Hey there, my name is C.R. Richardson and I'm your author for this fic.
First of all thank you for the reviews! The one that was in spanish made me freak out in good way (after I google translated of course) I can't believe that this fic made it to so many different countries. And the other review was great – critic is always welcome :D
Um, also I just read a summary for Scorpia Rising the last book in the series (I haven't actually read the book yet...), I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it though, but this does start halfway through Eagle Strike so just remember that none of the other books have happened yet.
So, I don't usually post the next chapter so soon after I posted the other one, but you guys are great and so I feel like I should post this one for you guys. I want to apologise because this chapter is a lot shorter than the chapters I usually write. I promise the next one will be longer. Again I just whipped this up in a day, but I have school tomorrow, so the next one won't be up for a couple of days at the very least – silly homework!
The song used in this chapter is Pressure by Paramore :)
All I can really say is thank you so much for reading this, and I so hope you enjoy this chapter.
Read and review please,
C.R. Richardson xx
(Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to the one and only Anthony Horowitz.)
"Mum, I'm home!" Sabina yelled as she walked through the front door of her house. She took of her jacket and hung it up on one of the hooks. Chucking her leather handbag on to the table, she picked up the big stack of envelopes and started flicking through them.
"Sabina, is that you?" Her Mum came around the corner, speaking quietly because she had a phone held to her ear.
Not wanting to disrupt her Mum she waved and then continued through her house to the kitchen. While she was pulling food out of the cupboards her Mum walked in. "I was expecting you home a couple of hours ago, where were you Sweetie? You didn't answer your phone." She asked worriedly.
Her Mum had never really worried about what Sabina was doing up until the 'incident' so it was a new concept for her. "Phone died." She muttered.
"OK... make sure you charge next time." She let the subject go as the phone started ringing and she picked it up.
Sabina shook her head and contunued making a sandwhich. Plating it, she went up to her bedroom to think through exactly what had just happened to her with MI6.
She pushed the earbuds into her ears and pushed play on her ipod,
Just don't let me fall asleep
Feeling empty again
Cause I fear I might break
and I fear I can't take it
Tonight I'll lie awake feeling empty
MI6 said they could make all her worries go away, they said that they would take care of her Dad. Could she trust them? She trusted Alex once upon a time, she still did trust him. She knew he would never let anything happen to her, but he did lie to her. If only he had told her more forcefully that he was involved with MI6 before she got kidnapped.
I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you
I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you
She knew that with Alex there she would be safe. On the other hand, she had no experience, no training. She would be a dead weight getting in everybodies way. But this was MI6 so they must know what they're doing.
Now that I'm losing hope
And there's nothing else to show
For all of the days that we spent
Carried away from home
Is this how Alex felt all the time? Did they pressure him into choices he didn't want to do. This was potentially a dangerous mission. Sabina watched movies, she knew some of the risks that happen in movies. Though she wasn't completely naïve either; she knew that in the movies they always walked out with barely a few scratches, she knew that wasn't how reality worked.
Some things I'll never know
And I had to let them go
I'm sitting all alone feeling empty
The song finished abrubtly in her ears and another one started it's opening beats. She was still no closer to a decision. To join MI6 or not?
Sabina was walking down the hallway searching for her Mum. She heard some muttering from her Dad's study when she was about to push open the door she realised that it was already open a crack. She stopped and stood still, holding in her breath trying to make out what was being said.
Usually no one is allowed in Edward Pleasures office, so Sabina didn't know whether she should be interrupting.
She peaked through the small gap to see what her Mum was doing. She was sitting in the middle of the office with papers spread out around her. She had make-up running down her face from the tears that were spilling over her eyes.
The shrill of a phone, made Sabina jump at the doorway. Her Mum pressed the speakerphone button and a professional sounding voice rang out "Hello, Mrs Pleasure?"
"Yes that's me."
"This is the bank, concerning your loan..."
Sabina's Mum picked up the phone hastily, taking it off speakerphone and bringing it up to her ear. "Yes!" She said eagerly.
Sabina watched as her Mums face fell from one of anticipation to one of desperation while she hung up the phone. And went back to looking at the bills in front of her. Sabina couldn't help but remember what Mr Blunt had said the other day. "After doing some research MI6 has found out that you don't have the money. Your Mother has taken out a second mortgage on the house and that will barely cover the costs. Your insurance was never reapplied so you can't claim it on that. And we found some more debt that they are in which needs to be paid soon. What is your family going to do?"
Backing away from the door, she made her way to her bedroom grabbing her handbag along the way. Her bedroom was filled with memories from her childhood. Pictures of friends cluttered her white walls. Clothes lay on the ground, some worn and some clean. Her Mum was constantly nagging at her to tidy her room but Sabina didn't want to change anything about her room.
As soon as she walked in she tipped all of her belongings onto her bed. Covering the blue cover with bits of rubbish that she had in there for weeks. Sifting through the contents she plucked out a small rectangular business card.
It was plain with only a few lines of writing. When Sabina had gotten it she hadn't thought twice about it and shoved it into her handbag. Now she was studying it she noticed how nondescript it was; it only said 'Mrs Jones' with a phone number printed neatly underneath.
Holding up the business card, Sabina carefully typed in the numbers on her cellphone. After checking the numbers twice she hit the call button and placed the phone on her ear.
"Mrs Jones," A stern voice on the end answered after a couple of rings.
"Um, hi, it's Sabina... Pleasure." She spoke into it nervously.
Mrs Jones had known who was calling when she saw the number. "I wasn't expecting a call from you until tomorrow."
"If you're busy I can call back later..."
"No, no, nows fine. I assume you have made a decision?"
"Yes, I have..." Sabina said hesitantly. "I've decided to come. You promise my Dad will be treated well?"
"That was the agreement." Mrs Jones said non-commitedly.
No backing out now, she had said yes, so she had to go ahead with it. "Ok. Are you sure though? I have no training or experience."
"We're sure." She said, but she wasn't sure. Alan Blunt had managed to convince her that Sabina would be fine, but for the first time she doubted his choice. "Can you come in tomorrow for a briefing? Say, four?"
"Um, I have school, so I might be a bit late, but I can try."
"That's fine. Goodbye Sabina." Mrs Jones said coldly.
"Bye..." Sabina said, but it was pointless. Mrs Jones had already ended the call. Sabina stood listening to the dial tone on the end of the phone. What was she going to tell her Mum? Who knew how long this mission would last. But it will all be worth it when Dad gets out of hospital, she thought, won't it?
After hanging up the phone Mrs Jones marched through to her bosses office. She walked with stern determination. She didn't believe that Sabina should be going on a mission, she couldn't see the reason why Alan had so desperatly fought for her to become a spy.
"I hope you're happy." Mrs Jones stated as she strode through the door. A wave of peppermint followed her in.
Although his face never changed from a frown, she could tell that he was giving her a question look.
"Sabina agreed. She agreed."
The slightest smile appeared at the corner of his thin lips. "Good."
"You had better help her Father like you promised." She said sternly. Standing in front of his desk with her hand on her hips.
"Of course." He said, peering at the papers in front of him. There was always paperwork with this job. Always something that needed his signature on.
"I arranged for her to come in at four tomorrow. Shall I call the others and get them to come in then too?"
Still signing papers on his desk, "yes that will be good." He said distracted.
Mrs Jones left his office not feeling any better. She still didn't think that Sabina was a good decision. She worried that Sabina would be too scared and not strong enough to handle the intense pressure that came with the job. She had to be quick on her feet, and have the ability to make appropriate split second choices. She hoped Alan knew what he was doing.