Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

I wanted to make it longer but I fear I just dragged it out a bit. Sorry it took so long to update though - I was trying to think of a more concrete plan as opposed to random ideas.

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Alex panicked.

The person crushing him against the wall was a guard. He didn't even have to turn his head to figure that out, not that he could have if he wanted to - the figure had rammed an arm into Alex's neck, giving him no mobility whatsoever. But as anyone desperate for survival would, he flailed his limbs wildly until an elbow jabbed into some ribs and his attacker grunted, loosening the grip on Alex's neck. Seizing his opportunity, Alex wrenched himself away and lashed out, hitting the black clad guard on the side of the head. He dropped to the basement floor without another sound.

All through this ordeal, the alarm sirens had continued to scream.

Adrenalin pumping, Alex sprang out the window, diving into a snow drift. He picked himself up and ran as best he could through the deep snow. Once in the meager shelter of the forest, he swung round to the direction of his board, knowing security wouldn't be far behind. The sirens still pierced his ears and he would see flashes as search lights scoured the dark trees. Then, barely intelligible under the alarm, came the barks and howls of dogs.

Perfect.

Alex raced towards his board with new urgency, thinking of the crunch that would come when the canines sank their jaws into his legs. Finally, he reached the bush. Almost ripping the plant out of the ground, Alex fumbled to retrieve his board, throwing out in front of him when he found it. He tapped his belt buckle, praying it would not falter, and leaped onto the board when it started to lift off the ground.

Alex leaned forward, gaining speed rapidly. He took the path from earlier in the day when he had been snowboarding with the others, faintly remembering the bends and turns. He went as fast as he dared, darting through the trees at a speed that would kill him if he fell. All along, he could imagine the dogs panting behind him, closing in.

No. He wasn't going to let panic take over. He had been lucky before and he wasn't going to push it. He had to use his brain.

Using all his concentration to prevent the falling to the ground and crushing his bones scenario, Alex had no idea how he could spare a thought to outsmart his pursuers. Then, out of nowhere, came an idea. Whether it came from a book he read, a movie he saw or even just pure unconscious and unheard of logic, he didn't know. He also had no idea whether it would work. But he was going to use it nonetheless.

He bent over and pulled his board vertical, shooting up the trunk of a tall oak tree. Gritting his teeth with concentration, he neared the top, dodging passing branches faster than his brain could process them, relying purely on instinct and reaction. Seeing a sturdy branch close to the top, Alex did a flip from his vertical position and square on the wood, tapping his belt as fast as he could to land and steady himself.

Alex sighed with relief and unclipped his feet from his board. They would never find him here. He could barely see the snow on the forest floor from the darkness and all the evergreen branches in the way. He shuffled awkwardly towards the trunk, seeking stability, struggling not to make any noise or any movement that could be seen or heard from below. Every rustle, every slide he made sounded like it had been pumped through a pair of huge amplifiers to Alex. Upon reaching the trunk, Alex turned and leaned on it, letting his legs dangle from either side of the branch with his board sitting on his lap.

He was almost sure they couldn't see him from the forest floor, so he let his head fall back and rest it on the rough bark of the tree, which felt like a familiar friend, then closed his eyes.

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"Dude, didn't you sleep last night?"

Alex's eyes snapped open. He was sitting back at Tim Hortons opposite Jude waiting for Heidi and Brooke to bring coffee and hadn't even realized he had dozed off.

After waiting two hours for the guards to call off the search then another hour to make sure, Alex had finally stumbled into his room at four AM and was met with the sight of Jude's peacefully sleeping silhouette. Sick of sleep deprivation, Alex had collapsed onto his bed without another thought.

"Yeah. A little bit. I've got insomnia," Alex explained. It wasn't entirely untrue.

"Oh. That bites," Jude said sympathetically. Then seemed to forget all about it. "Ready to kick some chick butt today?"

Even exhausted, Alex couldn't help but smile at Jude's good humored nature and sense of equality. It would also make him seem nicer when he won. If he had enough energy to do so.

"I was born ready, if you'll excuse the cliche." Jude grinned, happy with the response.

"I heard that. And no, you are nowhere near ready," Heidi came up from behind him, holding a tray with two hot coffees and two ice caps. Brooke was next to her, with a box of doughnuts.

Alex ignored her comment. "Two ice caps?"

"Yep. I was gonna get one yesterday, but my teeth already felt like they were icicles. I like these better anyway." She plonked the tray on the table, almost causing the coffee sloshing around in the cups to spill. She slid into the booth, much to Alex's disappointment, next to Jude, and picked up an ice cap. Glad to share the experience, Jude picked up the remaining cup of iced coffee and did the same.

Brooke sat down next to Alex, setting down the box with more care than Heidi, and opened the lid, revealing a half dozen of freshly made doughnuts. The glaze shone in the fluorescent light and Alex forgot all about ice and only had eyes for his breakfast. If he had been a cartoon, there would have been a puddle of drool on the table.

"Dude I think we may need more doughnuts," Jude laughed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry myself. I'll get some more," Heidi put her arm on the table to push herself up, but paused. Alex looked up, wondering what the problem was, but Heidi quickly moved on and walked past him to the counter.

Brooke excused herself to go to the bathroom and Alex started to wolf down the doughnuts. They tasted like heaven in his mouth and soon all six were gone before his brain had even processed it.

"Whoa dude!" Jude acted amazed. "You're like some crazy starving person. Better tell Heidi to get more." He got up and walked to the line where their companion was waiting to get to the cashier.

