I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the scene in the Tube station... I hope you guys like it too!!

Chapter Four, Unsteady Beginnings

"Michael, Alex, come over here."

Alex looked up from where he'd been playing blackjack using a well-worn pack of cards found in the bottom of his bag and a pocketful of small change. He was losing, badly. Whilst Michael seemed nice and gentle, he was a mean card shark. He was more then happy to leave the game and go to Mrs. Davies' desk.

She'd managed to download the photo editing software and was now opening the video in another window.

"When should I fast forward it to?"

Alex shrugged.

"I'll tell you when to stop." He watched closely as the CCTV footage sped up. "There!"

It was a slightly different shot to the one Alex had seen in the Royal and General, but this one had an even better angle of his 'mystery' saviour's face. From what Alex could tell, the man was looking more or less right at the CCTV camera.

"Okay, watch this." Mrs. Davies muttered, already absorbed by the task at hand, "You two might actually learn something…"

Using the software she'd downloaded, Mrs. Davies saved the frozen scene and opened it in a new window, exiting out of the video file at the same time. She quickly typed a few fast codes into her computer and then dragged a frame around the man's hidden face. She then clicked on a toolbar and selected the option 'rehash/refine'. Immediately, the window changed so that it showed a blown up version of the selected area only. The image began to dissolve and change, but at too slow a pace for Alex to make sense of.

"I put another disc in so you'd have another copy of this," Mrs. Davies explained, "SO it's going to take a little longer then normal…Maybe even longer then what I expect if the original coding on the CCTV blurring was especially complicated…"

Alex just shrugged; he didn't get computers and Mrs. Davies may as well be talking a different language to him. He went back to losing at blackjack with Michael. After ten minutes or so, the phone on Mrs. Davies' desk began to ring. Alex glanced at it.

"Leave it," Mrs. Davies muttered, "I need to keep an eye on this, in case there's a hidden virus my system didn't pick up… It's probably nothing important anyway."

Alex shrugged and went back to his card game.

"I'm sorry gentlemen," Troy nervously told the four large men standing by his desk, all of whom were armed and wearing Kevlar, "She's not answering her phone. Perhaps you can come back another time?"

The biggest man, a positive giant at six foot seven, grinned and shook his head.

"No, that's alright. We'll just pay her a surprise visit."

Troy frowned at them.

"But she's obviously busy and-"

He stopped when he had an ID shoved into his face. MI5, London Branch.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, exactly," The man responded, "Now we're going up there to pay Mrs. Davies a little visit. I'm going to leave my associate, Brad, down here with you, to make sure you don't do anything foolish. Okay?"

Troy looked pale, but he nodded nevertheless.

"Absolutely."

"Almost," Mrs. Davies muttered with Alex hanging over her shoulder, "It's almost there…"

The image on screen was still very rough, but patches were clearing up. Alex felt unease and impatience stir uncomfortably in his gut; he thought that maybe he was starting to recognise this face.

Just then, the phone rang again. Mrs. Davies looked at it desperately, obviously unhappy about not replying. Eventually, she gave in, putting it on speaker phone.

"Yes?"

"Marylyn, there's-" Alex recognised the voice as Troy, the receptionist's. There was a muffled cry and a thump before the phone line disconnected. For a second, there was a horrified silence. Then, Alex sprung to action.

"Okay, I need to go," He said, "Just give me the copied disc."

"But it's not finished!" Mrs. Davies had leapt to her feet, looking confused and frightened, "What's going on?!"

Alex just shook his head and without arguing further, pulled the copied disc out of the computer.

"Look, here's my advice: erase everything on this computer. Everything. Now I need to go, is there a way I can get downstairs without being seen?"

"But…" Mrs. Davies looked terrified, but Michael at least understood the desperation in Alex's voice.

"Mum, do as Alex says!" He begged her, before leading Alex out of the room and down the hall. Their feet pounded on the highly polished granite floor as they sprinted away from the office.

"There's a fire escape just out that window," Michael said, as they rounded a corner, pointing, "Now I've got to get back and help my Mum deal with whoever's coming. They won't hurt us, will they?"

Alex looked grim and started climbing out the window.

"They shouldn't do. I hope not…"

Then, he disappeared from view down the fire escape.

Marylyn Davies was halfway through deleting everything on her computer when her office door suddenly crashed open and a very large, armed man came bounding through the opening.

