Another big thanks to Glena who gave me some great ideas and Doctor'sLittleDalek both for the review and the story for me! Also to everyone who reviewed, I love you all and they are writing fuel! If you haven't already seen it, find 'Operation Zeta', by Doctor'sLittleDalek, it's great! Not sure if I have said this already, but if you haven't already gathered this is set after Crocodile Tears.

Sorry it took a bit longer to get this chapter up, but I have managed to pick the worst possible time to start a fanfiction, as I have three mocks next week and another one the week after! And I have a cold :-( Therefore I won't be able to update as much as I would like. However, I'm at home all Easter, so I should be able to get a decent amount written then. Enjoy!

Funeral Voices.

Jack exchanged looks with Alex, they both had a pretty good idea of where the book was going to start.

When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.

Sabina's mother, Elizabeth Pleasure, drew her arm around her daughter. She knew that Alex's relatives had died, and - that she was about to hear it in action.

K Unit felt slightly uneasy, what had happened to the boy? They knew he was rich, Wolf said he had seen him at a posh finishing school, and then refused to say any more. But they still had a lot of questions, what had possessed his parents to send him to SAS camp, were they agents on a mission or something? And where were his parents now?

Alex Rider was woken by the first chime.

Alex laughed, "This first person perspective thing is really strange."

Tom looked surprised.

"I didn't know that you were always a light sleeper, I thought that came after."

"Nah, Ian always drilled stuff like that into me, sometimes he would creep into my room and make me jump right in the middle of the night. After a couple of years I just got an instinct for when he was coming. The first time I woke up, I pretended I was still asleep and waited for him to get really close before yelling boo. He practically wet his pants!"

A look of innocent reminiscing passed over Alex's face before he seemed to realize where he was. Then his expression hardened, and Eagle was reminded of an army veteran, someone who had seen too much.

However, Snake was looking at Alex with an interested expression, as if he was deep in thought. Did Alex really call his dad by his first name?

His eyes flickered open but for a moment he stayed completely still in his bed, lying on his back with his head resting on the pillow. He heard a bedroom door open and a creak of wood as somebody went downstairs.

Then Jack stopped reading, and said indignantly,

"Somebody? Somebody?" Alex looked slightly scared,

"I'm sure you'll be mentioned soon," and then more quietly, "before you kill me."

The bell rang a second time and he looked at the alarm clock glowing beside him. 3.02 a.m. There was a rattle as someone slid the security chain off the front door.

Jack glared at Alex, who rolled his eyes, as if to say to give it a minute.

He rolled out of bed and walked over to the open window, his bare feet pressing down the carpet pile.

"Do we HAVE to listen to this," complained Bruce. All three teachers shot him a very stern look, and he was immediately silenced, looking sullen.

The moonlight spilled on to his chest and shoulders. Alex was fourteen,

"What?" It was Snake who had interrupted, and he looked troubled. "Does that mean that you were only fourteen when we first met you at camp?" The head teacher wondered what they meant by camp. Was this some juvenile detention centre that they were talking about?

"Yeah," said Alex casually. The medic was shocked, they had assumed that he was about sixteen but looked young. He thought back to how well he kept up with them. How could a fourteen year old do that?

already well built, with the body of an athlete.

"And doesn't he know it," said Tom, "aren't you Mr. Arrogant!" Alex wrinkled his nose and said,

"Tom?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

At that Ben gave a chuckle, which got some strange looks from K Unit. Alex wondered what the SAS soldiers had been told about Fox, had they been informed that he was binned, or did MI6 say nothing at all. Maybe the Unit had come back one day from a training unit to find Ben's bed made, his stuff gone and his uniform returned. Alex wouldn't put it past the security service.

His hair, cut short apart from two thick strands hanging over his forehead, was fair. His eyes were brown and serious.

"Yes they are," said Mrs Bedfordshire, and then she blushed, as if she hadn't quite realized that she had said it out loud. What she didn't say was that Alex's eyes were nothing then compared to now. Any pretense of innocence was gone.

For a moment he stood silently, half hidden in the shadow, looking outside.

"Spying on people Alex? Really not impressed." That was Mr. Donavan, always a stickler for the rules. However his word choice had brought a smile to almost half the people at the table including, to Alex's surprise, Mrs Jones!

