They reached the theatre a little under an hour later. Amaliya had joined them just as they had been about to set off and now sat opposite Anatolievich and himself, her square features stoic and unfeeling. Her too small eyes roamed the interior of the car as if looking for a threat of some kind. The car journey had been quiet and uncomfortable; the russian's knee brushing Alex's every time they hit a small bump and despite the amount of room in the back of the limousine, each time they turned a corner Anatolievich leant close into Alex's side. As much as he found himself wanting to jump out of the car when this happened, or at the very least pull away from the man, Alex determinedly stayed where he was and even reciprocated the movement.

Much to Alex's surprise, instead of picking up some fancy foreign cuisine, they'd gone to a nearby fast-food drive-thru and got cheese burgers, fries and churros. Much to Alex's surprise Anatolievich loved american fast food and disliked the traditional dishes of his home country. Alex had wolfed down his gratefully embraced the coke which Joseph had bought him. They'd eaten in the back of the car and Alex had just finished when they pulled up outside a magnificent building. It wasn't too tall, but it was vast; the front ordained with gold and red carvings. Alex gaped at it.

"I see the theatre pleases you Alexander."

He turned to see Anatolievich watching him with an expectant smile on his face.

"It's beautiful," he said honestly, "I can't wait to see what the inside is like."

They stepped out of the car and walked inside. Alex gave Joseph a small wave of farewell and a quickly mouthed 'sorry' as he was guided into the theatre, Anatolievich's hand firmly at the small of his back.

"Now, I hope you don't mind Alexander but Monte- that is, Mr Lindsay will be accompanying us this evening."

Alex shook his head. "Of course not, does he enjoy the theatre?"

"I believe so, there are only a few of us left who really appreciate art and beauty for what it is, in any form that it might come."

It was a strange response Alex thought and he smiled up at the man awkwardly. Anatolievich was staring at him, a predatory gleam in his eye. Alex looked back down at his new shoes, trying to avoid his gaze and let himself be led up the carpeted steps inside the theatre. Alex noticed that Anatolievich's brutish assistant hadn't accompanied them and he gave Anatolievich an enquiring look.

"Unfortunately, Amaliya isn't one of those people who appreciates the arts," Anatolievich explained, seeing Alex's expression, "she will wait outside with the chauffeur."

Alex felt sorry for Joseph, he wouldn't have liked to spend more than ten minutes in the company of Amaliya, the car ride had been enough for him.

"And what about Mr Lindsay, Sir?"

"Monte is already inside" Anatolievich said briskly, opening the door to the balcony for him, "we will be with him shortly."

Two minutes later, which had seemed more like two hours to Alex, what with Anatolievich's hand seemingly being permanently placed on the small of Alex's back, they reached the balcony room where their private box was located.

"After you, Alexander," said Anatolievich grandly, holding the door open for Alex. His right arm was stretched over the top of the door, keeping it wide open so Alex had no choice but to duck underneath the arm, forcing proximity between the two of them.

"Ah," said Mr Lindsay loudly as they walked in, "Pytor and... Alexander was it? I'm glad you're here, I was starting to get worried."

"We stopped at a drive-thru to pick up some lunch-" Anatolievich said warmly, his hand gravitating to Alex's shoulder, "Alexander quite forgot to eat this afternoon." As he finished his sentence, his forefinger reached up to brush up the side of Alex's cheek slowly.

"Yes, well…" Lindsay said awkwardly. Obviously he was uncomfortable with Anatolievich's show of affection, though decidedly less so than Alex was. The lights in the theatre dimmed a second later and a voice rang out across the room telling people to take their seats. Anatolievich gestured to the chair next to Lindsay and Alex sat obediently as the russian sank into the last available seat. Sitting between the two men Alex felt suddenly trapped and a wave of claustrophobia crashed over him, his mind going almost numb. Seconds later, he got it under control and took in a deep breath, looking around the theatre, trying not to focus too hard on the very dangerous men sitting either side of him.

The play seemed to drag on for hours and hours, with only a small respite in the form of the interval where Alex took sweet relief in the fact that the acting had stopped. He did however, lament the loss of the distraction for the two men beside him. Anatolievich however, insisted on getting Alex a tub of ice cream which meant he was subsequently left in the company of Mr Lindsay who looked like he would rather be sat next to a human sized dung beetle instead of Alex.

"So, Mr Lindsay," he began awkwardly when Anatolievich had left to flag down a member of the front of house team, "how are you enjoying the play?"

Lindsay looked at him without turning his head, glancing out of the side of his eye. He didn't reply for several moments, and when Alex thought he was going to be ignored completely, he spoke.

"I am enjoying it very much, Alexander." he said, surprisingly amiably, "you I think, not so much?"

