Running from danger and even probable death was something that Alex had quickly became accustomed to. Unfortunately for Sawyer, that stopped here.

Right before he turned to head down the side street, Alex glanced back. His breath bated at the sight he saw. With a confidence that was not feigned, Sawyer strode down the pavement towards him. His eyes intent on Alex's face, a smirk curling his lip enough so that Alex could see his teeth.

Like an angry animal right before it tries to bite you, Alex thought.

To unnerve him even more, Sawyer had one hand on the inside of his coat where he no doubt clutched a gun.

Around them, a few townsfolk were unaware of the danger they could potentially be in.

Sprinting around the corner and almost running into a phone box because of his haste. Alex looked for places he could hide. The police station was too far away, he would be shot if he tried to run there.

This street was rather empty compared to all the rest, and seemed to be used more as a parking lot considering all the vehicles parked on both sides of the street.

Knowing that he had just a few seconds to hide, Alex hastily got down on his front beside a dark car, and crawled underneath. He pressed himself against the curb, as far away from the edge of the vehicle that faced the street as possible. The smell of asphalt was strong in his nostrils, reminding him of burnt rubber and oddly enough, of riding his bike to school in the morning.

It was unlikely that Sawyer would look here, in this cramped hiding spot, but also put Alex at a disadvantage. He couldn't move very well, and Alex was starting to curse himself for not thinking faster.

All those days kept safe in Nathan's cozy house had made him lazy.

Alex listened intently, in this position he had to rely on those senses other than his eyesight. The sounds of laughter and voices had dimmed…or perhaps the beating of his heart was frowning them out.

Closing his eyes to focus more, Alex breathed in quietly as possible.

He heard someone walking up the pavement toward him, their walk slow and even.

Alex's hand closed around the handle of the gun as he fought the urge to hold his breath. Even if Sawyer was all the way on the other side of the street, it would still be too close for comfort.

The sound of footsteps was faint; but even then, Alex knew who they belonged to. Then the steady sound of Sawyer walking away, paused.

Alex forced his eyes closed.

His hands found the gun in his pocket; and Alex pulled it out, the cold metal a comforting feel in his hands.

The reverberation of Sawyer's soles could be heard again. Each step echoing the thump of Alex's heart. Sawyer was crossing the street slowly, as if he suspected a trick.

Instead of passing the steady stream of vehicles that lined the pavement, Sawyer walked beside each car, pausing to peer through the windows of each. By pressing his cheek to the ground, Alex could see Sawyer's shoes just a few cars away.

Alex hadn't been so scared since his time in that dingy cell, just waiting for himself or a friend to be led to their death.

Two cars away now, and moving ever closer. Alex slowly leveled the gun so it pointed where Sawyer would soon be standing. His finger gently touched the trigger.

Brown boots filled Alex's vision, he could see where the laces were wearing old and the dark brown of rich earth stained the soft leather. He aimed the gun for Sawyer's right ankle, laying sideways to do so.

Just a moment before the man would have moved away, Alex drew in a sharp breath and fired.

The gunshot sounded extremely in the quiet town, but before Alex could consider this in too great a detail, he was pulling himself out from under the car.

Sawyer had fallen to the ground, and was trying to get over his shock to fetch the gun that had flown out of his hand when the bullet pierced his skin.

His expression was no longer smug, and Alex felt a surge of satisfaction.

Standing up as he finished crawling out from under the car, Alex stood looking down at Sawyer and aimed the weapon. Sawyer went still, his face a mixture of pain and a look Alex couldn't describe.

"You should have left me alone…" Alex muttered darkly. His expression and steady stance not betraying the nervousness he felt. No one had come running yet, but with the police station so close, someone must have heard.

Sawyer seemed to seize him up even as one hand tried to stop the flow of blood that came from his foot. He looked him slowly over; from the battered trainers up to his hardened brown eyes.

"You look well."

"Yeah, no, thanks to you," Alex retorted, keeping his gun aimed at Sawyer's chest while circling around to pick up the other weapon.

The laugh that emerged made Alex clench his jaw. Nothing good ever came from Sawyer laughing. He tried to calm himself with the thought that soon, very soon, Sawyer would be behind bars and the only time he'd ever hear it, would be in his nightmares.

"True, you owe me no gratitude. No, that all belongs to the young man you rode into town with…am I right?"