The woman seemed to be smiling more and more, maybe it was her old age. Alex knew that Blunt would, one day in the near future, retire, and Mrs. Jones would take his place. He wondered whether it was the job that made Blunt so ruthless, or whether he was so well suited to the job because of that cruel manipulative streak. If it was the second, he doubted Mrs. Jones would last long. She was too attached to many of the agents, including him.

From his second-floor window Alex could see the black ID number on the roof and the caps of the two men who were standing in front of the door. The porch light went on and, at the same time, the door opened.

"Mrs Rider?"

"Ew!" Cried Jack, sounding even more American then usual, "there is no way in hell I would have ever gone out with him. I mean, look at the age difference. Yuck!

"No. I'm the housekeeper.

A housekeeper, Wolf thought with disdain, just like he thought. The boy couldn't have done anything worthy, as he was just a rich kid. When the soldier was at Point Blanc, he hadn't been sure if he had been a student or not. But now he understood. Cub had a housekeeper, and a big house, and secrets. But those secrets weren't to do with him, he probably had a father who was an agent, and had come to the camp for protection, just like he had gone to the school.

What is it? What's happened?"

"This is the home of Mr. Ian Rider?"

"Yes."

"I wonder if we could come in…"

And Alex already knew.

Eagle did too. He had actually once had to tell a fellow soldier's family about how their son had died, and it had been one of the most upsetting moments of his life.

"I'm so sorry Cub," said Eagle, "losing your dad must have been tough." But Alex shook his head.

"He wasn't my dad. Keep reading Jack, I'm sure they'll find out soon enough."

He knew from the way the police stood there, awkward and unhappy. But he also knew from the tone of their voices. Funeral voices … that was how he would describe them later.

Byrne sighed,

"That is very fitting."

The sort of voices people use when they come to tell you that someone close to you has died.

It seemed that some of the teachers hadn't figured out when this had all started yet, despite most of the people here knowing from the chapter title. There were a few gasps of pity and Alex could feel the sympathy from half-way across the room. Thankfully Jack kept reading. Alex hated pity.

He went to his door and opened it. He could hear the two policemen talking down in the hall, but only some of the words reached him.

"…a car accident… called the ambulance… intensive care… nothing anyone could do… so sorry."

Wolf was shell-shocked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The rich kid had lost someone close to him? He felt himself involuntarily warm towards the boy, but still didn't understand. What could have happened to him for him to turn up at Brecon Beacons that miserable morning?

It was only hours later, sitting in the kitchen, watching as the grey light of morning bled slowly through the west London streets, that Alex could try to make sense of what had happened.

Mr. Donavon said suddenly,

"I don't think anyone could make sense of what happened Alex." The boy sighed,

'That was how I felt too."

His uncle – Ian Rider – was dead.

Understanding rippled across the table. Byrne nodded towards Alex,

"I remember your uncle. He was a good man, a good worker, a kind person. We were all shocked to hear the news."

Driving home, his car had been hit by a lorry at Old Street roundabout and he had been killed almost instantly.

He hadn't been wearing a seat-belt, the police said. Otherwise, he might have had a chance.

"Yeah right," laughed Alex mirthlessly, "he never had a chance."

Alex thought of the man who had been his only relation for as long as he could remember. He had never known his own parents.

Wolf sunk into his chair, not looking Alex in the eye. The whole time Cub had been at the camp he had insulted him, and made every attempt to get rid of him. But all the jeers about his rich parents, and he had nobody? He had never felt worse in his life.

They had died in an accident, that one a plane crash, a few weeks after he had been had been brought up by his father's brother (never "uncle" – Ian Rider had hated that word)

"Why?' asked Elizabeth Pleasure to Alex, but it was Jack that answered.

"He said it made him feel old, which he was, which is why I am definitely NOT Mrs. Rider so there policeman, you…"

"Oh drop it Jack," said Alex cheerfully, though inside he was feeling nothing of the sort. How could he have allowed this to happen?

Alex was a private person, and hated anyone knowing too much about him. Now they were reading his life through his eyes. Would he have any secrets left? He thought about how he felt about Sabina, would they describe their dates, their kisses? He didn't even want to think about it.

