Damian Rohas was a family man. He had a beautiful belgian wife named Marie and three half mexican, half belgian children under fourteen. He would do anything to protect them, he'd sworn that the last time he and Marie had retaken their vows. Retaking their vows had become an almost annual occurrence for them - their marriage hadn't been able to take the stress of Damian's job without some hiccups.

The last hiccup resulting in the renewal of their vows, had come in the form of the collapse of the cartel Rohas belonged to and the entire family being forced to turn themselves over to the police - and the consequent relocation of the Rohas family. The Rohases had moved to Bruges, Belgium. It was a small medieval town, it was cold and rainy most of the time and Rico, Damian's eldest son at age 13, was suffering with the loss of the sun and a heated pool. But Marie was very happy, she was back in her home country.

The police had let Damian and his family go, in return for information. Damian had given it gladly and he the Rohases had lived peacefully ever since. Until now.

The night had started off normally: dinner at five thirty in front of the television watching cartoons, taking Ellie to bed at six, opening a bottle of wine at six thirty, sending Tomas to bed an hour later after constant shutdowns of 'no, you can't have any wine' and then watching a movie with Rico. Then, halfway through the movie there had been a knock at the door. Marie had gone to answer, not bothering to pause 'The Great Gatsby' and then returned to the living room a minute later, a Desert Eagle pressed forcefully into the side of her head. The hand attached to the gun belonged to a large woman with stringy red hair, a square jaw and at least a foot of height on Marie.

She was accompanied by a man. He was tall, but smaller than his companion, with dyed black hair. His eyes were dark and they stood out against his pale skin. He wasn't handsome but nor was he ugly. Memorable was the word that Damian would use when he looked at this man. Memorable and dangerous. Damian knew who this man was, after all it was he Damian had sold out to the police. He looked at the gun pointed at Marie and took a step forward. BANG!

Marie fell to the floor.

Rico shouted from his left and ran at the woman. She held the gun out in front of her and cocked it, ready to shoot but Damian shouted before she had time to pull the trigger.

"NO!"

The dark haired man held a hand out to stop the woman and she grunted, annoyed. She grabbed Rico and held him fast in her thick arms. The man smiled wolfishly at Damian. He sauntered forward like the dead body of Damian's wife wasn't lying on the living room carpet and came to a stop in front of him.

"Tell me, Rohas" he began quietly, "why should I tell her not to shoot your boy, hm?"

"I-I-"

"Tut tut, Rohas, you're going to need to do better than that. What can you offer me?"

Damian's mouth wasn't working properly. But the man in front of him seemed perfectly content to do all the talking.

"You sold me out, I had to relocate." he crooned "You know how difficult that is to explain in my lines of work."

Damian still didn't know what to say. How had he found them?

"Fortunately for you Rohas, I was getting bored of Portland and I have always wanted a trip to Miami. But that doesn't excuse you does it, hm?"

Damian shook his head. He looked at Marie and became aware that he was crying.

"So, what are you going to give me which compensates for all that trouble?"

He punctuated the last three words by jabbing his finger into the centre of Damian's chest in time with each syllable he spoke.

"I- I can get you money if-"

"I'm not sure that will cut it." The man made his way over to where Rico was being held by the woman. The man lifted a pale hand and caressed Rico's cheek slowly, he shied away from his touch but was stopped by the red-haired woman before he'd got an inch. "I would be most intrigued however to-"

Damian cut across him "No."

The man laughed and turned away from Rico.

"You know, there's not a lot you can do to stop me from taking what I want. Even if what I want to take is your precious son."

Damian knew the words which he spoke were true but he would fight for his family, he wasn't going to let that creepy russian bastard-

Blue lights flashed through the window and sirens sounded - Damian breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the man saw and he nodded to the woman curtly. There was a sickening crack and Rico fell to the floor. Damian cried out and something hard caught him on the temple. Everything went black.

Alex loved school. He loved the learning, the comradery, the silent suffering of the teachers, he loved the routine and the normalcy of it. What he didn't love was Brad Coaches. If you picture the typical high school bully, the typical neanderthal jock type without two brain cells to rub together, well then you've got the polar opposite of Brad. Brad was small, weedy and annoying. He had a face like a rodent. Squinty eyes, sticky out ears, a small mouth. Like a rat, no one wanted him around. He was the chairman of the school's newspaper. Except the school didn't have a newspaper; it was just Brad's blog and occasionally some A4 posters covered in WordArt and comic sans stuck to the back of every toilet cubicle door.

