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It was easy to conclude that Gibbs was at the top of the "must avoid at all costs" lists of all the agents at NCIS – or just all the staff in general. Heck, even Tony looked as awkward and afraid as he felt as he trailed behind Gibbs into the bullpen at that point. Ziva looked up as soon as she heard the elevator ding, her phone to her ear, but one look at the expression on Tony's face told her to duck back down at carry on making those calls. McGee didn't even bother looking up as Gibbs and Tony walked in, having seen Ziva's movements out of the corner of his eye and deducing that it was not safe at all to open his mouth or make any sort of eye contact with Gibbs.

As soon as Gibbs began talking, all three agents flinched.

"What've you got?" he called out to no one in particular. Despite this, Ziva was the first to speak.

"I have managed to obtain some semblance of SCORPIA and its aims," she announced as she put down her phone, moving towards the screen. A few documents appeared on the screen. "I have not managed to contact many of my contacts yet, but the ones I have contacted have informed me that SCORPIA is an underground organisation… or, at least, it was. The organisation aimed to provide services to any and all governments around the world, as well as individuals – their reasoning was that if the money could be provided, they would carry it out. And they carried out anything and everything, from assassinations to trafficking." Her nose crinkled at that in distaste. "Many of their activities were lawless, and many involved the killing of innocents to achieve their goals." She clicked a button on the remote, and multiple news articles appeared on the screen. "Fortunately, the organisation has dissolved. It was brought down by an agent – of which agency, it has not been specified, though there is a rumour that it was the British who did so – and many of their agents have either been arrested or have gone into hiding."

"Which means that any of them could have come back to get revenge on the Petty Officer, and we wouldn't know," Tony responded with a scowl. "They're all in hiding. They could look like any civilian on the street and we wouldn't realise."

"Unless individuals from the CIA case files are cross-referenced," McGee pointed out.

"As we have already found, much of the information from the case has been redacted," Ziva pointed out. Noticing the look on Gibbs' face, she backtracked. "But I will attempt to obtain as much information as possible from my contacts to cross-reference faces."

Gibbs nodded, leaving Ziva to rush back to her desk and carry out what she had proposed.

"I've managed to gain access to and scrub through all videos of that wall at the front of the hotel," McGee explained, "and I've managed to narrow it all down to one timeframe." He typed a couple of things on his keyboard, and a few videos popped up on the screen. All of them were focused on the wall by the parking garage, where Ziva had spotted the etching on the wall, and were paused at a point where a man in a suit was leaning against the wall. "This man has been spotted multiple times in the exact same position, at the exact same place. He appears to be doing nothing but waiting for someone, but at the same time…" McGee zoomed in on the same face. His eyes seemed to be focused on something. "Take a look at this." He pressed play on one of the videos. Though pixelated, it was clear to see that the man's mouth was moving, as if he was speaking to someone. "Looking through all these videos, the man seems to be mouthing the exact same thing to whoever he's speaking to. The only difference was on the last day he was spotted – and dates on footage match that with the day the Petty Officer was killed… and the last day Alex was actually spotted on hotel property. Look."

One of the videos was then focused on, brought to the front, and played. All four agents could see the man standing on the corner, as usual, staring off into the distance. As McGee had mentioned, a fair-haired male was soon spotted exiting the hotel through the main entrance, alongside two individuals that the agents (if they assumed the fair-haired male was Alex, and were going along with the story they'd been told) concluded to be Sabina and Elizabeth, the girl's mother. Alex appeared to notice the man and falter, but soon enough he had caught up with the two females and was heading off, most likely to Elizabeth's car.

The video was paused, and all four agents shared a look.

"Why would a SCORPIA agent be situated outside the hotel…?" Ziva asked, a deep frown set on her face. "The man did not even look in Alex's direction. If he had intended to kill Alex…"

"He would have done so there and then," Tony finished, "or even earlier. Before Alex had left the hotel."

"Any time he was alone," Ziva added. "Alex was not the target, unless he was being observed."

"But the Petty Officer's house is too far from there for him to be a target," McGee added, bringing up a map to show the distances between the two buildings. "They had to drive to get the area. Unless we check everyone in the building who could have been a target of SCORPIA at any point in time, it's safe to assume that Alex might have been the target."

"If Alex was the target, he would have been found dead at the Petty Officer's house," Ziva argued.

"McGee, get a list of everyone staying at that hotel," Gibbs ordered, a deep frown set on his face. "We need to look through all histories and find connections."

"We can narrow it down," Tony suggested. "The Pleasures are there for a convention, right? Whoever's being targeted would most likely be there for that."

"It'd be easier to obtain a list of names for the convention," McGee agreed, standing to grab his things. "I'll head to the hotel straight away to obtain it all."

"No, I'll go with DiNozzo."

McGee looked confused when Gibbs said he would go with Tony, but noticing the dark look on the senior agent's face he realised what had happened. That, and Tony had sent a text before they'd arrived, warning them of what had happened. "I'll get all traffic cam data possible from the street."

