In this chapter we have a little bit of mumbo-jumbo spoken by Lacey and Alex under their gags, but there is translation available in italics beside it all and I assure you the characters understand each other perfectly well. Thanx again for all your reviews!

PS Thanks again to Fudge 1 who is still reviewing faithfully to inform you all about me telling her the entire plot of this fanfic in Biology.

Chapter 6 Welcome to the Killing Room

Lacey and Alex instinctively drew together, gripping each other's hands.

'How sweet,' Elle sneered. There was a click and the two teenagers blinked as a sudden bright white light seared down upon them. As their eyes became adjusted to it, Alex saw the customary KSR badge on Elle's chest. Lacey, however, was shocked.

'You're – you're working for the KSR?' she stuttered, completely thrown.

'Sweetheart,' Elle drawled. 'I think there's something you need to know about your spying agency. Take 'em.'

This last remark shattered Alex's concentration, as it seemed so obscure, until two strong arms gripped him tightly from the side, forcing his arms behind his back. He struggled, but something was placed over his face, and he bit down on hard, musty cloth that filled his mouth with a mouldy, dank taste. He heard a muffled gasp beside him and knew that Lacey had been taken in the same way.

'Down to the Hall,' he heard Elle say, and there was mocking danger in her voice.

The Hall was a long, dark room, lit only by the skylights through which the moonlight flowed. Lacey and Alex had been tied to chairs and left. Their two captors had melted into the dark, and Elle had left them without a word.

Alex's arms were by now so painful that he was finding it hard to keep consciousness. Lacey, beside him, seemed to be suffering the same thing. She wasn't crying, but her face had gone very pale, and she was biting down very hard on her dusty gag.

'Argh-lex?' ('Alex?')

He turned his head as much as he could and looked at her. She seemed to be gathering her strength.

'Argh'll unn-oo 'oo?' ('I'll undo you')

''Ow?' he muttered, swallowing dust. ('How?')

''Oove 'ound.' ('Move round')

'Ayy.' ('OK')

Alex shifted his chair so that it was backed against Lacey's, and felt her hands against his. She gasped at one point, as the ligaments in her arm stretched unbearably, but after what seemed like eternity he felt his hands loosen, and he brought them back to his sides with an amazing sense of relief.

''Ee now?' ('Me now?')

Alex shook off his gag. 'Of course.'

He undid her. She got up slowly, and reached into the back pocket of her jeans, and drew out a small, square iPod.

Alex gazed at her in amazement, but she simply pressed the ON button and passed it around the room.

'A scanning device?' he breathed.

'Of course.' She bent over it, and then drew back with a sharp intake of breath.

'What's that?'

On the screen of the iPod he saw that same blinking, inexplicable red square. He pointed at it.

'What does that mean?'

She turned wide, horrified eyes up at him. 'That's the symbol for bullet vents.'

'Bullet vents?' Alex said, dreading the answer.

'It's what assassination organisations use for mass killings.' Lacey choked. She gathered herself together. Her face was pale, but set. 'Basically it shoots bullets from holes in the walls.' Her hand clutched for his. 'Come on, Alex, we have to go!'

'Wait – Lacey – there's something you have to know –'

'I cannot believe the KSR are behind this,' Lacey said stoutly. 'That's like saying MI6 is working with some terrorist organisation. This has got to be some breakaway unit. We have to warn HQ.'

She began to run, dragging Alex behind her. He struggled to talk, to warn her of the impending danger. KSR were behind this, all of them, every single one, and they were trapped, like sheep in the slaughter house. But the stressful night had taken its toll on him. His arms were aching and he was directing all of his leftover strength into his pounding, screaming leg muscles.

From an observation room, in front of a wall of cameras, Elle Vaughan chuckled and lit a cigarette up. She blew a cloud of evil-smelling smoke into the face of one of her henchmen.

'Of course, they were going to escape. And now it's crunch time. Now it's time to see if they're suitable for recruitment.'

The henchman choked back his smoky cough and nodded stonily. 'Of course, ma'am.'

