The Cunning Hand Chapter 4, an alex rider fanfic

Chapter 4

Author's notes: You know, I started this fic with the vague idea to bring back Yassen and have K-unit protect Alex. That's all well and good, but now I've started to get carried away with the plot.

Yassen Gregorovich had returned to Scorpia only after he had recovered to full health. Scorpia was not tolerant of weakness. Yet, he had detected a note of coldness from them. Scorpia was also not tolerant of failure. At the time he had ignored it. One failure could be overcome.

Yet… it had made him uneasy. And that feeling had proved well founded. He had been given jobs below his capabilities. Jobs like the Black Hand. Petty drug dealers and little more. It was enough for him to realize that Scorpia was displeased with him. More than should be expected.

And he had heard nothing of Alex Rider. That had made him most uneasy of all.

The boy was curious. Yassen had been certain he would find Scorpia.

Yet… he hadn't.

Or if he had, someone was keeping them apart.

And then Alex had turned up, in the grip of MI6. They did not have him detained because he was attending school. The security, though far greater than a normal school, was lax. A boy as ingenuous as Alex could have easily escaped from there. He had not escaped. So he was there willingly.

Yet they were guarding him. From who? Scorpia? He had heard nothing from Scorpia concerning Alex Rider. Perhaps he was being deliberately kept uninformed. It was possible. Likely even. But he did not like it.

It was, Yassen decided, time to find out. And Alex Rider would be just the person to tell him

Ben Daniels was incredibly surprised when he was recalled to MI6 the next day. He hadn't expected another check up on Alex's security. Generally they didn't happen. He needed to be there to react to threats as they happened, not in MI6 HQ writing reports.

But it wasn't a check-up. He didn't see Blunt, who seemed to be in charge of the assignment. Instead he saw Tulip Jones.

Mrs. Jones lay a file down on the table in front of her. "You have been given medical permission to return to active duty, correct?"

Ben blinked. In organizations that valued secrets as much as MI6, there were often times when the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. However, he had assumed that given the chain of command, Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones were merely fingers on the same hand.

"Err," he stammered, not quite sure how to broach the subject. "Mr. Blunt has already given me an assignment."

She looked at him with mild surprise. "Has he indeed?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said respectfully. "You, er, you didn't know?"

She tapped her fingers in on the file. "No. I was uninformed. However…" she looked at him piercingly. "You are working with Alex Rider, are you not?" It was the only case in which Blunt had not consulted her.

He blinked in surprise. "Yes, ma'am. I am."

She nodded, but her gaze was distant. "Alan Blunt and I do not see eye to eye on the use of Alex Rider. I was certain that he would refuse this mission. He has stated that he would not work for us again. But I was not there when he was asked and Alan Blunt can be very persuasive." She almost seemed to be talking to herself.

Ben blinked in mild confusion. "Yes, ma'am?"

She snapped her gaze back to him, business-like once more. "As much as Alex Rider is priority, this assignment is connected. In fact, once this is completed so is Alex's mission. As such, your current responsibilities can be taken over by Donna Treat and the SAS team that you requested."

Ben saw that this wasn't really a request. He was used to taking orders, but it still left him uneasy, particularly given the new information that he was assimilating. "Yes, Mrs. Jones."

"Good. Now, the Black Hand is a London based gang that we have been watching for quite some time. At first, they were of little concern. Then we suspect that they began to make overseas connections. They grew. They became dangerous. They are one of the foremost suppliers of drugs onto the streets of England. However, we recently had an agent in place with them. He was the one who identified Yassen Gregorovich. Before he was discovered, he found information that the Black Hand were not just importing cocaine or heroin, they were planning to start supplying a new, unknown drug that would give them the edge over their competitors, most notably the Kensington Sharks. However, he could not find more information than that."

"You want me to find out more?" Ben asked. "Gregorovich will be expecting another agent."

Mrs. Jones frowned at him, ever so slightly, as though he had said something very silly. "That is why we have arranged for Alex to become visible to him. Gregorovich will be paying less attention to the Black Hand, allowing you to slip in. As long as you are very careful."

That was when Ben understood. He very nearly did not believe it. They were using Alex as bait for Gregorovich. That was why Gregorovich had chosen now to come after Alex. And Mrs. Jones thought that Alex had agreed to it. But Blunt had lied. Set it all up, placing Alex in danger without informing either of them of it.

"Yes, ma'am," he said quietly. As soon as the Black Hand was gone, Gregorovich would be gone and it would all be over. Hopefully.

That day, Donna Treat came around. As Alex had been withdrawn from school, her disguise as his teacher was redundant. Alex was glad that she had appeared. Jack had gone out earlier and K-unit was beginning to get on his nerves. Their constant alertness was draining his energy and he really didn't have anything to do.

"Do you always go undercover as a teacher?" Alex asked as she gave him a stack of school work. At least he wouldn't get too far behind, he supposed wryly.

She smiled at him. "We all have our specialties. The easiest way for cover to get blown is by not knowing what you're doing. I got my teaching degree before I joined MI6."

