Alex Rider: Moving On

Alright! We have introduced the villians! Got a glimpse at how life has been for Alex! But now... it is time to see the great Alex Rider back in action. This entire chapter will take place in Las Vegas. For those who want to see the story go to Area 51, don't worry, we will get to that! Just roll with the story!

Read, enjoy, and please review!

Chapter 4:

Sin City

Alex sat in the interogation room of the secret CIA outpost in Las Vegas. He stared at the four walls and tapped his foot against the ground. He moaned and down his head onto the table.

I hate waiting! he thought.

Alex arrived in Las Vegas a few hours earlier. He was led to the room and left alone.

A part of him began to wonder what the mission had to do with Las Vegas and why he was waiting so long. At least with MI6 they didn't force him to wait. At least they were honest to the bone, even if it was too harsh.

Suddenly, the door opened and a woman appeared and walked on in, but not closing the door.

"Hello, Alex," she said with a calm and serious voice. "My name is Lily. I'm your new handler for now."

Alex studied her and asked, "What happened to David?"

David was Alex's only friend in the CIA, besides Tamara Knight. Alex saw a little bit of "Mr. Smithers" in David. They understood each other and made jokes about their lives as spies.

As for Tamara, Alex finally met her again when he on his second (fourth, counting the other two from years earlier) mission in Coasta Rica. Many people didn't know this but Alex and Tamara have a "thing" for each other. But they perfer to be friends. All due to age differences, he being 17 and she being 28, and also for the sake of Sabina. Alex found it funny that they had only met two and half years ago with the "Ark Angel" and "Nikolei Drevin" case.

In speaking of Drevin, Alex was still in contact with Paul, Nikolei's son. Paul was now living with his mother in Miami, Florida and was entitled to inherit his father's wealth by the time he turned eighteen. They both share a strong friendship and planned on meeting up sometime in the future.

The woman named Lily studied Alex from head to toe and smiled. "David is on "vacation" for now. I'll be taking care of you for this mission. But from reading your file and looking at just now... I say that you can handle yourself just fine." She gave him a wink and smiled again.

Alex smiled back and could feel his cheeks turning red. He already liked her. Maybe he had just met a new friend in the CIA after all.

Lily walked forward and reached out her hand.

Alex got up from his chair and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet the famous Alex Rider!" she said. "Many people around the CIA have been going nuts over this thing with you. The whole incident with Stormbreaker, Point Blanc, Skeleton Key, Air Force One, Scorpia, and even Ark Angel. I can see why the CIA has taken an interest in using you. Some say that you are the "secret weapon"."

Alex smiled and said, "Do they now? I don't remember hearing things like that."

"That's because you don't listen to the rumors good enough. But I'm glad to finally meet you. I really am."

"I'm glad to meet you too... Lily."

Lily blushed.

"Come with me. Mr. Byrne is wanting to see you."

Joe arrived in Sin City near two in the morning. He had just flown on a private jet for the last three hours and was not in the mood for anything else to go wrong. He sat in the small debriefing room, talking to Mrs. Jones on the ninety-inch TV.

"What's the status on the situation in Las Vegas?" Mrs. Jones asked.

"Same as it was before," responded Joe. "Alex has just arrived and I have sent for him. This should be a nice reunion for you two."

Mrs. Jones didn't look too happy. Joe knew that she hoped that the mission in Cairo, Egypt was the final straw for Alex. He had lost Jack and also lost bits of himself too. But at least Scorpia was gone. As it turned out, everyone who was with Scorpia is either dead or imprisoned.

"Joe..." Mrs. Jones said with worry. "I do not want anything to happen to Alex. Do you hear me? Nothing! In fact, this is the last time that Alex is working for you! Once all of this is said and done, you and all of the CIA are cutting ties with him! I will not take no for answer!"

Joe didn't change his expression.

"I don't know if I can promise you that, Mrs. Jones," he said. "Let me remind you that it was Alex who came running to us..."

