Hey guys! So, we're approaching the end to this story! Probably one or two chapters left, to be honest. I'm trying to get this all wrapped up nicely for you guys, because y'all have been following this story for so long that you deserve it!
Anyways, thank you to Owlqueen08, DS2010, and Dobby and Padfoot for your reviews! Knowing you guys are all enjoying the story always makes me smile! :)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Sitting in the office of a CIA agent was not where Alex expected himself to be. Honestly, he thought (after the day he'd had) that there would be some sort of super special hand-off where they'd tell his uncle about his amazing feats whilst he got into the car and was promised fast food for his good work.
Obviously wrong, but he'd wanted that.
Instead, he was sat in the office of that boss who'd ordered him out earlier, whilst the two agents he'd been with all day were berated outside the door by their boss, presumably for bringing a child into what probably was a federal investigation, putting him in extreme danger whilst his carer was completely unaware. It was a valid reason to tell them off, he supposed, but that didn't mean he should be stuck in the office.
Where was Ian?
It was at least five minutes before Alex heard the familiar voice of his uncle on the other side of the door, and the preteen stood from his seat, peeping through the lightly frosted window to see what was going on on the other side.
The four adults were huddled in what seemed to be a small circle. The boss guy didn't look as mad anymore, but with Ian's back to the window Alex had no idea what sort of expression he had on his face. Lisa appeared a little worried, but Peter had a confident look on his face as he spoke, holding up the flash drive Alex had managed to retrieve. After what was probably a good few minutes of talking, the flash drive was handing over to their boss, who looked it over, before saying something that brought a smile to both Peter and Lisa's faces. Before the conversation continued, though, Ian turned to the window, and Alex froze.
The man didn't look at all impressed.
It wasn't until the end of the conversation, when the boss guy began to head back to the room, that Alex finally had the chance to talk with his uncle.
"Alexander Rider…"
The boy winced at the use of his full name, looking up sheepishly at his uncle. "Yes, Ian…?"
The man watched the boy for a few moments, before sighing and shaking his head. "Always getting yourself into trouble, aren't you?"
Alex wisely decided to stay quiet at that, his hands behind his back as he looked down at his feet. He was surprised when he felt a hand on his head, ruffling his hair, and he looked up to see Ian smirking slightly, though Alex could still see the disapproval in his eyes.
"Apparently you did good for these guys, showing them the house to search in and waiting for them as they went in," Ian said, though Alex could detect something in his voice that clearly said he didn't quite believe the story he'd been told. "Very intelligent of you to spot that something was wrong. Though I did tell you to stay in the apartment."
"I was bored," Alex mumbled. "And Jack's with her parents."
"That's no reason to leave the apartment. There were loads of things you could've done."
"Nothing fun!"
Ian sighed again, before moving his hand from the top of Alex's head down to the boy's shoulder. "Let's get you home."
"Weren't you in a meeting?"
"I ended it early to come and pick you up." The man patted the boy's shoulder. "We can grab you some lunch on the way back."
"McDonald's?" Alex asked hopefully, his eyes lighting up.
"No."
The boy deflated.
"We'll grab some pizza instead."
The grin that appeared on Alex's face was almost instantaneous, and the man simply chuckled as he led Alex out of the room, quickly bidding the agents farewell as they moved. As they passed Peter and Lisa, the redheaded man stopped the two before handing Alex what looked to be a business card.
"I like you, kid. Anytime you're in the area, call me."
Alex took the card, blinking, before smiling. "I will," he told Peter with a grin as he was led away. "Thanks!"
Walking through the building, no conversation passed between the two Riders until they reached the car. As soon as Ian had his belt on and started the car, any pleasant expressions melted off his face, and he started ahead, even though Alex knew the man was talking to him.
"You were the one who went in, weren't you?"
Alex gulped, and that seemed to be the only answer Ian needed.
"Why?"
"I was the only one small enough."
"And they got you out?"
"I got out myself."
Ian was silent for a few moments, before nodding and beginning to drive off. "Don't do that again, alright? You could've been seriously hurt."
Alex shrunk down into his seat, nodding. "Yes, Ian."
The man looked over at the boy, an unreadable expression on his face, and he ruffled Alex's hair one last time before driving off.
The next time Alex woke up, it was to a young man in a coat standing by the bed, a clipboard in his hand as he observed the screen taking Alex's vitals. As soon as he noticed the heartrate increase slightly, he turned his head to look at Alex, who lay weakly on the bed, his eyes bleary but open.
