Hi guys!

Sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter! Hope you like it, and I'll try and update sooner next time!

-Lauren

x.x.x

Alex and Anya didn't speak again of Tamara Knight, and yet both their thoughts were filled with her name almost all of the time. Both of them were dying to know why the CIA was monitoring their school, and what was about to happen. Both of them also wanted to know how on earth Yassen knew Tamara. But it was a taboo subject, and also very risky to talk about, so none of them said a word about it.

They didn't know that the CIA wasn't the worst thing that was about to enter their school.

'Class, we have two new students,' said Mr Grey.

Kiara and Ryan stood at the front of the classroom, looking like ordinary schoolchildren. It was a flawless disguise – even Alex Rider didn't suspect anything. Kiara looked like an ordinary schoolgirl, pretending to be checking out all the guys in the class, and Ryan looking slightly bored, chewing on a piece of gum.

They were, however, not ordinary at all.

'This is Kiara and Ryan Ashford, class,' said Mr Grey. 'They're new to Brookland. I'm sure you will make them welcome here.'

Grunts of approval and a few sighs came from the class. New students were nothing interesting. A few people mumbled back hello's but none paid too much attention.

Even Alex Rider did not pay much attention to the new students; Kiara and Ryan had been well trained to fit in perfectly. After the ordinary introduction, they occupied the empty seats next to Alex.

'Nice to meet you,' said Ryan, turning to Alex. Alex felt obliged to answer.

'Ryan, right? I'm Alex,' he said.

Ryan smiled to himself. This was the boy – for sure.

x.x.x

Alex, Anya and Tom took their usual seats in the school cafeteria. Tom had piled his tray with food as usual, and Alex's and Anya's food looked dismal in comparison.

Alex spotted the new kids, Kiara and Ryan, approaching.

'Do you mind if we sit with you guys?' asked Kiara, smiling sweetly at the three. Tom grinned. Tom, a normal teenage boy, couldn't resist Kiara and her perfect smile.

'Not at all,' he answered. Kiara smiled at him again and she and Ryan sat down.

'So where are you guys from?' asked Tom. Alex sighed silently. That was Tom, always friendly, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Alex had enough to worry about without two new people tagging along – it made investigation so much harder because they didn't know he was a spy.

What Alex didn't know was that Kiara and Ryan knew everything about him.

'We're from Australia. Sydney, actually. London is ridiculously cold,' said Kiara.

'Why did you move?' asked Tom, keeping the conversation going.

Alex looked around the cafeteria, and gasped. Anya turned to him.

'Is something wrong?' she asked.

'I need to go… to my locker. I left my maths book there,' lied Alex, jumping up from the table and walking briskly off. Anya raised an eyebrow at Alex's behaviour. Something was wrong, definitely.

x.x.x

Ben Daniels knew that Alex had spotted him.

He decided to test Alex's hunting skills; he ducked down a corridor to the right, and quickened his pace. He could hear Alex's footsteps not far behind him.

Alex lost sight of Fox temporarily, and was met with a decision – left or right? He took a quick look and found the distant figure of Fox running down the right corridor.

So he wants to play hide and seek? thought Alex, Let's go.

Alex sprinted down the corridor, but couldn't gain any ground against Fox.

Ben flung open the door to an empty classroom and ran in. Crossing the classroom in under 3 seconds, he opened one of the windows and jumped out. He closed the window before leaving, and hid among the hedges.

Alex lost sight of Ben, but as he passed a classroom, the door was swinging ever so slightly on its hinges, as if it had been opened recently. Alex knew by who it had been. He ran into the classroom, and was dismayed to find it empty. He checked for any unusual signs, and was about to leave… until he saw the faintest of dirt marks on the window sill.

Hurriedly he opened the window and jumped out. There was something wrong with the picture, Alex knew, but he couldn't figure it out. He felt a presence behind him, and was about to turn around, but was caught in a headlock before he could react.

