Disclaimer: Still posting this here, so I still don't own Alex Rider. Or Wolf. Or Snake. Or Eagle. Or Fox. Or Jack. Or MI6 (although that must be an interesting investment).

Poor Jack had been nearly hysterical when Alex returned home at four in the morning (after leaving at eleven thirty without an explanation) to tell her that he was going on a mission to Colombia.

The situation was made increasingly awkward by the fact that his sometimes-unit was still tagging along.

Although Alex did get a chance to run upstairs and pack a few things when Snake tried to pry the sobbing housekeep off of Cub, and she ended up latched on to him, crying onto his shoulder.

To the man's credit, he took it pretty well.

Upstairs in his room, Alex allowed himself a moment to pause and try to start absorbing what was happening.

Not that MI6's missions ever came with fair notice, but a midnight trip to a Colombian conflict zone? This was a little much, even for MI6.A

He'd had plans to go to the movies with Tom the next afternoon. Hopefully Jack would remember to call and cancel for him, so that poor Tom didn't panic.

Although, by now, he had to be used to Alex disappearing.

Alex couldn't help but think that he may be really disappearing this time, too. Plenty of people disappeared in Colombia, and most of them had nothing to do with the FARC.

Alex was walking right into the middle of it.

And even though he would rather be bitten by every mosquito in the Colombian jungle that he was about to find himself hiking through, the only reason he wasn't panicking was the fact that Wolf, Eagle, Snake, and Fox were going to be with him.

Of course, the gadgets that Smithers had given him were helping a bit also.

This time Alex had been presented with a innocent-looking compass (which didn't actually work) that doubled as a GPS tracking system, which would send their coordinates to MI6. This was the key to their whole mission. When they found the FARC base, Alex was supposed to open the compass, and spin the dial like a combination lock. The code was N, then counter-clockwise to WNW, then clockwise to SSE, then counter-clockwise to E, then clockwise to WSW.

He also received two cans of bug spray. One was simple, if not unusually strong, bug spray. The other changed depending on how you bent the nozzle. If you twisted it to the right, it was tear gas. If you bent the nozzle back, then pushed it in, it was a stun grenade with a fifteen second fuse.

The SAS operatives all had similar gadgets. They'd also received an ingenious box that, when sent through airport security would appear to hold cameras. Even on the x-ray machines. But, it was in fact holding the soldiers's guns.

As usual, Alex wasn't getting a gun.

And all five operatives had received travel clothes. All bullet-proof, thankfully. Smithers and his underlings had worked hard to make clothes that were military grade (aka combat worthy) without making the users look like soldiers.

Now all Alex had to do was throw a bag together with things to do on the twelve hour flight. Of course, he planned on sleeping through the whole things, but there were a few objects he wanted to bring with him.

Mostly, though, he'd just wanted a few minutes alone before they left. Honestly, SAS operatives or not, Colombian guerillas were serious shit, and Alex was planning on being incredibly stressed and on edge for the next two weeks.

And after that he was almost sure he'd be dead.

Downstairs, Cub's housekeeper was still sobbing all over Snake. He awkwardly patted her shoulder, but none of the four soldiers tried to calm her down.

In fact, nobody said a word until Jack started talking between sobs.

"He's a (SOB) good kid" she managed to get out.

The four men looked at each other, varying levels of guild showing on each face.

"The only (SNIFF) thing he did (SOB) wrong was to be so damn (SOB) good at this. (SNIFF) And how does flipping MI6 (SOB) repay him? (SOB) They send him to his (SNIFF) his (SOB) death (SOB) in stinking Colombia!" Jack took a deep breath and pulled away from Snake.

For a minute the men relaxed, until they realized that Jack had stopped crying, and was now screaming.

"He doesn't deserve it! I - I don't know what exactly Ian intended when he taught him all this, but I can't believe that this is ever what he wanted! Alex is fifteen years old! Fifteen! He should be flirting with girls and doing homework, not spending two weeks in the jungle, fighting guerillas! He doesn't deserve it!" she shrieked.

Eagle tried to quiet her. "He's serving his country, Miss," he said, rather lamely. "He's saving lives"

"How many fifteen year olds do you know who've been shot in the chest?!?! And why did MI6 use him in the first place? There are tons of British spies who sign up for this! Alex wanted nothing to do with it! They had to blackmail him to get him to agree!"

"They - they blackmailed him?" Fox asked, a little uncertainly.

"Yes! They told him that if he didn't agree to go on their stupid missions, they'd send me back to the states! He's doing it to protect me! That means that if he dies, it'll be all my fault! He's such a good kid, he doesn't deserve it!" Jack collapsed onto a chair, sobbing again.

There was silence for a minute, and then Wolf stepped forward.

"Look, miss-" he started.

"Jack. (SNIFF) my name is Jack"

"Listen to me, Jack." Wolf ordered quietly.

Unable to help it, Jack looked up, tears streaming down her face.

"Nothing is going to happen to Alex." he said firmly.

"(SNIFF) How do you know?" she asked softly.

"Because I said so." He said slowly, "I promise you, we won't let anything happen to him."

And, unbelievably, Jack slowly nodded her head. "Okay."

"Cub, you ready?" Snake asked suddenly.

Alex was standing on the stairs, and came down into the foyer. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm ready."