"Ah, you're awake!" The doctor quickly noted something down before putting down the clipboard, turning his full attention onto Alex. "You gave us quite a scare there, not waking up for a good couple of days." He began to move about, checking Alex's vitals. "How are you feeling?"
The boy blinked heavily a few times, before opening his mouth an attempting to speak. When all that emerged was a whisper, the doctor nodded.
"I'll call the nurse to get you some water for your throat – that ventilator must've done a number on you. Or maybe your friends will come back before then and offer to fetch you some. Who knows?" The bed was tilted up slightly so that Alex was in a more seated position. "Now, I'm going to check your breathing, okay? You've had a machine doing it for you for a little while, and I want to make sure you're breathing okay on your own."
Alex could barely even muster up a response as the doctor put on his stethoscope, warming the end on his coat before moving towards Alex's back. "Sorry if this is a bit cold. I just need to listen to your lungs for a bit." The man gently shifted Alex forward so that he was leaning away from the bed, before sliding the stethoscope down his back. Listening for a few moments, eventually he moved the stethoscope away and pulled back. "I'll come back to check on your breathing when you're a bit more awake. For now I'll just listen to your heart…" He moved to slip the stethoscope down the front of Alex's gown, and paused when he felt something slip against the boy's chest. The doctor paused, frowning for a moment, before moving to pull it out.
A small business card emerged between his fingers, and he held it up to get a better look at it.
Viper.
"I'll… be right back…" the doctor said distractedly, before leaving the room. Alex could only blink at him in confusion, before closing his eyes and drifting back off to sleep.
When she reached the hospital in the morning, Ziva wasn't quite sure what to expect. Would Walker be in that strange mood of his? Or would he still be angry at Ziva for bringing up the fact that Andrew had taken him down with little help from the agents? The man was unpredictable as it was, and with the addition of morphine it had just made him worse to deal with.
But of all the things she was expecting, the one thing she didn't expect was a group of CIA agents standing outside the door to Walker's room, seemingly talking in hushed voices. Within the group, she spotted Lisa Harrison, and the female NCIS agent frowned at her as she approached.
"What is going on?" the Israeli demanded, catching Lisa's attention.
The CIA agent pursed her lips. "We… well, you seem to have hit a little snag in your investigation."
"A… what?"
"A wall."
Ziva raised an eyebrow, waiting for the other woman to explain.
Lisa sighed. "Walker was found dead in his bed this morning. A single gunshot would to the head – a clean assassination. We were called as soon as he was found."
"And why was I not called?" Ziva demanded. "This is NCIS jurisdiction."
"Walker was a former CIA agent. It's ours now."
"Walker murdered our victim."
"It's our case."
"Does this have anything to do with the fact that Dominic Harrison was found dead in his holding room this morning?" Tony approached the pair, a serious expression on his face as he focused solely on Lisa. When he realised there was a questioning expression on Ziva's face, he decided to explain. "Harrison was found dead this morning. Single bullet to the head."
Ziva's eyes were wide. "Is there no video evidence of the shooter?"
"All cameras were off. There's no feed for the time he died, and the feed to where he was staying has been permanently damaged."
Lisa held up a single, small business card. "This was all that was left behind. It was in Dominic's hand."
Ziva watched Lisa closely for a few moments, waiting to see any kind of emotion in the other woman's eyes, before focusing on the business card in her hands. It was simple, nothing particularly special about it other than the single word on the front of it.
Viper.
"Is that supposed to mean something?" Ziva asked with a frown on her face, looking up at Lisa again.
"We don't know," Lisa responded with a sigh. "We've started looking for any semblance of it meaning something, but all we've got is the fact that it's the name for a type of snake. Nothing really important."
Ziva was silent as she thought on it. As far as she knew, snake could only refer to the Snakehead, but she hadn't received any information about the Snakehead being in town – she would've been informed straight away if that were the case. If anything, this was something completely new – something that not even her contacts may have heard of yet. Something dangerous.
"Abby's trying to find anything and everything she can on it," Tony informed the two, "but she's struggling to find anything. We didn't even get any prints."
"Whoever they are, Dominic worked for them," Lisa concluded, holding up the card. "This seems like some sort of calling card to me – they've made their mark, and they're claiming it."
"Perhaps there are some other cases where this is the case?" Ziva suggested with a frown. "We can search for the appearance of this card elsewhere."
"It's probably linked to Walker's death too," Tony added. "After all, those two were in it together."
"But there's no calling card here," Lisa pointed out. "Trust me, we've seen nothing even remotely like—"
"Are you guys the agents looking after an Alex Pleasure?"