"Get away from that!" He roared, levelling his handgun at her, "And get on the ground now!"

Screaming in terror, Mrs. Davies did as she was told, throwing herself on the ground. At that exact moment, another very large, armed man came into the office, holding Michael by the arm.

"Mum!" He yelled, trying to break free to get to her, "Are you alright?"

"He's this one's son," The second man explained, "I caught him running up here. He won't say anything about Rider."

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Michael shouted at his captor, "I don't know any Riders!"

The first man quickly stooped down to pull Mrs. Davies to her feet and pass her out to a third man in the hallway before rounding on Michael.

"Don't lie brat!" He growled, "We know that you and Rider are best mates and we know he came here with you today! Tell us where he is!"

Michael then had a brainwave and began to sob. Or at least, he pretended to. Michael had a gift for acting; he was near impossible to doubt when he really set his mind to a role.

"I d-don't know!" He cried, "H-he ran off before you g-guys came h-here! H-he didn't even w-wait for the s-stupid d-disc to f-finish loading!"

As Michael had guessed, it wasn't Alex the men were interested in, it was the disc. Hopefully, if they did a scan of the hard drive, they wouldn't see that a copy had been made. It all relied on how much material his mum had managed to delete before being caught.

"Okay lad," The man was suddenly playing 'good cop', much to Michael disgust, "Easy there. We didn't mean to scare you. How about you just show us what you three were doing with the disc, hey?"

Michael didn't stop acting; he gave a sniffle and looked between the man and his Mum's computer uneasily.

"I don't know if I'm allowed," he said in a small voice, "I don't want my Mum to be mad at me!"

"Not a worry," the man winked at him, "It'll just be our little secret."

"Okay," Michael injected just the right note of uncertainty into his voice as moved over to the computer. His captor leaned over him, "But I'm not as good with computers as my Mum is and she won't help you."

"Again, not to worry," The man's patience was already running thin, "Just show us what you were doing."

Michael nodded sullenly, and bent down, as if to remove the disc from the computer. However, relying on his natural speed, he lashed out instead, ripping the man's gun away. Taken completely by surprise by what he'd deemed a 'soft case', the MI5 man didn't have time to yell for help before Michael took his gun and shot his Mum's computer several times. Sparks flew from the gutted machinery, the monitor flashed blindingly once before dying.

"Little brat!" The man was livid and shouting at him, "Now you're in for it!"

The man lunged for Michael, but Michael promptly levelled the stolen gun at him. The man stopped, uncertain if Michael would actually shoot him. Already, Michael was acting again. He did his best look cold and menacing.

"Stop right there or I'll shoot you in the face!" He screamed.

The man opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, one of his team-mates came crashing into the room, drawn by the yelling. Before Michael had time to react, he heard a shot and felt a blinding, terrible pain in his leg. He crumpled to the ground without a single word.

'The bastards shot me in the leg!' He thought indignantly, before happily passing out from shock and pain.

Once he was safely away from Mrs. Davies' office, Alex headed for a pay-phone. Ideally, he would have liked to start on his way home and just call Jack on his mobile, but his mobile had been broken when he'd nearly been run over.

Feeding a few coins into the heavily graffiti covered machine (Ben says go screw yourself…Cassie loves Denny), Alex dialled his home number and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jack, it's Alex." He waited for the explosion. It came very quickly.

"Alex! Where the hell are you?! I had the school call me to say you skipped during lunch!" Jack sounded livid.

"Um, I did sort of skip school, but I was seeing a friend's Mum," Alex said, "But I had to leave…Some unwanted visitors showed and, well…" He trailed off, noting Jack's icily furious silence.

"Alex, Mrs. Jones called me and said you stole something from the Royal and General," Jack said in a dangerously calm voice, "And that she was sending MI5 agents after you…Would you care to explain what's going on?"

Alex loved Jack, but he realised this was something he couldn't let her in on.

"Yeah, I did steal something, a disc," he admitted, trying to sound dejected, "but MI5 showed up before I could do anything with it…They will have got it back now and I figured I should call you to say I'm coming home."

Jack still didn't sound happy, but she at least calmed down at the mention of Alex coming home.

"Alright," she sighed, "But you know I'm still pissed off at you, right?"

Alex smiled, knowing Jack wasn't really, that she'd just been worried about him.

