Disclaimer: Would you notice if I reused a chapter title... I do not own Alex Rider.

Chapter 36: Out

"Two more steps." The persistent hands guiding him hardly left his elbow as he finally reached the bed. It felt like an eternity since he had sat down, but… it really hadn't been. "Deep breaths, now."

Alex bit back a snarl, but only because it would take more breath then he currently had. His legs were trembling and he hated to admit that he needed the help to sit back down. Every movement stoked the fire in his chest – courtesy of their determination to save his life, apparently – and deep breaths were the last thing he wanted to do.

Well… maybe deep breaths ranked higher than being forced to walk around with broken ribs and the energy of an 80-year-old. In fact, he had seen 80-year-olds with a lot more energy than he had now.

Whatever he had been poisoned with had wiped out his energy, lung capacity, and – reportedly – cardiac function. Nico had been very firm in letting him know that he had done something stupid and was paying for the consequences. The lecture had lost its threat though, because Alex had fallen back asleep within two minutes of it ending.

He could hardly stay awake for longer than 10-15 minutes.

"Okay, that's enough for now." The nurse helped him pick up his legs onto the bed – because he needed help with that now – and rearranged all the tubes and wires he was still attached to. Lot of good it did him since they were limiting his pain control, but still forcing the oxygen on him. At least they were letting him use the toilet this time. "You rest a bit and we'll see about getting you some food."

Alex did his best not to scowl, but judging by Nico's amused look, didn't manage. He couldn't help but sag against the bed though, as soon as the nurse was out of sight. He was exhausted, cold, and in pain – but none of those would really get solved any time soon. Unless he just knocked out again…

"You've got about five more minutes," Nico said, looking down at his watch.

"Five, minutes?"

Nico grinned at him. "Before you run out of steam again."

Alex rolled his eyes. "How about you serenade me then?" He couldn't help that his body was practically shut down after the latest bout of exercise. To think that not even days earlier he could have run for hours.

It was frustrating.

And it didn't help that he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Jones to figure out what she was doing next. The short visit by Ben had done little to alleviate his fears – though much of that conversation was blurred by the drugs and painkillers he had been on. Nico and the others were obviously up to something. Something that was probably not going to sit well with MI6 and SAS protocol.

And no one was telling him anything.

Likely due to the fact that he couldn't stay awake for more than 10-15 minutes at a time, but they didn't even try.

"I don't think you want me to sing," Nico said, "but if you think you can hold on for another couple of minutes, Cameron is coming up soon."

Alex couldn't help but perk up at that. Promises of Cameron likely meant some answers.

"The last note from the doctor said that you needed to spend another couple of days under observation – but I don't think we've got that kind of time." Nico leaned forward in his chair. "So, we need to know if you really trust us. And I mean, really. Trust us to have your best interests and trust that we're not somehow the bad guys as well."

Alex stared at him. It would be so simple to just say no and go with whatever MI6 was planning – and break free from that as soon as he got his strength back. But… there was a high possibility that whoever was controlling things would swoop in and take him out while he was down. In some ways, it was surprising that they hadn't taken advantage already.

On the other hand, Alex did trust them. They had kept him safe, so far. Had even gone so far as to burgle places just so they could get the device out of his arm. That had to count for something. And this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been so foolhardy in the first place…

"Alex…"

Alex blinked at Nico, trying to reorganize his thoughts. "Yeah… yeah, I trust you guys."

Nico snorted. "Good." He peered at Alex closely. "Think you can make it until Cameron gets here?"

Alex could feel his heavy eyelids weighing down already. There was so little energy left in him. "No…"

Nico's laugh already sounded far away. "Okay, we'll fill you in next time though."

It still took a few minutes to fall asleep, and the last thing Alex heard as the darkness finally took him, was the door opening. So close.

"Alex?" A hand tapped his shoulder, pulling him out of his doze. But he was comfortable for once… "Come on… Kid, you with us?"

Alex grumbled at the voice – familiar, Nico? – but couldn't coax his eyes open. He felt weighted down on all sides. Sleep was better.

