Hey people! Thanks to everyone who has followed, favourited or reviewed this story. Here's the fourth instalment, I hope it's just as good.

I don't own Alex Rider.

"So, what do you think of this, Ryan? Being used as bait?" Alex asked, attempting to make conversation with the quiet boy as they drove back to his house.

"Jones had better know what she's doing," Ryan replied shortly. "So had the people she's sending to protect us,"

Alex nodded. "I agree. So, how did that ...mission… compare to the others you've been on?" he couldn't resist. This was a good opportunity to see what else Ryan had been up to- and to find out if the boy really was just looking for attention.

Ryan shrugged. "I wouldn't call it a mission. More of a quick job, really,"

The answer took Alex by surprise. He had been expecting something along the lines of 'it was terrible to watch that man die. I thought they were going to catch me- oh what a horrific ordeal'. But Ryan didn't seem at all fazed.

"Oh. I was just wondering… coz you looked slightly scared this morning when Mrs Jones came to pick you up,"

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex noticed Ryan's jaw stiffen and hands clench into fists. "That's because operations with MI6 never go as planned,"

Another surprising answer- but one that Alex could easily identify with. He wasn't going to let the boy know that, though. "What do you mean, kid?"

But Ryan had obviously decided that was all the information he was going to give, and a heavy silence settled over the car. Alex made no attempt to try and break it. He was too deep in thought. Just what had Ryan been doing for MI6? He doubted that it could be anything more dangerous that what he had done at that age. He glanced at the boy who was staring out the car window.

But then again…

Mrs Jones had said Ryan needed time to heal (from what?). He was given protection-from one of MI6'S top agents- while his enemies were being tracked down (what enemies? How dangerous were they?). Ryan's final mission should have been an incredibly easy one- but Mrs Jones still sent backup in immediately when he had activated the distress signal.

Why?

Something wasn't adding up.

"Stop the car." Ryan suddenly demanded, unclicking his seatbelt and reaching into his bag.

Alex turned to face the young agent. "What?"

"You heard me, Rider," was the icy reply as Ryan popped his head back up, apparently having found what he had been looking for.

It was a gun.

The fourteen year old had a gun.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" Alex snarled, pulling his car of the road and into a parking space.

Ryan didn't reply. In fact, he didn't even glance at Alex. He simply got out of the car, ran back down the street and around a corner.

Swearing loudly, Alex reached for his phone and quickly dialed MI6's number.

"This is Rider. Get me Jones, now," after putting the phone on speaker, Alex revved the engine and spun the car around in a fast U-turn, heading down the street after the boy.

The Head of MI6 was quick to answer the phone this morning. "Mrs Jones here. What's happening, Alex?"

There was a series of honks, swear words and squealing tires as Alex dashed through a red light. "Ryan just jumped out of my car. He's running down the street with a gun. What the hell is going on with this kid?"

There was a brief pause as the Head of Special Operations digested the information. "Don't let him out of your sight," she ordered.

Alex noticed that she hadn't answered the last part of his question. But he really didn't have time to worry about that right now. He was driving on the wrong side of the road for starters, and to make matters worse, an incoming car was about to hit him. Another swerve and squeal of tires later, Alex had narrowly missed hitting the other car and was back on the right side of the road. The other driver rewarded him with a loud beep of the horn for his efforts. Alex groaned. At least this was the early morning traffic. He would hate to be attempting this at rush hour. "Yeah, about that… I've kinda already lost him,"

"Well, find him, Rider," Mrs Jones snapped.

Alex swore "I have no idea where he-" there was a sudden burst of gunfire from an alleyway several hundred meters away. "-Ok, cancel that. I've got a visual,"

Accelerating towards the location of the gunfight, Alex opened his glove box, and began to search for the pistol he kept in there. Driving with one hand and locating the gun with the other was not the easiest of feats, but Alex managed.

"Hey Jones. Some backup would be really appreciated right now, yeah?" the spy asked flippantly as he quickly assessed the situation and looked for the nearest patch of cover. There were a couple of metal rubbish skips lining one side of the alleyway. Not exactly bulletproof, but better than nothing. Besides, the two people shooting at Ryan were down the end of the alley, and these bins were at a good angle for him to return fire.

"I'm sending a squad to your position now, Alex."

"They'd better hurry. This party ain't gonna wait for them," Alex replied as a bullet tore through his back window, spreading shards of glass everywhere. Fortunately, Alex was protected by the back of the driver's seat. "Dammit, they've spotted me," he muttered, as another bullet ripped through his front window. Ducking down to avoid the spray of glass, Alex kicked open the driver's door and rolled out, flicking the safety of his pistol to 'off' and firing several shots as he went.

