Title: Where the Truth Lies
Author: Anne Phoenix
Rating: R for violence. There are no sexual situations in this fic.
Disclaimer: The characters represented in this story do not belong to me. This story is written for entertainment and non-profit purposes only.
The events of "Where the Truth Lies" start during "Eagle Strike" … The canon material remains untouched, however this prologue aims to fill in some emotional blanks and provide information about what was happening behind our (and Alex's) backs during the stories. All is not as it seems.
o o o
DURING EAGLE STRIKE
o o o
"He's alive!" a paramedic called out as he it touched his fingers to the young boy's neck. The paramedic did not know the boy, but his voice was laced with relief - nobody liked a dead child. The boy looked so very young and out of place on the devastated aircraft. It made no sense for him to be here, in the middle of this emergency.
The boy was slumped against an older man. Blood and grime matted his blond hair, making it stick to his face and obscure his eyes. Blood smudged his skin, but did not conceal the pattern of purple bruises along the side of his face – he'd clearly been severely beaten.
The other man, too, was covered in blood; so much that it was hard to see where it had come from. It seemed to ooze through his clothes like a never-ending crimson stain. Swiftly, the paramedic's skilled fingers found what they were looking for – faint and irregular, but definitely a pulse.
"This one's alive, too!" he shouted to his colleagues. The other paramedics had been checking the other occupants of the plane, but they now turned their attention to the strange pair slumped against the wall. A smear of blood on the floor indicated that the boy had dragged himself toward the man, and even in unconsciousness their fingers were entwined as if they'd been holding onto each other to face some terrible fate. Maybe a security guard and his son, a paramedic speculated out loud as they lifted the two unconscious forms onto separate gurneys.
The paramedics worked swiftly, checking over both boy and man with practised efficiency. Once the priority of the man's bullet wound had been identified, the young boy and his superficial injuries were all but forgotten. It wasn't long before he was lifted from the aircraft, and then an ambulance whisked him away.
o o o
"Gregorovich will be moved to our high security detention unit right here in London," Alan Blunt decided when he received the news of the man's survival. It had been a utilitarian decision to operate to remove the bullet inside Yassen Gregorovich: the killer was highly rated by Scorpia and might have important information about upcoming operations.
"We should have let him die. It was a perfect opportunity," Tulip Jones replied. But Blunt had already made up his mind. "We can always execute him later on. But he might still prove to be useful. No one knows he's alive."
Jones frowned, but accepted her superior's decision, even if she didn't agree with it. It wasn't so much that she wanted Gregorovich dead, but more that she wanted to not have to worry about him again. As long as the killer was alive, Jones knew there was a part of her that would not sleep easily. "Alex must never find out," she said sternly. "He says they didn't talk before Gregorovich died, but I'm not sure he's telling the truth. He seems different somehow."
"Of course he's different. He just saved the world from nuclear destruction. He's bound to be feeling a bit different!"
Jones shook her head at her superior's oblivion. Alan Blunt was a very clever man, but sometimes he seemed to completely miss the obvious. And to her it was obvious that something inside Alex had changed. The boy seemed constantly lost in his thoughts, and his gaze had become more calculating. Somehow, Tulip Jones didn't think Alex was thinking about girls.
Jones sighed deeply. "OK, Alan, I'll arrange for Gregorovich to be brought here tomorrow night under the cover of darkness. No one must know that he is still alive. We can't risk Scorpia coming for him."
o o o
To be continued …