A/N: So I'm sorry about the slight mess up on numbering last time. That should now be fixed. :) Hope you like this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing you recognise.
WARNINGS: Violence, Language, Torture – effects graphically described, but done off screen. Implied Slash. (although, if you had a problem with that, I doubt you'd still be reading…)
-o-O-o-
Alex had found Yuri with his back to a wall, facing down three youths perhaps three or four years older than him. The fight had been short and brutal, especially on Yuri's part as he took out all his anger at the injustice of the world on the unlucky three.
"Are you feeling better?" asked Alex, as he studied the bruise flowering on Yuri's cheek.
"Much," said Yuri with a feral grin.
"Great. Now can we please get back? It's cold out here!"
"Should have grabbed a jacket," teased Yuri, setting off.
Alex rolled his eyes and followed.
He knew something was wrong as soon as they reached the landing outside Snake's flat. He paused, grabbing Yuri's sleeve to pull him to a stop beside him.
"What's up?" Yuri asked, but Alex ignored him, his eyes busy taking in every detail to try and determine what had set off alarm bells in his head.
It only took a moment; the door to the flat wasn't latched. There was only tiny gap, but it was still there.
He motioned for Yuri to stay still and crept forward, pressing his ear to the crack.
When he couldn't hear anything, he pushed it open. The room was empty, but something had happened; the sofa was overturned and TV screen had been smashed.
"James?" he called, worriedly. "James, are you there?"
His foot kicked something and he looked down. Wolf's phone was lying there, the screen cracked and black.
He picked it up as Yuri came up behind him.
"The lock wasn't forced," said Yuri calmly, though Alex could tell it was forced, "but the chain was broken. It's what kept the door open."
For a moment, the world around Alex wavered, and everything seemed incredibly far away. He didn't know if he could do this again.
And then Yuri was resting a hand on his shoulder and it all came rushing back, and he realised he could do it, because he had to.
"I'll find him," he promised.
He had to.
-o-O-o-
The men didn't look twice at the haggard, middle aged blond woman huddled in the doorway. Her blond hair was matted and dirty and the windbreaker she was wearing was most definitely not doing its job.
It might not be glamorous, but Mrs Jones knew that all the fancy equipment in the world could never make you as invisible as begging.
She'd had to fight her way out of the bank, but she hadn't become a spymaster by being bad in the field. They were combing the city for her, but she couldn't leave, as she would normally. She had to find Alex first, and tell him what Blunt had planned. Otherwise, she would have cashed in her job for nothing.
He was staying with Snake, along with Wolf and… Yuri, was it? She'd always taken a personal interest in their youngest spy, and now she was glad for it. Had she had to hack into MI6 to discover his current address, she would have been discovered instantly.
But they would no doubt know where she was heading. They would be waiting for her. They would not let her reach Alex if they could help it.
She would wait until dark. Even the best agent could miss something if it was hidden in enough shadows.
-o-O-o-
Snake came home to find Yuri trying to turn the sofa the right way up. He was seriously hampered by the fact that he was kneeling on it, but this didn't seem to register.
"Yuri?" he said quietly, pulled out of his active isolation by confusion, and the weight of despair in the slump of the teen's shoulders.
The boy ignored him. Cautiously, he reached out, but Yuri jerked away.
"Don't touch me," spat the teen.
His arm fell to his side. "What happened?"
"He's gone. They've gone."
"What do you mean, gone?" asked Snake, trepidation colouring his voice.
"They've gone. Why do they always leave? First Ben, now Wolf and Alex…" Yuri choked back a sob.
"They're… dead?" asked Snake, his voice hushed with horror.
"No," Yuri reassured him, dashing a tear from his eye. "Wolf was taken, and Alex has gone to get him back. He can't do this. Not alone. He won't come back. Why did he have to leave me?"
Snake reached out again, but Yuri's snarl pushed him back.