As he dive rolled behind a skip, Alex noticed that Ryan had had the same idea, and was crouching behind the skip in front of his. Alex raised his weapon and took aim, squeezing off several shots before ducking back behind the metal bin.

"You'd better have a plan, kid,"

Ryan frowned briefly as he ducked down. "Is anyone sending backup?" he asked as he quickly reloaded his gun.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, I contacted Mrs Jones. It should be here in-"A wailing siren behind him announced the presence of the reinforcements. "-Right now," Alex finished. About time too.

The car pulled up behind them, and Ryan's two attackers took off in a run. The back of the narrow alleyway joined onto another street and the two men escaped. They obviously didn't fancy their chances against whoever Mrs Jones had sent in as backup.

Alex stood up and sighed in relief.

"Agent Rider?" a deep voice behind him asked.

"Yeah, that's me," Alex turned around, coming face to face with three men. They were of varying heights and races, but there was one thing all three had in common. The three men all carried themselves with and air of authority. They were dangerous, they were experienced. And all three knew it.

Alex knew it as well. It was a small world, after all. These men were older than the first time he had seen them, but he remembered them alright.

K-Unit was back.

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. The day had gone from bad to worse. Firstly, he had received a call at two in the morning from Mrs Jones instructing him to go and rescue Ryan. That had resulted in the discovery that someone was out to kill him, and now Ryan was involved as well. Then on the drive home, the kid had produced a gun out of nowhere and leapt out of his car. Said car was now in a mess where the two random people Ryan had chosen to pursue had shot it.

And now, Snake, Eagle and Wolf had returned.

Wonderful.

The three men were standing looking at him blankly. There was no hint of recognition on their faces as they looked at him. Alex let out a little sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was for them to remember who he was, and go back to that stupid name calling (Cub? Seriously?! And what the hell was with that double-oh-nothing thing?). But then again, it had been four years since he'd last seen them. Why should they remember him?

For the first time that morning, Alex gave a small grin. If he was careful about this, then they would never recognize him. He had grown a lot since then, after all.

"And you are..?" He asked, careful to let no hint of recognition cross his face or enter his voice.

"K-Unit. Snake, Eagle and Wolf. Your Mrs Jones sent us to protect you," Wolf said.

Aah. Well, that was not good. Of all the SAS units Mrs Jones had to select from, she just had to go for K-Unit, didn't she?

Alex narrowed his eyes at Wolf. He was not a child (and he tried to ignore the little voice which told him that he never had been). He didn't need this unit to babysit him. "I don't need protection. I need answers, and I need Barker caught,"

Three cold glares turned to look at him. But Alex had faced down much, much worse and glared right back.

"Okay, Rider. We'd better get back to the house," Wolf looked rather pointedly at what was left of Alex's car. "Looks like we're giving you a ride home, doesn't it?"

Flinching at the reminder of his car, Alex turned and walked over to it, surveying the damage. The windows were shot out, one tire was flat and several bullets had embedded themselves in the framework. Wolf was right. His car wasn't going anywhere.

"Yeah. Ryan, it looks like we've had a change of transport," Alex said.

The younger boy didn't even look at him. He was too busy staring blankly down the alleyway, where the two men had disappeared down. He was also rubbing one arm, Alex noticed. "You okay, kid? Did you get hit?"

At the sound of his voice, Ryan broke out of his trance and looked up "Sorry?"

Alex gestured to his sleeve covered arm. "Did they shot you?"

Ryan looked down, and abruptly dropped his hand from where it had cradled around his left forearm. "I'm fine."

"Well then, let's go. K-Unit's giving us a ride home."

One quiet car ride later and everyone was sitting in the lounge of Alex's house.

"We won't be staying in your house. We'll be right next door, but we will be meeting twice each day to make sure everything's going well," Snake explained. Alex nodded, relieved that he didn't have to share his house with K-Unit. One of his elderly neighbors had moved out a week ago and MI6 had brought the house.

"We've studied the blueprints and structure of your house and security. There's heaps of escape options-which is good- but there is one huge weak point. That's the kitchen window. A sniper could sit on the roof opposite and shoot you while you made breakfast," Wolf explained gruffly as he tapped on one side of the blueprints.

"So, I should be safe while making lunch and dinner. Whoever knew that making coffee and toast was such a risky business?" Alex asked, deadpan. He wondered if Wolf was still the same, grumpy man he had met at Breacon Breacons and the bottom of Point Blanc in France.

Wolf glared at him. "This isn't a game, Rider,"

Alex concealed a smile. Wolf hadn't changed. But Alex had, and since he was now a full agent, the playing field had been evened a little. He could get away with more, now. This was the perfect opportunity for revenge.

