The next one!

Italics = dream

Have fun and as usual I don't own.

Neil stepped out of his cab, a deathtrap of a car if he had ever seen one, and climbed the three stairs to the door of the hotel. He carried only a small duffle bag with him. He had been told that his 'partner' for this mission would have the rest of whatever they would need.

The young man at the front desk smiled at Neil as he approached, showing uneven but white teeth. He spoke with heavily accented, broken English but He secured Neil's room quickly and gave him the card with a nod and a 'Good Day!'

The room, as Neil discovered, was a small suite on the twelfth floor. Seeing no sign of his partner Neil claimed the full sized bed closest to the window and deposited his bag in one of the closets. He turned on the TV, needing something making noise to occupy himself.

He sagged on his bed, watching the local news, the stress of the thing getting to him. Before the first commercial break had even begun he was dozing.

Smoke and trees were the only things clear in the haze of the tropical heat. That and the rumbling of American Army helicopters and different voices yelling, blurring together, incoherent things to one another.

Neil Wallace, one of the SRR's new recruits stood up shakily and dusted plaster off of his uniform. That first blast had hit far too close to where he had been. The building, though, had been completely leveled, nothing more than a mangled heap of rubble and metal.

Someone smacked his shoulder, trying to get his attention. He turned and found one of his teammates, his best friend, Eddie Mathews. He yelled something over the noise, now including gunshots and pained screams. Neil couldn't make out the words but mouthed an 'okay' back at him.

Eddie ducked low and hurtled through the street, moving toward their target, a four story building that looked out of place amid the trees and flat structures dotting the ground between them. Neil followed, clutching his gun, ready to fire at anything that posed a threat to them.

They reached the building before any of the others from the team and barged through the door, fully expecting a storm of gunfire to be unleashed upon them. The lobby, or front room, was completely devoid of human life. This suited Neil just fine.

They knew the layout of the building and they knew the most likely spot their target would be. His office, simply because the man, Jorge Passek, hardly ever left his office, not even when his late wife was in labor with their fourth child.

They reached the door to his office and stopped outside the closed door, listening. Nothing could be heard from inside. The two men looked at each other, debating silently. Wait for the rest of their team that might not make it through the large band of drug workers that had decided to defend their lord, or charge in, guns drawn and hope for the best.

After a moment, Neil nodded his head and Eddie seemed to be in agreement. Neil stepped back and Neil quickly got out of his way. His foot broke the wooden door cleanly in two. Eddie charged in ahead of him while he regained his balance.

Neil heard a loud crack and Eddie reeled backwards, into Neil's chest. Both men stumbled backwards and another shot was fired, hitting the white wall next to Neil's head. Neil dropped his friend and raised his gun. Two shots let its barrel before Jorge Passek could squeeze his trigger again.

The man fell backwards, landing on the floor behind his desk with a thump. He was dead. There was no way that he couldn't be. Neil's bullets had pierced his chest right over his heart. At least one, if not both would have hit his heart.

Turning around Neil found Eddie slumped on the small couch, clutching at his thigh. A dark crimson liquid bubbled up through his fingers despite his attempts to stem the flow.

"Eddie!" Neil tore off the bottom hem of his pant leg and bound the would as tightly as possible, hoping to dear God that he hadn't hit an artery. He hefted the woozy man onto his shoulders and ran from the building, out into the war torn street…

Neil sat up upon hearing the door of the room close. All weariness from his plane ride was gone. A man, carrying a misshapen duffle bag and a backpack stood at the door, grinning at Neil, who could only stare back with a small bit of disbelief.

He had known that Ben hadn't made the cut, he wasn't, however, aware that he'd been recruited by MI6 as a spy.

"Ben?" He asked, standing up. "You're my partner?"

"Of course, Snakey, m'boy!" Ben chirruped. "It's nice to see you again," his demeanor changed in an instant, becoming solemn. "I'm sorry about your son. But we'll find him."

"You're very confidant. Jones said that they wouldn't be able to leave the country. And yet, here we are." Neil said with a small sad smile, shaking his former teammate's hand firmly.

"A reassurance for your wife, probably. No mother wants to hear that her child has been taken out of the country. They'd probably known where they were going before you and Laura had even gotten there.

"But I've tracked down Alex Rider before. In Bangkok, though I can't tell you more. If anyone can find him, it'll be me." Ben said seriously. He looked around the room, blue eyes taking in every small detail. "You took the window bed. Good I hate them, too much light coming in."

Despite his foul mood, Neil allowed himself to smile as Ben's personality lightened the mood marginally. He hadn't seen much of it in Whales and it was good to see a man that he'd trained with and essentially, failed with.

"So what information do we have? Blunt and Jones shipped me here, telling me that you'd have it all."

"And I do. They believe this to be Scorpia, angry that Rider went against a contract that MI6 had with them about leaving the boy alone. He killed another of their board members recently, about three months ago. They expect this is their retaliation."

"He's deeply involved with MI6 then?" Neil asked. "They made us sign a contract, promising not to tell. They didn't exactly give us much to tell though."

"Yes, Alex is more involved with them, possibly more so than anyone else alive. But he's good at what he does and that's why we'll get him and Sean back soon, alive." Ben promised quietly.

"You're on first name terms with him?" Neil asked, trying to work out an angle on the boy that was with his son, hopefully keeping him alive. "What's he like? I've only ever met him at Brecon Beacons. Lord knows we didn't get on well there."

"He's a good spy, an even better kid. I know that he's failing school because he's either away or in the hospital. But he's smart, athletic, someone you'd want your son to be with if he had to be with anyone. He's not going to tempt Scorpia. He'll do what they want. That's how we'll catch him, get information and storm the place.

"All of the different soldiers in the area have been put on alert. They'll be watching. If they see anything they'll call it in and Blunt will pass it on to us. We'll get this thing done quickly, Neil. I don't like seeing kids involved in this stuff anymore than the next guy."

"I hope so, Ben. I just want to get my son and go home."

I like Ben- he's cool- and I think that sticking Neil with some unemotional MI6 agent would be cruel in his time of need. He needs a familiar face!

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