Had he been that obvious? Alex forced himself not to panic at being found out however and instead plastered a smile onto his face.

"I do enjoy the theatre," he explained slowly, "I'm just getting a little confused with all the characters, and it's been a long couple of days for me."

Lindsay nodded and went back to staring at nothing, then said in what was obviously a forced attempt at conversation, "What have you been up to that is so…." he seemed to fish around for the correct word, looking about, "taxing?"

Alex wondered how much he should tell him, and then decided on the entire cover story, that was why it was there wasn't it? And the typical teenage urge to overshare would help convince the man he was sure.

"Well, some kind of threats were made against my family-"

Lindsay cut him off abruptly, holding up a hand "Who is your family?"

"My dad's David Friend?" He posed it as a question, "He's a supermarket billionaire."

Lindsay nodded, "I've heard of him I think. Good friend's with the British PM?"

"That's right." Alex said calmly, he remembered Dr Grief mentioning their affiliation, "anyway" he continued, "We all had to go into protection, My sister Fi will be hating it and I know it makes me a bad person, but that makes me a little bit happy. But it was more difficult because I was over here you see - in Washington and the people in charge of my dad's security obviously couldn't come here so my dad asked Mr Anatolievich for help."

Lindsay took all of it in, a slightly shocked expression on his usually passive face.

"But why couldn't the CIA or the US military do something?" he asked curiously

"One of the people who tried to kidnap Fi was in the CIA," Alex explained matter-of-factly, without missing a beat "and my dad hasn't trusted many people since I was almost killed in France, and my he knows Mr Anatolievich somehow and thought it would be safer."

Lindsay nodded slowly, "and now you're here."

"And now I'm here." Alex repeated

There was silence for a few moments until Lindsay broke it again.

"Hey kid?" His tone was almost friendly, the man's attitude had changed within minutes, either Lindsay decided Alex was trustworthy or he had decided he wasn't.

Alex looked up.

"What school did you go to in Washington? You might know my step son."

Alex sincerely doubted it, he'd only been there for a morning and he didn't remember anyone with the surname Lindsay. He cast his mind back, what was the name of the school? Mr Lindsay looked at him expectantly.

"St Albans, it's in D.C."

Mr Lindsay's eyebrows rose in surprise, Alex guessed that this must mean his son went there too. It would be no good if he asked him about Alex, the boy would probably never even have heard of him and his cover would be blown, though from the way Lindsay had talked about the kid, there was little love lost between them.

"Is that right?" Lindsay said thoughtfully, "You might know him, though actually come to think of it he might be a couple of years older, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

Shock was apparent in Lindsay's eyes and he moved closer to Alex, shifting in his seat. His breath wafted over Alex's face, it smelt like garlic.

"Seriously?"

Alex's stomach gave an unpleasant lurch and he felt ill. He kept his voice steady however as he replied, "Yeah, I know I look younger, everyone says it."

"He might be in your year but he doesn't use my surname, little brat. He goes by Georges Harrison?"

A stone felt like it had just been dropped into Alex's stomach and panic set over him. His mind made the connection instantly. Georges, from Belgium with the mother who had married a loud, boorish man who hated him. Lindsay, who's step son had gotten thrown out of different schools for listening at doors. Georges who had anxiety- and no wonder with a man like Lindsay for a stepfather.

"Oh yeah, I know Georges." Alex said calmly, trying to force a normal and light tone into his voice, "we're good friends actually."

Lindsay's eyebrows raised. "I don't think he's ever mentioned-"

Lindsay stopped mid sentence as Anatolievich returned to their little booth. He held out a pot of ice cream to Alex who took it gratefully.

"I hope you two are getting on?" the russian asked, noting the abrupt silence.

"Oh yes," Lindsay said a little too quickly, "turns out that Alexander knows my step son, Georges."

"Oh really? Now that's a coincidence and a half, we'll have to bring the boy out here in a week or two, I don't want Alexander getting bored shut up with just us two for company, I'm sure he'll appreciate someone his own age."

Alex was about to point out that he was in fact here and part of the conversation, but kept his mouth shut and focused on his ice cream, heart pounding. Would Georges blow his cover? Would Anatolievich try and- he didn't want to put Georges in any more danger than he already was just by knowing Alex.

Lindsay gave Anatolievich a look which the russian didn't see but did not go unmissed by Alex. He obviously knew of the man's reputation around boys Alex and Georges' age and was hesitant to even subject his hated step son to it.

"I'm sure I won't be too bored that quickly," Alex said hurriedly, obviously Lindsay didn't want to contradict Anatolievich, "I'm quite good at entertaining myself."