"But you didn't hesitate to recruit him!" protested Mrs. Jones. "If Alex comes running to you again, refuse! I don't care how much he begs, just refuse! Alex is only trying to escape the pain of lossing Jack and will do anything to escape it!"

Joe nodded. "I'll try."

Mrs. Jones nodded back.

The door to the room opened and Alex appeared, along with his handler, Lily.

"Alex, Lily!" exclaimed Joe. "Come and sit. We have much to talk about!"

Alex has had moments when he wanted to just run away. This was one of them.

He sat at the table with Joe and Lily. He took notice of Mrs. Jones on the TV. A part of him was happy to see her. But another part had a burning anger towards her. One that he has been dealing with for some time.

Alex didn;t truely blame her for Jack's death, but he did blame her for those other times when he was recruited by MI6. She had the power to stop it all but she didn't. But just all the same, he was happy to see her.

"Hello, Alex," said Mrs. Jones.

Alex nodded and said, "Good to see you Mrs. Jones. You look well."

"Thank you," she said. "How is the Pleasure Family doing? I hope that are handling this whole spy-thing alright."

Alex knew what she meant and he was angry at her for even mentioning it. She knew that the Pleasures didn't know about his spy status. She was trying to reason with him. He wanted to unleash all of his anger at her.

Not now! he told himself. We have bigger fish to fry!

"They're doing well," he responded.

Mrs. Jones nodded, not protesting against his words.

They immediatly got right to business.

Alex was told about the hostage situation at the Black Dragon Casino. He was even told about the history that the CIA has with the casino and why they are so worried about it.

"... we need you to take out the armed men and retrieve those files for us," Joe finished. "It should be simple and easy."

"What about the money?" Alex asked.

"The money will take care of itself," Mrs. Jones said. "No one will notice. It's the files that we need to get."

"They will be located inside the vault, right where the filing cabinets are," said Joe.

Alex nodded.

"How will I get in?" he asked, getting all curious about the plan.

Lily coughed and said, "I will fly you up above the casino, then you will parachute in. Once you have taken out all of the armed men and retrieved the files, you will act as a hostage and leave the casino. You should know how to disappear."

For once, Alex actually loved the plan. Some part of him thought it was crazy, but it did fit the bill.

"Alright," Alex nodded and smiled. "But I'm guessing that I'm not going in without some gadgets."

Lily laughed. "Boys!" She reached under the desk and brought up a large bag. She unzipped it and slid it across the table to Alex.

Alex opened the bad and smiled as he took a look inside. This was his favirote part of these missions. The gadgets!

"Inside are some sneakers," Lily explained. "They are designed to make you faster than ever and can kick through concrete walls. The hard rubber coating helps with that."

Alex took them out and studied them. He smiled and sat them down.

"Also inside is the newest addition, eye-contacts. They can identify targets and other objects when you focus. X-ray vision of all kinds are equipped inside them too, which means no more of those goggles. You can even surf the web with those. Just use your eyes and the contacts will do the rest."

Alex's eyes widened as he snatched the white box of eye-contacts from the bag.

"Awesome!" he whispered to himself.

"There is also a bullet proof suit inside," she continued. "It is designed to handle a straight shot and has camouflage abilities. Just expect to be feeling some pain when the bullets start flying."

Alex laughed at her joke and put all the gadgets back into the bag.

"Alight," Alex said with excitment. "I'm ready."

Joe raised both of his eyebrows and asked, "You sure?"

Alex nodded.

Joe nodded back and said, "Then lets get to it."

"Good luck, Alex," said Mrs. Jones.

Alex remembered her presence and turned towards her. He nodded to her and got up from his seat, following Lily out the door.

Another short chapter. I lost time to continue. Sorry!

Hope you enjoyed it! I loved the gadgets that I have decided to use! Hope that you guys do too!

The "real" action begins in the next chapter. Hopefully it is bigger than these other ones.

Review about what you think!