Elle scowled at him. She peered back at the screen, and fingered the KSR badge on her chest.

'HQ would like to know the progress report. They've shown themselves to be remarkably resourceful and determined. I'm sure they'll get a glowing report once this evening's done.'

'And then?' the henchman asked stiffly.

'Then they'll go through the same course as you did.'

The henchman flinched involuntarily.

The corridor outside the hall was cool and dark. Lacey and Alex peered around suspiciously. It was too empty; too calm. Surely Elle would have left a guard.

'Watch out,' Alex warned. His knees were already bent in a Taekwondo preparation stance, but seemingly it was not needed. The corridor was, indeed, deserted.

As their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they noticed it was very long, surprisingly long for a corridor. It must stretch the whole length of the building. At the end was a hatchway, of the kind you get in bowling alleys that come down over the skittles, but about three times bigger. Alex glanced at it for a moment, and then peered along the smooth metal walls of the corridor.

Metal walls? Why would a corridor have metal walls?

He peered back at the hatchway. Surely it had been shut a few seconds ago?

Lacey was squinting back through the gloom at the doorway behind them. Alex looked at her, and then back again at the hatchway.

It was fully open. In a matter of three seconds, it had opened smoothly and quietly.

Alex gripped Lacey's hand.

'Lacey …'

He saw the first crate as it rolled above the level of the hatchway and came careering towards them. It was shaped like a baked bean can, and stretched the width of a third of the corridor, and Alex could see by the speed it was travelling that it was very, very heavy.

He flung Lacey to one side, and the crate rolled past smoothly, a whiff of death on the wind. Lacey gasped and pointed, and Alex saw that another hatchway had risen up behind them. This had been planned. They were playing with them, like a cat with a couple of mice.

He saw the next crate coming down the centre of the corridor. The two of them split apart and threw themselves flat against the walls as the crate came past, but the walls were hot, suddenly and inexplicably burning. Alex heard Lacey yelp with pain, and he bit back his own cry. They careered drunkenly into each other as the crate disappeared, and Alex felt Lacey dragging him with all her strength to the other side of the corridor as yet another crate rolled past.

'I can't do this,' he gasped. 'Lacey – I can't –'

'You can!' she snarled, her fingernails biting into his wrist. This sharp, unnecessary pain on top of the dull ache of his limbs and the burn on his right hand and arm brought him back to earth.

'Listen, Lacey –'

They leapt apart as another crate came rolling towards them.

'It's electronically powered. There's a switch! By the hatchway!' Lacey shrieked over the terrible grinding sounds of the crates rolling.

Then they saw it. Out of the hatchway rolled a crate that was the width of the corridor exactly. There was no escape.

'Lacey! Lacey, can you get over it?'

'Are you mad?' she screamed back.

He grabbed her. The roll was getting louder, the metallic burning smell reaching his nostrils. He yelled, the heat getting unbearable, Lacey's hair in his mouth:

'I'm going to throw you! It's the only way!'

He braced his muscles and felt Lacey's feet tense and push off from his body. He couldn't see if she'd gone over the crate. He couldn't see anything, except that great, huge, rolling hulk of death careering towards him. He began to stumble backwards. He wasn't going quickly enough. He was going to die. This was it. After everything, this was the end.

And then magically, slowly and surely, the crate ground to a halt in front of him. The heat lessened and Alex took three huge, deep, thankful breaths of cool air. From behind the crate he heard Lacey's voice yell.

'Alex – Alex, are you alright?'

'Yes!' he croaked back.

He scrambled up to the crate. It was studded all over with evil-looking spikes. He touched one. It was still hot, but bearable.

'Coming over!'

He wrapped his hands in his T-shirt and began to climb.

In the observation room, Elle Vaughan whistled.

'For a moment then I didn't think they'd make it. That boy's going to have some bad blisters. I wouldn't climb those spikes.'

The henchman muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Hypocrite.'