At least it wasn't for another couple of books, he thought and then was disgusted at himself for giving in that easily. But he knew there was nothing he could do.

and had spent most of his fourteen years in the same terraced house in Chelsea, London, between the King's Road and the river.

Alex sighed, fighting against the sense of grief that was suddenly overwhelming.

Tom inwardly sighed, as he knew Alex had a lot more to come.

But what saddened him the most was the realization—too late now—that despite everything, he had hardly known his uncle at all.

He was a banker.

"Did he work for the Royal and General bank by any chance?" asked Snake sensitively. Alex gave a wry smile.

"As a matter of fact he did, how are you acquainted with them?" They were still speaking in code for the few civilians listening curiously to the conversation. Snake knew this.

"The bank needed some help sorting a couple of things out when they, lets say, made a mess of things." Alex found it funny that the hate of MI6 was strong enough to come through even though it was such a serious situation.

Pieces were beginning to fit together for Wolf. Alex Rider was an orphan and had lived with his uncle, who had died. Maybe he had come to the Breacon Becons whilst they were working out to do with him? It still didn't quite work though, why wouldn't they just have put him in a children's home? No, he decided, there was still something missing here.

People said Alex looked a little like him.

"Yes, but you looked more like your father," said Joe Byrne.

"You knew my father?" This was new to Alex, and he wondered why it hadn't been mentioned before.

"Yes, he helped us out of a very sticky situation. I would have told you all about him last time we met, but remember you didn't know much about him then." Yes, Alex remembered, he hadn't known about his father being the top spy back then.

"I'll tell you about it later," said the American, who seemed to understand how necessary it was for Alex to know.

"Thanks." And Alex truly meant it.

Ian Rider was always travelling.

Bruce made a face as if thinking. It looked like hard work. After a second he said,

"But this makes no sense, who looked after you." Alex raised one eyebrow, a trick he had picked up from Ben.

"What does it matter to you, I thought it was a stupid book." Bruce rolled his eyes,

"Alright, alright I was wrong." Keeping to the point Alex said,

"Until I was five he got me babysitters. Between then and seven, I just looked after myself really, I mean, it wasn't hard. He left me money, and I just went to Sainsbury's to get anything I need. After that one time that I… well never mind, but Jack came after that."

"But that's child abuse, neglect," said Mrs Bedfordshire. Alex frowned at her,

"He wanted me to experience the real world." But secretly he agreed with her, if only Alex had been less intelligent, curious and talented. Maybe MI6 would have left him alone. There was an awkward silence, then Jack coughed and continued reading.

A quiet, private man who liked good wine, classical music, and books. Who didn't seem to have any girlfriends … in fact, he didn't have any friends at all.

"He had you Mrs. Rider," Tom said cheekily. Jack started to turn the colour of her hair, and Tom backtracked faster than Alex could have believed.

"I mean… as a friend, you weren't married, I was joking, I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" Jack frowned at him, and carried on reading. Ben thought it was highly amusing that Tom instantly relaxed from a very fearful position.

He had kept himself fit, had never smoked, and had dressed expensively. But that wasn't enough. It wasn't a picture of a life.

Mr. Bray sighed. He knew that Alex had enjoyed his active childhood, but sometimes wondered if it had been what was best for the boy. It sounded as if Alex had had a very lonely life, with no siblings, no parents, and an uncle who he barely knew. What a sad time he would have had.

It was only a thumbnail sketch. "Are you all right, Alex?" A young woman had come into the room. She was in her late twenties with a sprawl of red hair and a round, boyish face. Jack Starbright was American.

"FINALLY," she cried, "about time too. I had begun to thought you had forgotten me!"

"I would never forget about you," said Alex cheesily, "you're all that I've got, so I have to put up with you!"

She had come to London as a student seven years ago, rented a room in the house in return for light housework and baby-sitting duties and had stayed on to become housekeeper and one of Alex's closest companions.

Everyone, apart from perhaps Bruce, felt a strong gratitude towards Jack. Only she had been there for Alex. At least he had had somebody.

Sometimes he wondered what the Jack was short for. Jackie? Jacqueline? Neither of them suited her and although he had once asked, she had never said.

"It's not going to happen," she said nonchalantly. Alex may be a teenage spy, but he wouldn't get it out of her.

