Well! It's been a year since I last updated this story xD I'm sorry I took so long…I blame school: I was drowning under all that work x.x. However, summer is now approaching! Ten thousand cheers for summer vacation! I do have a final on Wednesday though, so this will probably be a short chapter. My writing style has probably changed again xD weee!
I'm not sure if anyone still reads this…but…here goes!
Also, I thank the people who have continued to review and nag me to write more :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series, Anthony Horowitz does.
Alex Rider half jogged and half ran through the park, dribbling his soccer ball in front of him. He had agreed to meet up with his friend, Tom Harris, to have a one on one soccer match but he was thirty minutes late. As Alex ran, he felt grateful that Tom knew about his involvement with MI6 so he would be able to tell Tom the real reason he was late: he had just spent the morning being debriefed by a bored-looking Alan Blunt. Mrs. Jones had not been there. Alex wouldn't have to make up a weak excuse, which was just as well, since he could not afford to lose any more friends.
Alex took a shortcut through the park, running through a horse trail surrounded on either side by dense thickets. As he ran however, Alex became aware of the unnatural silence. There were no birds calling and even the mosquitoes had disappeared. Something was wrong.
His first instinct was to run. To leave the soccer ball behind, break into a sprint, and go where there were people. However, against his own instincts, Alex stopped and froze. As he did so, he heard a soft whining sound and a bullet almost grazed his nose, speeding across the space where he would have been if he had kept running. Someone was shooting at him with a silenced gun! The bullet had come from his left, so Alex turned and dashed into the thicket at his right, randomly twisting and turning to avoid getting shot.
As Alex burst into the thicket, he was met by a wall of bushes, trees, weeds, and bugs. Alex thrashed blindly around the thicket, once running into a spider that was as big as his head. He had intended to make his way through the thicket and emerge at the edge of the park where there was a busy street, but he found himself hopelessly lost. Worst yet, he made so much noise as he crashed through the bushes, he might as well have been holding a flashing neon sign. Another bullet whizzed by his head, this time grazing his cheek. Alex muffled a cry of pain, and suppressed the sudden urge to loudly curse at MI6. Yelling would only draw more attention to his location. As Alex darted to the left, another bullet came tearing towards him, this time grazing his arm and tearing his shirt. Alex looked down and his heart fell. His shirt was bright blue. Against the green and brown backdrop, Alex was a walking target. Alex opened his mouth to curse but before he could form the words, someone grabbed him by the shoulder, and threw him to the ground. Alex hit the ground hard, twisting and falling on the shoulder that had just been grazed by the bullet. He tasted blood in his mouth and realized that he had bitten both his lip and his tongue. Alex twisted around to face his attacker, intending to strike out with a karate kick, but his foot met empty air. His attacker moved out of the way gracefully, in one swift motion that reminded Alex of a ballet dancer…or of…
Yassen Gregorovich stared down at Alex. He was holding a gun.
"Alex."
"Yassen…but why?"
Yassen shrugged nonchalantly. "I was paid."
"By who? And what about that debt you were talking about, huh? The one you owe my father!"
Yassen considered that for a moment, but did not move the gun away. Alex looked around for something, anything, but he knew it was hopeless. From his previous encounters with Yassen, Alex knew that the killer was too skilled for him. Alex was going to die. No one would find his body for days, if they ever did. No one would care except for Jack and Tom. The very thought was almost too horrible to contemplate but Alex could not help but think it.
"The life debt I owe your father has been paid many times over Alex. First with Damien Cray. That almost cost me my own life. Then with the men on your school trip. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it is YOU who owes me a life debt now."
Alex paled. He could not think of a reply to that. There was no logic in that comment. Yassen noticed his confusion.
"I'll explain later Alex. We have to go now and get to a safe house. There is one nearby."
Yassen lowered the gun and Alex blinked. He wasn't going to die? However, the hope and relief that came with that thought left him in one horrible instant when he realized something just as a cold voice came from behind Yassen. The gun that had been shooting at him was silenced. The gun Yassen holding had no silencer.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, Mr. Gregorovich. As well trained as you are, even you can't react fast enough to save yourself or the boy if I decide to shoot."