"I will put out a BOLO on the boys," Ziva added, turning to her desk to make the calls.

Tony walked over to his desk, opening the bottom drawer and pulling out what seemed to be an energy drink. "Look at how desperate I am, going into my emergency supplies," he grumbled as he stood back up, before turning to follow Gibbs out of the bullpen. He narrowed his eyes at Ziva as he took a swig. "Don't say a word," he snapped.

"That beautiful face won't last much longer if you pump chemicals like that into it," McGee teased, earning a glare from Tony as he entered the elevator.

"Shut up, McGee!"

As soon as the van had stopped, Alex knew that they had no chance of getting out of this unscathed. After all, they'd been taken hostage and thrown into the back of a van. He didn't know who by, but he knew that they weren't exactly the most professional of people, considering they were kidnapped in broad daylight.

Amateurs.

Hearing the slams of the front doors, he almost didn't expect anyone to come back for him and Andrew. It was morbid, he knew, but he also knew that it was perfectly likely that whoever had wanted him kidnapped also wanted him dead, and asphyxiation would have been a lovely, painful way to do it.

The sudden sunlight streaming in through the back doors of the van (which were to his left, he realised) forced him to shut his eyes tightly to protect them from the bright light. His eyes didn't open until he felt himself being roughly pulled out of the back of the vehicle, yelping as it happened. Scuffling and yelling from just beside him told Alex that Andrew was undergoing the same thing and was resisting a whole lot more than Alex was.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Alex realised he was still being help up by the scruff of his neck. "I'm not a dog, you know," he snarked as he tried to pull away, though that was difficult when your feet just about touched the ground. "I can walk on my own."

"You can also run," a gruff voice responded, before the man began to half-guide, half-drag Alex in the direction he wanted him to go. "Not getting off that easy, boy. Now move."

Alex merely scowled as he half-walked, half-stumbled into the direction he was being led. It wasn't long before he realised it was a large warehouse – plain enough looking from the outside, he supposed, and not suspicious enough for people to think that there were individuals being held hostage there.

Fantastic.

It wasn't until they got through the doors that things started kicking off.

Or rather, Andrew started kicking off.

Alex didn't even need to turn to know that the scuffing he heard was Andrew digging his feet into the ground and trying to push back against the men who were dragging them. The male let out a yell as he kept on pushing back, still trying to dig his feet in, when there was a sudden hitting sound, and Alex winced. That had definitely sounded like it hurt. The blonde couldn't help but shudder when he felt a pair of lips close to his ear.

"You try any of that, and we'll hit you twice as hard."

Alex grit his teeth, almost tempted to show them that if he put up a fight it would be a whole lot worse, but stayed silent, just following where they were being led.

The warehouse they were in was large – or, at least, the room of the warehouse they were in was large. The floor appeared to be made of some sort of stone, just like the walls, everything some sort of shade of grey. Against the walls, there were some crates; empty spaces beside some of the crates suggested that there had been more that were removed, but those that remained were clearly old and rotting. There were no windows in the building at eye-level or below – everything was up near the ceiling, barely able to give any light – and the only other doors were a large door opposite Alex, likely for moving crates (which is what the warehouse was intended for in the first place) and two doors against the wall to the left, one of which had a window in it. That gave Alex a bit of hope, until he realised that there was a huge chain and padlock against the door handle, firmly holding it in place.

Basically, the only way out appeared to be the way they came in.

Without warning, Alex was suddenly thrown down to the ground, landing hard on his shoulder without his hands free to catch him. He groaned as he rolled over onto his back as Andrew was also thrown to the ground, the other boy being fortunate enough to land on his back.

"The boss'll be up to see you guys in a sec," one of the men mentioned as the two of them left the building. "He knows you're here, so don't try any funny stuff. He'll know."

Alex barely managed to look up as the two men left, leaving the teens all alone in the building – or, at least, that room. Gritting his teeth, it took him a few attempts before he was able to push himself up into a sitting position, and he looked over at Andrew. He thought the other teen looked fine, other than some bruising that was forming around his eye. In fact, he would have thought him completely fine if he hadn't realised Andrew was breathing erratically and staring up at the ceiling blankly.

"Andrew…?" Alex asked hesitantly.

The hissed curse Alex heard in response told him that something was most definitely wrong. Andrew did not swear. Not even when Gibbs wasn't around.

"What's wrong?" Alex demanded, forcing himself up into a sitting position. The paleness, and the erratic breathing, only made Alex think of that time when they were walking back from the park… when he'd reacted in the exact same way…

Before Andrew could even splutter something out, a figure emerged from the door beside the chained one with the window. Or rather, three figures emerged: two large men, and a significantly smaller man walking behind them. As they neared the boys, the larger men parted to make way for the smaller man, who simply smirked at the two teens on the ground.

"Well, well, well," he said smugly, clapping his hands together. "What do we have here? Two boys clearly out of their depth."

