6 Headquarter and getting briefed on a mission, going to see Smithers, then hopping on a plane to who knows where on some crazy, dangerous mission! It'll be nice not to have my friends wondering where I am, and it'll be even better not having to live a huge lie! Imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't gone to MI6, if Ian hadn't been killed." Alex said, referring to his deceased uncle. They both contemplated this thought, and how different life would be with Ian, having never heard of MI6, and living like a normal British family, "Hey Jack, if you don't mind me asking, what is your first name?"

Jack laughed as she said, "Oh, I never told you that? Well, it's just Jack. My parents had very interesting choices of names for me and my sisters, with Michael, Jack, Curtis and Austin. Do you have any homework from before we left?"

"Jack," Alex said, knowing she was teasing him but, deciding to play along that he thought she was serious, "We just almost go killed, and you are worrying about something as simple as whether or not I had homework?"

"Al, I'm joking!" Jack said, laughing, which in turn go Alex laughing, and together they laughed like they hadn't in a very long time!