"Alex!"

Tom jumped him as he entered the school gates.

"Alex man you didn't say I'd have to cover for you from fucking them. I tried to call you five times."

Oops, his phone was still off and at home.

"Sorry, I didn't know they'd be after me that day did they give you a hard time?"

"No, but then I told them straight away that you were with a girl cause… I didn't want them to get out the electric chair or anything."

"That's fine, I rang them when I got home."

"What did they want." They turned towards the school building as the bell went.

"They wanted me for a mission but they found someone else because I was too late."

"Good, I thought I wasn't going to see you for a while when they turned up. So dish the dirt then."

"What?"

"Dish the dirt on the girl? Come on who is she? Did you loose it?"

"Not yet, I'm working on it."

"So how far did you get?"

"Look Tom…"

"Come on… did she give you a blow job?"

Alex blushed.

"She did? Ah ha ha I knew it!"

"Will you calm down?"

Tom was almost jumping up and down. "So who is she? Anyone I know?"

"No."

"Is she a spy like you?"

Alex looked around alarmed. "Keep your voice down."

He whispered now conspiratorially. "Is she a spy?"

"No."

"Did you meet her on one of your missions?"

Alex thought about the first time he'd seen Yassen at the top of those stairs at Sayle's factory. He'd looked to him at the time like he'd had a blank face on but he wondered if he knew who he was from the very start.

"Is that a yes?" Tom ventured.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you."

"I knew it was a yes!"

"Shh, for God's sake Tom!"

Even though his friend was being an idiot Alex couldn't help but smile at the thought of Yassen, he knew he was being a girl but he'd liked sleeping in his arms. Not to mention all the things that came with that…

When they went to the biology lab there was a note on the door telling them to come to another room, when he peered through the window he saw there were two painters inside covering the smoke stains from the bunsen burners on the ceiling with white paint.

"We're going to be late."

The biology teacher waved them in the shut the door behind them without breaking sentence. The only two seats left were at the front of the room off to the right he and Tom both went for the window seat hissing at each other under their breath.

"I got there first."

Alex conceded after the teacher took his bag and put it on the other table still not pausing for breath. It wasn't a good start to the lesson and he found it increasingly heavy going as it continued in the same vain. Learning how to analyse graphs showing the oxygen diffusion into haemoglobin was less than enjoyable.

The lesson continued around him and he shifted in his seat, they were in a room designed for one of the younger years, as such they were in stupid small plastic seats that were uncomfortable in the extreme.

"Mr Rider." His attention snapped to the front. "Looking out the window will not help you pass your GCSE biology exam."

Why the fuck did he take biology?

"Sir." He stared at the front with the same ragged concentration wincing when his phone went off and the teacher turned around, he fumbled with it and pressed the hang up button quieting it's tone and he just shook his head. Alex looked at his phone and saw an unknown number. They rang again, the phone vibrating in his hand, he stuck it in his pocket . If it was MI6 then they could wait, anyone else they could also wait.

He tried to concentrate but the graphs were confusing; something about partial pressure and haemoglobin loading. Then the room shook and there was a roar in his ears, almost deafening, lasting only a second.

The screams were the first thing he heard as his hearing faded back in, then he got up and walked out of the room. He headed in the opposite direction to everyone else, already knowing instinctively which room it would be. As he arrived at the Biology labs, a separate building like the chemistry labs he saw it was a burning wreck, the explosion had been on the top floor but had taken the whole building down with it. Anyone who was in there was dead, two painters and probably a classroom full of kids on the bottom floor. He took out his phone and called the unknown number.

"Alex?"

"I'm alive."

"Come to the front gate."

He hung up.