Alex nodded. "What do you think will happen?" he asked. "What do you mean? "To the house. To me. To you."

Elizabeth's heart ached for how uncertain the boy's life was.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I guess Ian would have made a will," she said. "He'll have left instructions." "Maybe we should look in his office."

Byrne shuddered,

"Bad idea." Alex rolled his eyes,

"They never even gave me the chance. First of all, it was locked and then…" He trailed off, looking at Jack, who had found the room empty about two weeks later.

"Yeah. But not today, Alex. Let's take it one step at a time." Ian's office was a room running the full length of the house, high up on the top—It was the only room that was always locked

"Why?" Asked Mr. Donavon.

"He always just said work. Now I know what that means…" By now, everyone but the teachers and Bruce had realised what Ian had done for a living. But this didn't make the civilians any less confused.

—Alex had only been in there three or four times, and never on his own. When he was younger, he had fantasized that there might be something strange up there … a time machine or a UFO.

Tom and Ben simultaneously burst into laughter. Then they stopped, stared at each other, and started laughed again, perfectly synchronised.

"A UFO?" Tom managed to choke out.

"A time machine?" Ben was nearly doubled up. Alex threw a pencil at him.

"Actually Ben, for all we know it could have been a time machine, remember?" Alex gestured to the box containing the books that was currently sitting in front of him.

But it was merely an office with a desk, a couple of filing cabinets, shelves full of papers and books. Bank stuff—that's what Ian said.

"There was nothing there out of the ordinary," said Blunt in a slow, practised way. Alex looked away, the head infuriated him but he wasn't going to let him know.

Even so, Alex wanted to go up there now. "The police said he wasn't wearing his seat belt."

"So careless," murmured Mrs. Bedfordshire. Alex had a steely tone to his voice when he said,

"You don't know anything." The headteacher looked shocked.

"Mr. Rider, you should not talk to a teacher like…"

"Just leave it." Surprisingly, it was Bruce that had spoken in Alex's defence,

Alex turned to look at Jack. She nodded. "Yeah. That's what they said." "Doesn't that seem strange to you?

Ben internally sighed, why did the boy have to be so damn curious. It was what had got him into this world, and it was why he would never leave. He was just meant to be a spy.

You know how careful he was. He always wore his seat belt. He wouldn't even drive me around the corner without making me put mine on."

Blunt looked at Alex as if seeing him for the first time. He knew that his top agent was good, but to pick out the one thing slightly off about the lie and analyse it, that was impressive.

Of course, being the spy he was, Alex noticed Blunt casually looking at him, which was worrying. Was this all just leading up to a mission? Yep, we have ruined your world, now go save ours. The thought was depressing.

Jack thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, it is strange," she said. "But that must have been the way it was. Why would the police have lied?"

K Unit exchanged glances, and many in the room watched in agreement. The police were under the thumb of the security system. And when did military intelligence not lie?

The day dragged on. Alex hadn't gone to school even though, secretly, he wanted to.

"Weirdo," sung Tom, but Alex gave him a look saying, are you really going to go there?

" I didn't say that I wasn't," protested Tom.

"Fair enough. But we both know who is the weird one here," said Alex, looking pointedly towards his friend.

"Yup," said Tom cheerfully, popping the P. Alex sighed and gave up.

He would have preferred to escape back into normal life, the clang of the bell, the crowds of familiar faces, instead of sitting here, trapped inside the house.

"I suppose…

But he had to be there for the visitors who came throughout the morning and the rest of the afternoon. There were five of them. A lawyer who knew nothing about any will but seemed to have been charged with organizing the funeral.

"No will? That was a bit unprepared. But then I suppose you never believe that you are really going to die, do you." After she had finished speaking, Mrs. Bedfordshire looked at Alex sadly. She had always thought that he was attending therapy after his uncle died, and that was why he was always missing school. She wondered if it had helped.

However Alex was, unusually, oblivious to her musings. He was looking straight into the eyes of Alan Blunt.

"Now I think about it, the lack of will seems very strange, considering…" …his profession, Alex finished in his head. But everyone involved knew what he meant.

