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

Chapter 35: Ben

Although Nico suspected that things would go quickly once they realized what they were up against, the reality was that there was very little that they could do before Alex woke up. Cameron had been… less than pleased at the sight of the paper, but had conceded that he recognized the general's signature – and it wasn't one that could easily be forged. There were apparently things to look for to spot a forgery.

As it was though, Mickey and Jacobs had been tasked with coming up with a suitable escape plan – without having access to any of their usual resources. Alex's MP3 player would have come in handy, but Nico was both unsure as to the safety of using the device, and didn't exactly have access to it. It was locked with a password that only Alex knew.

He shot a glance at Alex, who had yet to wake up.

8 hours…

The doctors said that the longer he stayed asleep the better, but that didn't make Nico any less antsy. Alex still wasn't out of the woods, though apparently whatever blood filtering process the doctors had done was enough to get him through the worst of it. And they couldn't sedate him any longer because of too many risks for further complications.

So, in some ways, not waking up was a merciful process. It was just if it went on for too many more hours, then it was likely that irreversible consequences had already occurred.

And no one really wanted to think about that.

"Any change?" Cameron entered the room with a cup of coffee for Nico. He had left just long enough to touch base with Mickey. For now, the team was truly split.

Nico shook his head. "The nurse came by and said they'd give him another two hours before starting another treatment."

Cameron pursed his lips and sighed. "Mickey is putting some feelers out to see what old favors he can cash in. That'll probably get us as far as the getaway vehicle, but beyond that…" He shrugged.

There wasn't much they could do or say to get help from others without raising suspicion. And as soon as they were officially tagged as AWOL – on mission, no less – they would be blacklisted. Any contacts they had had would dry up. The best bet would be to get out of the county.

And even that would be nigh on impossible without new papers. Or something.

"We have three days."

Cameron slouched in the chair, rubbing a hand over his face. "This is far beyond anything training covered. We have almost no resources and a shoddy plan." He waved a hand toward Alex's sleeping form. "And we don't know what kind of condition he's going to be in. Or what kind of treatment he's going to need over the next couple of days and weeks. He nearly died."

Nico swallowed. His own fears echoed by his leader. But also… what were they supposed to do? Give up on the kid? "But, we can't…" He trailed off, not sure of what to say or do.

Cameron gave him a beseeching glance. "Gods, Nico, you know I would never sacrifice a child to terrorists. But… we need something more to work with. We can get out of here, do our best for him, but what next? Unless we get some mysterious benefactor or better resources, we're going to be hightailing it away from the intelligence agency of this country, probably from every country, if we're being honest – alongside those terrorists who want him!"

Which, that was the issue. As soon as they were AWOL, it would only be a matter of days before MI6 interviewed their families and known contacts, asked about their last known whereabouts. It would set all their families into a panic – and there was no end in sight. No solid knowledge that in a couple of weeks, it would all be over.

This had already gone on for months. And clearly MI6 was no closer to solving their problems…

Alex shifted on the bed, catching both of their attentions. His breathing hitched a couple of times, before he settled down again, and didn't show any other signs of waking up. Even so, it was more than they had seen in hours. Nico felt a fraction of the panic and worry slip away.

"Just a matter of time," Cameron said in a hushed voice. "Mickey and Jacobs will get something together, and we'll do what we do best."

Nico let the edge of his mouth curl into a smile. "Doing the impossible."

It was nearly a full day, and two treatments, before the doctor firmly put Alex in the recovering stage. Alex had managed an interspersed smattering of minutes awake, not long enough to string together a coherent thought, but enough to indicate that his ordeal was far from over. Nico took it as a good sign that Alex had cast suspicion towards the doctors, but not toward him or Cameron. No major brain injury to worry about, it seemed.

Cameron and Jacobs had swapped out at some point, and Jacobs had somehow managed to get his hands on the charting notes. It painted a bleak, but not hopeless, picture. Alex was supposed to be on oxygen for at least the next week, and limited physical activity for two weeks. He had broken ribs and there were concerns that he would experience withdrawal symptoms from the one-time poisoning.