All three agents turned to see a young male doctor approaching them, looking a bit nervous. He looked between the three of them, before deciding to focus on Ziva, the one he'd seen around the hospital most frequently. Ziva noticed this and decided to respond.
"If you mean Alex Rider, then yes, we are," she confirmed, before her brows furrowed. "I have heard that he has awoken. Is there a problem?"
The young man hesitated before holding up a card. "I was giving him a quick examination – just listening to his heart and lungs – when I found this hidden beneath his gown."
Ziva would have questioned what that young man was doing sticking his hands down Alex's gown with no one else in the room, when she noticed the card in his hand. She snatched it up quickly, taking a closer look.
Viper.
"Is it possible this is the calling card for Walker's murder?" she asked Lisa, her eyes wide.
Lisa pursed her lips. "It's possible. They're in the same hospital, and it's not difficult to realise they're connected…"
"Then why is Alex still alive?" Tony asked, looking between the two women.
"Perhaps this is a warning…" Ziva turned back to the doctor, who had been not-too-secretly eavesdropping on their conversation. "Wait in Alex's room. We will be sending some extra security to watch over him."
The man's eyes widened. "W-why me?"
"We do not want to leave him unattended, do we?"
The doctor seemed to contemplate this point for a few moments, before nodding and turning to head back towards Alex's room, walking briskly. As soon as the young man was out of their lines of sight, the three agents turned towards each other.
"Gibbs?" Tony asked, a single eyebrow raised. Ziva gave a single nod.
"Gibbs."
Finding someone dead in your interrogation room was never a good thing – it raised questions of incompetence and made people wonder exactly how their security had been breached. In the case of this murder, it raised further questions about who exactly wanted him dead. After all, he was a key suspect in their investigation, and now they had no leads.
Because their only other suspect was also dead.
If it weren't for the fact that they'd found a written confession and some sort of calling card, Gibbs would be aiming his fists at security's throats. As it was, they were all either on probation or fired thanks to Vance.
Still, it didn't seem as if Vance was completely on their side.
"Drop the case, Gibbs."
The grey-haired agent just stared at the Director icily, though confusion was running through his mind. He just didn't get it; why was he being told to drop the case when they'd just found a new lead? It didn't make sense at all.
Even though the man was glaring, Vance could tell there was a question on his mind. "We're entering territory that we can't handle."
"How do you know?"
"I know enough to hand this over to the CIA."
"You're handing over our evidence?"
"I'm handing over what's needed to solve this case and protect my agents," Vance responded simply, though anyone could sense the anger rising in his voice. "It is not up to you to question my decisions."
"When they're as suspicious as this?" Gibbs scoffed. "That group could be behind the Petty Officer's murder!"
"We already have the murderer and a written confession," Vance stated simply.
"Finding a note in a dead man's hand does not make it a confession!"
"It does when the dead man's prints are the only ones on there." Before Gibbs could go on, Vance held up a hand. "Gibbs you can't fight this. I've already handed over some of the files. Finding a new clue doesn't qualify us to keep on with this case." The Director stood and walked around the desk so that he was face-to-face with Gibbs. "This case has already gone on long enough and risked enough lives. Lisa Harrison has a team willing to take on the case. As does Joe Byrne."
Joe Byrne. The man that they'd found was off the grid. And suddenly he was back? This couldn't be a coincidence.
"So you're just giving this away?"
"I'm giving it to people who know more about this."
"You mean terrorism?"
"I mean assassination."
"We can handle that."
"Need I remind you that this is the second time Andrew has been kidnapped whilst under your care?"
That shut Gibbs up, though the look in his eyes clearly told Vance that what he'd just said was an unnecessary low blow. Vance just jutted his chin out in triumph, the barest of triumphant looks on his face.
"As I said, Agent Gibbs, this case has risked enough lives. And not lives of the team. I'm doing this for your protection."
"And how it this for my protection?" Gibbs questioned.
"Because it seems as if Andrew has already formed a bond with Alex, and if you get roped into this then Andrew is at risk. Because it already looks like Alex is some sort of catalyst." When the man noticed Gibbs' face harden, he sighed. "You and I both know that telling Andrew to stop being friends with Alex is futile. That boy is more stubborn than your entire bullpen combined."
Gibbs sighed, running a hand over his face. "So you want me to compile everything to send over?"
"That would be appreciated, Gibbs." Vance turned to sit behind his desk again. "If that could be done by this afternoon, please."
The agent just sighed as he turned and left the Director's office, not even bothering to look back.
Hope you guys enjoyed!