Wow!! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews. I was so impressed, I decided to post the next chapter ahead of schedule. Nice reviews make me update quicker. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

"You're sure?" Eva walked rapidly along the sterile corridors, with Volk having to run to keep up.
"As I can be. He looks" he stressed, "like the photos of Ian that you've got, and he's about the right age, so..."

They had reached the hospital door. The two soldiers standing outside stood to attention, when they saw Volk's uniform.

"Is he conscious?" Eva asked, as the door was opened.

"No."

A boy lay beneath the green blankets, his eyes closed. His hair was blonde, and cut short. Bandages swathed his arms and torso, and an IV needle pieced through them. The beep of machines filled the room.

Eva swallowed. It had been nearly 16 years since she'd seen him, and nearly 4 years since she'd seen Ian, but she was certain.

"It's him." she whispered.

The boy stirred, opening eyes that, surprisingly, were brown.

"What happened? Where am I?"

Eva blinked, but responded automatically in Russian as well.

"You're in hospital. There was an explosion." She sunk into the plastic chair next to the bed. "Can you tell me what happened?"

The young man shook his head.

"Where is my father?"

Eva and Volk exchanged a concerned look.

"We're looking for him," Volk said, which was the truth.

"Can you tell me your name?" Eva asked, cautiously.

The boy's voice was sleepy as the pain killers took effect again. "Alexi Voras. My father is Alexis Varos."

The two agents gazed dumbstruck at each other, as the young man sunk back to sleep.

"Here"

Eva blinked and looked up. Volk stood, holding out a plastic cup of water.

"The doctor's say there is no evidence of brain damage. Just a concussion."

Eva nodded. Her expression remained grim.

"That's good isn't it?"

"I suppose." Eva replied.

"It's possible," Volk began, "that we are mistaken."

"We're not." Eva replied. "It's Alex."

Volk lifted an eyebrow. "You last saw him when?"
"When he was 2." Eva admitted. "But he's Ian to life."

She sighed.

"I never dared even hope, you know. When we found the defused bomb and" she swallowed. "All that blood, type O the most common, I never even considered the possibility that he was alive. It just seemed to make no sense."

"You could have fooled me." Volk said gently smiling. He remember the time after the explosion, when it had felt at points like she lived in his building, chasing up every lead to its dead end, neglecting her own country to purse his, searching through all the Kermin archives, looking for something, anything to tell them where he was.

He knew that she had a long and complex history with the boy. His father's first partner, his mother's friend, his Uncle's lover, but those first six months had nearly killed her. And him.

"I was his godmother, and he was a fellow agent." Eva swallowed, "and if I kept busy. Kept looking I could ignore the voice in my head telling me it was hopeless."

She blinked rapidly and Volk could have sworn he saw tears on her eyelashes.

"So, why are you so unhappy?" he asked.

Eva pushed her hair out of her face. "We're not mistaken, and he's not lying to us."

"So?"
"So we are either dealing with brainwashing or Stockholm syndrome" She sighed. "Which creates an interesting dilemma for us."
Volk put his head on one side.

"Do we have the right to force him to come back?"

Volk blinked. "They wouldn't use him again surely?"

Vixen shrugged. "They've done it before." She said, draining her cup.

"Urgent request for a DNA comparison, Sir." Mrs. Jones walked through the door. Alistair Blunt lifted his head up.

"What is unusual about that?"
"It comes from Vixen, sir."

Blunt's eyes rested on her, waiting for her to expand.

"The comparison is with Alex Rider."

TBC