A surge of fear caused Alex to snarl, he aimed both guns at the smirking face of Sawyer.

"You leave him alone!" Alex spat.

Sawyer raised an eyebrow, "I'll take that for a yes-"

"-why did you even bother to come look for me? Are you going to try and take me back?"

Sawyer shrugged, unmoved by the weapons pointed at him. "There are people who still would like you dead, and they want to see your corpse before they pay. They don't care who the delivery man is."

Alex breathed in deeply, "You followed me for your own reasons then, for money? Not because you were told to?"

"As surprised as I am by your capabilities to understand basic verbal communication, yes, you're correct."

Scowling, Alex gestured with one gun. "Get up, and walk into that alley. Do anything stupid and I'll shoot to kill."

Staring at him, Sawyer took longer than Alex liked. With an injured ankle, it was soon obvious that either Sawyer could not walk, or that he was acting.

Alex narrowed his eyes and growled, pocketing one gun, he grabbed Sawyer's collar and forcefully dragged him into the alley. It was hard work, too hard for Alex's liking and he knew that as weak as he was, there would be no way to pull Sawyer the block or two it was to the Police station.

The alleyway was dark, but in here it was less likely that anyone would see Sawyer until Alex could get the cops. He didn't dare force Sawyer to walk up the street to the police station at gun point, that plan would no doubt work against him.

"Pull the laces from your shoes," Alex ordered, a third way up the alley. Sawyer did so, but with a glint in his eyes. "Now, throw them here and place your hands behind your back."

Again, Sawyer followed orders, but this only made Alex even more cautious.

Picking up the shoelaces, Alex walked behind him carefully and tied Sawyer's hands together tightly. They strained, and Alex was satisfied by their tightness and the slightly uncomfortable expression on Sawyer's face.

Searching Sawyer's pockets, Alex found a set of keys and without thinking he placed them in his empty pocket.

Then with a hesitating step away from Sawyer, Alex took a deep breath, turned and broke into run. He hoped that Sawyer didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve, hopefully he would remain there until Alex could fetch the local authorities.

He passed a older couple walking hand in hand, their easy gait and peaceful faces the exact opposite of Alex's. He heard the woman yelp in surprise as he passed them, his leg muscles being pushed to their limits.

Alex bounded over the walkway up to the entrance, and he entered the station panting.

A lady with short blond hair glanced up in surprise from where she sat behind the front desk, but quickly regained the composer needed for her job.

"Can I help you?" She asked, her polite expression faltering into worry once she took in Alex's damaged appearance. Her nametag read Clark, Alex noticed as he took in his surroundings with a couple furtive looks.

The room looked like a hospital waiting room, clean colors, sterile appearance, with a few watercolor paintings of ocean scenes on the walls.

Approaching the large, rounded desk, Alex ran a shaking hand through his hair, it came away with a bit of blood on his palm and Clark frowned, her neat eyebrows furrowing.

"Er, yeah, som-someone just tried to rob me," Alex said haltingly.

"Oh, where did the attack take place? Are you seriously injured?" she asked, turning slowly to her computer.

"I don't know the name of the street, and I'll be fine-I tied him up but he could still escape," Alex said anxiously.

"You…tied him up?"

Alex laid his hands on the desk, as if it was the only thing holding him up. "Yeah, I had some defense taught to me, but he could break free-"

Two officers entered, talking to each other both with a cup of coffee in their hand. Seeing Alex, they stopped talking and walked over to him.

"Officer Pollider," Clark said, "this young man said he just fought off an attempted robbery, perhaps you and Officer Donalie could check it out?"

They both nodded, the one with Pollider on his tag swallowing the rest of his coffee and throwing the paper cup away in a nearby rubbish bin. "Of course," he said, "where was the man last seen?"

"The boy says he tied the man up," Clark said, raising an eyebrow while glancing at Alex.

"Did you?" Pollider asked, turning to Alex and looking impressed.

"Yes, sir. But he could get loose, I've never had to tie someone up before," Alex lied, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Take us to him-"

"I need to enter his name in the computer, I never got it," Clark interrupted.

"Alex Rider," Alex said. Clark nodded as she typed.

"Okay, now you can go," she said, looking away from the screen before smiling at them.