"—got him on the strong stuff tonight." Another voice. Further away. Papers sliding together. "—clear… few hours… not going to be much help." The voice came closer, cutting in and out as Alex drifted. He was tired.

A cold hand touched his arm, fiddling with something. Who…? He wanted to pull away, but… that was too much work.

"Make sure we have a copy of those records. I don't like this." The voice was right next to him now and the cold hands drifted to his chest and fiddled with something there. "You've got to hold it together for a bit, Alex. Mickey will get you set up again." Jacobs. That's who it was. "Okay, ready to go."

Alex squinted his eyes open, but the room was blurry and dark. What was…?

"Alright, let's sit up." Jacobs hand snaked behind Alex's back, helping him into a more upright position. He felt like his muscles were made of noodles. Uncooperative. Only Jacobs' support was keeping him from flopping back on the bed. More hands appeared and wrestled him into a jacket. A jacket?

His mind struggled to piece the information together.

He startled when someone picked him up. Too deep. His chest hurt. He needed to cough. He didn't want to.

"Sorry, sorry. Just me." Nico. "We're just getting you out of here. Mickey's all ready for you down there."

Down?

Nico set him down in… something. It felt like a chair, but not. Alex squinted his eyes once again, trying to make out more details. They were by the window. The open window. What…?

"Hey," Nico leaned into his gaze. "There we are. Was starting to think you'd just check out through this all."

Alex rolled the words around in his mouth. "Wuz…" He took a sharp, short breath, trying to corral his thoughts. Everything felt slow. "Going…"

Nico pulled straps down across his shoulders. "Mickey and Cameron are waiting at the bottom for you. Just hold still and this will all be over soon."

Bottom… "D—rugs?" He couldn't think.

Nico nodded. "Seems like it. Mickey will keep an eye on you. Should be able to sleep it off. Jacobs and I will catch up with you in the morning."

"Where?"

"You're going to a safehouse. No acronymed organizations have any idea of what's going on. Jacobs and I will lay the false trail."

Alex licked his lips and nodded. "'kay…" He let his eyes slide closed. Too much work.

He barely felt the change in air temperature as they moved him outside and was all but knocked out again before he reached the bottom.

He was the most comfortable he had been in days. The room was quiet. He felt like he was alone. Someone had shut off the annoying machines at some point. His mind was clear for once. And he was miraculously free of the oxygen mask for the first time in days.

He squinted his eyes against the bright light. Then froze because… this wasn't the hospital.

He took mental stock of himself, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His chest still hurt, but, that wasn't going to magically get better in a couple of hours.

The room looked like a personal room – much like the safehouses.

Safehouse.

Snatches of movement and figures drifted through his memories.

He let his eyes trail around the room once more, taking in the smaller details. They had sprung him from the hospital.

Potentially through the window if his memories were correct.

The sun beamed in through the window, leaving a pattern on the quilt. Mid-day. Nico and Jacobs would have caught up by then.

Hopefully.

Alex pushed himself up on the bed, wincing as his chest protested the movement. There was a bell and a note on the bedside table. 'Use the bell. DO NOT get out of bed.'

He snorted, but rung the bell anyway. It was likely that they had some other way of monitoring him and well… he wasn't going to tempt fate. It had taken them enough to get him out of the hospital in the first place.

There was a quick rap on the door, before Jacobs entered. "We'll you're looking better."

"I feel better." His chest hurt, but the dragging exhaustion was gone. Still tired, but not… like he could just fall asleep again in a moment.

Jacobs set his case down on the floor and handed Alex a glass of water. "Slowly, and then we'll see about some more food in a bit."

The water was cool and Alex found himself thirstier than he had expected. Like days without water…

Jacobs sat down on the edge of the bed and rummaged in his bag. He pulled out a device and clipped it on Alex's finger. "Now, how do you actually feel right now? Breathing, chest, muscles, brain fog?"