"Really? I thought it was. Ryan, did you forget to bring the playing cards?" Alex asked innocently. Snake and Eagle were both looking annoyed now, and Wolf looked like he was about to explode.

"We'll be leaving now. See you tomorrow morning, Rider." Wolf growled- very much like a wolf would, Alex thought- and the three men headed out the door. Wolf slammed it behind them.

"Nice fellows, aren't they?" Alex asked, turning to look at Ryan. The kid looked back at him blankly.

"I guess,"

Alex gave a small sigh. He had to put up with this kid for, what, six months? It was going to be the longest six months of his life. "So, Ryan, who were those two men that you were shooting at?"

"Just some people," came the slightly acidic reply.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I got that much. But why did you chase them? What did they do to you? And what were you doing with a gun?"

"Well, you have a gun. Everyone needs some sort of protection. As for the two men, I bumped into them on one of my missions." Ryan replied, walking out of the living room and making it very clear that the conversation was over.

Alex frowned before also leaving the room to do some more paperwork. It was going to be a very long day.

"It's like a beating heart, Rider."

That was what he had said. And only now did Alex understand that this was what he had meant. Time was wasting, the clock was ticking and death was waiting.

"The game is called revenge, Rider, and we will be playing by my rules," the voice had been sinisterly smooth- fake kindness scattered throughout it, a seemingly pure façade hiding the evil poison underneath. Even now, Alex could still remember that voice. "You destroyed something important to me- don't tell me you've forgotten?"

Alex wished he could forget. But he had a choice to make.

Death was still waiting, waiting for the time to strike and claim more souls.

The only question was… how many would death claim? For, as long as their hearts kept beating, the death of hundreds was looming closer.

Time was still being wasted; time was running out. So Alex made his decision. Did he really have any other choice?

The sound of his decision drowned out a single, whispered apology.

"Let them live and everyone dies, Rider. Make them die, and you will never forget what you've done and who you have betrayed."

Alex awoke with a quiet gasp, sitting bolt upright in his bed and looking warily around his room. It had just been a nightmare. Of course, the only comfort of it 'just being a nightmare' was that he was no longer in any danger. It didn't make what had happened any less real. Because that was just one of the many downsides to being a spy. All the nightmares you had were real, and even though you had survived the events which became nightmares, others hadn't.

And with these nightmares came the inevitable questions when you wondered if you could have saved the people who died, and you wondered what they had felt when they realized they weren't going to make it out alive.

He hadn't betrayed them, had he?

They would understand, wouldn't they?

No. They'd never know why, so how could they understand?

Alex shuddered, feeling suddenly sick. He was about to make his way to the bathroom, but as he got up; Alex could have sworn he had heard a faint creaking noise, and it hadn't been him.

He paused, watching the shadows which seemed to hang across his room. Perhaps he had imagined it? But then there was another slight creak and Alex frowned. It was so soft that had he been asleep he wouldn't have heard it, but it was definitely there.

Someone was moving around in his house.

Alex reached for the gun he kept hidden underneath his bed, holstered behind one of the bed's legs. It was easy for him to reach, but was well hidden and out of sight so that no one else could find it and use it against him. Flicking the gun's safety to the 'off' position, Alex left his room and began to move down the hallway, one careful step at a time and making sure to avoid any creaky floorboards. When he was halfway down the hallway, Alex paused, listening for the sound again, trying to locate whoever was prowling around in his house.

After waiting another ten seconds, he heard it again. It sounded like someone was walking around in one of the rooms further down the hall. Whoever the person was, they were very quiet, obviously trained in silent movement. However, they didn't know which parts of the floor creaked when pressure was exerted on them, and so were making a minuscule amount of noise.

It was enough for Alex to locate them, though. There were only three rooms down this end of the hallway. His study, Jack's old room (which he had meant to turn into a spare room, but couldn't bring himself to do- instead he just cleaned it occasionally, but kept everything the way Jack had left it) and the old guest room from when Ian and Jack had been alive.

He was pretty sure that the intruder was in his study.

Alex continued to walk silently down the hall, pausing when he approached the door to his study. He had left it closed, but it was open now. Someone was definitely in there. Alex crouched down and slipped into the moonlit, shadowy room. There was a window at the end of the study which let the light of the moon fall in. The intruder was silhouetted against the grey light. He was holding a photo frame in one hand, and opening a drawer with the other- completely unaware that Alex was crouching in the darkness and watching him less than three meters away.