Brad liked to write about everything. Mrs Macy's divorce, how the gym teacher smelt like cannabis and if Miss Sadie was having an affair with the hot new supply teacher. Brad's most recent article had been on Alex.

Apart from basic information on him, the article had included little but wild speculation on where Alex had come from. It asked the question why the Pleasure's would just adopt a random english school boy and bring him to America. Which then got the school wondering it too. Alex did not much like Brad for this reason. He'd wanted to fit in. Now when he tried to make new friends, the question which would now be at the back of everyone's mind was where he had come from.

In typical Alex fashion however, he had managed to laugh it off, and say that the Pleasure's had been old friends of the family and when his uncle had died, they'd taken him in. This had earned him some pity points he didn't want but it was better than the rumors at Brooklands. Alex's name hadn't been changed on anything but the school database. At school he was Alex Pleasure. It was hard to get used to and at the beginning he hadn't even realised he was being addressed.

The monday after the weekend of 'family activities' Brad caught up to him.

"Alex!" Brad called in his nasally voice. He didn't turn.

"Alex!"

Alex wondered whether if he'd get a detention for punching Brad in the face. Probably not, he decided - most of the staff hated the kid too.

"Alex!"

A girls voice this time - Sabina. He looked round the corridor for her and spotted her a few metres away. Sadly for him however, Brad was blocking his path.

"Alex, a word for the Lincoln Post?"

"Not now Brad." he sighed wearily, "can I get back to you?"

Brad shook his ratty head. "I've got to get an exclusive interview for tonight's edition." He looked expectantly up at Alex.

"Aren't all your interviews technically exclusive?" he asked, interestedly.

Brad blushed. "Well yes, they are but that's not the point. Please Alex can I just ask you some quick questions?"

Alex gritted his teeth. He looked over at Sabina who was pointing at him and Brad, giggling maddly to one of her friends.

"Fine."

Brad's face lit up like it was Christmas. He brought out a pad of paper and a biro.

"What is your favourite sport?"

"Football."

"What team do you support?"

"Chelsea."

"Who is your favourite player?"

"Danny Drinkwater."

"What is your middle name?"

Alex paused. "Don't have one."

"What was your name before you changed it to Pleasure?"

"I don't see why you want to know."

"That's a strange name."

"It is what it is."

"What is it really?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling you Brad. If you want to stalk me on google then be my guest, but I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Brad looked crestfallen.

"Goodbybe."

Alex pushed past him and made his way over to Sabina who was still giggling. He leant against the locker, waiting patiently for her to finish. She caught her breath a minute later. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Finished?" he asked, cooly.

She bit her lip and nodded. She learnt in close and whispered, "Brad totally fancies you."

"No he doesn't, I'm just the only fresh thing on the menu."

Sabina gave him a sly glance, "Mhmm. Sure." Her face changed to one of panic "Oh Alex, I forgot - I've got English with Mr Landsbury next and I haven't done the assignment."

Alex knew the direction she was heading in, but refused to concede that early. "Bad luck Sab," he said mock-sincerely, "you're just going to have to explain that to him and hope he doesn't give you a demerit."

She looked at him, pleading. "Can't I borrow yours Alex? Please, please, please?"

He laughed, "No, you're never going to pass english if you keep on stealing my work."

She glowered at him, "Like I'm ever going to actually need english language. I don't need to know that fantastic meant imaginary, bully meant lover and pretty meant crafty or whatever."

Alex shrugged at her. Then, he had an idea. "If you get me out of going paragliding next weekend, you can have it."

She considered him slowly. "Alright." she said cautiously. She held out her hand. "Shake on it?"

Alex took her hand and shook it firmly. He handed over his essay on 'The Origin of Code' "Make sure you read it before you give it in, you know he asks questions on homework."

The bell rang.

"I'll see you at lunch, Alex" Sabina said cheerfully. She made to leave but turned back, stepping close to him. "Be safe."

She kissed him on the cheek, smiled at him and joined the throng of students heading down the hall. Alex watched her go, she stood out. Dark hair in a sea of blonde. He readjusted his bag on his shoulder and headed to maths. Math he corrected himself.