Alex's hands were burning by the time he reached the top of the crate, but he dared not go very fast because of the spikes. He thanked his trainers for their thick soles.

He saw Lacey's face swimming below him, caked with dirt and blood and streaked with sweat. Thankfully, he leapt down to join her.

She touched his arm, a brief gesture of gratefulness. Then she turned to the matter at hand.

'How do we get out?'

'The hatchway.'

'You think?'

'No other way.'

They set off towards the hatchway. It was still half open, and seemed to be stuck there. Lacey wormed her way underneath without hesitation, and Alex followed suite. They found themselves on the brink of a dark hole. Alex had a suspicion that it led down into a large storage container full of those murderous spike-covered crates. He slipped a penlight from his pocket and shone it beyond the hole.

'I think there's a corridor beyond there.'

'Can we jump?'

This was what Alex liked about Lacey. She was always ready, undaunting, daring and full of her lithe power.

'I think so.'

He passed the penlight to Lacey, and attempted to rub a little of the feeling back into his legs. Then he prepared himself and sprang.

He hit firm ground and had prepared himself well. Before him he could just about see Lacey's face, her cheeks hollow in the light of the penlight.

'It's OK,' he called back.

She arrived sooner than he expected, and he heard a little gasp from her before she backed and nearly toppled over the edge of the hole. He grabbed her, and she clung to him for a second, shaking.

'OK?' he said gently.

'Never been better,' she said, disengaging herself and gazing into the darkness stretching out before them.

They set off. It was hard going. They walked slowly for fear of other holes, and the darkness and the heat was oppressive. In a games hall, a corridor with metalled walls and such a long, enclosed corridor would have been inexplicable, but the two of them had long ago stopped thinking it was a games hall.

Alex could feel Lacey suppressing a shiver beside him. Apparently, it would seem she was more afraid of this tight, breathless corridor than she'd ever been perched on the edge of the roof or swinging from a branch several metres above the ground.

He began to talk, to ease the silence.

'So – how long have you been here in Kentucky?'

'My whole life,' she said, with a deep sigh. 'But – I don't know. I doubt I'll stay here now. I've got nothing here now. Mila's dead. My brother's gone to the army. I guess I'll be sent to my cousins in London.'

Did he feel a slight thrill, even now, in the seriousness of their situation, at her words?

'I live in London.'

'I know,' she said softly. He saw the damp reflection of her eyes for a second. Then her voice said through the darkness, 'Have you ever had any relationships?'

He knew exactly what she meant.

'Well – one. I'm not even sure if it was a serious one.'

'Who was the girl?'

'Her name was Sabina Pleasure.'

He heard her snort. 'Sounds like a porn star. No offence or anything. You still – you know – going out?'

'I don't think so. I haven't seen her for months and besides, it was never official.'

The air was becoming less oppressive. Alex reached out two hands and found he couldn't touch the sides of the tunnel any longer.

'I think it's widening up. How about you?'

'I had one boyfriend three years ago.'

He sensed it was a delicate subject, and so he didn't probe.

Lacey took a breath. She opened her mouth, about to say something, but suddenly there was cold steel pressed to her temple.

'All right, kids. The fairytale is up,' Elle Vaughan's voice said, and a glaring white light switched on.

The two of them glanced around their surroundings. They were back in the hall with the bullet vents. Alex's heart sank. Of course. There were cameras everywhere. No doubt Elle had been watching their every move, including their near death experiences in the corridor.

'Tie them up,' Elle instructed, out of the corner of her mouth.

The two of them were too exhausted to offer any sort of fight. They succumbed to the sharp pain of their arms being wrenched back and tied at the wrists.

Elle showed no signs of leaving them, but her two bodyguards, as soon as they had done with the rope, threw her their pistols and left. She picked up the first of them and played menacingly with it for a few moments, squeezing the trigger back tantalizingly close to Lacey's skull. Lacey, Alex was pleased to note, did not flinch. Instead she gazed back steadily at Elle. After a while, Elle appeared to become uncomfortable, and dropped the pistol.