Anatolievich opened his mouth to reply, but the lights in the theatre dimmed and the stalls were thrown into darkness, Act two was about to commence, though Alex knew he wouldn't be paying much attention to it. He needed to work out what to do if Anatolievich did decide to ship Georges to Miami. Should he try and finish the mission quickly? Or could he count on Georges not to slip up and mention that he'd only known Alex for less than a day? His mind was full of questions and half baked solutions, each one even worse than the last and he stared blankly at the stage, trying not to show the turmoil which was happening on the inside.


Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt were once again sat opposite Joe Byrne in a small office. They hadn't returned to England yet. Joe wondered whether they were taking a small vacation together. Holiday as the brits called it. Somehow he doubted it, Alan Blunt didn't look like the type of man to lie on a sunbed rubbing suncream into his chest whilst ordering a Pina Colada. No, he looked more like the type of man who's favourite programme was The News.

"So, here we are again." Joe began, trying to inject a light and breezy tone into his voice, as what they were about to discuss was anything but, "a lot has happened in the past two days."

"Indeed it has, Deputy Director," said Blunt, his voice emotionless, "the first issue is of course Alex Rider."

Joe was surprised by this and he let it show on his face, "What about him?"

"I'm not sure he has the will nor the motivation to carry out this mission as effectively as we hoped he would." Blunt said, bluntly.

"Oh?"

"Alex only has our word to go on about the things which Anatolievich is behind, I think it would be prudent to show him a taste of what Anatolievich is capable of."

Joe sat back in his chair, "It's a bit late now Alan to show the boy photos and crime reports, if you'd-"

"We're not talking about showing the boy photos." Interjected Mrs Jones, cutting him off mid-sentence. "We have something else in mind, in fact, it's already in place."

"So what are you planning?" asked Joe interestedly, knowing these two, it was something that he probably wouldn't agree with.

"Based on reports from agents and our surveillance in Miami, Anatolievich will, at some point go against Sir David's instructions and take Alex out into the city. This is when we'll set it all up. We're going to kidnap Alex. Don't worry we won't ask your lot to do it - Interpol owes us a favour. They'll take him to the heart of one of Anatolievich's operations and he'll get to see first hand what's happening out there. Then we'll send him back to Anatolievich, saying that Friend paid the ransom, it's as simple as that."

Alarm bells were ringing in Joe's head but he wasn't sure why. Something didn't sound quite right about all this. There had to be something more. But Mrs Jones had already begun speaking again.

"On a different matter, we have new intelligence that Sir David Friend paid a visit to Alex's foster family yesterday."

Joe's eyebrows rose.

"Now we don't know how much he told them," she continued, "or even if he's broken the official secrets act but I think we need to keep an eye on the Pleasures and their movements in the next few days, especially the daughter - Sabina's. She's proved quite resourceful in the past."

"I hope you're not planning on recruiting her too." Joe murmured under his breath.

The two MI6 workers in front of him ignored him and Blunt picked off where Mrs Jones had left off, "They have also had a visit I believe, from Lieutenant Stanley."

Joe cast his mind back thinking. The name rang a bell but he wasn't sure where he'd heard it before, then he remembered.

"The chap who you sent to Baskerville?" he asked puzzled, "But he's only just arrived there! The paperwork came through this morning." Baskerville was the name of what was essentially MI6's personal prison. It was where they housed high security prisoners who would be capable of escaping pretty much anywhere else. It was where Julius Grief had been held before his transferral to their facility in Gibraltar, it was where Lieutenant Stanley had been held - until the early hours of this morning, apparently.

"Seven hours, that's how long it took for him to escape." said Mrs Jones, unabashedly. "He had help of course but still an impressive feat. He was, however shot on his way out, how he managed to get back into the U.S we don't know yet, but we do know that he turned up at the Pleasure's house sometime after 12pm. We don't think he could have told them much before he was rushed to hospital - nothing Friend didn't already tell them anyway - but it's possible that he told them about who helped him escape Baskerville."

"Ah," said Joe, slowly, he had read the report on the escape seconds before the meeting began. "oh dear."

"Precisely."

"And then there is the matter of what happens now," Blunt said, "if he goes after Alex-"

"The whole operation could be blown." Joe chimed in, nodding. "Could we warn Alex?"

"I don't think it would do much good, Deputy Director."

There was silence in the room for a full minute.

"Is the man a threat to Alex?" Joe asked quietly.

"I don't believe he means to do him any harm, no." said Mrs Jones cryptically, "But if he exposes who Alex is to Anatolievich in any way…"

Joe sat back in his chair, thinking.