Two minutes into the lesson, Alex was called to the main office; a family matter apparently. He packed up his book on trigonometry, stuffed it into his bag and left the classroom. Brad didn't take his eyes off him. It took him five minutes to reach the office, a feat he was proud of. He was still getting lost in the maze these people called a school. Every corridor looked the same, but Alex thought he'd just about cracked it.

He reached the office, and slowed when he saw who was waiting there for him. It wasn't Edward, it wasn't Liz; instead it was two men in black suits, both tall and broad, earpieces in, hands folded and the unmistakable bulge in the top left corner of their suit jackets. Resisting the urge to run, Alex forced his feet forwards. He looked into the office. The chair was vacant.

"Who are you?" he asked shrewdly.

The men shook their heads and pointed to the open door. Alex shook his head, laughing.

"If you think I'm going anywhere with you, think again."

The men didn't smile. The one on the left put his hand inside his jacket and Alex took a step back. He saw the handle of a gun and ran.

He hadn't got three feet and there was a bang from behind him. For a wild second he thought he' been shot. The doors of the school had been flung wide open and three agents with the initials: F B I written on their body armour stormed into the school. They surrounded the men and Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

A man in a navy suit entered the school as the two men in black were led out in handcuffs. It had all gone too smoothly, Alex thought. Why hadn't they just shot Alex? Why hadn't they just forced him outside? Why hadn't they-

The man in Navy interrupted his thoughts.

"Y'all right, kid?" the man spoke in a heavy southern drawl.

Alex nodded absentmindedly

"You sure?"

Alex blinked, "Yeah, I'm fine. Who were those guys? What did they want from me?"

The man scratched the back of his head, "You're English?" he seemed surprised but he continued, "I don't know kid, you got a rich daddy or something?"

Oh, so this guy didn't know who he was. Alex shook his head. Then a thought struck him. The receptionist. Alex vaulted over the desk and his worst fears were confirmed. Miss Sadie was sprawled out on the carpet, a dark red stain growing rapidly on her chest.

"Call an ambulance." he shouted at the agent. "Quick!"

He pulled her shirt apart, sending buttons flying. There was no time to mess about; he scanned her body - there was a bullet shaped hole just below her liver. Alex spun the seat of the office chair around; not a mark. It hadn't gone all the way through then, that made things easier. Alex looked around for anything he could use as a towel, but there was nothing. He looked up at the agent who was taking rapidly on the phone. His accent made him difficult to understand and Alex hoped the operator at the other end could tell what he was saying better than himself.

Alex shrugged off his blazer jacket and bundled it up, pressing it firmly against the wound. He cupped Sadie's head with his hand, her eyes were fluttering.

"It's going to be okay, just hold on Miss Sadie. Hang in there."

Alex had read somewhere that using the name of the injured patient usually helped so he looked frantically around for something with her first name on it. He grabbed the name plaque. Jean.

"Jean," her eyes flickered "Jean, there's an ambulance on the way."

He looked up at the agent for confirmation and the man nodded.

"Just hang in there." He kept the pressure on her side. His jacket was ruined but that was the least of his worries. Who were those men? And why had they wanted Alex? Blunt had said the threats against him had been neutralised. He looked up at the agent.

"Who were those two men?"

"What? Oh. We got a call saying there were two armed men heading for the school. We were in the area."

"Who from?" asked Alex, confused. "The call who was it from? And how did they know they were armed? I doubt they had them on display. And-"

"Woah, woah kid, slow down." the agent interrupted.

Alex looked up at him. "We'll sort this all out later okay, get to the bottom of it."

Alex nodded, but his mind was still racing. He turned back to Jean and checked her condition. She was pale, sweating and bloody but responsive. He brushed the hair back from her face and continued to offer reassuring lines until the medics from the ambulance turned up.

Alex stood on shaky legs and watched them roll her away, his heart heavy. Another person put in harm's way because of him. The principal, Mr Vardy turned up when the ambulance had left. He looked from Alex to the agent and back to Alex.

"What's going on?"

The agent took Mr Vardy's arm and pulled him to one side. "There was an armed threat to the school. I'm afraid that your receptionist-" he looked up at Alex and he interjected,

"Jean."

"Jean, was injured. Thanks to this boy's quick thinking however, I think she'll pull through. There will be a full enquiry into the attack, I'll find out who they are and why your school was targeted. We'll put a detail onto the school to make sure this doesn't happen again. I'll need to take Mr er-" he looked up at Alex again.
"Pleasure"

"Mr Pleasure to the bureau, it seems that he was specifically targeted."

