Chapter Three

Elle sat in her very comfortable desk chair, turned to face the large monitor, where Wes' oversized head was displayed as she spoke.

"Charlie was right. After reviewing the security footage of the past week, we were able to pinpoint exactly when the switch was made. We've narrowed it down to four suspects. Two of them are employees at the facility, one is a contractor, and the fourth we haven't identified yet, but with that scar, he should be easy to find." She sent Wes the image of the unidentified man.

Wes nodded. "I'll have Trent hack the international databases and see what he can find. Anything else?"

She nodded. "Charlie told me that he doesn't think they stole the nucleic acid to make a virus. They wouldn't need to have stolen so much for that."

"Then what does he think they want with it?"

"It was actually Alex who came up with the possibility that they are trying to clone people."

Wes frowned. "I didn't think that was possible."

Elle shrugged. "Neither did I, but apparently it has been done before. Someone anonymously sent a file directly to my email with the details of a place called Point Blanc. It was an MI6 file."

"Where is Alex now?"

"He said something about meeting a friend about keeping tabs on Prince Wilhelm. I'm still looking into getting someone close to the crown Prince."

"Don't worry about that, I have it covered," Wes said, a smile reaching his face briefly. "Alex isn't the only one to have friends in useful places. Keep me informed, especially if Tara is able to get anything more useful from Siren's last transmission."

"Will do, sir."

…

Alex fought the urge to check the time once again, wondering if he was going to be stood up, when he spotted the older man enter the tea shop, an almost sour expression on his face when he spotted Alex.

"If you are going to ask me to help you track down Alan Blunt again, you can forget it," Sir David said by way of greeting as he sat down across from Alex. "That man is dangerous, and you should just stay away from him."

Alex shook his head. "Hello, 'dad,' it's good to see you too. And no, I'm not looking for Blunt. He is the one who should be staying away from me."

That got the other man's interest, Alex could tell, but before the older man could ask, Alex continued. "What do you know of Hillerska Boarding School in Sweden?"

Sir David raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I know anything about it?"

Alex sat back in his seat as the server brought out the tea cart, setting a pot of tea and a tower of snacks on the table between the two of them. He waited until they finished and left before answering. "The last time I visited your home, there was a letter addressed to the school. It was a fake referral letter for a pair of students, supposedly from the dean of another school, recommending they take on the brother and sister, based on intellectual achievement and a need for an educational environment safe from bullying due to aspergers."

The older man sighed before pouring himself a cup of tea. "A payment for services rendered," was his only reply.

"Are you aware that Prince Wilhelm of Sweden has enrolled there this week?"

Something in the man's expression indicated to Alex that he was aware of the situation. "If you are implying that I sent someone into the school to get to the prince, then I should point out that Simon and his sister have been there for over a month, and there was no way I could have known the prince would be attending…"

Alex cut him off. "Actually, no, I wasn't implying anything of the sort. As a matter of fact, I need a favor. I have it on good authority that the prince may be in danger, and I need someone to keep an eye on him. If you already have someone in the school, then there would be no need for me to go there myself."

Sir David studied him critically for a few moments. "You want his contact information?"

"It would save me having to break into your office, or have Kyra hack your files."

The older man rolled his eyes. "Fine. But from now on, leave me out of your plans."

Alex smirked. "Okay, 'dad.'"

…

Charlie shuffled his feet nervously as he waited in the training facility. Elle had told him that part of being an agent involved weapons training, as well as hand to hand, and that she had assigned an older agent to instruct him. In exchange, he was to help the agent with his maths skills. So here he was, waiting for someone to come and humiliate him by wiping the floor with him as he flailed around, trying to defend himself.

His heart was racing so hard, he didn't hear someone entering the training center.

"Hi," Nick Nelson said.

Charlie squeaked in surprise, spinning to face him. "Nick! H-hi."

Nick smiled at him warmly. "Welcome to the agency, Charlie."

Charlie felt a flutter in his stomach. Nick Nelson knew his name. Of course Truham's Rugby King would be an agent. "Thanks."

"Elle asked me to give you an introduction to hand to hand. The first thing you need to learn is how to take a fall." He led Charlie to the mats. "There are a few different safe ways to fall, depending on the attack. I'll demonstrate each one for you. The first one is called a break-fall. I want you to tackle me straight on."

Charlie almost choked. "You want me to tackle you?"