"Of course," he assured her, "And Jack?"

"Yes?"

Alex paused, feeling sentimental suddenly, "Love you."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack sounded like she was grinning too now, "Just get back home safely."

"Will do."

"What was on the disc anyway?" Jack asked, ruining any chance Alex had of watching his movie peacefully, "I mean, why would you steal it and then take it a woman you don't even know?"

Alex groaned as he missed an important scene. He tried to look around Jack's figure to see what Jason Bourne was doing now, but was thwarted as Jack accordingly moved to block the view of the crucial New York chase scene.

"Jack!" Alex whined, taunted by the sounds of screeching brakes, wailing sirens and gunshots, "Jack please!"

Looking irritated, Jack turned around and pulled the remote off of the DVD player. She paused the movie and turned back to Alex.

"There, now you can't complain." She growled, "Now please just tell me what was on the disc you stole!"

"I told you, it was photos of my Dad and Uncle Ian," Alex growled back at her, "But he disc was all coded and Michael's Mum is a photographer or something, so I thought that she might be able to fix it up for me to see!"

Jack glared at him, crossing her arms across her chest.

"If that's the case, then why would Mrs. Jones make such a big deal out of you taking it?" She demanded angrily, "Wouldn't she just let you keep it?"

Alex shrugged sullenly and refused to meet Jack's eye.

"I dunno," He grunted, "She's a weird bitch I guess. I just want to watch my movie!"

Jack looked totally unconvinced, but she knew that if Alex was refusing to talk, she wouldn't be able to get anything out of him.

"Oh fine," She huffed, "But you're not having your movie back on. We're watching the news."

Alex was tempted to whine some more, but promptly shut his mouth when he saw the news headline.

"And in breaking news today, celebrity photojournalist Marylyn Davies was taken into custody today alongside her fourteen year old son, Michael, by MI5 London Branch Officials. No reason for the arrest has been given publicly as of yet, but an inside source has supplied information that they were searching for an encrypted disc containing CCTV footage, believed to have been in their possession. No one was killed in the arrest, although fourteen year old Michael is believed to have been shot in the leg after stealing a gun…"

Alex turned the TV off, feeling shock grip him. They'd arrested Mrs. Davies! Worse yet, Michael had been shot because of him! And for what? A half blurry computer image that Alex hadn't even looked at yet.

"So that's what you were hiding."

Alex whipped around, seeing Jack standing at the edge of the room with a sad expression on her face.

"You're still looking for Yassen!" She said miserably, "You got the CCTV footage with your accident on it. Oh my God Alex, you let this poor woman and her son, your friend, be arrested for your delusion! You let Michael be shot!"

Alex jumped to his feet, putting his hands up in an attempt to ward off the accusations.

"No!" He cried out, "I didn't know they'd hurt Michael! I was just…I didn't know…"

His excuses and mumbled didn't wash with Jack, she looked increasingly upset as she listened to him.

"Listen to yourself!" She exclaimed, "You sound insane! You're being insane! Alex, Yassen Gregorovich is dead! You are chasing a dead man! Why can't you just understand that?!"

"Because I know I'm right Jack!" Alex yelled at Jack, clenching his fists, "I don't care what you say, what MI6 says, I know he's not dead! I know it was Yassen that saved me from that car! I didn't mean for Michael to get hurt, but I'm not going to stop this until I find out what's going on!"

Jack looked taken aback by Alex's vehemence. Then, after a minute or so, she just shook her head and walked away, leaving Alex bewildered and angry in the silent living room.

Alex skipped dinner, choosing to go up to his room and load the copied disc onto his computer instead. He stayed seated at the computer for nearly two hours, trying to make sense of the half refined image. It could have been Yassen it was looking at, but it could have just as easily been any other fair haired man. Hell, Alex remembered that Snake was blonde, just like a good proportion of the people he new. He laughed bitterly, realising that he wasn't going to get anywhere unless he managed to get the rest of the disc rehashed.

Just then, the new mobile phone that Jack had left on Alex's desk began ringing. Puzzled because he hadn't given anyone his new number yet, Alex answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is this Alex Rider?" The voice was male and American, very strongly so. Alex wasn't to know it, but it had a Boston accent.

"Yeah…Who is this?" Alex frowned at the phone he held up to his ear.