With one officer in front of Alex, and the other bringing up the back, Alex left the station and walked back along the road to get to the alley. He wished he could run instead of this quick walk, but the presence of the officers made him nervous. What questions might be brought up once they got to Sawyer, and how the hell was Alex going to explain the bullet wound in Sawyer's ankle?

"Why did this man go after you? Were you walking alone?" Officer Donalie asked, speaking for the first time. He had red hair, his expression sterner than Pollider's, but he also seemed younger. Perhaps lack of experience made his distrustful, Alex thought as Donalie waited for an answer.

"I was going to the house I'm staying at after visiting some friends at that little café," Alex invented. "They told me there wasn't a lot of crime here…."

Alex rounded the corner into the alley where he'd dragged Sawyer. He decided he could say that Sawyer had shot himself while they fought-but then they'd ask where the gun was.

His worries were forgotten however, when he saw the man kneeling very near where he'd left Sawyer.

This, however, was not Sawyer. Beside the man, who Alex realized was only a few years older than himself, a girl was talking hurriedly and clearly upset. At their feet lay a few knotted shoestrings.

Passing Alex, the officers walked over to them.

"He's gone," Alex spoke. A curl of dread made him groan, frustration and anxiety mixing in his stomach.

Confronted with the quandary of running off to look for the bloody bastard, and sticking near the police, Alex chose the latter. Let Sawyer go, he just needed to get in touch with MI6, and quickly.

"What happened here?" one officer asked the young lady while the other tended to an apparent head wound on the male.

"We were just going for a walk, but we heard someone calling for help-he-he told us he'd been attacked. I swear we didn't mean to do anything wrong, when Philip cut his hands free he just lashed out. He had a gun-"

"Another one?" Alex blurted out, wondering how in hell he'd missed the fact that Sawyer had two guns.

"What do mean? You didn't say anything about a weapon," Pollider snapped, helping the injured male up as he glared at Alex.

"Was he even searched?" Donalie asked, and upon receiving a negative answer, Alex was told to put his hands on the brick wall.

He internally groaned, the gun he had idiotically left in his pocket felt like a hot poker. When Pollider found it, Alex heard the woman gasp and Pollider cursed. Alex suddenly wished he'd chosen to just take off after Sawyer.

"You're under arrest for underage possession of a loaded weapon."

"Okay, that's fine, as long as you take a good look at my profile on your computer, I don't think Clark read it over very well before she let me walk out."

"Is this a confession of some sort?" Donalie asked suspiciously.

"No, moron," Alex said scathingly. "It's just me telling you to look me up in your records."

"Start walking," Pollider ordered before Donalie could do something painful to Alex.

"We need to take a statement from you, miss," Donalie said reluctantly.

"I'm surprised he got away at all," the man, Philip said with a wince as he gently touched the bleeding bump on his head. "His ankle was bleeding, looked like he'd been shot."

Alex really could have added another bump to Philip's head as both officers stood up just a bit straighter, Donalie's hand even straying to his gun.

"I'm escorting Rider back to the station, wouldn't be a bad idea for you to follow me," Pollider growled. Alex let the older man grab his arm and lead him back up the street, a blush of pure frustration tinting his cheeks.

From behind Alex heard Donalie, Philip and the lady following. At least he wasn't shoved into the back of some car, with the station being so nearby it wasn't really needed.

They entered the police station, just to have Clark walk hurriedly toward them. As soon as Alex saw her face, he knew she'd discovered something about him, and it probably wasn't his favorite color.

She hissed something in Pollider's ear, and the man went still. Alex clenched his fists under the incredulous gaze that slid to him.

"I'll put him in a holding room." With that, he pulled Alex away from his co-workers and the two civilians who were watching confusedly.

He was showed to a small room with no windows, but it had a bed and a loo. Alex didn't argue, he didn't say anything in fact as he entered the room and heard the door shut behind him firmly.

Alex wasn't sure just how much these people knew about him, but he didn't think they knew that he wasn't the bad guy here.

With a sigh, Alex sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands. He took a few needed deep breaths, trying to clear his mind of all the unwelcome thoughts. When he no longer felt like screaming curses, Alex took the time to study his new prison.

It was an unpleasant reminder, the room that Alex had been forced into. With no windows or a clock to give him some guidance about just how much time had passed, Alex felt lost.

…...

"Mr. Rider?"