"It's almost suspicious. Maybe you could look into it. Check you haven't missed anything." Alex spat out the last words with venom. Now he understood. They have been lying to him right from the start. Jack quickly started reading again before Blunt could say anything, she knew that his calm, calculating voice would only further anger Alex.

A funeral director who had been recommended by the lawyer. A vicar—tall, elderly—who seemed disappointed that Alex refused to cry.

Ben made an exasperated sound,

"Really, some people just get on my nerves. There are more ways to grieve than that. My friend once said that not crying is one of the biggest signs of sadness, because the person's grief is too great to be expressed by something as simple as tears."

Hearing this brought Snake out of a slight stupor. Before he had just been letting the words wash over him, like a story being read aloud by a parent, but he had recognised what Fox had said. They were Snake's own words.

But more surprising still was who Ben had said had told him. A friend. Snake hadn't talked to the agent for almost a year, and he was still considered a friend? The medic felt himself warm to his old teammate.

They had been the closest of the four, before Ben had left. He had felt like they would never be friends again, but now they had been brought together again. Maybe they could pick up where they left off. 1

A neighbour from across the road—how did she even know that anyone had died? And finally a man from the bank.

"Crawley," Blunt remembered. Alex muttered, too quietly for anyone but Tom and Sabina to hear,

"He made my skin crawl." They all sniggered like primary school kids, but Jack had already started reading again.

"All of us at the Royal and General are deeply shocked," he said.

"It's true. He was an excellent worker, and a nice man." Mrs. Jones looked uncomfortable. She was aware that Mr. Blunt probably knew that she had always been in love with Ian.

He looked about thirty, wearing a polyester suit with a Marks & Spencer tie. He had the sort of face you forget even while you're looking at it and had introduced himself as Crawley, from personnel.

"He wasn't though," said Alex.

"Wasn't what?" said Sabina questioningly.

"Personal." Sabina rolled her eyes.

"Just read Jack, he obviously thinks he's a comedian."

Then she stage whispered to Tom,

"It wasn't funny, was it?" He played along,

"Definitely not."

"Should we call a psychiatrist?" Sabina asked with a highly convincing concerned look on her face.

"Definitely," said Tom solemnly. Alex wacked them both on the shoulder and pretended to be upset.

"Wow guys, thanks. Good to know who my friends are."

"Jeez, always the drama queen," Sabina hit him right back. Alex flinched so slightly that Ben was pretty sure he was the only one who had noticed it. To his credit, Alex's smile didn't even flicker.

"Me?" he asked indignantly, "I cannot believe this you… you…"

"Now he can't even speak," Tom shook his head sadly. "Just keep reading Jack before he embarrasses himself anymore." Alex face palmed and Jack took this as a cue to start reading again, a smile on her face.

"But if there's anything we can do…"

Alex was looking straight at the heads and said,

"You did enough."

"What will happen?" Alex asked for the second time that day. "You don't have to worry," Crawley said. "The bank will take care of everything. That's my job. You leave everything to me."

"He did, and look where it got him." But Bruce had had enough of the evasiveness.

"What the hell is going on?" Alex sounded tired as he said,

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?" This time it was Mr. Donavon who asked. "Everybody apart from us seems to know what's going on, so just tell us."

"Listen." Alex was growing frustrated, "you are going to find out so soon what's happened to me, to my uncle, and how I know all these guys." He gestured around the room.

Tom plastered a big grin onto his face, grinned patronisingly at the teachers and waved.

"You'll find out the big secret of my life too." Alex couldn't resist,

"The big secret is that you have no life." Then he turned back to the teachers whilst Tom was still spluttering with the unfairness of that.

"Besides," Alex said with only the slightest hint of sarcasm, "It might ruin the story."

I haven't finished the chapter, but you know, quality not quantity! I'll try to get the other half of this chapter up by next Sunday.

1) Sorry, but Ben and Snake will only be friends. I have nothing against gay or lesbian pairings, just feel that Ben is straight! I have thought about Ben and Jack though, opinions?

A/N: I found it a lot more difficult to write this chapter and I'm not completely happy with it but oh well! Tell me if you would prefer less dialogue and to move on with the story faster in the reviews. Who found the Harry Potter quote? Also, I'm using the American version of the books here because they're online so they are much easier to use, just to let you know. Please review!