'So, Ms Andrews. Or should I say Anders? Are you enjoying your little stay with us here? I must say I didn't think you two would be out on the first night. But then again, you are MI6 trained, aren't you?'

Elle shot this at Alex, and spat precisely at his trainered foot. He moved it unhurriedly out of the way and looked back at Elle with cold disgust.

She shifted, uncomfortable now that these two teenagers were not weeping to be let free.

'I suppose, Ms Anders, you'd like me to explain this?'

She pointed at the KSR badge on her chest.

'If you would,' Lacey said indifferently.

'I'm afraid your little spying agency is actually just a cover-up for our real activities.'

Lacey's eyes bulged, but she didn't say anything.

Elle put her face very close to Lacey's. Lacey recoiled from the layer of grease under her make-up.

'Do you want to know how your sister died?'

Lacey's face stiffened.

'She worked for us. She was the best spy we'd ever had, until one day she found out just exactly what the KSR is, but not until she'd signed a contract giving you and your brother over into the care of the KSR, putting you on contract to work for us for the next twenty years.'

'My sister would never have done that,' Lacey said through clenched teeth.

'Oh, she had to. There was no money for you otherwise. Don't you remember how you rejected the care of your cousins and instead decided to live independently in that huge, neglected house of yours with only a girl barely seventeen to care for you?'

'And what does the KSR do?' Alex asked. He could see that Lacey had gone very pale. Her eyes were nearly colourless now, and her lips were almost grey.

'Mr Rider,' Elle purred. 'Haven't you worked that out yet?'

'You're some sort of killing agency,' Lacey broke in. 'This school is your training headquarters. That corridor we were in is one of the training exercises. This room is where you either train or kill people, considering the bullet vents. This is where you train people to be murderers.'

'You're quite right, of course,' Elle said, smiling wolfishly. 'Clever girl. The KSR is the national assassination network. And this school is our recruitment outback.'

'But why exactly did you want us to come here?' Alex demanded. 'Since it was you who organised the whole 'computer theft' thing I presume you want us for some reason. What is it?'

Lacey turned bleak, wide eyes on him. 'Alex – don't you see? They want to recruit us to be killers. Otherwise they'll kill us.'

'You've already shown yourselves to be both brave and resourceful. In fact, it was Ms Anders that we were planning on recruiting, but since the Kentucky Police refused to give us a warrant so that Lacey could enter the Rosary School as a legal spy we had to bring you along too to satisfy them, and let me say, you are a great asset. Ms Anders would be dead if it wasn't –'

'What about my parents?' Lacey cut in. 'Did you kill them too?'

'Your family are saints,' Elle snapped. 'They refused to work for us when we showed our true colours … and so they had to go.'

Lacey swallowed painfully.

'And what about you, Ms Anders?' her voice was soft now, soft and dangerous and full of acid poison. 'Are you going to die the same death as your parents, or are you going to join with us?'

Lacey drew herself up, and hardened her face, but Alex had just had a sudden inspiration. If they could only convince Elle that they would be loyal workers for the KSR, then they would have much more of a chance of escape.

'I'll do it,' he cut in.

Lacey turned and directed such a look of betrayal at him that he almost wavered, but he glanced at her for a second and she understood, or at least appeared to. She slumped, looking exhausted.

'All right. I will, too.'

'Good.'

Elle was pleased. The two were so exhausted by now that they would have agreed to anything, but she was sure she'd done well. They'd done enough for tonight. They could go to their beds.

'I'm glad you two have decided to play nicely,' Elle said. Perhaps she almost thought, then, if it was really sensible to let them go, but the arrival of her henchmen just when she was undoing the ropes cinched it.

'Miss Vaughan,' one of them said, 'do you really think this is sensible –'

'Whether it is sensible or not is up to me, Jameson,' Elle snarled, straightening up, 'and besides, it's Ms. Go back to bed, the two of you. I'll take these two back myself.'

The henchmen left the room, muttering. That was when Lacey karate-chopped the back of Elle's neck.