It was then that Alex recognised the man. He knew his face. He wasn't the man on the corner, appearing casual but clearly watching out for someone; no, if he had been, Alex would have recognised him right away, and he would be dead right now. That, and if he had been spotted, he would have been arrested right away. There was no way he would have been able to hide his identity on American soil.

But he was definitely someone who had told the man on the corner about him.

"Walker…?" he managed to ask, a look of disbelief on his face. Not that he hadn't been arrested or jailed, no. More that he was still alive in the first place…

And that he'd come after him.

"Alex Rider," Walker greeted in return, a smile on his face. Not a pleasant one, in Alex's opinion, but a smile nonetheless. It scared Alex to see the man smile, knowing what he was capable of. "You know, I'm glad you could join us here." Walker's eyes flickered over to Andrew, his sadistic grin growing. "And you brought a friend!"

Alex scowled heavily at that.

"Oh, don't frown, Alex. You'll get wrinkles."

The tease only made Alex scowl even more, making Walker laugh in return.

"You know this asshole?" The rasping voice made Alex turn towards Andrew, and his lips quirked up briefly in relief. If anything, those words were just a sign that Andrew was capable of being as snarky as ever. In other words, now he was fine. Probably because he had someone to distract him from whatever had him shaken before.

"Ah, so the friend speaks? Let me introduce myself as I get your bonds off." He looked towards the two men and gestured at the boys, and the men approached the two and knelt beside the boys' bonds. "My name… well, all you really need to know is that people call me Walker. American by birth, agent by li—ah, ah, ah, Alex." He raised an eyebrow at the fair-haired teen, who he'd noticed had tensed up as soon as his bonds were being removed. "No violence whilst I'm speaking. I need you both to listen to my villainous backstory." He was mocking them, and Alex knew it, but there was nothing he could do about it. So both teens just lay there as Walker continued to speak. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted – honestly, I thought the British had more manners than that – I'm an agent by lifestyle… or, at least, I was. Someone leaked information about me, and a friend of mine… but that's taken care of." Walker's expression turned curious, his hand coming up to rub his chin. "Imagine how amused I was to find that not only was more than one of my targets nearby, but the infamous Alex Rider was here too. In fact, a couple of my own bumped into him without realising who he was! How funny."

Andrew looked over at Alex with wide eyes. "How does he know you…?" he asked slowly, though he dreaded what the answer would be. Whatever the reason was, it definitely wasn't a good one.

Before Alex could speak, Walker waved the question aside. "Oh, Andrew, you can ask him those questions later," he said dismissively, before approaching the darker-haired teen. "After all, you'll have quite some time to get properly acquainted. Staying together in protective custody doesn't exactly provide you with the opportunity to get to know each other." He knelt down beside Andrew as the cuffs were being removed, smiling down at him. "As for you, well, you probably have almost as much to tell him, don't you?"

As Andrew stiffened, Walker reached down and took the boy's jaw in his hand, giving him a sadistic smile. "Welcome back, Parkson," he murmured. "I hope this stay is better than your last." Releasing the boy, he stood, before turning to head towards the door he'd entered from. "Now, if you boys would follow me, I'll show you to your room. It's not five-star quality, but I'm sure it's good enough for the two of you. Come along."

Alex glanced over at Andrew to see that he had turned white as a sheet, his eyes wide, and he gritted his teeth behind pursed lips.

They were going to get out of there… and he would make Walker pay.

Pulling up to the hotel for the third time that week, Gibbs gave a sigh. As much as he loved his job, the people he had to question, and the danger it put those he loved the most in, made him want to shoot someone. Anyone. Preferably not his team.

Tony shot a look at Gibbs when he heard the sigh, seemingly debating as to whether he should question him about it or get on with the job. When he realised he'd been sitting there for too long, and Gibbs was now staring at him, he decided against asking him and simply got out of the car, shutting the door behind him. As soon as he heard a second car door shut behind him, Tony headed towards the building, knowing that Gibbs would be following, and walked straight over to the reception desk, flashing his badge before any questions could be asked.

"I'm going to need a list of everyone attending the convention this week and staying in this hotel," the agent demanded, giving the receptionist his steeliest look to prevent any arguments. The young woman stood there barely got a chance to speak before she was rummaging through all the files in the desk, searching for what the agent wanted.

Gibbs would have joined him, had the elevator not arrived at just that moment, a familiar man walking out of it, cane in hand as he hobbled. The two pairs of eyes met, the man looking a little surprised to see the agent standing there.

"Agent Gibbs? What a—"

"We need to talk," Gibbs cut the man off, walking briskly towards him.

Edward's eyebrows rose. "Talk? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm on my way to—"

"About Alex. Now."

Edward pursed his lips. As much as he wanted to head to this seminar… he supposed he could be late. Or miss it. The urgent look in Gibbs' eyes told him there was a high chance he wouldn't make it at all.

"I suppose we can head back to my suite." The man turned and headed towards the elevator, and Gibbs followed. As Gibbs got in and turned around, he spotted Tony watching him intently.

All he could do was give him a nod as the elevator doors slid closed.

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