"Chest hurts." But that was expected with broken ribs. And he had had worse. "Still kind of… tired? But not like before."

Jacobs nodded, before pulling the clip off. "Heart rate is normal. Sounds about right." He fixed Alex with a stare. "As far as we can tell, someone got access to you in the hospital. Added a secondary prescription for a muscle relaxant and sedative. Cameron… hasn't been able to track down where that order came from."

Alex grimaced. It meant that they were not far behind him. They were breathing down his neck and now… he was just as vulnerable as he had been months earlier. What was going to stop MI6 from inadvertently spreading the location of his current safehouse to the wrong person? Nothing.

"You're still going to have a lot of exhaustion. And I will defer to the professionals on how much activity your body will tolerate in the next few days. We're going to keep you under close observation because we can't have a relapse. I don't have the tools to fix that."

A relapse of his heart stopping.

Right.

That was bad.

"As it is, you're still in the process of being weaned from the drug that… caused complications. There's five days of injections left."

Alex pulled away. He didn't want more drugs. "And if we don't?"

Jacobs jaw set. "You'll go through withdrawal."

"And?" He had done that before, after all. Though he had been unconscious for most of it…

"It may cause complications that kill you. And I'd really rather not deal with that." Again. "Listen, you refuse this, and all this," he waved his hand around the room, "will be for naught, because so help me god, I will drag you right back to that hospital, consequences be damned. And Nico will back me up on this."

The consequences would be his pursuers catching up to him even faster. Alex supposed that here he at least had a chance to get better. But… he had reached the end of the safety with the SAS team. As long as they were under MI6's direction, they had a nearly foolproof route to find him. It would just take time.

He needed out.

Leave the country.

Leave everything behind.

"Hey!" Jacobs thumped the bed, recalling Alex's attention. "Stop catastrophizing. Nico and Cameron have a plan. We're not about to let you go without a fight. They've got contingency upon contingency ready. We're out from under MI's purview now, anyway."

"Out?" The only way they would be out was if they… But…

Jacobs held up a syringe. "You going to fight me on this? Get today's dose out of the way and I'll get Nico to come in and give you all the details you apparently missed last night."

Alex grit his teeth, but nodded. He trusted that Jacobs had at least been better at vetting the source of the medication. And… there didn't seem like there was much of a choice otherwise. Either here or get taken to a hospital that was just as likely to give him straight to kidnappers – or kill him.

Jacobs rolled up Alex's sleeve, revealing the IV port that remained. "You might feel a little dizzy for a bit," he said, as he injected the drug. "It should stop in a few minutes."

It was a bit of a head rush and Alex closed his eyes against the sensation. Nothing like before. Not entirely unpleasant. But not… normal.

Jacobs packed his things back together, then stood up. "I'll track down Nico and then get you some food." He turned toward the door, then paused. "You don't need to use the toilet, do you?"

A hot flush rose in Alex's neck. "What? No!" That was the last thing he wanted help with at this point.

Jacobs sent him a rueful smile. "Close observation, remember. It'll be a few days until you're back on your feet. We don't really want to risk losing you over something silly like collapsing in the shower."

The blush wasn't about to go away. It was one thing for nurses to be concerned about that, but them…? "I'll be fine."

Jacobs snorted. "I'll believe that when you're not still bedridden."

"I could be up," Alex grumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure you could. But you shouldn't, so you won't. Between the two of us, I'm pretty sure I have more medical experience and knowledge than you. And I'll get Mickey to help me tie you to that bed if I have to."

"Aren't you supposed to do no harm?"

"I'm keeping you from harm with these restrictions. Don't push it, or you'll get 24-hour supervision for the next couple of days."

Alex huffed, but dropped the subject. Jacobs had clearly made up his mind. And it was only for a couple of days…

A/N: One more chapter to get your predictions in! Where on earth will they end up...? This chapter is in honor of getting my second covid vaccine today (woohoo, frontlines!) and having nothing else pressing to do. Maybe there'll be another one soon if I can wrangle my brain into working. No promises.