The Second Train Incident
Dieter had noticed a few things about his son since the incident at Point Blank. James seemed to have withdrawn from him almost entirely. It stung a bit, but Dieter was hunting down a suitable family therapist. Clearly, something had fallen apart and he was fairly certain another boarding school was not the answer.
James was also taking a lot of trips to London. On a train. They had a perfectly good private jet. It wasn't like Dieter took enough business trips that James couldn't have the jet. What use was having money if nobody in your family was going to use it?
And Dieter only had James. He had removed his son from the mother. She had been unsuitable. Perhaps that was where he had gone wrong? In any case, it was time to send someone to investigate the situation. One of the benefits of being Dieter was that you could hire an investigator. Hell, Dieter could pay the BND to do it if he was seriously worried.
Dieter glanced at his phone. All he had to do was give the go-ahead. His son had purchased yet another train trip to London. Dieter pressed the button that sent his reply. Now all he had to do was wait. This was going to be a long day of trying to work while worrying about his son.
It was midafternoon by the time Dieter got a text.
Your son has a special friend.
Dieter felt his stomach drop slightly. The last three girls had been ghastly. He pulled up a picture of his son in another boy's arms. Well. It could be worse. At least another boy couldn't get pregnant. Perhaps he could call his father for specifics about that sort of thing. The man had certainly cheated on his mother with enough men to know how the sex acts between men should work. Then again, perhaps not.
His phone rang.
"Dad? Uh, did you hire this guy? Alex is threatening to gut him with a knife if it's not you."
Dieter pinched the bridge of his nose. Why couldn't his son find a nice, sane, person to date?
Just one. Dieter didn't even care about gender at this point. "Yes. Please tell your, ah, friend to not gut him. I will explain when you get home."
Dieter heard shuffling on the other end of the line and prayed to whatever deity would
listen that he wouldn't have to cover up a murder. That would get expensive fast.
"ALEX! MY DAD ACTUALLY SENT HIM!"
"-so what I'm hearing is that I should gut him."
Dieter inhaled. Goddamn it, James. At least the girls weren't murderers.
"ALEX, NOOO!"
"Oh, fine. He can go. I'm keeping the phone, though."
Dieter released a breath. He could pay for a phone. And for the investigator's silence. Hopefully, it wouldn't get too bad. The line clicked. Dieter let out another breath. He was tempted to bang his head against the desk. Why had he wanted a son again? Dieter was going to put it down to a fit of insanity. Now, if only he could figure out who Alex was-
Oh, Alex Rider. The boy they sent to investigate Point Blank Academy. Dieter would bet good money that it was him. James had talked about him almost non-stop for fourteen hours the second Dieter had picked him up. Perhaps he should have seen this coming. Then again, there was only so much talking about such nice innocent brown eyes he could take. James was not going to be happy with him.
The phone rang again. Dieter picked it up.
"Well, I have to give the British one props for loyalty. He didn't search my pants, though."
Oh, good. No sexual assault charges to pay off. Just regular assault charges to pay off. That made it so much better. Not. "I hope you're not too banged up."
The man snorted. Dieter hoped that was a positive sign. "Nah, it was kind of cute. I think they make a great couple."
Dieter was starting to wonder if James' brand of relationship insanity was contagious. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. "I can compensate you for the unexpected job hazards."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Please no police reports. Please no police reports. "I won't say no to more money. No hard feelings, though. It was kind of touching to see young love instead of the usual cheating and adultery."
Dieter figured an extra thousand euros sounded fair. Ah, well. Time to cut this short. "I will wire it to your account with the other half of the payment and expenses. Thank you for your time."
Dieter gently hung up the phone. He still wanted to bang his head against the desk. The urge
was less strong. This was going to be a long day. Dieter glanced at the reports his accountant had sent him and sighed. They were already overdue for his input. Could he afford a day off? Hmm. Probably but he would pay for it later.
Hopefully, James would get back soon. Intelligence agents weren't a completely horrible choice, but there were precautions that one needed to take. Like prenups. And not spilling confidential financial information. Then again, it wasn't like James had any at the moment. Dieter could just see where this went first.
BRRIIIIING!
Dieter occasionally wanted to toss his phone out of the window. That was probably James.
"You must be James' dad."
Oh, for fucks' sake. Dieter just wanted to talk to his son. That was all. He was sorry. "Yes?"
Dieter wondered what he wanted. "You know, James was very hurt that you didn't trust him. You could have just…asked."
Dieter inhaled. That was probably a valid criticism. "He wasn't speaking to me and I was worried!"
Dieter heard Alex exhale. "You're both idiots. Also, use some of that fancy money to get a family therapist. I'll try to convince James to show up. Bye!"
Dieter glared at the phone as the line went static. He could see why James liked Alex. He hadn't been spoken to like that in years. The insubordination. Ah, well. It would make the family dinners interesting. At least Alex was willing to try to help them patch up their relationship. That was something.
Fin
Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 281st work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!