With the edge taken off of his hunger, Alex settled down and sipped at his cup of scalding coffee, almost able to relax. Of course, after everything, he would never relax again. But this was good enough for him. For the moment anyway, he was content.

Despite the sugar rush provided by the large amount of consumed doughnut and the caffeine from his coffee, Alex still fell asleep.

He hadn't even noticed. One second he was leaning against the back of his chair, waiting for his new friends, the next he was being shaken awake.

"Dude, I would let you sleep, but I won't let you waste the ski trip away in dreamland. Have another doughnut to get your blood pumping and we'll split."

Jude slid a plate with a chocolate glazed doughnut sitting on it in front of him. It seemed to glow in his semi-concious state. He stuffed the food into his mouth and pulled himself out of the booth.

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"Where's your roommate Heidi?" Alex asked, suddenly realizing Brooke wasn't with them.

"She said she wasn't feeling well. Headache. Why? You happy there's less competition?" She smirked at him as they threw their boards to the snow on the ledge.

"Not even close. In fact, I was disappointed there was none, now that there's just the two of you."

"Ooh the pain!" Jude held his chest as if he'd been stabbed.

"Ooh you are going down man. Way down." Heidi finished fastening her feet to her board. "You ready for it?"

"Yep."

"Let's go!"

The three pushed off and started boarding.

Jude was in the lead first, zig-zaging through the snow and showing off. Alex came second, trying to gain on his roommate with Heidi coming up fast behind him. They were headed to the forest, taking the same route as the day before, where the cabin was.

For a split second, Alex was worried. What if they ran into the guards? Should he call for them to turn back? But this disappeared as he reasoned with himself. He had been the only one at the cabin, and no one had seen him. They were safe.

They entered the tree line, losing sight of each other, swerving around trunks and ducking to avoid whipping branches. Alex could feel his adrenaline pumping through his veins and pulse climbing. He was having his sugar rush from all the doughnuts he had consumed, and he thoroughly forgot the danger he had been in the night before. He laughed to himself, almost hysterically. Die? Him? Nah.

Alex broke out of the trees, without a trace of the other two. He yelled with victory, ecstatic that he was winning and raced down the slope. At the end, he slid to a stop, panting, and fell backwards into the snow, sugar rush diminishing. It was a small triumph, one that hardly mattered in the long run, but for some reason he was bursting with happiness.

Funny what effect doughnuts had on a distressed underaged undercover spies.

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As the sun set on the icy landscape, Alex's spirits set with it. Night had fallen which meant one thing.

He had to go back to the lodge.

Not the nicest thought in the world, but it had to be done.

Alex picked at his food during dinner, barely paying attention to what anyone was saying, too depressed by the fact that MI6 controlled his life which he was about to risk yet again. Not to mention the whole issue of making friends he couldn't tell anything to and would never see again.

Someone started snapping their fingers in front of his face, bringing him out of his reverie.

"Are you OK?" Heidi asked him. "You've been staring at that potato for ten minutes and you didn't even react when Jack tripped over his chair and crashed into a waiter carrying full wine glasses, which by the way, was hilarious."

"Yeah dude. It was a classic and you didn't even blink! Need another doughnut or somethin'?" Jude asked him from his other side as ran his hand through his hair and reached for another helping of twice baked potato.

"No I'm fine. I think I'm just tired.."

"Yeah that happens when you're high on excessive sugar," Heidi grinned at him from across the table. "Better turn in early junkie."

"Good idea." He might even slip in a nap before sneaking out.

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"What?"

Alex froze. He was barely out of the door and was completely hidden by shadows. How could anyone have seen him?

"Shh! Why don't you hit the fire alarm too?" another voice hissed to the first one. Alex could barely make out the words let alone tell who it was talking but he knew the second one was feminine. "We should go somewhere else..."

They were just around the corner, and the odds were, they were coming straight towards him. Not wanting to find himself in the middle of a lover's quarrel, Alex turned and ran for the forest. As he ran he could hear the voices fade away behind him.

Good. He got away.

He turned his head as he ran, just in case the couple had caught sight of his retreating figure, but all he saw were shadows. Short of breath from running in the thin freezing air and feeling the beginnings of a cramp in his abdomen, Alex bent down and panted hard, puffs of smoke like vapor pouring out of his mouth with each breath.

"Are you OK?"

Alex's head shot up with such speed and violence, he could actually hear his neck crack. The combined power unexpected stab of pain and the gravity of the slope tipped him over into the snow. A hand reached down and pulled him up.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Alex found himself looking into the face of none other than the unattainable Heidi.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Alex stuttered. Was she the one he had heard by the resort? Who was she with?

"Taking a walk."

"Do you normally take walks in the woods at night by yourself?"

"No. Normally the risk of death from air pollution is too high. I'm looking at the stars," she answered, pointing upwards as if he were a young child who needed reminding where stars were found.

"Oh."

"And you were...?" She trailed off, waiting for him to finish the sentence. But for some reason his mind went blank.

"Uh...I'm...out here...to..." his eyes wandered through the landscape, searching for inspiration. "I'm here to board!"

The girl lifted an eyebrow and Alex couldn't tell whether it was amusement or confusion. "Right. Practicing to beat us again I assume. Have fun trying, 'cause it isn't gonna happen. Goodnight." And without waiting for an answer, she turned and headed for the resort.

Despite all that he had been through in the last year, it was probably the strangest conversation he had ever had.

And that was saying a lot.

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There you have it. I'll try to update more often.

Oh and criticism is always welcome. But try not to tear me down too much.

So are reviews.