Nick laughed slightly. "It's the best way to demonstrate. Come on, Charlie. Where's your can do attitude?"

"Oh, she left, a while ago."

Nick laughed again, and motioned for Charlie to come at him.

"I'm so dead," Charlie muttered softly, before running at the larger boy and tackling him low. Nick fell backwards, landing on his backside, as his hands smacked the mat at his side, a little oomph escaping him. "Sorry," Charlie muttered.

"No, no," Nick said reassuringly. "That was actually quite good. Perfect even. Did you notice how I landed? Hands a bit out to the side, and smacking the mat when I hit?"

Charlie hadn't really, he'd been too busy freaking out over being so close to Nick Nelson. Rather than admitting that though, he just nodded.

Nick smiled again. He always seemed to smile, and it really brightened up a room. "Let me show you what it looks like without being tackled, and then you can give it a try, okay? Watch me."

Charlie watched the motion a couple of times, understanding the mechanics of the action. "So, basically the hands act as shock absorbers, right?" he asked.

"Yes! Exactly!" Nick said with pride. "Now it's your turn."

The first attempt was only slightly awkward, as Charlie landed more on his butt than his back, but with a little encouragement from Nick, the second attempt went much better, and after the tenth, Charlie had the motion down pat.

"Excellent! Now let's try it with me tackling you."

Charlie frowned. "I don't know about that. Aren't I a bit small and weak for that?"

That made Nick frown slightly. "It's only practice, Charlie. I won't tackle you at full force."

"Oh, so you are saying I am small and weak!"

"What? No! That's not what I-" Nick stopped babbling when Charlie let out a little laugh at the ridiculous face Nick had made.

"I'm kidding!" Charlie said, laughing harder, and Nick couldn't help laughing too.

"Come on," Nick said, indicating for Charlie to get into position, and then charged towards him. Charlie braced himself, and executed a perfect break-fall, grunting as Nick's full weight landed on him. Both boys just lay there laughing for a moment.

"Good job!" Nick praised him. "Next we'll work on shoulder rolls and…"

Whatever Nick was going to say was cut off by the arrival of Tao. "Elle wants everyone in the strategy room, now."

"What's up?" Nick asked.

"Tara was able to clear up a little more of that recording Wes sent us." From the tone of his voice, Charlie didn't think it was good news.

…

Alex had nearly made it back to the G.A.Y.A.S.F. headquarters when his phone rang. A small smile played across his usually stoic face when he saw the caller ID; K7.

"Kyra! Thanks for sending that file for me."

"No need to thank me, especially when you hear what I have to say."

The smile faded, and Alex halted his footsteps. "What's wrong?"

"You know I keep a backdoor on the MI6 computers so I can keep tabs for you. I have it rigged to alert me if MI6 discovers it, or if someone else tries to use it. Someone did. I traced them, but they bounced it off three dozen different routers, including one at the same ISP as the email you had me send that file to."

"Shit," Alex said. "Were they looking for info on me?"

She paused before answering. "Not exactly. They were searching MI6's facial recognition database."

Alex was confused. "Why should that concern me? Unless it was my face they were searching for?"

"No. It was Gregorovitch."

Alex's blood froze in his veins.

…

Kurt listened as Tara played the recording on a loop.

"Transponder damag…Crim…Mongoose on the move. (words garbled). Gemini Virus… Repla…and assassi…prince…Swede…weap…mass disburs…Will rep…further when possible."

"This was the best I could do with what I had to work with," the beautiful dark skinned girl said. Tara Jones was sixteen, and had a keen ear, which was why she was the top communications and intel agent they had, with the possible exception of Jeff Sterling, the US communications and intel agent, and stealer of McQueen scarves.

"It's not a lot more to go on, but it does give us a starting point," Wes said from the monitor. David, Trent, Jeff, and Nick Duvall, who designed specialized gadgets for use in the field, were all there with Wes as well, sitting around a large conference table. On the UK side of the video conference, Kurt was seated at a similar table with Blaine, Elle, Tao, Tara, Nick Nelson, Charlie Spring, Isaac Henderson, the agency's top surveillance operative, and Darcy Olsson, who specialized in creating concealed weapons.

"What is the Gemini virus?" Blaine asked.

"No idea," David said. "We were hoping Charlie might be able to clue us in."

Charlie frowned at the mention of his name. "I've never heard of it before, but the fact that it is a virus has me reconsidering my thoughts on the theft, assuming the two incidents are related. Perhaps they were creating a virus after all. I just don't understand why they needed so much nucleic acid."