Mr Vardy blinked open mouthed. "Oh." he said slowly, "of course, yes. I'll inform the staff." he turned and walked back down the corridor.

Alex was confused. Things weren't adding up, this whole situation seemed odd. He wasn't sure he wanted to go with the agent. He'd not even offered his name. The agent gripped Alex's arm and steered him to the front door. Definitely not right.

"Hey, Mr Vardy!" Alex called back to him.

The principal turned, surprised, "Yes, Alex?"

"Will you tell Sabina where I am? She's in Mr Landsbury's English class."

"Yes my boy, of course." he turned to leave.

Then as a second thought:

"And just in case it takes until after school, will you ask her to tell my boss where I am? Tell her to be blunt."

Mr Vardy looked bewildered. The agents grip grew tighter on his arm. "I doubt it will take that long, Alex. I'm sure it'll only take an hour or so. But yes, I'll tell her."

Alex breathed a sigh or relief and stopped resisting the agent. He was maneuvered toward the door and when Vardy was out of earshot Alex spoke.

"Who are you?" he breathed.

The agents charade dropped, the southern texan drawl disappeared, "Just walk, kid. Don't think I missed that message you passed to your girlfriend. It won't do any good."

Alex's heart was beating faster and faster. So this man wasn't FBI; he'd been right. So who was he? He must have been working with the two men in black. What if he was working with the ambulance men as well? Would Jean be okay? He was led out into the sunshine. There was a van parked outside the school gates. Alex almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it. The part of his brain which would usually have been too scared to function was working on overdrive, blocking out the fact he was been escorted at gun-point and trying to find a way out.

"Who do you work for?"

"Shut up."

He was pushed into the van and he stumbled. The door was shut but the van didn't move. Sure enough, the two men in black were sat side by side. The three agents who had handcuffed them were there too and to Alex's amazement -

"Miss Sadie?"

She smiled at him. It wasn't a nice smile, it looked like she was looking forward to eating him for dinner. "Thanks for trying to save my life, Alex."

"But-but you were bleeding - there was so much blood." How had she faked that? And why? What would have been the purpose for her being 'shot'?

Alex looked around and saw red and white stickers. The van was the ambulance. It made sense. Kind of.

"Oh." he said finally.

He was pushed onto his knees and one of the men in black held out a needle. The agent took it, holding Alex firmly still. Alex couldn't fight them all. If he called for help, he'd just be shot; he didn't struggle as the needle was pushed into his neck. Whatever was in it wouldn't kill him. More likely it would just knock him out.

A second later, the van's interior was swimming and he collapsed to the floor.

Joe Byrne sat opposite Alan Blunt once again. Neither spoke, but each stared into the other's eyes, both unwilling to break eye contact. Finally Joe broke the silence.

"It's a bad idea. He'll work it out Alan."

"He didn't last time."

"He's grown. He's not as trusting as he was. He's better now."

"Better?"

"A better spy."

There was silence again.

"He won't go willingly." Blunt stated. "He has to think he's putting people in danger by being there. An abduction from his school is the perfect idea. There are people he cares about there, his foster sister for one. The idea that she might be in harm's way and he'll practically volunteer for this mission."

Joe twisted his fingers in his lap. He didn't like it. Alex didn't deserve to be manipulated like this.

"I don't get why we can't just ask him to do it."

"He'll say no, and we'd have to get," Blunt paused, grey features a pale mask, "persuasive."

"Persuasive?"

"To get Alex to continue his uncle's mission, I had to mention his guardian's visa had run out."

Joe gaped at him, "you blackmailed him into this? From the very start he didn't want to do this?" his voice rose in volume and pitch, "Alan, I thought he volunteered for this! Even then I thought it was awful, but now-"

"Calm down." Said Blunt, sighing. "Alex finished a mission for us. We were going to leave him alone but then he started searching for his own missions. He can't help it, it's in his blood."

Joe raised an eyebrow and Blunt continued.

"He went to the dentist Byrne, the dentist and managed to stop a mass poisoning. He went to the cinema and stopped a terrorist. We didn't ask him to go after Cray either. He just went." Blunt's voice lowered, "Need I remind you, he also went to Scoripa of his own volition. He attempted to kill my deputy. I haven't incarcerated him for that, anyone else would be in a maximum security prison"

"But he didn't shoot the deputy."

There was silence again. Blunt raised his grey eyebrows.