"That doesn't matter," Came the reply, "Not yet anyway. I want you to meet me at the Fulham Broadway Tube station in fifteen minutes. Can you do that?"

"Excuse me, but who is this?" Alex demanded, "How did you get my number?"

"Look, can you make it or not?" The voice demanded, "I can't stay on this line for long, it's very easy for the wrong people to trace it. Mrs. Jones for instance…"

That one threw Alex.

"You know about MI6?"

"Of course!" The voice was sounding very stressed now, "Now are you going to be there?"

Inwardly groaning at his own foolishness, Alex agreed.

"Yeah, fifteen minutes, Fulham Broadway."

There was no reply, the American had hung up.

Alex decided in the end not to let Jack know he was going out. Instead, he left a note on his desk in case something should happen to him, and snuck out the front door with his phone in his pocket and his wallet (containing enough money for a taxi to the station and back, but also his Tube card in case there weren't any cabs) and a jumper in a small backpack.

It was a simple enough task to get a cab to the Fulham Broadway station, but once there, Alex hesitated. He had no idea what he was meant to do from this point on; the American man had never told him where to meet. He didn't even know what this man's name and intentions were.

In the end, Alex just took a seat on the station itself. It was getting on in the night and there were few people around. The nearest person was a young woman with dreadlocks who looked like a backpacker. She was several metres further along the platform, ignoring Alex as she dozed.

After awhile, Alex had to resist the urge to drift off himself. The quiet station was not especially comfortable, but the temptation to sleep was a strong one…

"Rider?"

Alex jerked himself to full consciousness and looked up. A tall man wearing a dark greatcoat and scarf that was carefully tucked underneath the coat's lapel regarded him sardonically; a lit cigarette perched between hard-edged lips. He had dark grey-green eyes framed by long, dark lashes and short brown hair. It was hard to get an idea of the shape of his face; the scarf covered the bottom of his chin and he his coat's collar pulled up to hide the sides of his face. All in all, only his eyes, mouth and hair really stood out in the dim station.

"Yeah..." Alex stood, trying not to look vulnerable or poorly prepared, "Who're you?"

The man shrugged, not bothering to answer as at that moment, a train came rushing by. It would have drowned out anything he'd said. The man's greatcoat whipped around his legs and pulled at the edges of his scarf.

"My name's Ray Dunne," He said once the train was gone. He had an American accent, "It's pronounced 'dune', not 'dun'. I'm the one who called you."

"I gathered that," Alex replied a little hostilely. He wasn't sure why, but something about this man was putting him on edge. "What do you want?"

The man smiled at him, taking his cigarette out briefly to exhale a plume of smoke.

"Simple. I'm telling you to stop looking for Yassen Gregorovich. Notice I say 'telling you' and not 'asking you'? The man's dead, leave the matter alone."

Alex frowned at Ray Dunne.

"How would you know he's dead?" He demanded, "Just who the hell are you?"

Again, the man smiled at him. It wasn't an especially comforting gesture; there was something cold and nasty in it.

"I know he's dead because I helped get rid of the body," He replied calmly, "And as for who I am… Well, that depends on you. Do as I say, we're best friends. Don't cooperate however…"

"You're my enemy," Alex finished in a disgruntled mutter, "I get it."

Ray's lips twisted up into another smile, this one a little mocking.

"Of course you do," He said in a falsely friendly voice, "You're a bright boy Alex, you know to let sleeping dogs lie."

Alex didn't say anything and Ray was just turning to leave when Alex called him back.

"Just for the sake of 'what ifs'," Alex asked, "What happens if I don't listen to your warning and I keep looking for Yassen Gregorovich?"

Ray Dunne didn't bother smiling this time; he regarded Alex coldly and menacingly.

"Then I have a friend pay you and Jack a visit and make sure you understand my message. I'm sure even you, the ever stubborn Alex Rider, can appreciate that warning at least."

Then, without another word, Ray Dunne quickly strode forward to catch a train that had just pulled in. He smiled at Alex through the window as the train pulled away, leaving Alex alone with crisp packets and other litter swirling around his feet in the after-wind.

Who do you think Ray Dunne is?? Believe it or not, you've seen him before, both in this story and in the original books!! He was under a different name and appearance however in the books...

Anyway, this is probably the last chappie you'll see for a few days...Wish me good luck going without internet!! I love all of you guys (so long as you review for me of course, winkwink)

TTFN from vampassassin