Disclaimer: I wrote this chapter. I don't own anything you may recognise, just Laura and a few others.
Reviews from: Aden Gebrehiwet, anonymous, Unheard Battle Cry, LadyJanet009, Greggy Is Mine!, Queen Biatch and SharkiesGirl.
A/N: Whee! 7 reviews! Hooray! This is my first chapter. MentalLady told me where she wants the story to go and I must say it will be interesting. So, read on!
The view was magnificent. Laura was flying over Sydney. She lived out in the country and she had never seen the city properly. She had been told by a man that she needed to flee countries. Glen Hunt? No. Baldwin Shunt? Yeah. That was it. She hoped. Apparently an assassin had avoided the death penalty and was now after her for getting him in trouble. But, the problem was that she hadn't done it. It was somebody else but the assassin had gotten the facts wrong. This man, Baldwin Shunt, was an important person at MI6 and she would remain safe under his watch.
"Would you like some food, Miss?" asked a hostess with a British accent.
She was very pretty. She had long brown hair, clear brown eyes and the perfect nose. They were halfway to London and most of the passengers were already eating. Laura wasn't hungry though. She was very thirsty.
"Umm...may I just have some water, please?"
She nodded and walked away, picking up a toy for a little boy across the isle. Laura turned to the lady next to her. She was old and frail. The lady looked very tired.
"Would you like the window seat?" Laura offered.
The lady smiled. "No, you haven't flown before and I make this trip every month. You have it, deary."
Laura smiled back. The lady was very nice and looked like she always had a compliment at hand. Laura had grown up around mean boys and her only friend had been Timothy. She lived in a town where she was the only girl and didn't have much of a social life. She needed a change.
"Thank you," Laura said as the nice hostess gave her a glass of water and gave the old lady a bowl of mash potatoes and a large steak. The hostess only looked about twenty and seemed to love children. She crouched down and helped a little boy write his name on the bottom of his picture. Laura smiled to herself. If everybody in the world was like that, everything would be almost perfect.
The plane made two short stops for fuel and took off again. Laura was very nervous and fell asleep out of exhaustion. She woke up to the sound of a baby crying and cursed the child in her head for the next forty minutes.
A few hours later, the plane landed and they all filed out into the airport. Laura was very nervous and kept trying to remember the name of the man who was supposed to meet her. Baldwin Shunt just didn't seem right, but it was the best she had. She stepped off the plane and out into the dark air. She walked inside and checked the time. It was around midnight.
"Can I help you, Miss?"
The voice was very British. Laura turned to find a middle-aged man wearing an airport uniform with a vaguely familiar badge on his left pocket. She smiled at him.
"Yes, please. I have just arrived from Sydney and I am supposed to meet somebody soon. I think his name is Baldwin Shunt."
"Hmm...Oh yes. Your name is Laura Nickleson, right?"
"Yes."
"Follow me. He has a car waiting for you."
Laura grabbed her luggage from the conveyer belt and hurried after the man. He led her around a big café section and out onto the street. Parked on the road was a large limo-like, black car with a very official man sitting in the front. Another man was waiting by the door and when Laura and the man stepped out into the cold night air, he opened the car door and took Laura's luggage from her. He popped open the boot and neatly placed it inside.
"Hop in, Miss. We don't have all day." Laura had to hold back a laugh. His accent was very different to the ones she was used to. She jumped into the car and made herself comfortable. The car was leather on the inside and Laura was very excited. The only vehicles she had been in were her foster father's red, rusty Ute and the pollution-filled school bus.
About fifteen minutes later, the car pulled up outside a large bank building and Laura's door opened. She stepped out, thanked the man – who was holding the doors open – and grabbed her luggage. They trio entered the building and walked into the foyer. An aged, tired woman was at the front desk, only looking up from her papers once the group was practically sitting on top of her desk.
"Good evening, Stuckey, Daryl, Nickleson."
How does she know my name? Laura thought.
After the adults had a brief conversation, Laura wasn't paying attention, the lady motioned for the two men to accompany her up an elevator and into an empty office. They left her there by herself. She sat on one of the two chairs out the front of a boring desk and waited silently for somebody to turn up. She was wide awake now, although it was past midnight. Everybody else she had seen either looked drowsy or like they had had a bit too much coffee.