"Fine, but know that I don't like your methods Blunt. And I wouldn't condone it if Alex wasn't necessary."

Alex woke, his head throbbing. It was like a hangover but a hundred times worse. His eyes were dry and he tried to wipe them. His hands wouldn't move; blearily he realised they were tied behind his back. Damn. There was something in his mouth too, tied around the back of his head. A quick look down and he realised it was his school tie; creative. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He looked around. The room he was in was small and damp. The floor was made up of broken tile and dirt, the walls were brick, and badly painted white. It had evidently been left to deteriorate over some years. There was a small window to his left, it was fitted with several vertical and horizontal bars but they were new compared to the rest of the room. There was a bulb hanging loose from the ceiling.

Cliche.

Everything about this was cliche. It was like whoever had kidnapped him had read a dozen spy novels and then created their evil lair. Maybe that was the point, maybe it was a joke. Funny joke, Alex thought. He tested the bonds on his hands, zip ties. That at least wasn't obvious; in books they used ropes or metal handcuffs, something the goodie could easily get out of. His feet too were tied to the chair legs.

The door swung open and Alex's head flicked upward. It was the agent again. But he was dressed much more casually. The navy suit long forgotten, he was dressed in cheap tracksuit trousers and a plain shirt.

"Alex, how are we feeling?" asked the pretend agent.

Alex couldn't say anything so he settled for a glare

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Robert." He paused. "I work for Scorpia."

Alex didn't react. This was getting stranger by the minute. This was not Scorpia's style. And why would Scorpia want him kidnapped? They'd tried to kill him last time. And wasn't Scorpia all but destroyed? Alex wanted to say that he didn't believe the agent - Robert but he couldn't.

"I'd like to ask you some questions if that's okay?"

Alex rolled his eyes. Robert lashed out, striking Alex across his cheek with his the back of his fist. He did know what he was doing then, Alex thought through the pain. If he'd have used his hand open, he would have bruised the back of his hand.

Robert untied the tie from the back of Alex's head. Instead of walking back round him, he spun the chair round, jolting Alex uncomfortably.

"So, Alex I'd like you to tell me where the secret entrance of MI6 is."

Alex stared at him blankly. What was happening?

"You already know where it is. One of your assassins shot me on the street outside it."

Robert smiled, but not before Alex detected a falter in his composure. "You are quick aren't you Alex?"

Alex raised his eyebrows at him. He was no longer scared, just confused. This man wasn't from Scoripa, that was for sure - so why was he pretending to be? And where was he really from? Alex voiced his concerns.

"You're not from Scorpia." Alex said bluntly, "So where are you actually from?"

The world tilted and pain exploded in the back of his head. Robert had pushed the chair over and Alex had landed hard on the tile. His hands were trapped between the floor and his entire body weight and he grimaced.

"You're a smart kid. Real smart.I like that."

A wave of nausea passed over Alex, his head was throbbing. He coughed, feeling bile in his throat.

"But it is no concern of yours who I actually represent, only that you answer my questions."

He grasped Alex's hair, pulling Alex and the chair to a righted position.

"Well, if you won't tell me who you actually work for, I'm not going to tell you where I work." Alex said plainly. It was risky, but he decided that after all the trouble they'd gone too to kidnap Alex, they wouldn't kill him. There were worse things than death, of course, but Alex didn't get the feeling that Robert wanted to hurt him too badly. Again, strange.

"You don't make the demands here, kid. You shut up and answer my questions."

"Which is it then?"

Robert looked confused. Alex continued,

"Shut up or answer questions? I can't do both."

This earned him a kick to the stomach. This time, when the chair fell backwards, Alex made sure to raise his head. His hands were crushed once again and he inhaled the gasp which tried to force its way through his lips. Robert delivered another kick to his side and Alex cried out. He wrapped the tie around Alex's mouth and kicked him again. This time his cry was muffled; Robert smiled.

"I'll be back in an hour, kid. If I come back and you're still making wise cracks, I won't be so forgiving." He patted Alex's cheek and stood,

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex watched Robert's feet walk over to the door and leave. He sighed. He didn't understand what was happening. He reviewed the facts in his mind.

He had been kidnapped.

He didn't know by who.

Whoever they were, they pretended to be Scorpia to appear more threatening. Which meant they knew about Alex's ties with the organisation. They wanted information but didn't seem to want to hurt him too much.

What a mess.