Alex opened his eyes from where he'd been lying on the bed for the past several hours. He hadn't been able to fall asleep, with his mind full of bad situations that have and could happen and memories of another, much dirtier cell.

Now Alex wondered if his uncertainties and anxiousness had grown to the extent that they could speak. Turning his head to the side, Alex took in the man that stood there silently.

He looked to be in his early forties, with a light tan and an unpleasant expression on his face. As the man looked Alex over, his expression grew irate.

"Nice of you to show your face, in the time it took you to crawl into view I could have found fourteen other people-and earned five times as much."

Leaning against the doorway, the man didn't wait for a response before plowing on with his verbal attack. "I've been looking for you for months, missed three bloody holidays." He frowned, looking at Alex as if he had done him a great injustice.

Alex considered him, a low irritation in his gut forming to outright anger at the patronizing nature of the man. He sat up, scornful words fully formed and ready to be spat out.

"Your not doing a very good job. I had to be apprehended before you even showed up, so if you ask me, I saved myself."

The man scowled, "I was less than forty miles away, I would have found you even if you hadn't been stupid enough to get arrested. If you would've just stayed still I could have found you sooner, hell, I could've found those bloody guards of yours who went missing as well. Mind you, they should all be shot for losing the one person they were assigned to watch-"

From behind the man, someone cleared their throat.

"That will be all, Mr. Waurn."

The colour that had filled Alex's face the angrier he got, left it in a matter of seconds.

Mrs. Jones entered the room, her eyes abnormally cold as she gestured for Mr. Waurn to go. He nodded, eyes cutting into Alex one last time before he turned to leave.

There was a moment where Alex stared at her, and she looked back, seeming apologetic.

"We did not find it necessary to tell Waurn your entire situation. To him you are the kidnapped son of an imaginary mayor who was taken and your guards with you."

Alex couldn't have cared less what the unpleasant man thought of him, and he said so with some imaginative expletives. Mrs. Jones raised an eyebrow, but Alex hurried on with an altruistic manner.

"Are they still alive?"

Alex's voice cracked in the middle, and his hands grasped the itchy wool coverlet as he held himself still, waiting.

Mrs. Jones hesitated, then came closer. "Alex, we were beginning to think you had died. We had sent out someone to find you, but we haven't heard from them in quite a while. The search had been put on hold-Mr. Waurn was only kept on because…Ms. Starbright asked me to keep the search for you going. I didn't think it would be right to tell her no."

Alex stared, "Jack?"

Mrs. Jones nodded, her eyes lingering on Alex's injured hand before moving on to another injury as she talked. "Yes, she was extremely distressed when you were taken. She's been very patient, we haven't told her that you've been found yet. I thought you'd might like to tell her in person."

Alex stood up, "Yeah, of course I want to-but you've got to get the searchers back! I know where there at, it's this large complex hidden in the woods. We've got to hurry too, they didn't feed us, and the last time I saw them K Unit and Yassen especially looked like death warmed over-"

"Yassen Gregorovich?" Mrs. Jones said sharply.

Alex hesitated, but he'd already messed up, and so he nodded. "Yes, but he's a victim too! He helped me, and the rest of K Unit. Please, can you send a team to help them now?"

Looking at him searchingly, Mrs. Jones took a while to answer. "We don't know the exact location of where they're being kept. Even if you could direct us on how to get there, we need to know the layout of the building."

Mouth going dry, Alex nodded slowly. He never wanted to enter that cell again, the same went for the entire complex. This was bigger than him though. It was about loyalty, to himself and to his team.

The probability of Alex forgiving himself if he didn't do his damnest to help wasn't very high either. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if any of them died because he got there too late….

Alex remembered the words he had said angrily to Wolf while in the cell. "What else can I do, Wolf? If I can't put faith in someone coming to save us, then what's the point in living any longer?"

He doubted Wolf had grown any trust for MI6 since he'd last been there. But the word of Alex's escape must have reached them, and they knew that Alex wouldn't let them down-they had to.

"I know the layout roughly, I'll be the guide."

With a sigh, Mrs. Jones closed her eyes briefly. "I'll arrange for you to leave within the next few hours. First, you're going to be seen by a doctor. That man Sawyer is being searched for, is it likely he'll go back to complex?"

Alex shook his head, "I don't think so, it sounded like he left without permission. Apparently if someone kills me, Scorpia is going to pay them once they see my corpse."

