A/N: Sorry this is not very long, but this has been a busy week; I also feel like I have not updated in a while. I really think this story is going to end soon, however, if you want me to write a sequel, believe me I will find a way. My brain never runs out of ideas, but it does like to leave cliffhangers. I thank everybody who has read, reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. I have had a great time writing this.
(Guard's POV)
"I want you to find that kid now! He must not get away!" I yelled at the others as they ran in every direction, searching for a ghost kid. When Serpant learned the kid had disappeared, he was outraged. His orders were to find and exterminate the escapee and that is what we were trying to do. However, we have looked all over the building for the kid. I didn't know where else to look; nobody did. There was not very many places a teenager could hide in a place loaded with guards; so where was he? I continued my search. What I did not understand was how can somebody without any experiance of danger hide from us so easily. I even looked under all of the beds! There was a yell from down the hallway and I ran to where the noise came from. "There he is!" Another guard yelled and pointed outside.
A teenage boy was running toward the treeline and I ordered the others to capture him. I ran outside with the others, pursuing the teen. "Stop or we'll shoot!" When he didn't stop, I fired my gun into the air; he continued to run. I aimed the gun and fired. The boy ducked, but continued to run. "Give me that!" I said as I grabbed and assault rifle from a person beside me. I stopped, aimed through the scope at the boy's back and fired. He went down and I lowered the rifle, smiling in accomplishment. "Go collect him. If he's still alive, do not kill him. We'll bring him back to Serpant and let him decide what to do with him."
Three guards retrieved the teen and brought him back. I shot him in the middle of his back just an inch from his spine. The teen's eyes were squeezed shut from pain; I grabbed him by the chin to get his attention. "Did you actually think you could get away?"
He opened his eyes, "Yeah."
I nodded toward one of the guard's holding the teen and the guard kicked the teen where the bullet wound was. The teen yelled in pain and frustration. "Nobody escapes from us, kid." To the two guards I said, "Take him to Serpant." The two men half carried, half dragged the boy to the building. I smiled and turned back to the others, "Back to your posts!" They complied immediately. Then, I turned toward the building to report back to Serpant. Today had been a pretty good day so far.
(Samuel's POV)
My head throbbed along with my heartbeat and my vision was blurry. Blood trickled down from my hairline, getting in my eyes. I blinked to get the blood out, but it didn't help. I was aware of the cold chains connected to my wrists, making me hang by my arms from the ceiling. Somebody was talking to me, but I was too unfocused to make out the words. I blinked, trying to get my vision back to normal; it finally worked. Slowly and painfully, I raised my head and looked around. Tom and Charles were in the same state I was in as far as I could tell; chains were attached to their wrists and they were bloody and bruised in many places.
"You all right?" Tom asked.
I attempted to shrug, but quickly rejected that movement after my shoulder popped. "I will be when we get out of here."
Charles laughed, "If we get out of here. It didn't work the first time and now look where we're at. It's a pretty fancy place here."
Tom glared at him, "We will get out of here; just be patient for once in your life."
"It is hard to be patient when you're hanging from a ceiling by your arms. Don't try to act all tough, Tom." Charles retorted.
I sighed and tried to get free by jerking on the chains. Blood trickled down my arm after the chains cut my left wrist and I cursed loudly before admitting defeat. "How do we get out of this one?"
Tom growled, "If you two would shut up for a minute, then I could think."
"Well start thinking faster, because we probably have a limited time in here." Charles said.
I was confused, "What do you mean by that?"
Charles looked me in the eyes, "What do you think, genius? We're going to die! It's not like they're going to keep us forever! They will have to kill us at one point or another."
"Man, you don't see the brighter side of bad situations, do you?" Tom remarked.
"In this situation, it's hard to see the bright side. What is the brighter side, Tom?" Charles replied.
Tom thought for a minute, "Well, if they do try to kill us, that will be an opportunity to get away."
Now I was interested, "How would we do that?"
"They didn't capture all of us."
That was when I remembered Daniel. It was apart of the plan for him to get away when we were captured and he obviously made it. "So, now we just have to wait on Daniel?"
"Yeah." Tom replied, smiling. "They really underestimated us."
(Snake's POV)
I was standing in Blunt's office with my unit when things started to get really confusing and hectic. The phone in the office would ring constantly and non-stop, Jack was now yelling at Blunt, Wolf was trying to get her calmed down, and I was observing everything. The tension levels could be felt increasing by the second; if something was not done, fast, somebody would definately explode. I sighed and walked over to Fox, "I'm going to get a water. You want one?"
"I'll go with you." Fox said as he turned toward the door. We walked out and went to the storage room where the water was. My team mate was silent the whole way.
"You think he's really dead?" I asked. "I mean, I didn't know Cub very well, but I can not see a trained spy going down like he did. He wasn't even paying-"
Fox stopped me, "I know. He wasn't paying attention, but you saw his body. Alex is dead and that's the end of it."
"What if he's not, though?" I asked.
Fox grabbed a bottle of water, "Snake. Please, I don't want to hear anything else about Alex. I went on two missions with him and he was like a brother to me. He is dead and he's not coming back and that's the end of this conversation." He walked back toward the chaotic office, leaving me where I was wondering if what I said could be true. Could Alex Rider, teenage spy, be alive?
(Serpant)
They brought the unconscious boy to my office bleeding from a bullet wound in his back. I smiled at the sight. "I told you to not kill him."
"He's not dead, sir." One of the guards replied.
I sighed, "Well, I want the world to see what happens when they mess with us. We're going to broadcast their deaths tonight at 2100; we don't want the kid to die without an audience. Get the cameras ready and make sure those pesky kids don't get away from you this time."
There was a lot of 'yes sirs' and they left, dragging the boy with them. I sat back in my chair, ready for tonight when we make our mark on the world.
(Mrs. Jones)
Everybody could feel the grief and tension that lingered in the office; even I was filled with sorrow. I never wanted to see the boy killed, but I knew it would happen someday. It just did not seem right that a fourteen year old had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and look behind his back constantly. This whole spy business was crazy, but it was Blunt's call. We did not even have to use Alex in the first mission, but he would go unexpected for a little while at least. He was a weapon of mass destruction; a weapon that finally fell apart.
I could understand Jack Starbright's pain. She had taken care of Alex for years, even after his uncle died and Alex got involved in the spy business. Jack could have retreated to America at anytime, yet she did not. Instead, she stayed with Alex until the end. Now, her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from the constant crying. I stood there in silence, waiting to see what to do next. The door flew open and Smithers came in with an excited look on his face.
He walked up to Blunt's desk and put down a laptop in front of him. "Blunt, you remember when you told me to implant a tracking device into Tom Harris's hand? Well, I finally tracked it to these corrdinates. If the enemy did not find it, then it is still there; which means we will know exactly where they are."
"Why was I not informed of the coordinates earlier, Smithers?" Blunt asked.
"There was something blocking the tracking device's signal. It took a while to bypass that to activate the tracking device in Tom's hand." Smither's pointed at the laptop. "I am 99.99% sure that is where they all are. If we go there, we may be able to get them out."
Blunt looked at the laptop a moment before getting to his feet, "Mrs. Jones. Dispatch all of the SAS men to these coordinates immediately. We have to get those kids out of there."
