Alex was on another mission when it happened. It was supposed to be simple one, a break after the whole affair with Grief and Razim. When MI6 had brought up the mission, Alex had agreed wordlessly, nodding once and walking out of the office. He had accepted that this, this life of running back and forth between MI6 and insane villains, would never end.
Now he was in Hong Kong, and for the past 24 hours been tailing a guy who he had nicknamed Dragon, after the tattoo that spanned the length of Dragon's arm. From a distance Alex saw Dragon enter a club, Aqua, and waited a few seconds before he headed in the same direction as well.
The bouncer gave him a brief once over as he showed his identity card. Alex caught the bouncer's moment of hesitation when his eyes caught sight of his age, 19 , but it was easily solved with a slip of a 1000 yuan note into the bouncer's hands. The bouncer looked away and Alex vanished into the club.
Inside, he did a quick scan through of the floor and quickly caught sight of Dragon, who stuck out as the only one in the club who wasn't having fun, a permanent scowl on his face. Dragon disappeared into the shadows and Alex followed behind, entering into a corridor of rooms.
Alex spied Dragon as he went through a door and into a room. Alex crept near the room, looking for a way in. He saw a staff-only door nearby and went in, acting on instinct. Minutes later, he came out lucky, after having found a staff uniform to disguise himself.
Walking towards the bar, he passed an order to the bartender as casually as he could, "Room 8, Martell on the rocks". The bartender got to work and handed him a glass. Taking a tray from the bar, Alex set the drink on the it and walked back to the corridor where he came from.
Standing outside the same room, he dropped a pill into the drink which fizzed and disappeared into the golden brown liquid. He had bought it from Shang, a pharmacist and one of MI6's contacts. It was made with Chinese medicinal herbs, but was tasteless and could knock a grown man within minutes of ingestion.
He rapped on the door three times before entering the room. He had heard a voice talking but it died as soon as he entered, and only the low hum of dance music echoed in the room. Dragon was sitting on a plush sofa, smoking a cigarette and Alex approached him to set the drink on the table.
Dragon stopped Alex in his action and for a moment Alex held his breath. But Dragon only reached out for the drink and gulped half the contents down before thrusting it back in Alex's face. Alex took the glass and set it down on the table, before moving slowly towards the door. His hand was inches above the handle when he heard a grunt from behind and Dragon sprawled across the table.
He leapt into action immediately. Alex had exactly ten minutes to complete his job and leave the club without arousing any suspicion. He emptied Dragon's pockets and found a phone, wallet and a gun. The wallet only held a bunch of credit cards and a wad of 1000 yuan bills. He decided to work on the phone next.
Alex tried a couple of passcodes and discovered that Long, 5564, or Dragon in Chinese was successful. Huh, he sure was lucky. He quickly looked through the messages and past phone calls but most of it was incoherent to him, being in Chinese. He decided that he would need to take the phone with him and pocketed it.
Suddenly, he could feel a slight breeze behind him, making his skin crawl. As fast as his instincts could let him, he grabbed Dragon's gun and turned to face the intruder. But before Alex could even shoot, the man with blond hair and icy blue eyes before him made him freeze. Yassen.
Yassen took Alex' moment of indecision to launch a blow at him and Alex moved his arms to stop the blow, while dropping his gun in the process. Yassen caught the gun and in one quick turn, shot Dragon square in the head before swinging his leg into a powerful kick that brought Alex down. Yassen dropped his body and used his full weight to hold Alex down.
Alex stared down the barrel of the gun, smoke still wisping out of it. He didn't bother struggling out of Yassen's hold. Cold blue eyes examined him in silence.
Yassen broke the silence. "Did no one teach you not to play with dangerous toys?"
"Danger's the only thing I know." Alex responded, a smirk on his face. Then he blinked. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Are you disappointed?" Yassen said, face completely straight.
"Not really, I guess…" Alex trailed off. It was strange how calm he felt. Maybe the sight of someone familiar to him, even if a deadly assassin, seemed to hold a certain semblance of comfort.
"What are you doing here?" Alex blurted. He was still curious how the supposedly dead man was now alive.
"Aqua belongs to me. But you don't belong here." Yassen said simply, though Alex detected a slight edge in Yassen's voice at the second sentence.
Alex was surprised at the info but tried not to show it. He took a closer a look at the blond man before him and saw that he was dressed in a smart suit, looking every bit the owner of an expensive and exclusive club.
"And your friend?" Alex glanced over to the motionless body with questioning eyes.
"He is of no use anymore." Yasser replied, not bothering to spare Dragon a glance.
He looks almost normal, nothing like a killer in that suit. But Alex knew that even with the suit masking the man's dangerous quality, Yassen still carried an intimidating aura about him. He hadn't stood a chance against Yassen in the past and he certainly still didn't now.
"Are you going to kill me?", Alex decided. Yassen's eyes narrowed as he spoke but the aim of his gun was still locked onto Alex's forehead.
"You wish to die." It wasn't a question but a statement. Yassen was testing him, and intending to pressurize Alex into giving him the answers he wanted.
"Do me a favor, Yassen. Do it. Kill me." Alex whispered, each word punctuated slowly but surely even as his voice threatened to crack.
"Something happened." The way Yassen said it was as if he was stating the obvious. There wasn't any question but merely an affirmation.
Alex closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Jack." Speaking her name burned his throat. Over 6 months had passed since that accident and hearing her name again was a painful reminder of her absence.
Yassen paused, before replying. "I see."
"I'm tired, Yassen. We don't have all night." Alex rolled his eyes, faking nonchalance. He wasn't a stranger to death. And neither was Yassen.
Alex smiled as he saw Yassen's finger curl around the trigger and he closed his eyes, waiting for the claim of permanent darkness to take over.
But it never came. Yassen got up, releasing his hold on Alex and Alex felt lighter.
"Never say die, Alex. It's too easy."
Alex opened his eyes, expecting to see Yassen, but he only found an empty room. The steady thump of club music slowly entered his hearing again.
He stared down at his hands, shaking with his fingers gripped around the gun.
"Would you even care if I died tonight?" Alex whispered to himself, eyes stinging from holding back tears.
Never say die, Alex. It's too easy.
"I hate you, Yassen." Alex decided. It was easier that way. Harder to accept than death, but that was all Alex had now.