"What about the four suspects?" Wes asked.

Tao picked up a file folder that had been sitting in front of him. "We've cleared the two lab employees. The contractor does have a small criminal background, mostly for public intoxication, instigating a fight in a pub, and carrying a concealed weapon, but nothing that would indicate his involvement in something on this scale."

"What about the fourth suspect?" Wes asked, as Elle brought the picture up on the side of the screen. "Have you IDed him yet?"

"Yassen Gregorovitch." The voice came from the doorway, where Alex stood, looking grim. "He was an assassin who worked for a terrorist organization known as Scorpia."

"Was?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, well, considering I watched him die, I'm a bit surprised to see him up and walking around. Though I'm not sure why that surprises me, since his body disappeared minutes later."

Kurt could tell there was more to the story, but didn't think Alex was inclined to tell it. The boy didn't trust them yet.

"Why did you come back?" he asked.

Alex glanced his way. "I have some information for you. A contact at Hillerska. I'm willing to work with you for now, because we seem to be working towards the same goal. One caveat, though. When the mission is over, I want MI6 to leave me alone. I know you have no control over them, but I'm sure you can find a way of convincing them that coming near me again would be an error in judgment on their part."

Kurt glanced at Elle and Wes, both of whom nodded in agreement. Kurt was the first to approach the boy. "Welcome aboard, Alex Rider, no middle name."

…

Wille was so frustrated as he sat in class. He hated not being allowed to participate in the discussion, per his mother's orders. He was forbidden from discussing anything remotely political with anyone, not even the teacher of the Government class, despite having a very strong opinion on this particular topic.

"My father's estate can barely make ends meet because of the taxes," Henry said, which made Wilhelm want to snort. The boy made it sound like they were struggling to put food on the table, while he sat there in brand new two thousand kr shoes, attending a boarding school where the tuition was twice the annual salary of an average middle class worker.

Someone did snort derisively, and Wille glanced at the boy with raven's wing hair and cafe au lait skin.

"Simon, do you have something to say?" The teacher asked.

"It's such a weird question. Why is it called tax 'evasion,' but welfare 'scam?' It's alright when rich people cheat, but when poor people do it it's messed up?" Wille wanted to smile at the other boy's words as he delivered the smack down he wished he could give. "For rich people it's not even called 'welfare,' it's called 'deduction.'" He turned in his seat and faced Walter and Henry. "Like your dad for instance, how much EU subsidies does he get?"

"What the fuck does your dad do?" Walter retorted, and the teacher admonished him for swearing.

Simon shrugged. "Well, we know who this country's biggest welfare receivers are." He turned and looked at the two boys again as he said it. The teacher shushed him, but Wille wanted to applaud him.

Yes, his family was one of the wealthiest in the country, but he was aware that that wealth came at an expense to the working class. It was another thing he and his mother disagreed on. Wille knew the chances of him becoming king one day were slim, being the spare heir, but he hoped that if, god forbid, he did become the ruler of the country, he would be able to make things more balanced for everyone.

…

Simon was used to being ignored as he ate his lunch with the arrogant boarders. Generally he just ate his lunch in silence and got out of there as quickly as possible. So he was surprised when Prince Wilhelm sat across from him, and smiled.

"I didn't know you belonged to Forest Ridge," the prince said.

Simon shrugged. "Well, I don't."

"But you're eating with us."

"We non-residents need to eat somewhere," Simon said, punctuating his statement by taking another bite.

That seemed to make the prince squirm a bit in his seat, as if he realized he'd said something a little rude, and he blushed slightly, which Simon had to admit was kind of cute.

"Um, we haven't been introduced," the prince said, sounding a little nervous. "I'm Wilhelm."

Simon couldn't help the little smile that twitched his lips. Wilhelm was just so adorable when he was nervous. It wasn't like everyone in the country didn't already know him. "Simon," he said, offering his name.

"I liked what you said in there, Simon," Wilhelm said, almost sounding shy. "Well said."

This actually surprised Simon, who wasn't exactly sure how to reply. "Okay. Why didn't you say anything?"

He glanced briefly at the other boy, who suddenly looked uncomfortable, unable to look at him. "Cause I'm not…" he paused to clear his throat, staring down at his plate. "I'm not allowed to speak on political issues."

