A/N Sorry for the long wait. I have been vacationing. I finally finished the chapter and posted it. So.. Here.

The woman decided to pay some friends a visit. She vaguely remembered them from a life before this one. She couldn't quite remember their names. Precious? Perton? Something that started with a P. This was stressing her out. She needed to remember their names for some important reason. Now, if she could only remember what that reason was. They had a daughter, she suddenly remembered. Frantically, she searched a phone book, thinking that if she saw the name, she would remember it.

There it was. Pleasure! She needed to see them! Now! They had something of hers. It was important. What was it? It was something from her old life. Why could she not remember it? Frustrated, she called their number.

"Hello?" A sad voice answered. "Who is this?"

"I'm Jaquelyn Smith. I think you have something of mine." The woman answered bluntly

Mrs. Pleasure sighed, "How could I have something of yours. I don't even have anything of my own. They were both stolen from me."

Suddenly, she remembered, "You have my boy! He was a boy!"

"You mean Alex?" Mrs. Pleasure asked, in a moment of curiosity.

"Yes, yes! That's it! My boy's name is Alex! Alex Rider!" Jaquelyn said excitedly.

Mrs. Pleasure sighed, sinking back down into her depressed stupor, "He is not with me anymore. He left to search for someone missing. I'm assuming he was stolen, too."

Jaquelyn was confused. How could they have lost her boy? They seemed to have lost something else as well, maybe the girl? Abruptly, she hang up, deciding to find her boy. He was hers. Alex Rider was hers.

~o~o~o~

Alex had somehow gotten an unconscious Smithers out of underwater dungeon/hospital without trouble. Alex felt that it was all too easy, but had no choice but to do what was expected. He brought Smithers to a hospital nearby with the help of Fletcher. Alex was in the waiting room, reading a magazine, when the nurse came bursting through the door. "Alex? Alex Rider?"

"Here." He said, his stomach sinking. Smithers is surely dead, he thought.

"Come. Joseph says he needs to talk to you. It is a matter of life or death, he said." The nurse said, beckoning.

With a sigh of relief, Alex followed the nurse down the hallway.

Smithers was looking much better than he had. The nurse told Alex that Smithers had a slight concussion, and a whole slew of cuts and bruises, and few broken ribs but nothing life threatening. "Joseph, dear, Alex is here."

With a groan, Smithers whispered, "...Would like...speak...with Alex alone."

The nurse nodded, stepping out of the room.

"Smithers. What is the matter?" Alex asked concernedly. Smithers suit had been taken off. He now was a skinny man. Hopefully, that would throw his captors off while trying to pursue him.

"Don't trust MI6... They have Sabina." Smithers said, his voice hoarse.

Alex's eyes widened in shock. "Why would MI6 kidnap Sabina?"

"...want you... work for them. ...was the only way they could think of ...get you... to get back to ... the espionage... business."

Alex was angry. How could they do this even after Jack got killed? How sick could they get?

"Alex.. beware. They will come for me... You need to get out... of here." Smithers warned. "Here... take this. Go to this location. It will help... you." Alex was given a sheet of paper, but something was off. It had no directions.

"Smithers, what is this?"

"A code is what it looks like." A cold, feminine voice said, and Alex smelled a faint scent of peppermint.

~o~o~o~

That Daniel was taking a long time talking to the Smithers guy, Fletcher thought. What could be taking so long? He waited impatiently for what felt like hours to him, but was only ten minutes. Finally, he decided to check up on Daniel.

He found him three minutes later, sprinting down the hall.

"Fletcher! Run! MI6 is here!" The boy called.

~o~o~o~

Without a word, Fletcher took up behind him. Rather use the front doors, Alex took a right, going up the stairs. Thankfully, Fletcher was fit enough to keep up with him. Taking the stairs two at a time, Alex explained his plan to Fletcher. They needed a disguise.

Five minutes later, a nurse and a sick child with two broken arms and gauze all around his face walked down to the lobby. "I'm taking him to his mother. She wants to meet him at a restaurant. Tell John that I'll be back on my shift as soon as possible." The nurse called as he propelled the child in a wheelchair out the front door.

As soon as they were a safe distance away from the hospital, Alex stood up, shaking his arms out from the casts, and unwinding the gauze from his head. "That was way too close."

Fletcher agreed. "Did you get my money?"

"What?" Alex was confused. Why would Fletcher want money?

"My money. For the Heroin."

"Oh." Alex mentally cursed. How could he have forgotten that Fletcher was a drug dealer and a criminal? "How much was it?"

"40 pounds."

"For one gram?" Alex asked incredulously.

Fletcher nodded. Grumbling, Alex fished forty pounds out of his pocket, and slapped the money into Fletcher's hands.

"I assume we'll be parting ways, now." Alex said, still a little miffed about the cost.

Again, Fletcher nodded, "Until your dad sends you for more!" Awkwardly, Alex agreed, he would probably never see the guy again.

After resting for two nights in someone's barn, Alex had memorized Smithers' map. He decided to rip it to shreds and toss the pieces into the river. He still didn't understand it. It had a riddle at the top, pictures in the middle, and nonsense letters at the bottom. The poem read:

I am the beginning of holes,
The center of a cloud,
and the end of a mouse
What am I?

The picture was of a large, oval pond, with a silver fish in fish had a gold tinged face, and a darker colored back. It's tail was clear, and it was split into two ends. It had a dorsal fin that was tall in the front, then sloped down to the back. It had two small fins on it's stomach, one was rectangular, and located near the tail fin, and the other was smaller and skinny.

The nonsense letters read:qrmnwvcuiezlpdsjkghtgdhjfpiklourzcxqvnbamy

He assumed Smithers had given him the paper for a reason, presumably to help him find Sabina. But he could not understand it. Alex needed help, but who would help him? In despair, he lay down in the hay. He needed to get to Sabina, but it looked like he was stuck.