Disclaimer: I do not own the Alex Rider series.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Alex's mind raced. He couldn't let anyone hurt Jack. For a brief moment he felt a wave of fury against Alan Blunt and Miss Jones, the whole stupid set-up. They should never have used him in the first place. And now, when he was in need, they weren't here. It was Point Blanc all over again.

Stryker was watching him expectantly.

Alex took a deep breath, stalling for time, diverting his gaze from Stryker's smug face. Praying that by some miracle, an armed SAS squadron - K Unit would be comforting - would choose this moment to break into the room and rescue him.

He almost laughed. As if. MI6 never put themselves out to save him. He couldn't even be sure that they were bothering to come and get him. Bitterness welled up inside him.

"Alex. I am waiting." Stryker's voice was taunt, impatient.

Feeling suddenly exhausted and defeated Alex dragged his eyes back to Stryker, leveling his gaze with the man's liquid gold eyes.

"MI6 sent me because they'd noticed that boys were going missing. They only had two links between the disappearances. The first link was that all the boys were on their schools football team. The second was that their coach always had a second name that translated roughly into Strike or Striker in English. The coach never stayed more than one term. The disappearances always stopped when the coach left." Alex's voice was rough and tired. He suddenly gave a small smirk.

"It wasn't exactly hard to find the connection. It's almost like you wanted MI6 to notice."

Stryker didn't say anything. His cold gaze remained fixed on Alex's eyes.

"Anyway, MI6 noticed that a man called James Stryker had just been accepted by Manchester High School for Boys as coach for their football team. They were suspicious and decided to send me in to find out what I could. That's it."

"The man posing as you're father. Who is he?" Stryker demanded.

"Some MI6 operative. I was never told his name." Alex replied truthfully.

Stryker nodded slowly. "If you aren't telling the truth, Rider, then I will find out and I will have Miss Starbright eliminated."

Alex remained silent.

Stryker suddenly let out a short laugh. "Alan Blunt is so predictable. We've achieved everything we wanted to."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"Isn't it obvious," Stryker was smiling, thin and cruel. "Scorpia is recruiting."

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Wolf was extremely frustrated. They had been on the move for nearly fifty minutes. They just seemed to be walking in circles.

"Eagle, give me that map!" He barked and the reddish haired man complied, handing him the map in it's waterproof cover and the torch.

Wolf focused the beam on the map and studied it quickly.

After a few moments he shoved the items back into Eagle's arms and began to march away.

"Does he know where he's going?" Eagle hissed.

Fox shrugged in reply. "Better follow him."

Snake let out an impatient breath. "We're wasting time, we should be there by now!"

Fox opened his mouth to reply but suddenly Wolf's voice buzzed in his earpiece.

"I've found it. Where the hell are you?"

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Alex stared at Stryker incredulously.

"What do you mean?" He demanded, feeling slightly sick.

"Those boys, that have gone missing. Scorpia is training them up." Stryker was staring at Alex with something close to arrogance.

"But they're just kids! There's no way they'd be old enough..." Alex started, his voice alarmed but Stryker cut across him.

"They're just as old as you and look at what you've achieved."

"You can't just exploit children like that!" Alex growled furiously.

"Call it what you want, but we are doing it." Stryker replied carelessly. "Besides they won't be operational until they're sixteen at the youngest. Until then, they're just learning."

"But you can't hold them against their will! You can't just take them from their families and turn them into terrorists!" Alex's furious voice echoed around the cell.

"I think you'll find that we can." Stryker's tone was bored.

Alex's heart was pounding. He wanted to call Stryker every dirty word under the sun, wanted to hurt the man in a way he'd never hurt anyone else.

"I'd like to spend some more time getting to know you Alex, but I have a rather pressing engagement." Stryker suddenly produced his WIST-94L and leveled the barrel with Alex's head. "It was nice speaking to you."

His finger tightened on the trigger.

There was a sudden loud bang. Alex closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet. But it never came.

He opened his eyes.

Stryker had never pulled the trigger. He was frozen to the spot, listening intently.

Suddenly there was an explosion of voices from somewhere below them and then rapid gunfire.

"Look's like we've got company." Stryker muttered.

He glanced at Alex. His golden eyes flashed with anger. He grabbed hold of Alex's arm and swung him round, pressing the barrel of the WIST-94L to his temple.

Alex yelled as the sudden movement caused a spear of pain that jabbed at his bruised ribs.

Stryker ignored him and instead dragged him out of the room and down the corridor towards the stairs.

Sorry, I know this chapter was really predictable. The whole Alex nearly getting shot and then there being a distraction at the last moment thing... Sorry!! Hope you liked anyway. Thanks for reading. Please review. Crystal X