A/N: Someone very nicely brought to my attention that Ben actually did know Sparks, Texas, X-Ray, and Scooter and the Sergeant beforehand because of Snakehead….but I forgot that little detail, so we're pretending he didn't, ok? No, I do not know how that can work at all in the Snakehead book. We're just going to forget that little minor (ok, major) detail and move on. Sound good?

Also, I've noticed that I tend to skip the non-action parts of the story (just because I'm not that great at writing them), and so I have decided to write the beach BBQ scene. Sorry if it doesn't turn out the best.

Chapter 22:

When the jeep pulled onto the beach that night, Alex was surprised to find a bunch of other jeeps already there and soldiers loitering about.

Seeing his confused expression, Texas explained, "Well, we rarely get a night off to do something like this, so we used your visit as an excuse to get the night off. And we knew that everyone else would want to join us, so we invited them if that's ok."

Alex nodded, "But the Sergeant actually gave all of you the night off?"

Scooter grinned, "Yea. It took some convincing on our part, but it's worth it. Now we can give you a REAL Australian BBQ (A/N: I live in the USA, not Australia, so if this isn't how one actually would be, blame it on my lack of knowledge in these areas)."

X-Ray also grinned at Alex, "Not to mention the fact that tonight was supposed to be RTI training. Let's just say that the sergeant forgot that one little detail and none of us were…eager to remind him about it."

"So let's just say the two of you are more like celebrities now to the soldiers. I mean, who likes RTI training?" Texas added back in.

Ben laughed, "Alex here does."

Which of course meant that Alex got 4 strange stares from the SAS men. Scooter was the one to venture to ask, "Why?"

Alex shrugged, "Why not?"

Ben took over explaining after that, "Alex just likes annoying the Green Jackets-the guys who run RTI-and show them up. He's a teen and they all think he'll break within a minute, but he doesn't. And then he likes to get them all riled up with his sarcastic mouth-don't ask me why. He has some strange way of viewing how a captive should act. And then he loves to escape from inescapable places and play some prank on the Green Jackets before going back to bed. He's usually the only well rested person the next day."

"What kinds of pranks does he play on them?" Sparks wanted to know.

"He does a lot of different things. The most memorable was probably the first time he came to the SAS training grounds."

"What did he do?"

"I sent them off a cliff in a trailer," Alex cut in, tired of having everyone talk about him.

Sparks burst out laughing, "Seriously? I gotta hand it to you, kid, that's a pretty creative way of getting revenge."

Alex shrugged. By this time, the six of them had reached the other soldiers and everyone gathered around to see who was doing what.

Seeing how Sparks had been the one to talk the Sergeant into this, he had unofficially been put in charge.

"Ok men! So we have a couple of jobs that need to get done. First and foremost being the gathering of wood. I want at least 5 units out gathering wood. Yes, that means half of you are going to be gathering wood. Just remember, the more wood you get, the longer we get stay out here. And I'm sure none of us want to go back and have RTI training right? Well, except for teenagers who have a messed up head. But he doesn't count." There was a pause. "Well? Why are you all just standing there? 20 of you should be heading into the woods to gather wood? GO!"

Immediately, 5 unit leaders called out to their grumbling units that they were going to gather wood.

"For the rest of you guys…. One unit will be in charge of getting the music and speakers hooked up, 2 units will be in charge of the food, and the last unit can set up the tables and chairs. Got it?"

One soldier raised his hand, "And what about you guys, Sparks? What about your unit?"

Sparks grinned, "Well, seeing how there doesn't seem to be any more jobs left to do, I guess we'll just have to be the overseers. I think there's a pretty good view from the water, what do you think, Scooter?"

Scooter nodded enthusiastically, "I think there's a great view over there!"

"Well then. I guess we must get to this ideal overseer position as quickly as possible to catch all of the lazy soldiers!"

With that, Sparks and his unit started racing towards the ocean. Halfway there, X-Ray paused, "Coming guys?"

Alex and Ben grinned at each other and raced into the water.

3 hours later saw the BBQ in full swing. Soldiers were splashing around in the water like little kids, eating the food, and someone had even set up a volleyball net. And of course, there was blasting music. The flickering light cast off by the giant bonfire lit up the festivities.

Alex, Ben and Sparks' unit were currently sitting down in chairs near the giant bonfire eating their food.

"You know something?" Alex started. "This is probably one of the best nights of my life."

Sparks raised an eyebrow while the others digested that statement, "This? Then your life must've been pretty bad."

Alex nodded, "Yea. I mean, my parents died when I was one, and my uncle was never around. When he was, he was so distant and kinda cold. So that rules out the first 14 years of my life. And then after that, MI6 entered into it and it was a constant repetition of going on missions and recovering from missions. Of course with school and then later the SAS mixed in. Not much time for evenings like this."

The soldiers nodded their understanding and all was quiet for the next couple of minutes. Other than the noise made by the soldiers, all that could be heard was the gentle lapping of the waves and the crackling fire.

And that was when the grenade went off.

(A/N: Was totally going to end it here, but there's only the epilogue left after this and I wanted to make it longer for you guys.)

The sight could have been called comical if the situation hadn't been so dire. The grenade had landed fifty feet down the beach from the soldiers, and so no one had been injured. Within seconds, the soldiers changed from their partying attitudes to something that was much more deadly.

Someone had turned the music off, and there was silence as the soldiers grabbed their guns and looked around for a threat.

No more violent noises were heard, but the soldiers were still on edge. It was like the calm before the storm.

Sparks started moving away from the light of the bonfire with his unit so as to make them less of a conspicuous target. He was about to remind Ben and Alex to do the same thing when the second grenade went off.

This one was much closer being only twenty-five feet away. The soldiers all dropped and the ones closer to the fire or where the grenade had blown up rolled away from the offending area.

Suddenly, an unexpected sound could be heard and all of the soldiers looked up and towards the offending noise. Laughter.

Both Ben and Alex's shoulders were shaking and both of them were clutching their sides. One thought was running through all of the soldiers minds: have the spies gone insane?

For it seemed that they had. The Australian SAS training camp was being attacked, and these foreigners were laughing. Did they not see the urgency in the situation?

Finally, Ben regained his breath, "And that's how you get revenge Rider-style!"

This statement of course sent Alex and Ben into another round of peeling laughter.

It took five minutes for the spies to calm down enough to explain.

"Well…"Alex started. "Remember last time I was here? And how you guys shot at me and lobbed grenades at me for that test thingy? Well, I figured it was high time that someone gave you a dish of your own medicine. So…yea. Roles reversed, it was pretty funny to see your reactions. I think you all fully passed the test on how you reacted. But seriously! Did you SEE your faces! That was just too good!"

Ben frowned, "But Alex! We never had a chance to use the gunfire!"

Alex's eyes widened, "Shoot! Well, no, don't actually shoot, but… Oh well. We can always set it off now."

A round of gunfire emitted from the woods and there was even sand spraying up from where it had landed.

The soldiers once more jerked back in shock.

"What the heck?" Sparks finally managed to choke out.

Alex adopted a serious expression before patting Sparks on the back, "That, my friend, is called revenge. You should look it up. It's really quite useful."

"But don't try to get revenge on Alex," Ben warned. "He always seems to be able to dodge it and then get his own payback for the attempted revenge. Better to just let it go. Because Rider revenge never ends even remotely nicely."

A/N: GUESS WHAT? Only the Epilogue is left!

AND THEN THE SEQUAL (OR WHATEVER YOU'D LIKE TO CALL IT)