Alex thought about it. It made sense. "You were going to be a teacher?" he asked with interest. It seemed an odd move, from teacher to covert operations agent.

Miss Treat shrugged. "Not really. I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do when I left high school. So I just got a degree in the first thing that took my interest. I was never really serious about it. But," she said warningly. "I did come here to teach you this stuff and serious or not, that's what I'm going to do."

Alex grinned at her. "Thank you. Seriously," he said at her surprised look. "I don't want to get behind and this stuff is hard to learn on your own."

Alex and Miss Treat were taking a break for lunch when Ben came back. To Alex, he looked disturbed and slightly angry.

"Is something wrong?" Alex asked gingerly. He really didn't want to know if Fox had a temper.

Ben looked at him and blinked, as though he was surprised to find them there. "Alex, Donna." He sighed. "No, there's nothing wrong," he said reassuringly. "Just MI6…" he trailed off.

Miss Treat frowned. "Did they have some suggestions about the security?" Alex looked at her startled. He had nearly forgotten that she was also in charge of arranging his security and wasn't just another pair of eyes watching his every move.

Ben ran a hand through his hair. "No. No," he repeated then sighed. "They're pulling me off security. They're sending me in after Gregorovich instead."

"Where are you going?" Alex asked curiously.

Fox seemed disturbed by the question. "I don't think I should tell you that," he said. He frowned.

"What, you think I'm going to go and look for the guy that wants to kill me?" Alex asked. He said it as a joke but Ben just looked at him.

"I think that's exactly what you'll do."

"I want you to keep an eye on him while I'm gone," Ben said to the SAS team. They were gathered together in the living room while Alex was going over his school work with Miss Treat. He checked that the door was closed. "An extra careful eye, I mean," he added hastily. "He doesn't trust you and I'm fairly sure that he wont be content to sit here hiding for much longer."

Eagle looked injured. "What do you mean, he doesn't trust us? We've been nothing but nice to him since we got here."

"He must realize that we are here for his safety," Snake said reasonably.

"He does. It's probably nothing personal, but, well," Fox hesitated unsure how to continue. "I get the impression that he doesn't really trust anyone. And, I don't know much about it, but there was an incident with the Australian SAS recently that may have soured his impression of us military types."

Eagle whistled lowly. "Given the impression that Wolf here gave him, that must have been some incident." Wolf glared at him.

"We'll watch him," Snake reassured him. "That's why we're here."

However, as Ben was talking to K-unit, Alex was putting a plan into action. Begging leave from Miss Treat for a toilet break, he had left her watchful eyes and, carefully closing the door behind him, had located Ben's bag. Like normal, it was hanging off the coat stand just inside the front door.

He knew that Ben was unlikely to have left any information inside it, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity. He didn't know how long Ben would be talking to the SAS team, but Miss Treat would miss him before long and as soon as she looked out the kitchen door, she would see him.

Alex was lucky that Ben had closed the living room door, so as not to be overheard by Alex while they were discussing him. It meant that they didn't see him as he made his way towards the bag. It wasn't far, but he had to move slowly, as the floor had more creaks than should be expected. Any one of those loose boards would alert the SAS team to his presence. He felt almost silly sneaking around in such a normal house. There was none of the strange architecture of Herod Sayles' house or of Point Blanc.

Once he reached the stand he carefully opened the clasp on Ben's bag and looked inside. He grinned. There was an entire file in there.

Alex pulled it out. It was labeled Black Hand, The. He skimmed through the first couple of pages, taking note of key words. One, repeated over and over again, was the Thames. There was also a few warehouse numbers. He memorized them.

The buzz of conversation from the living room decreased. Startled, Alex hurriedly stuffed the file back in the bag and closed the clasp. He made it back to the kitchen just as the living room door opened.

Yassen Gregorovich was preoccupied. It was not a state recommended for his profession. He knew that. Any lapse in judgment could prove fatal. A second of distraction could cause his death.

But he was bothered. He had visited Chelsea, intending to find Alex Rider and had found only an empty house. His plans to find information had been derailed. He was not happy.

Yassen swept his eyes over the man in front of him. They were meeting in a empty alley in a disused part of town. London had many such alleys. He knew MI6 would be desperate to get a new agent into The Black Hand after he had discovered the last one. Since then, there had been no new members joining the gang. It would be too easy for MI6 to slip a man in that way.

However, this man had been in prison. He had only just been released. Records could be faked, Yassen knew, but one of the men in the gang was insistent that this man had been his cellmate while he had been in, nearly three months ago. It was likely to be the truth. They didn't have the courage to lie to him. Not anymore.

The man had a stocky build and was well muscled. He looked like he could go a few rounds and win most of them. He had a blunt face and red hair. Yassen searched his memory. He had never seen that face before. He did not forget faces.

"What were you in for?" he asked laconically.

The man blinked, seeming surprised at the question. Given his size, Yassen doubted that he got asked that question very often. "Murder."

Murder. How… quaint. "And they caught you?" he asked scornfully.

Ben grinned nastily. "Only once."

As always, enjoy!