Interlude London
Wolf was in London waiting for Fox. It had been weeks since Fox had started working for MI6 Special Operations full time. He could bet poor Fox was getting all the bum jobs as the rookie. The White Hart was around the corner from Royal and General, and was still crowded with city bankers at 4pm.
Fox looked tired when he walked in, he gladly gulped down the pint of beer, Wolf had ready. "Shit day at spook central"
"Shit month since Stormbreaker blew." a weary reply from Fox
"You working on Sayle's assassination, then." enquired Wolf
"Yeah something like that." Fox definitely did not want to spoil his weekend off with questions about work.
They then started watching the football. Coverage of the game was abruptly stopped by the newsflash. London Schoolboy held by Middle Eastern Terrorists, Alex Rider Aged 14 kidnapped nephew of London Banker, Ian Rider, last seen at school on the 9th March. The screen filled with a short video of an abused boy holding a last sundays newspaper looking scared shitless. Pictures then switched to the outside broadcast at a house in Chelsea. The Kidnappers are thought to be an Hamas splinter group operating in the capital, suspected perpetrators of the assassination of Herod Sayle. Was Alex Rider a witness. No ransom demands have been posted at this time. We have not received any comment from the foreign office.
"Shit that's Cub" exclaimed Wolf.
"Yeah, fucking hell the ransom tape's been released to the fucking press." Fox rubbed his face.
"So Cub screwed his first mission" Wolf looked worried, Cub was fourteen. This business was no place for a fourteen year old. What had MI6 been thinking.
Ben filled in the details in a low voice "No, far from it. He was the agent undercover that broke Stormbreaker. The kid did it single handed, no back up. He disappeared on his way home after debriefing. We think he was picked up outside the bank, we have CCTV footage of him getting into a cab. The cab was found with Alex's and Sayle's prints all over it. We know it was Sayle who took Cub and gave him to the terrorists' holding him." Ben wiped a hand over his tired face "Shit Wolf you don't know the half of it. The sick bastard has been sending us tapes of Cub's interrogation and torture. The kid was begging on one for him to stop. The kid's half way brainwashed. The next time we see him I reckon he'll be pointing a gun at us."
SAS was a small community. Wolf told his team and the Sergeants about his conversation with Fox. The fact Cub, was 14 and had been an MI6 trained operative and subsequently been kidnapped had spread like wild fire. The Regimental Sergeant was pissed. He'd been ordered not to ask questions. Blunt had stepped too far by recruiting John Rider's boy. John Rider had been a popular and successful member of the SAS in the seventies and early 1980's.