Hey!

Can I just apologize in advance for the lack in accurate technical terminology and methods? Anyone who knows me could tell you that I am technically challenged – it took me 4 days to figure out how to upload a second chapter on to a fic so I guess you can see what I mean. Also as far as the bomb goes – I made that part up. I have no idea about making or dismantling or types of bombs…like most people I hope.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Alex Rider doesn't belong to me



Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The seconds were slipping by. They didn't have time to waste. Composing his jumbled thoughts Fox said, 'We have to hurry and we have to split up in to three groups. Eagle and Zebra as far as I remember the two of you excelled at the Dismantling Bombs lectures, right?' The two men in question nodded seriously.

'Okay, there are 15 of us. Eagle stay here with Snake, Panda and Lemur. Try to find the bomb and dismantle it. Zebra take your unit to The Killing House and do the same there. The rest of us will go to the Arms room and try to get us some weapons. We have to move quickly and remain undetected. If any of you comes upon the enemy, alert us immediately over the walkie talkies. Is that understood?'

Everyone gave quick nods of agreement and ran off to complete their tasks. The Arms room was on the other side of the camp, near the lake. Though the camp didn't have CCTV camera's they tried to stick to the shadows as much as possible – after all, if the enemy could install bombs undetected, something as minor as CCTV cameras would be a child's game.

It shocked and disturbed the SAS soldiers (though they would never admit it out loud) just how good Alex was at moving quickly between the shadows, virtually undetected. And though they were impressed, they just assumed it had to do with MI6. Ben knew better. He himself was good at stealth; as a spy he had to be. But it still shocked him how good Alex was. The way he moved in and out of sight, almost like a ghost…it reminded him of an assassin on one of his missions. He pushed the bothersome thoughts to the side; they had more pressing matters – such as staying alive.

They got to the Arms room and so far so good! No one seemed to be hot on their heels. They had a different dilemma though.

'Shit, I forgot about the finger print sensitive lock!' Fox could have kicked himself in the head.

'How are we going to get in?' Wolf growled in exasperation.

'Are the Sergeant's finger prints saved in to the system?' Alex asked, an idea forming in his mind.

'Yes wh- but of course,' Fox asked temporarily relieved. Then the tension was back in his eyes. 'But be quick. We're running out of time.' Alex turned and ran, merging effortlessly in to the shadows, as if he was never there. Fox just about managed to hold in the 'Be careful!' that wanted to tag it's self at the teen spy's back.

Alex ran as quickly as he dared back to his bunk and grabbed a flimsy plastic bag that they used to store rations for survival training. Sticking to the shadows as often as he could, he ran to where the Sergeant's body – or should he say corpse? – lay. Plastic bag securely on his finger, he rubbed it over the Sergeant's own cold and motionless finger, careful not to look in to the depthless, dead eyes. That accomplished, he ran back to the Arms room.

It had only taken Alex 15 minutes, but 15 minutes was a long time when you were up against two bombs. '1 hour and 31 minutes left' he murmured, looking down at his watch. The soldiers were relieved to see him back but couldn't help muttering things along the lines of 'took you long enough.'

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Alex stood in front of the door and pressed his plastic covered finger against the scanner. A collective intake of breath and – yes! The scanner beeped and they heard the door unlock. Alex opened it and the men rushed in, already discussing which weapons they thought would be the most useful. There was so much to choose from in the room.

'Thank God the SAS camp still used fingerprint scanners,' he thought relieved. 'If they'd used eye scanners...' he shuddered at the thought. He knew he would have had to cut the Sergeant's eye out and that was one thing he wasn't sure he would have been able to have done.

1 hour and 28 minutes left…

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Alex turned to face the soldiers, who had finally decided to go for small hand held guns, as they would be lighter to carry and would enable them to react more quickly. They strapped three or four each on to their belts and pockets – wherever they could find space. Alex followed suit then picked up a Swiss Army knife, deliberating for a moment, before safely securing it with a leather band round his calf. Fox watched him do this silently, Alex unable to read the expression on his face.

