Disclaimer: I suddenly own Alex Rider! Just kidding. I wish, though Sadly, he is not mine.

Chapter 10:

Alex laid a hand on the man's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "He's probably still alive. Judging by the placement of the blood, I'd say he was hit on his right shoulder. And then somebody picked him up and carried him off. And based on the amount of blood he lost, I'd guess that he probably passed out, which probably led to him being carried off verses leaving by himself."

X-Ray nodded.

Alex looked back at the blood trail, "Shall we follow it and see where it leads?"

X-Ray nodded and the two set off down the alleyway. The trail of blood led all the way up to the curb before disappearing from sight.

"So whoever took him got away in a car," Alex surmised.

"How are we going to find him then?" X-Ray said with a hopeless and confused expression on his face.

Gently, Alex turned to him and replied, "What we're going to do right now is go to a safe house and we're going to get some rest and some food. Understand?"

X-Ray nodded like a little kid obeying his parent and slowly turned around to where their latest mode of transportation was. A lingering glance back to where the trail of blood ended informed Alex that X-Ray wasn't happy with the decision. But X-Ray also had just lost the last member of his team-perhaps for forever- so Alex knew that he had to make the decisions for X-Ray at least for a while. Alex himself never thought clearly when he lost someone and it had yet to be discovered whether X-Ray did as well. So for the moment they'd go somewhere safe where X-Ray could easily be detained in case of any issues.

Alex nodded to himself and followed X-Ray. It was high time they got back on British soil. And then he would go after the men who had dared touch Ben. A sadistic smirk stole across his face.

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Sparks woke up once more in the same room as before. He went to roll over and see what escapes there might be, but a voice from behind him stopped him.

"Don't move. You'll tear your stitches again if you're not careful. And I'd rather not have to bandage you up AGAIN simply due to your inability to stay in one place."

Sparks frowned, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"I see you're not so British then. Could've sworn you were British SAS, especially as you were traveling with Rider. Australian?" the stranger surmised, completely ignoring Sparks' question.

Sparks nodded, "Yea. Who are you?"

"The man who saved your life by removing the bullet from your shoulder and keeping you from bleeding to death."

Sparks just groaned, "You're almost as bad as Alex! If I didn't know any better I'd have said that you were a spy. Spies are the only people who are just that annoying with all of their half-truths and never saying anything worth saying and implying everything and nothing at the same time. Ugh."

A chuckle sounded from behind Sparks, "Quite observant are you? Australian SAS then?"

"Yea," Sparks said with a sigh.

"What are you doing all the way here in France? And how are you connected to Alex?" The man slowly walked into Sparks' line of sight as he talked, apparently deciding to have the conversation face-to-face.

Sparks took a minute to study the man in front of him. He was tall with dark brown hair and cold brown eyes. Nothing in his face revealed anything thoughts or emotions, though his stance suggested that he felt comfortable and in control.

"First you're telling me who you are or at least what your…occupation…is. And how you know of Alex," Sparks demanded to the dangerous looking man standing in front of him.

Cool assessing eyes gazed at Sparks for a moment before the man nodded. "My name is unimportant. Yours may be as well. I am a retired British spy, though many would consider me more of a retired assassin. I was undercover in a terrorist organization for a number of years, like Alex's father, and I retained much of the skills I picked up during my time there. As for how I know Rider…well, you must not be very well informed if you have to ask that. The question is who DOESN'T know about Alex. Plus, I worked in the same organization as him even if I was in deep cover for a while."

Sparks nodded in understanding, "I know Alex because he stayed at our base for a few days back when he was just starting out as a teenager. I think it was like after his fifth mission? Fourth? I don't know. Somewhere in there. And he ran into a spot of trouble down in Australia and I was one of the men assigned to protecting him."

"They only assigned two men? At that rate you're more of a hindrance than a help to Rider."

"Well, there were four of us, but then a bunch of guys took Ben and my two unit mates somewhere in Italy. And I guess now there's only one seeing how you have me currently."

The man nodded slowly, "I will help you get back to England if you wish. But you must not tell anyone of our meeting or anything I've said. That is the condition for me helping you. The entire world-save a few people- think me to be dead and I'd like to keep it that way. Understand?"

Sparks agreed to the terms, knowing that it was his best shot of getting to England alive where he would hopefully reunite with Alex and the unit.

"Let's get going then," the man said and walked out of the room. "Just be careful not to tear the stitches in your shoulder. Other than that, you should be fine.

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Ben and K-Unit were running the assault course when Texas and Scooter found them the next morning. Watching the unit for a while, it was obvious to the Aussie soldiers that Ben's spy experience caused him to be more nimble and light footed, thus giving him an advantage. He flew through the course with a high level of grace that caused him to get the best time out of K-Unit. Wolf was the best in the solely-soldier group of K-Unit. He was faster and stronger than his unit mates, though Tiger came in a close second behind him.

It didn't take long for Ben to notice them and wave the pair over.

"Hey guys, glad to see you finally woke up! What is it, like seven thirty in the morning?"

Scooter nodded at Ben, "Yea, something like that. Which means it is way too early to be waking up. Especially since we're from a totally different time zone than here."

Ben looked at him curiously, "What time do you guys have to get up for training in Australia?"

"Like five-thirty. Or four. Or something like that. Way before the sun rises. But that's only before you become an official SAS member. After you pass, then you get to get up at like 6 thirty or seven."

"So why is getting up around that time so difficult and horrible now?" Ben questioned.

"Because we're in some horrible place where it always rains and the sun never shines," Texas replied with a pout.

"You won't notice it if you try to assault course," Wolf said from behind Texas who promptly shrieked like a girl and dove for cover behind Scooter.

"Evil man!" Texas complained, slowly stepping out from behind his unit mate. "That was a downright horrible thing to do!"

Wolf smirked, "Well, if you get yourself over the assault course I may not have an opportunity to do that again."

Texas pouted before getting hit on the back of the head by Scooter. "Just go run that playground they can an assault course," Scooter commanded.

Still pouting, Texas ran off to the start and talked to Snake for a few minutes before starting the course.

Scooter sighed, "We're still trying to figure out how he passed selection. We're pretty sure he bribed the sergeant and blackmailed the government with a nuclear bomb or something because there is no other way anyone would want to let him near weaponry."

Wolf nodded, "I can attest to that. I'm pretty sure that's how Eagle got into the SAS as well. Those two are like twins separated at birth."

Ben smirked, "And this is why I joined MI6 and left the SAS. So I wouldn't have to deal with people like Texas and Eagle all of the time."

Wolf snorted, "That may be true, but at least we don't have to spend half of our lives with Cub like you do. If I hadn't seen him out in the field before I would've said that he rivaled Eagle and Texas."

Ben nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought.

"He's ok, Fox. There's nothing in the world that could break that kid. And nothing that could kill him. He'll show up sooner or later. There's no need to worry," Wolf said to Ben, seeing the look in the man's eyes.

Ben nodded before silently heading into the trees to think. Wolf and Scooter gazed at his back until the man stepped beyond the tree line. Immediately, the shadows swallowed up his form, making it impossible for the soldiers to watch him any longer. They turned their attention back to Texas who was coming up to them, obviously out of breath.