Time would only tell.

Jacobs popped his head into the room. "Coffee?"

Nico shook his head. He needed to sleep at some point, but was the first to admit that that hadn't exactly been his priority. "Tea?"

Jacobs gave him a long assessing look. "You know the chair reclines, right?"

Nico snorted. "I'll explore my options when you get back." He wouldn't be able to take a nap if it felt like they were unprotected. It was bad enough that he didn't have a gun. Just his knife strapped to his boot. It wouldn't do much against a prepared intruder, but he was hoping that it wouldn't get to that point. That's what Jacobs was for, anyway.

Some friendly nurse had given them access to the television in the room – a definite perk of being a government protected entity meant private rooms, no questions asked – so Nico scrolled through the offerings. They had all been somewhat out of the loop for the past four months, so the major news stories were unfamiliar. Nothing shocking though.

It was just like they had stepped out of time for a bit, just getting a glimpse at the real world again, before they'd have to step back once again.

The captioning on the set was trash though, making some of the stories incomprehensible. But he wasn't about to turn on the sound, not for fear of disturbing Alex.

He was in the midst of trying to decipher what point the PM was trying to make at some news briefing, when Alex groaned and tried to roll over. He quickly decided that was a bad idea, though Nico doubted he would have gotten very far with all the monitors, wires, and tubes still attached to him.

Alex groaned again, before rolling his head to the side and staring at Nico. Or at least, tried to stare at him. "Wuz goin' on?" He slurred.

First coherent thought and he was already demanding. Nico set the remote to the side and leaned closer with a small smile. "Hey, kid."

Alex squinted at him. "'m not kid. Told you… before."

Nico let out a sigh of relief. They had argued about that on a number of occasions. Alex remembered. He cautiously brought a hand up to his face and tugged on the mask. Nico caught his wrist and pulled it away. "Nope, you're listening to doctor's orders. So, that, stays on."

Alex frowned, but his hand fell limply to the side. His eyes closed for a long moment, and Nico almost thought that would be the end of the coherence for the time being. But he seemed to rally his strength for a moment longer and gazed at Nico. "What… happened?"

Nico sighed and stared at him. "Well… we were hoping you could shed some light on that. You left the house, managed to get poisoned, and barely survived."

Alex's face paled. "Shit."

Nico snorted. "Yeah, shit is right."

Alex squeezed his eyes shut. "Stupid."

"Yeah," Nico looked at the teenager. Because it was really easy to forget he was still a teenager. "It was stupid. But it sounds like you were manipulated by someone you trusted."

Alex swallowed. "Smithers."

The name wasn't familiar, but if it was who Alex met – it meant they had hope of actually getting some answers in all of this.

A sharp rap on the door startled both of them, and Jacobs popped his head in the doorway. "Found a straggler looking for you. He wants to come in to talk." He caught sight of Alex and smile spread across his face. "You're looking a lot better."

A grimace crossed Alex's face as he tried to shift on the bed.

"I'll see if we can get you some more painkillers." Alex opened his mouth, likely to protest, but Jacobs cut him off. "No arguing. You've got broken ribs and we need you functional and coherent." He sent a significant look in Nico's direction, before opening the door wider and allowing the visitor inside. "You've got three minutes."

Nico's eyes widened at the sight of the suit. They were supposed to have four days, before he reappeared. Four days before they had to all vanish. There was no way they could have done something this quickly – especially with Alex having just woken up.

"Ben!" There was a note of… excitement?... in Alex's voice. He knew the suit.

Which really shouldn't have been a surprise, given that Ben had said Alex would know the name. Not that Nico had had a chance to pass on the message…

Ben gave him a slight smile, before pulling a manila envelope out of his jacket. "Good to see you're awake, Alex."

Alex visibly sagged, eyes drifting shut again. "Jones is reassigning, isn't she?"

Ben shot a glance at Nico. "Yes, but I'm assuming you haven't been brought up to speed yet."

"He just woke up." Nico said.

"I'll let your friends explain then," Ben said, pulling a chair up next to Nico. "They're going to help you. You've just got to trust them."