'Who do you think is after us?' Wolf asked, following Alex's example with the knife, but deciding that one wasn't enough, strapped two to his legs.

'Scorpia,' Alex answered immediately. Crocodile was a member of G Unit and having been filled in by K Unit on the story the fake Blunt gave them, he sneered at Alex.

'Scorpia? Don't be stupid kid. What motive would they have? Anyways, what would you know about Scorpia?'

'More than you that's for sure,' Alex felt like saying, but he bit his tongue and shook his head instead.

'No. It was them. They proved that it was them. They had some knowledge that only Scorpia has,' Alex nodded to himself, thinking back to the shooting range. 'On the one hand it makes sense but on the other it doesn't. I mean they wouldn't risk -' Alex had actually thought the last sentence out loud, but broke off when he realized just how keen the soldiers looked. He didn't want to give that price.

Wolf cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying, 'Let's assume you're right Cub and it is Scorpia. They can't be right about Amur can they? That was just a ploy.' Wolf spoke the words matter of factly, with not inflection whatsoever, but his eyes remained glued on to the weapons he was still adjusting on his camouflage clothes.

Wolf was a good leader. He didn't like the idea that someone who he had lived with, cracked jokes with, shared bread with and fought alongside, could be a traitor. He would rather believe that an unknown enemy was just abusing Amur's memory. It's so much easier to hate random, unknown enemies. So much less painful to face them, than to face someone that you trusted.

'I'd thought of that,' Alex answered, voice serious. 'But the more I think about it the more I doubt it.' Wolf felt his heart sink at those words, but none of that showed on his face when he asked, 'Why?'

'Because. Just look at the facts; we have three bombs in an SAS camp – a place which should be secure. That would need an insider job. Scorpia probably fabricated Andrew Lloyd's identity and snuck one of their agents in under deep cover at the camp. The question is why. What do they have to gain from destroying this camp? They made a deal with MI6 to not try to kill me again and I doubt they'd go back on it but…' he trailed off deep in thought, not noticing the shocked expressions of the soldiers.

'They made a deal with MI6 to not try to kill me again.'It was the only thought that ran through their heads, repeating itself over and over.

'But it can't be me. Amur was here way before me. He couldn't have known I would come here. Maybe Scorpia's in the employment of a foreign country to try to destroy or destabilize the British Armed forces. It wouldn't be the first time.' It was a plausible reason and once the soldiers had gotten (somewhat) over the shock that a teenager would know so much, they nodded in agreement.

Alex wasn't satisfied though. Something was nagging at the edge of his conscience. This wasn't it. He knew what it was, but he couldn't place it. It had something to do with the shooting range, but what?

1 hour and 18 minutes left…

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

'Is everyone ready?' Fox asked looking round.

'Yup, we're fifteen so we've got about enough for three per person.' Crocodile replied.

'Okay good. We're splitting up. Half of us are going back to the mess hall to help Eagle and his group and the other half is' – Fox was disrupted by their walkie talkies cracking to life. Zebra's voice sounded from it, tense, frustrated and slightly desperate.

'We've found the bomb for 'The Killing House.' But… we can't dismantle it here. I've only ever read about this type of bomb, but I've never had to deal with it!' He took a deep, calming breath and continued.

'The only way to stop this thing from going off is if you insert a chip that is unique to it. To activate the bomb all they had to do was swipe the chip through it. I got suspicious why we didn't see anyone – meet any resistance. It makes perfect sense now of course. They're hiding. They're scared we'll pursue them and get it off them.'

Alex looked at the men around him, all of them bearing the same tense posture he had. A lone bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face and he felt his heart accelerate as adrenaline pumped through his veins.

1 hour and 14 minutes left…

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock…



A:N/ so what dyu think? I think, I think, I think, that I'll be done completely in the next chap. There'll be lotsa actions, badies revealed and cute bonding moments. It should be up fairly soon but I don't wanna give guarantees as I went to Waterstones 2 day ago…I don't know about you lot but for me, bookstores are worse than any sweet shop and I end up buying loads. So yeah I'm trying to read my way through those books.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review – I love to know what you think. It really helps spur me on.

DCC xxx