Chapter Eleven

Making up for missed time

Alex had been betrayed by everyone he knew, even his mother, he had been tortured and Scorpia were about to kill him and yet he felt the happiest and calmest he ever had. He had got to spend some time with his father, the one person that he could rely on to be there for him as long as it was possible. No-one could possibly understand how Alex felt as he sat next to John Rider, he couldn't feel the pain coursing through his body, it was him and his dad and that was all that was all that mattered to him!

Alex had missed out on so much never knowing his father, having to listen to all the lies everyone wanted him to believe but now things were changing, he was getting to know the truth, getting to know the parent he had never had.

As soon as he had gained consciousness the two had talked continually. About small things at first, football, John had wanted to know who was at the top of the league table and Alex happy to tell him about it. But soon their conversations had begun to progress. How are you getting on at school? Until they finally got on to the subject they knew would come around sooner or later.

"Ian should be looking after you, that was the arrangement; if anything happened to me your uncle would become your legal guardian. I know that he would never back out of our agreement and if he was looking after you, you wouldn't be here. You were not to get involved with MI6! What has happened to him, Alex?" Of course, John Rider knew what the answer would be, it was inevitable in the spy business for your time to come too early, he was just looking for confirmation. He soon got it.

"He's dead, that's how I started working for MI6, I didn't believe the story they gave me about a simple car accident, they said he wasn't wearing a seatbelt but I knew that wasn't true. If there was one thing he was obsessed about it was safety, he was always reminding me to put my seatbelt on. I started to find out the truth, it wasn't that difficult to find his car, I saw the bullets in the metalwork on the driver's side, the burst tyre and cracked windscreen and I knew it hadn't been any crash. The next day I was asked to go to the royal and general, I broke into Ian's office, from then on I knew he had been no banker. "Alex paused for a moment, his heart pounding. He had got carried away as he relived the days that had changed him forever, the days that had put him on a path that was about to get him killed. "Ian trained me well and I suppose Blunt just couldn't let a bargain pass him by. They used me, Dad!" Dad, It sounded unnatural coming from his mouth, he had never called anyone dad and to start after fourteen was something that would take some time to get used to.

Later, when Alex had fallen asleep, his head resting on his father's lap, John still lay awake thinking. There had been seven brothers, their mother had always laughed that she was well blessed having to look after six boys. A smile snuck across John's face as he thought about his mother, running around after the seven children as the pushed each other and bounced up and down on the big double bed. It was amazing that she had any amount of control over her children at all, even as kids they had pretended to be spies, fighting over who got to be James Bond, whether they worked for MI6 or the FBI, they had wreaked havoc and yet she had still loved them all.

And then they had all grown up and become real spies working for MI6, they had always been known as the secret seven but now after Ian's death there were only three left, three brothers united by blood but, after what Alex had been saying, not in nature.

They had all changed their surnames when they joined MI6, only two keeping the original name of rider; it was safer that way. Family can be used against you in the spy business. It had been funny when the bothers had chosen the new surnames for each other; they had made the names portray their personalities. It had made them all sound like the seven dwarfs. John made a mental list of the brother's names, laughing inside as he thought of them, and all the great times they had spent together.

Kevin Disorg – Disorganised, they had had to shorten it slightly you could hardly have a surname like disorganized could you. They had laughed at how he would have to ask an opponent to wait while he found his gun.

Matthew Smile – He had been the optimist of the seven, always happy and willing to do anything to help someone. He had made a funny spy, always seeing the best in people, always giving them another chance.

Nick Merchant – The joker, the wind-up-merchant. The tricks he had played, especially on Alan. Once Nick had made a mini vandegraaf machine from a portable fan which he had placed in his backpack and had shocked anyone he touched. That had been his other talent, he was forever creating new inventions or hacking into computers, anything electrical or technological and he was excellent at it.

Ian Rider- He had always had a level-headedness about him, always calm no matter what situation he was in. Always trustworthy. That was why John had chosen him to look after Alex but now he had gone just like Kevin, Nick ad Matthew. The true brothers had been parted forever.

And then it came to Alan Blunt and Adam Cold, both named for their lack of emotion and never beat around the bush style. Out of the seven brothers they had been the odd ones out, not easy going and laid back like the others but high-wired and always official, almost clinical. It had bee no surprise when Alan had been made the head of MI6. As the brothers had grown up a barrier had grown between Blunt and Cold and the other brothers. As John thought about the two he felt the anger rise within him like a flame, they had used his son for their own means, had sacrificed Alex so they could live. John made a vow that they would regret their actions but he was not optimistic. First he would need to escape and Alex came before any act of revenge. He needed a plan, thankfully he had had thirteen years to devise one and now thanks to the arrival of Alex it was about time his ideas were put into action.

A/N Hi sorry it has taken so long to update I have been on holiday and have had to rush this chapter, hence I am not happy with it Not enough action for me and I do not like the descriptions of the brothers it's just that I intend to make them important later in the story. Please review! I'm addicted to the damn tings.