Simon might have pressed the prince further, but August interrupted them, calling Wille away to join him at the head of the table. Simon finished his lunch, and then headed to the choir room for practice. He paused outside the door when his phone signaled an incoming text.

It came from an unlisted number, which usually meant one thing. Another job for Sir David.

Meet at the Pizzeria in Bjarstad at sixteen hundred.

Simon frowned. Sir David rarely came to Bjarstad, and when he did, they never met in public. Should he go, he wondered? After deliberating through the rest of his classes, curiosity got the better of him.

…

Alex took a sip of his cola as he watched the door. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the two teenage boys seated a couple of tables over, laughing over some shared joke as they ate their pizza. There weren't many other people in the pizzeria at that time of afternoon, surprisingly. A family of four at one table, a male in his twenties waiting by the counter, most likely there to pick up a to-go pie, a dozen teenage girls in soccer uniforms, obviously carb loading before a game, and two waitresses chatting as they cleaned tables.

Alex watched as one of the girls from the soccer team stood and walked over to the table where the two boys sat, and smiled at the darker haired boy. She said something to him in Swedish, which caused him to blush and stammer a response that had the other girls giggling.

His attention returned to the door when the bell over it jingled as someone entered. Alex sized up the boy as he stood by the door, glancing around. Simon Eriksson was slightly below average height, but not by much. He was slenderly built, and even straight as an arrow Alex could see how attractive he was. Jack would probably say he had the face of an angel and the body of a sinner.

When Simon looked his way, Alex indicated the seat across from him. Frowning, the boy joined him cautiously.

"I hope you don't mind, I already ordered for us," Alex said in English.

Simon didn't respond right away. "Who are you?" He spoke in Swedish.

"A Friend." The joke made Alex smile slightly. Alex had posed as Sir David's rebellious son in order to get into Point Blanc to find out exactly what was going on at the private boarding school in the Alps. He'd literally been Alex Friend. A. Friend.

Simon frowned, and Alex sighed, and replied in Spanish. Alex understood Swedish, but didn't speak it well enough to be comfortable having a conversation. "Sir David said you could be trusted."

Rather than reassuring the younger boy, this seemed to make him a little more wary of him. "What do you want?" Simon asked, also speaking Spanish now.

"You attend Hillerska boarding school, where Prince Wilhelm currently is enrolled, yes?" For a moment he thought Simon was going to get up and walk away, and hurried to add. "We have reason to believe his life may be in danger, and we need someone on the inside we can trust to keep an eye on him."

They just stared at each other for a moment, and then a female voice interrupted them. "Are you okay, Simon?" one of the girls from the soccer team asked as she approached the table.

The dark haired boy smiled at her. "I'm okay, Rosh. I arranged for a tutor in maths. We were just getting to know each other."

Alex smiled at her. "Hi," he offered her a handshake. "I'm Alex Friend." The alias slipped from his tongue with ease. He saw Simon's questioning glance before the other boy turned back to his friend.

"I asked him to meet me here instead of at the school. No reason to give those snobs more reason to look down their noses at me."

She studied Simon's face for a moment, before nodding. "I'll see you at the game later?"

"Of course! Ayub and I are going to throw things at the opposing team's fans," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

She laughed. "Okay, just don't get caught!" She hugged her friend before going back to her teammates.

There was another silent moment before either of the two boys spoke. "So, Alex 'Friend,' is it?"

"You already know the answer to that, don't you?"

"Who are you?"

"You can just call me Alex. Sir David will vouch for me if you want to call him. All I'm doing is trying to protect the prince."

Simon sat back as one of the waitresses brought out their pizza. He didn't move after she left. "You just want me to keep an eye on the prince? And what am I supposed to do if someone tries to attack him? I wouldn't be much help. Or are you or one of your other two friends there going to rush in and save the day?" He nodded his head to the two boys a few tables over.

Alex didn't even turn his head. "What makes you think they're with me?"

Simon smiled at him for the first time. "This is Bjarstad. I've lived here all my life. Everyone knows everyone here."

That actually made Alex laugh a little. "Eat your pizza. We'll talk more afterwards."

Simon looked at the pizza and grimaced. "There's anchovies on the pizza. I hate anchovies."

"So do I," Alex said, picking up a slice and beginning to pick the tiny fish off.

"Then why did you order them?" Simon asked, doing the same.

"It was a test." Alex smiled and raised his anchovy-free slice. "To making new friends."