"I do trust them…"

Ben snorted. "So much that you left your safehouse. Again, I might add."

Alex's brow furrowed. "Smithers was there. Had… information."

So, Alex had met with someone. That almost made it seem better than him just going out for a lark.

Ben leaned forward, a cautious expression on his face. "Alex, no one has heard from the real Smithers in over a year. He went missing after Cairo."

"But he…" A betrayed expression crossed Alex's face. "I saw him."

"I'm sure you did. Someone stole one of his last remaining suits a few weeks ago. And the agent who was responsible for coordinating your schooling was… compromised. They manipulated you with gadgets and promises of information that Jones wasn't ready for you to see." He sat back, with a sigh. "They've duped many a skilled agent in the past several months. Jones is working on cleaning house, but… you need to be out of the picture for that to happen."

Nico cleared his throat. "Hence the orders?"

Ben nodded. "Hence the orders."

Alex blinked slowly. "Orders?"

"I'm sure Lieutenant Kendrick will fill you in when you're feeling a bit better."

Alex wrinkled his nose at the title, but nodded slightly. Nico was impressed he had stayed awake as long as he had. He looked exhausted.

"I've got some paperwork here that will hopefully make your lives a little bit easier." He passed the manila envelope to Nico. "It'll stand up to regular scrutiny, but, you know, don't get arrested or anything."

Nico peeked into the envelope and saw passports, money, and bank cards. Everything they would need to legally get out of the country. "How…?"

Ben smirked. "I said some agents were compromised. It's not surprising that information that they worked with just mysteriously disappeared. It's in all the appropriate places, but anything more than a cursory glance will probably raise some red flags.

Alex's brows furrowed. "And we can… trust you?"

"For now. I know you don't trust Jones, but she's… concerned about you. This is much bigger than you or me, though you appear to be their biggest target. If we can temporarily get you out of the picture, I, and a few others that have been vetted, might have a chance to cripple them from the inside."

"Motivation?"

"Aside from trying to keep this country safe?" Ben raised an eyebrow at Alex. "Listen, Wolf nearly got killed and the others were pulled into protective custody. They might not be my unit anymore, but I'm not about to let anything happen to them. And if our best chance at taking them out is getting you somewhere untouchable, then that's priority."

Wolf.

That was the leader of the unit Alex had mentioned knowing. Which meant that this Ben character was ex-SAS and had some inkling as to how things worked within a unit. And knew what going AWOL could potentially mean for their careers, despite the higher ups support.

Clearly, he had defected to MI6 at some point, leaving his unit behind. Not unheard of, but not common either. It meant that the four-person unit had to fill in the space left behind with someone new.

Alex sighed, then grimaced.

Right.

He was still in pain.

Alex was hardly awake, but still asking – demanding – coherent questions.

There was a knock on the door, and Jacobs entered. "Three minutes are up. More than. Someone's coming with more painkillers." His gaze landed on Ben. "I suggest if you don't want to run into anyone else that you make your leave now."

A slight smile crossed Ben's face. "Of course." He patted Alex's shoulder gently. "Rest up, kid."

Alex scowled, no doubt at the kid comment, but it seemed that his energy reserves were coming to an end.

Ben stood up and headed to the door. He paused as he was about to leave. "I fixed up your music player. You don't need to worry about anything tracking you or left there by not-Smithers. Should work the same as it did before." He side stepped the nurse on his way out.

Alex huffed as the nurse checked him over, but seemed to drift off rather quickly.

Jacobs settled into the chair next to Nico. "They were out of tea."

A hint of a smile curled Nico's lips. "A travesty."

"Cameron will be up in a couple of hours, so I'm sure whatever just happened can wait until then. You need a nap."

Nico rolled his eyes, but didn't bother arguing. It had been a long day so far, anyway.

A/N: And here's the latest installment! Hope that answered some of your questions. Though the question now is where exactly they're going to retreat to... Any ideas? If anyone actually guesses right, I will give you virtual cookies. But you're gonna have to literally read my mind for that because I don't think I've left any hints...