"Good evening, Miss Nickleson."
Laura turned toward where the voice had come from. Another lady was standing at the doorway holding a bunch of files. She walked into the room and sat on the chair next to Laura.
"Welcome to England."
Laura nodded. This lady was very stern and looked like long ago she had given up hope. It was all very new to Laura, who was surrounded by country folk up until now.
"My name is Mrs Jones. I will help you become acquainted with your new partner."
"Partner?"
Mrs Jones' face fell. "He didn't tell you about your mission?"
Laura shook her head. Mrs Jones sighed and pulled out one of the many files she had resting on her lap. "Have you every heard of MI6 before?" Laura shook her head. "Have you ever heard of the man you talked on the phone too before now?" She shook her head, again. "Do you know anything about why you are here?"
Laura nodded. "Some assassin is after me."
Mrs Jones sighed again and muttered something about child slavery. Laura was startled but didn't say anything. "Well, apart from being in fatal danger, you were also sent here to be on a mission." Laura just sat there. "You will meet your partner tomorrow. For now, you will stay with a man who has agreed to look after you. He is a member of the SAS and will protect you from any harm. We will fetch you in the morning to explain the mission more clearly."
She stood up and Laura followed. They silently walked back to the elevator where the two men were waiting.
"Good night, Laura. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Alex woke up in the dark from the sound of the phone ringing. He reached over to check his watch and noticed it was about four in the morning. He didn't know of anybody who would ring that late – or early. He stood up and walked over to the bathroom across the hall. He stood on the cold tiles for about five minutes in a sleepy state before realising he wasn't moving. He came to his senses and jumped in the shower. Once he had finished in the shower and was properly dressed, Alex made his way down to the kitchen.
Jack was sitting at the table crying. She turned away from him and wiped a tear away before facing him again.
"What's up?" Alex asked. He silently cursed himself for asking. He and Jack were close, but not to the extent that they shared everything. He wasn't sure of her reaction.
"It's nothing," she answered. "Get a good sleep?" she asked, cheering up slightly.
Alex nodded and got himself a glass of water. Jack continued to watch him as he cleared the fridge by devouring its contents. Running works up an appetite. Just as he was about to attack his bowl of soup from two nights ago, Jack said something unexpected.
"Mr Blunt called," she said miserably.
Alex dropped his spoon and stared at her. Mr Blunt didn't call people; he paid people to do it for him.
"Well, Mrs Jones did anyway."
Oh.
"What did they want?" he asked bitterly.
"You have a new mission. Apparently it is a very simple and safe one. They want to meet you at the Royal and General at ten. They said the job would be local."
"It better finish soon because school starts."
Alex attended Brookland School. He hadn't been back in over half a year and had a lot of work to catch up on. Once, when he was bored, he wrote a list of all the time he had been away. Apparently, he had missed about one of the four years he had attended the senior section of the school. School would be back in soon – two weeks. He had only one friend – Tom – and the school population had labelled him a drug-dealer.
"So you are taking the job?"
"Guess so." He picked his spoon back up.
Jack sighed. "Then I guess I should tell you why I was crying." Alex didn't say anything, he just ate.
"My mother has just died and I want to make amends with my father who I haven't spoken to since I was a little girl. I was going to take you to America with me, but I can't now. I'll have to stay back." Alex stopped.
"I'm sorry," he said. "You can still go. I'll stay here. MI6 is bound to find me somewhere to stay."
"Alex, they will probably just tell you to stay here and blackmail me into staying too."
"I'll just say I'm not doing the mission unless they give me a place to stay."
She smiled at him. Although she hadn't talked to her father since her eighth birthday party, her father meant a lot to her. She was lucky to have him. Jack gave Alex some sleeping pills and sent him off to bed again. She went to bed to get some sleep. After all, she would need to pack the next morning.
(Last edited: 30th June, 2007 by RG. The chapters get longer! Promise!)
A/N: How did it go? Are you gonna review? Please?
RG
xox