"I'll get you the right clothes, in that case," Mrs. Jones said, and Alex knew that soon he'd be suited with a bullet proof vest.

Mrs. Jones nodded, her fingers going to the edge of her black jacket to straighten its already straight edges. "I'm sorry it took so long, we sent out several detectives in the most likely areas you could have been taken to. We didn't think Scorpia would try anything else-"

"It wasn't just Scorpia," Alex interrupted. "There were other people, I don't know what they call themselves, but there was one lady named Careen, I don't remember if she gave her last name or not."

"In any case, I'll have her looked up. This will not happen again, we're in the progress of destroying Scorpia. It will take time, and it won't happen quietly, but it must be done."

"Can we go now?" Alex asked anxiously. "I barely got out alive, and I was treated better than the others. They could be dying."

"Right," Mrs. Jones waited until Alex reached her side, then gave him a very small smile.

They left the room, Mrs. Jones walking beside Alex and past the front desk.

Upon seeing them, Clark abruptly stopped talking to Pollider in a way that told Alex exactly who they had been talking about. Pollider nodded respectively to Mrs. Jones, but when he saw Alex, he looked uncertain.

They walked out the front door, and headed straight to the car that waited for them.

"This is irrelevant," Mrs. Jones said as she opened the car door and moved over so Alex could sit as well, "but I wanted to say that I'm very proud of you Alex, you've shown more bravery than others twice your age. Thank you."

Speechless, Alex silently buckled the seat belt, and only glanced up as they pulled away from the police station. "You said in just a couple of hours, right? Then we can go get them?"

Mrs. Jones nodded, "It shouldn't take no longer than that. You'll be protected of course, it shouldn't require much work on your part-"

"You've said that before," Alex muttered, and Mrs. Jones blinked before making a short 'hmm'ing' sound and reaching into her pocket to draw out a peppermint.

Alex snickered shortly at that last action, earning him a curious glance but no comment.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I've acquired a meeting room so we can go over the plan with everyone involved at one time. The doctor should be waiting for us, and I've asked someone to fetch you some better clothes, besides the obvious protective wear."

Alex looked down at the clothes Nathan had lent him, and picked at a few loose threads.

"When I escaped, I wasn't in the best condition," Alex said. "Someone found me half dead lying in a ditch."

Sharp eyes went to his face, and then glanced observantly at how Alex was fiddling with his shirt.

"And how much does this individual know?"

"Er," Alex bit his lip.

"Alex…" Mrs. Jones said with a sigh.

"Well, he deserved to know. So I might have told him just about everything," Alex said, wincing a little at the silence that followed. "He gave me the clothes off his back!" Alex added, tugging at his clothes for emphasize.

"That would explain the smell," Mrs. Jones said quietly, and Alex gave a sharp laugh. "I'll be making a trip to visit-what is this man's name?"

"Nathan, and he's seventeen. I really don't think he'll tell anyone though, so could you not be all scary when you go and see him?"

Blinking, Mrs. Jones unwrapped another peppermint. "I don't know what you mean."

"He helped me, reluctantly at that, but if it wasn't for him I'd be dead twice over. So do me a favor and don't scare the shit out of him with scary government talk."

"No promises."

They pulled into a parking lot. Besides their vehicle, there was only three other cars, but they were vans and capable of carrying at least six men each.

Alex got out quickly, eager to learn the plan and get K Unit and Yassen back to safe grounds. He knew that if everything went right, this nightmare would be officially over in less than two hours…that was if everything went as planned.

Author's Note: By a show of hands, how many people know it won't go as planned? Two, four, six, eight…dude, why's your hand not up? Think you're too cool, huh? *Glowers* For those who raised their hand-you're all wrong. Alex saves K Unit and manages to look dashing the entire time, Yassen adopts him and they get together every Sunday for a nice cuppa!

Isn't that better than watching Alex kick Sawyer's ass? Phhss, who actually wants to see that?

Big, towering, and almost scary, thanks goes to you reviewers, favorite'ers, story alert'ers, and favorite author'ers! I really appreciate the feedback, and how you don't make fun of my made up words, ^_^ Please review and tell what you like, don't like, and the mistakes you've spotted! Teaser will be posted on Yahoo group per usual, I might even tell you if Nathan dies or not-oh, darn, did I say that aloud?