"Don't," he spat. "Just don't. I'm better off alone."
"So I'm too late?" came a new voice from the doorway. "Wolf has already been abducted, and Alex has already gone after him?"
"Who are you?" asked Snake, stepping protectively in front of the shattered Yuri.
The woman stepped forward. Her hair was long and curly, falling just below her shoulders in controlled strawberry-blond ringlets. She looked the perfect image of a young, successful business woman. "It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I'm a friend. And I need to find Alex. Soon."
"He's gone," said Snake.
"Well, that doesn't help," muttered the woman, reaching into her pocket. There was a brief crackle of plastic, then she yanked her hand out. "Fuck it," she muttered. "Anyone got a cigarette?"
Snake shook his head. Yuri, on the other hand, glanced guiltily at Snake and pulled out a brand new box.
"Since when do you smoke?" frowned the medic.
Yuri shrugged awkwardly. "I just… wanted to buy a pack," he muttered.
"Marlboro Gold," muttered the woman, as she opened the pack. "My favourite brand. Perfect."
"Glad to help," said Yuri, slightly mystified.
"I have to go," said the woman, lighting up with a zippo lighter. "Thanks for the cigarettes."
-o-O-o-
Alex frowned at the man tied to the chair. He had been methodical in his approach, listing all his enemies, then Wolf's and finally those with a grudge against the SAS or against someone close to Wolf.
The first list had been remarkably short, considering. It appeared that Alex was rather bad at leaving his enemies alive. The most likely candidate was the group of people he had just help to take down, but they had not had enough time to organise it. Wolf's list of enemies had been almost identical to the SAS list, and so Alex had started there.
The pathetic man tearing up and whimpering in front of him was the third board member of a group that Wolf had led a strike against approximately six months ago. There were burn marks focused around his nipples and arm pits, he was missing three toes and all his fingernails, and Alex was just beginning to consider cutting away the man's eyelids, but he still hadn't said anything useful. He'd given Alex a lot of information on his own group, and others, however and Alex had already picked out several likely targets for his next unwilling mole. He was beginning to think that the man, like the other two before him, didn't know anything. There was only one board member left and Alex had been avoiding him because the man had one hell of a dark reputation, but it seemed as if he was left with no choice.
Even worse, the criminal underworld was starting to get jittery. He'd been at this for a fortnight, and the trail of mutilated corpses he had left behind was enough to set even the most hardened assassin on edge. It was obvious someone was looking for something, but no-one knew who. They had started calling him the Shadow, and soon he had a feeling that the name alone would be enough to scare some information out of his targets.
He looked at the man, suddenly sickened by the tears and snot running down his chin. He wanted this over with. He wanted Wolf back. These men were pathetic. They didn't have an ounce of loyalty to anyone or anything except themselves. They would sell out their own mothers to avoid a bit of pain. He'd only been working this man over for half a day and he was already broken.
"I am going to ask you one last time," said Alex, his voice stoic as he calmly examined his knife for nicks in the blade. He had used bolt cutters on the man's toes, but it had still seen a lot of use over the last two weeks. "And if you do not answer, I will assume you cannot and are, therefore, no more use to me and so I will kill you."
He paused, and let the message sink in.
"What can you tell me of your dealings with the SAS in the last six months?"
The man started blubbering again, protesting his ignorance and pleading for mercy. Alex sighed.
In one smooth movement, he had crossed the room and slit the man's throat.
He would move to Chelyabinsk tonight.
-o-O-o-
A/N: So? What did you think? Alex seems to be going a little darker here… erm… ok, a little might be a slight understatement, but still.
Review and tell me what you thought? Have recently come across a song that pretty much perfectly sums up Wolf/Alex in this story. Not going to tell you what it is, just yet, as it could spoil the ending, but if anyone guesses what it is, I'll dedicate a chapter to you. If no-one guesses this time, I'll give you the artist name next chapter. :)
But yeah, review!