Chapter Two

"I'm not doing anything for you," said Alex, anger and impatience in his voice.

Mrs. Jones had done all but dragged him out of Maths with a signed note from Jack. Mrs. Vaster hadn't shown any emotion apart from fear and had insisted that Alex go with her, quickly. Mrs. Jones had grabbed hold of his upper arm and frog-marched him out of the school.

Alex had a whole class of witnesses and he hoped that if he was lucky enough, they would back him up in a court case for a restraining order against the right hand woman to Alan Blunt. In fact, he fully intended to march down to the courtroom and demand a restraining order at the next possible chance.

Alex was presently sitting in the horribly familiar office of Alan Blunt, on a hard wooden chair.

"I'm not doing anything for you," Alex repeated. "I've done enough. I want out and I thought I had it." Alex remembered the last time he had helped any undercover agency. And it has he who had ended up 300 miles off the East coast of Australia, not them.

"It's just a simple in-and-out-"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Alex shouted. "I thought I made that perfectly clear. Then you go and drag me out of school, effecting my education, and expect me to do your bidding. I don't get paid, I don't get thanked-"

"We'll pay you for this one," announced Blunt.

Surprised, Alex tried to think of a retort. "It's not just about money, Mr. Blunt. You can't buy me off. Bribes don't work." Alex made to walk out but Mrs. Jones called him back.

"Let's make a deal," she suggested before popping another mint into her mouth. "You do something for us; we'll do something for you."

"What will you do?" Alex asked, turning back around slowly to face her. Blunt hadn't shown any surprise in her offer, it was obvious they had planned this conversation.

"We will send you on holiday – your choice of destination of course. As long as you want. We can give you five star resorts, first class transport, anywhere you want; anyway you want, anytime you want. We can give you a new house, your own car. I'm sure every young man out there wants a sports car. It's all up to you. We only want you to do a small job – literally in and out."

The car was tempting, but Alex knew better.

"No deal, and if you don't mind, I'm leaving." Alex was sure that, yes, they did mind, but he didn't really care. He yanked the door open and walked towards the elevators.

"You're being unreasonable!" exclaimed Mrs. Jones, running after him.

Alex ripped around and faced her again, startling her with his expression of anger. "I'm being unreasonable? You're the psychotic masterminds, not me. I think I'm being fairly reasonable when I say I don't want in." Alex turned around and headed towards the elevators once more.

"Show him!" ordered Blunt. He didn't know what drove him to do it, but Alex turned back yet again. "Show him Echo."

Mrs. Jones, who the order had been directed at, looked completely bewildered.

"What the hell is Echo?' demanded Alex. "Tell me."

"That's classified information," hissed Mrs. Jones to Blunt. "We can't go showing him stuff like that. Why can't we get another agent, one who does not ask so many questions?"

"I'm leaving unless you tell me what's going on," announced Alex, but no one paid him any attention.

"It's not a matter of what he knows, we need to make sure we get them," said Blunt to Mrs. Jones.

Alex was clearly not going to stick around much longer, the courtroom closed in an hour, and he needed that restraining order. He turned on his heel and stalked back to the elevators. Mrs. Jones and Blunt were still bickering like an old married couple. Alex laughed at the idea that they had something going on.

"Alex, don't you walk into that elevator, young man!" bellowed Blunt. Alex, who had never heard him speak, or yell, like this before, was slightly surprised. But he wouldn't let them order him around. He took a step towards the elevator and pressed the down button. He glared at the red numbers above the elevator doors. The elevator was a couple of floors away yet, moving slowly.

Alex's attention was diverted when a loud bang came from a corridor to his left. Mrs. Jones and Blunt whipped around and raced each other to the source of the commotion. A door at the end of the corridor had blasted open and two figures ran out. Alex couldn't see their faces, only their silhouettes because the sunlight was behind them.

Alex saw the face of the closest runner as Blunt ran towards her. The girl seemed to be young, maybe a bit younger than him. She had a look of fear on her face, as though someone was chasing her. And indeed there was. Three people in fact. The man that had followed her out of the room had a broken nose that was bleeding down the front of his shirt. Another man was just emerging from the door, crawling on his hands and knees.

But Blunt was the first person to reach her. He launched himself at her and pushed her to the ground. She kicked at his knees and he loosened his grip slightly as her bare foot made contact just under his kneecap. The girl flipped herself over so she was facing upwards. Blunt, who had recovered from her kicks, grabbed her arms and flattened them against the floor.

The man with the broken nose drove his knees into the girl's legs and pulled out a gun. The girl immediately stopped struggling and her eyes widened. The broken-nosed man handed the gun to Blunt, who had let go, and pulled a pair of handcuffs out. He dragged himself up so he was standing and Blunt straightened beside him.

The elevator doors opened, but Alex wasn't paying attention. Mrs. Jones had walked over to the second man, who was still on his hands and knees and said something that Alex couldn't hear. The man with the handcuffs bent over the girl and rolled her onto her stomach, cuffing her hands behind her back. The girl lay still on her stomach, defeated expression on her face.

But not for long.

As soon as Blunt and the man with the broken nose looked away, she struggled to stand up and kicked at the back of Blunt's knees. He went crashing to the ground. The man beside him turned around and raised his gun which was shortly knocked out of his hands. The girl dove for the keys around his belt and turned around as to have full use of her hands.

Blunt was quick to get up. He pushed her back to the floor and the keys went flying, landing right at Alex's feet.