"Then I say we get our best people onto finding him, Delta Force maybe? It's unlikely that they'll succeed, the only reason we caught him last time was because he was practically on the brink of death. If his reputation is anything to go by, he won't make a blunder like exposing Alex. And you never know, Alex might be the key in recapturing him again."

Mrs Jones nodded in agreement. Alan Blunt just sat there, as passive as ever.

"If we're done here then?"

They stood in unison and Joe walked them to the door.

"Goodbye," Joe said politely, "hopefully we won't be seeing each other again anytime soon."

Joe closed the door and strode back over to his desk, sitting down in the plush leather chair behind it. He closed his eyes and rubbed his aching temples. Those two really were a headache. He thought back to their plan for Alex. He hadn't had time or wanted to ask for further details, but something still seemed off about the whole thing. He pushed it away, he'd think about it later. Perhaps with a nice cup of hot chocolate. He had more important things to do now however. He picked up the phone on his desk and dialled the number for Fort Bragg. The Delta force squadron wasn't just muscle, they had brains as well as brawn and were used to this kind of man-hunt, and if he remembered correctly there was an SAS team there too. They might come in handy. He groaned inwardly, thinking about the imminent conversation with Lieutenant Carmicheal, he'd much prefered Stanley. The man picked up on the second ring.

"Hello, Lieutenant Carmicheal speaking."

"Lieutenant - listen, it's Deputy Director Joe Byrne here from the Covert Actions Division of the CIA."

"Sir, how can I help?"

"We have a job for your people and we need your very best. This operation is probably the most important you'll ever complete in your entire career. The stakes are high, higher than mount everest."

"Yes sir." Came Carmicheal's abrupt reply, "My top squadron are in the middle of an international training regime at the moment but-"

"With the SAS?" Joe cut in, "Yes, I know, pull them out of it, this operation is of vital importance. It involves a high risk prisoner who has escaped from Baskerville in the U.K so we might as well get both teams onto it. In fact, he escaped with the very man you replaced, but I don't believe they're travelling together. They're both in the States, that's all we know. I'll send someone over with the full files and everything you will need to know to catch him. He's highly trained and highly dangerous, we don't want your teams getting too close if possible."

"Yes sir." Came the swift reply again, "who's the prisoner in question?"

"I'm surprised you've not heard. It's Gregorovich, Yassen Gregorovich, and he's looking for Alex Rider."


Okay so, I'm so very very sorry. I'll try and update much quicker than I have been, and with longer, more interesting chapters.

We have some good news though folks! I have actually formulated some kind of actual plot, I know how things will kind of tie together more now and yay! things are happening in my brain. *gasp*

Sorry this one has taken ages, and that it's a tad short and I think its a little obvious near the end but eh who cares? I'm leaving the Yassen tag out cause y'know everyone loves a surprise. But considering he's everyone's favourite character (or should be) people should just really expect him to turn up in fics now right?

Also, y'know what I realised folks? I named a character Georges Harrison. :/ I swear I don't even like the Beatles that much but maybe the name just sounded good in my head and I didn't think about it until it was waay waay to late. Maybe I'll make that a thing you know. I think Mr Horowitz would be proud of that level of kinda name though. At least I hope so.

In other news, HAS ANYONE READ NIGHTSHADE YET? I LOVE IT OH MY GOD. There was 1 mistake I spotted but oh my lord this book Is actually my new favourite of the series. I know, even better than Scorpia.

If you've read it, I need someone to obsess with so please comment! I mean please comment anyway it's what fuels me and rereading some of your praise made me get off my arse and do some writing so yeah, you guys make the magic happen.

And we still don't have a release date for the TV show! Can you believe that? I'm actually going stir-crazy here also I tried that Scorpia bunker game on Anthony Horowitz's website and I'm either really fucking thick or it's really hard. Probably the former.

Also Oh my God guys I finally got round to reading The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (the 98 chapter fic) you know like the main one for this fandom and if you haven't read it, I- dude you need to. It's honestly one of the best things I've ever read. It's a little daunting at first 98 chapters and boy, they're not short either, but read it, we're in isolation what else are you gonna do? Read my shitty little fanfic? No you're gonna go read pongnosis' absolute masterpiece of a fic.

Sorry, I'm really not selling my story here am I? Oh well, just read Nightshade and read the fic. Please.

I hope everyone is well, I hope you like this chapter, and I hope that we call all get through this whole corona thing unscathed.

I love you all, please comment cause it makes my day, or night, or y'know whenever I read them. It's currently 5am here and I really should be asleep. Being back home is weird, my dad's told me to sleep twice tonight already - also it's not acceptable to eat ten hash browns in one sitting here? What madness is this?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I'm sending out all my love (which is a fair amount of love it has to be said) and I hope all of you can eat ten hash browns without getting judged. Goodnight!