'Why, hello, Cub,' said Ben, smiling.

'Fox,' replied Alex. 'Nice to see you on your feet again.'

'Thank you,' replied Ben. 'Nice to finally see you at school.'

'What are you doing here?' Alex asked, not afraid to get to the point.

'Just keeping an eye on a few things,' said Fox vaguely.

'Like me?' asked Alex sarcastically.

'Maybe,' answered Ben, grinning.

'Are you going to let me go?' asked Alex.

Ben took away his arm and grinned at Alex.

'See you around, then, Cub,' he said, waving and walking off.

Alex didn't even bother trying to follow him – if Ben didn't want to tell Alex anything, there was no way Alex would get an answer out of Ben.

At least he knew that Fox was there.

Which meant something was definitely wrong.

x.x.x

'Where'd you go, Alex?' asked Tom. Alex was glad to see that the two new students weren't with them anymore.

'Somewhere,' said Alex distractedly.

Tom sighed. Alex always answered so vaguely.

x.x.x

Alex knew more now, and he was trying to piece things together as he walked home.

He knew that Tamara Knight was stationed at his school. He knew that Fox was stationed there as well. He knew that it was more than surveillance because there was already an agent there to keep an eye on him – Miss Treat.

He knew that there were a few possibilities. Since he'd just recently foiled Scorpia's plan, Scorpia was probably after him and they could just be there for protection. But why the CIA, though? They had nothing to do with this.

Another possibility was that they had found out Yassen was alive. Alex didn't know a lot about Yassen's past, but he suspected that it was reason enough for his name to be on the lists of every intelligence agency in the world. If there was even a slight chance that he was alive, the agents would be swarming in like bees.

But why station themselves in the school? There were hundreds of children around, and that alone would make it so much harder for the agents. They could easily investigate Yassen from a distance by renting one of the houses in the area. If they wanted to see Anya, they could do the same.

Alex was leaning towards protection, but if that was the case, why hadn't MI6 contacted him? And why couldn't the CIA tell him what it was about? Things were very mysterious.

And then as he was turning the facts over again in his head something clicked.

If there were good people in the school, the only reason they would be in school is if there were bad people in the school as well.

x.x.x

'Anya!' Alex shouted into the phone. As soon as he'd gotten home he'd rung Anya to tell her about what he'd realised.

'Yes, Alex?' she asked, raising an eyebrow on her end. Yassen heard and stopped cooking and came to Anya's side, listening in to the conversation.

'You know how the CIA's in school?' he asked.

'Yes…'

'MI6's there as well, now.' Yassen snatched the phone off Anya.

'What, Alex?' Alex was caught off guard by the change of voice, but continued nevertheless.

'MI6 has an agent in the school. I know him. Ben Daniels. He helped me with the Winston Yu incident. He's stationed in the school, but he wouldn't tell me anything. And I was thinking, either they're here for my protection against Scorpia, or they know you're alive. It can't be unrelated, can it?'

Yassen nodded. 'No, something's going on, Alex. Keep it to a minimum, though. I can handle this.'

'What if they're after you?' asked Alex, worried. Over the past few months he'd developed a close relationship and the thought of losing his father figure gave him much anxiety.

'They've always been after me, Alex,' said Yassen, smiling. 'It's no different to before.'

'But –'

'You worry about yourself, and I'll worry about myself and Anya,' said Yassen.

'But also… why would they be stationed at the school? Wouldn't that be difficult? The only reason I can think of is that…'

Yassen immediately thought of the most likely possibility of why they'd be at school.

'There's an enemy in the school,' Yassen finished. Alex gaped – Yassen had read his mind! Alex didn't take into account that Yassen was an extremely intelligent and highly trained assassin who, though wasn't quite capable of reading minds, could still come up with all the reasons why for any particular phenomena.

'So what do we do?' asked Alex.

'Stay low, and be alert. But don't worry.'

The last command was the hardest for Alex to do.