Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider

Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider.

A/N: I'm back from vacation and here's the next chapter. I hope you like it.

Chapter 7: Deep Freeze

It was cold sitting in the boat. The group had returned when they had found all of their companions murdered. They had not wanted to sleep in the tents that night. Max sat on her bunk not touching the food that was given to her. She had seen murders before and she had seen things that would make normal people have nightmares for a week, she was just not expecting to see it here.

"You okay?" asked Alex from his bunk.

"I'm fine," she answered in a monotone voice.

"You don't sound like it," he answered.

Max didn't answer, Alex watched her and sighed. Before nodding off he looked at her one more time.

Max watched as Alex drifted off to sleep. After an hour of listening to his soft breathing she was sure he was asleep. Quietly she left the room. Once in the hall she tiptoed to the stairs that led onto the deck. Climbing them she navigated the deck to the back which had been lowered so they could get to the ice. It was freezing outside and Max wrapped up even more to keep from freezing herself. The ice cracked and crunched under her boots as she retraced the path that led to the tents that held the dead bodies. She wanted to check things out further without telling anyone. Stepping inside one of the bright orange tents she saw the blood stains on the snow and the fabric. The faces of the dead were masks of terror and pain. Pushing down the urge to throw up she stepped over to one of the bodies. She had slipped some latex gloves in her pocket before leaving the boat. Slipping those on now she touched some exposed skin of the body in front of her. The body was frozen hard, no matter what she tried to do the skin refused to budge. The bodies had been there for a while. She looked at the blood. Even though frozen it had turned black, they had been killed some time ago. She looked around at the tent. Thinking over what she knew had to be there she looked around for something that seemed suspicious. She took one more three-sixty look and figured out what was missing, the computer that had all of the information on it. Leaving the bodies she went back to the boat. No one had noticed her gone. She slipped into bed and tried to think about why the computer would be missing.

Alex woke in the morning to see Max sleeping peacefully. She looked so pretty when she was sleeping. He got up and got dressed without waking her. Going to the galley he fixed himself some breakfast. He couldn't get the images of the dead people out of his mind. He could see all the blood and only wonder what kind of person would attack these people. He could only guess what he had gotten himself into again. As the rest of the team woke and came in for breakfast he could only think about Max and her safety. Speaking of she wasn't up yet, Max had always been an early riser and never slept in. Today was different. Thinking it was strange Alex went to the room and saw Max taking off her pants. He yelled in surprise and ducked out of the room. He could feel the heat in his cheeks and his palms started sweating. A minute later Max walked out of the room.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's fine," she said.

"Remember the last time I accidentally did that you were so mad you didn't talk to me for a while?"

Max nodded and laughed along with him. Before they got to the galley Alex stopped her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she replied.

"You don't usually sleep in late," he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered and walked into the galley.

Something in her eyes told Alex differently.

A/N: Sorry it's so short I wanted to get it up ASAP.