Alex continued to watch as the intruder pulled out several folders and some of Alex's gadgets. He wondered what the intruder was doing- it didn't look like he had come here to kill anyone. Had he been, surely he would have gone to kill them, and then come back for the information? Briefly, Alex wondered this person was one of the men Ryan had chased after. But that didn't feel right. He had never seen those two men before in his life, and was fairly certain that no one had followed them back to his house, which meant that they couldn't know where he lived.

He crept closer to the intruder, who had turned away in an attempt to see the gadgets and photograph more clearly in the moonlight. He was now facing away from Alex.

"Hands up." Alex ordered loudly as he pressed the gun into the intruder's back.

The intruder jumped to the side and tried to grab his gun quickly. Alex was unprepared for the move, and pulled the trigger, but the bullet missed the person. The lights went on in the house next door, and Alex knew that K-Unit had heard the shot and were coming. The intruder had also spotted this. While he was distracted, Alex aimed a kick at his knee, but the person moved away quickly.

Alex was about to follow through with another sidekick and a punch, but the lights in the study suddenly flicked on.

"Stop!" The command rang through the air loudly.

Alex turned around to see Wolf, Snake and Eagle standing just inside the doorway.

"Rider, why are you beating the kid up?" Wolf asked, pointing to the person behind him. Alex turned back to where Wolf was pointing.

"I wasn't-" he began, but stopped, seeing who the intruder was. "Ryan?"

The boy looked at him guiltily, like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Except that this was much worse.

"What were you doing in my study?" Alex growled, gesturing at all the things Ryan had been looking at. "Who gave you permission to go through my stuff?"

The boy shrugged, which made Alex angrier.

"You'd better answer the question right now, kid." He snarled, taking a threatening step towards the boy.

A hand gripped his shoulder. "Stand down, Rider," Wolf hissed. "You're scaring the kid,"

Alex turned and slapped Wolf's hand away. "It's my study, and those are my files. He shouldn't be looking at them,"

Pushing the hand away had been a mistake. Wolf glowered at him and took a step forward. Part of Alex wondered if Wolf was going to hit him. "You can still treat him with respect, can't you?"

Alex frowned. "Why are you so concerned about Ryan? You're here to protect us from Barker. This is my study and what Ryan's done doesn't actually concern you."

Snake had obviously noted that the situation was rapidly getting out of hand and stepped between Wolf and Alex. "You nearly killed Ryan with your gun just then, Agent Rider. We've worked with the kid before, through some pretty nasty missions, and we always protect our own. It's why Mrs Jones gave us this job. And, believe me when I say that Ryan has seen stuff that you could only have nightmares about. Torture and other horrible things. You might be MI6'S best agent, but you can't just treat Ryan like that. So get off his back, okay Rider?"

Alex stiffened. Nightmares. The reason he had woken up and caught Ryan in the first place. And now, K-Unit was siding against him, choosing to look after the child even though he had been in Alex's study without his permission. What had Snake said? 'We always protect our own'. But Alex had once been part of K-Unit, and they had never looked after him. They had done everything possible to make his life a living hell, and now they were preaching about 'protecting their own'?

The three soldiers where glaring at him and Alex felt sick. Sick with anger- a pure rage- for both Ryan and K-Unit. The boy was standing next to Eagle with a blank expression.

How could K-Unit say that?

"Please, put my stuff back where it should be, Ryan," Alex instructed icily, knowing that continuing to argue with K-Unit wouldn't be at all helpful. The boy gave a little shrug, before doing what he was told. Alex glared at Ryan as he put the things away, while K-Unit glared at Alex.

The job was almost done, and the last item left was the photo frame. While walking over to Alex's desk, however, Ryan accidently tripped, and the frame fell to the ground with a large smashing sound. If Ryan had flinched at the noise, Alex didn't notice.

The older agent hurried over to look at the damage. The glass covering the photo was smashed, glinting in the light. The faces of Agents Clark and Emily were cracked, and Alex felt his eyes well up with tears when he looked at the two people.

'Ryan has seen stuff that you could only have nightmares about,' Snake's voice echoed in his mind and Alex gripped the photo frame tightly. They were wrong. They were so wrong. Ryan might have been tortured, but at least he was safe now.

Alex's torture was continuous. It would never stop. Every time he closed his eyes, what he had done still haunted him. He wiped the tears from his eyes, knowing that K-Unit wouldn't notice. Then, he placed the photo frame face down on his desk and walked silently out of the study, leaving K-Unit and Ryan behind him.

K-Unit had no right to make statements like that. Not when they had no idea what had happened.

And Alex silently promised himself that they never would find out.

Yes! Muwhahahaha of course I had to bring K-Unit into the story. Just coz. :)

Thanks for reading!