Hi everyone! I am so sorry I haven't been updating, I'm not dead! I've been having exams, the biggest ever case of writers' block, and been working on my original fics. But I'm back, and here's an extra long chapter to make up for it. I'm really sorry, guys. I hope you're still with me. Thanks for understanding, I promise I'll update soon!

-Lauren

x.x.x

The next day at school, Alex was on the lookout.

Anya had been told by Yassen the same thing – to lie low, to be alert and not to worry too much. She adhered to the instructions a little better than Alex did.

She could tell Alex was jumpy. When they were walking around, he would always scan the area. Every time he saw Miss Knight or the new janitor, Ben, he would stare and go into thinking mode.

Alex had several suspects in mind. Miss Bedfordshire, the receptionist, had a soft spot for him, so he was able to access the school records one lunchtime, and wrote down the name of every new teacher or employee within the past 3 months.

He perused the list in more detail that afternoon. He closed the door to his room, sat at his desk and read the list.

Ben Daniels was the most recent, but Alex knew who he was.

Next was Tamara Knight, but it definitely wasn't her.

A new Science teacher by the name of Nathan Aldridge had been appointed recently. He was 27, and though Alex wasn't taught by him, he remembered him to be a tall man with a large build. Was he fit? He certainly could be a suspect; Alex wrote his name down on a separate piece of paper that was the suspect list. He would bug Miss Bedfordshire for Mr Aldridge's resume.

The next was a Geography teacher by the name of Alice Reeves. Alex didn't have her either, but he knew that she was about 50 or so years old, and very obese. Almost certainly not the enemy, though she did have a terrible temper.

The school had appointed a new receptionist called Ruby Lewis. She was young, about 24 years old, and quite pretty, from what Alex remembered. Last time Alex paid for something at the office, he remembered that she was very nice and had a pleasant demeanour, but then again, that could be her cover. He couldn't remember whether she was fit or not, and women's bodies had a way of hiding athleticism, especially in skinny girls. Nevertheless, her name was on the suspect list, though it would be a little harder for Alex to get her resume.

There was a new English teacher called Eric Callaghan at the school. Alex sighed; he had Mr Callaghan. He was about 50 years old, with a stomach so round he could have been pregnant, and every time he opened his mouth, he bellowed. He seemed incapable of talking in an "inside voice". He certainly wasn't fit, but he was so nasty that Alex put his name down on the list anyway. The stomach, after all, could be strapped on under his belly; it was so ridiculously large Alex wouldn't be surprised if it was fake.

A new librarian called Patricia Hammond had also been appointed recently. She was 36 years old, and rather overweight. She had glasses that always slid halfway down her nose and was renowned only for telling students to keep quiet. It was unlikely that she had a hidden agenda, but still, Alex would keep an eye on her.

Lastly, there was a new PE teacher called Wentworth Morgan. He was young and fit – 25 years old and had played sports all his life. He could beat anyone in the cross country or any other sporting event, which Alex regarded as rather odd. This alone got him put on Alex's list. However, he was a jolly, funny man, and always made jokes. Most of the girls liked him secretly, from what he heard from Tom, and even the teenage boys respected him. He smiled most of the time and was always genial. But even this was a little suspicious, and so Alex underlined his name on the list.

Pleased with his findings and glad that he had some idea of what was happening, he switched off the light and went to sleep.

x.x.x

Alex rang Anya the next day and ran her through his list.

'Hm,' she said, sighing. 'Mr Callaghan, really, Alex? He's a little fat, don't you think?'

'His stomach could be fake,' said Alex. 'It's certainly big enough to be.' Anya laughed.

'Well, I suppose. But Alex, don't you think Yassen can handle himself?' asked Anya. Yassen's ears pricked up in the next room at the mention of the name, but tried not to invade on Anya's privacy like he usually did. It was hard sometimes always being aware of what his adopted daughter was doing – his eavesdropping skills had stayed with him throughout the years.

'Yeah, but –' said Alex.

'Be alert, but don't trouble yourself too much, ok, Alex? Don't want your brain to explode,' said Anya, smiling.

'Alright,' said Alex, sighing. 'But we'll check it out, alright?'

Anya laughed. 'If you want to, Alex. You're like Harry Potter, you know that? He always wanted to know exactly what was happening in school as well.'

Alex chuckled. 'I know.'

x.x.x

The next day, Tom had PE with Mr Morgan. After the lesson was lunch. Alex planned to watch him through the end of the lesson, then follow him afterwards discreetly, and track his activities. He seemed like the most likely suspect, with his athleticism and charisma. The only problem was, Alex was in Mr Callaghan's class with Anya.

'Alex, stop looking at the clock,' Anya hissed. Mr Callaghan was glaring at Alex, and Anya was elbowing him. 'What are you doing?'

Alex snapped out of it and pretended to be engrossed in his work.

'I need to get out of class for a bit longer than a toilet break,' said Alex. 'Can you cover for me?'

Anya sighed.

'Which one?' she asked. She already knew what Alex was doing, and that she could do nothing to stop him.

'Mr Morgan,' he whispered, standing up. Anya felt a rush of adrenaline. She knew that Yassen had told them to lay low, but she wanted to be involved in the action and get some information for herself.

'Mr Callaghan, can I please go to the toilet?' Alex asked. Mr Callaghan's face turned red, he turned to Alex with a furious expression on his face.

'No, you may not! Not in the middle of my class! Don't you think you've missed enough schooling with –'

Anya stood up, determined to cover for Alex. She walked over to Mr Callaghan, and said to him softly,

'Alex isn't feeling so well.' Mr Callaghan looked suspicious, but he knew Alex's history and didn't want a lawsuit on his hands. 'Can I go with him to make sure he's ok?'

Mr Callaghan hesitated, but agreed in the end. Alex nodded to Anya and they walked out of the classroom together.

Only a few minutes later did Mr Callaghan realise that he'd sent a boy to the toilet with a girl, but was too lazy to go after them or give them a detention.

'Good one,' whispered Alex. Anya smiled.

'Thank you.'

'Tom's in Mr Morgan's class. We'll watch him then follow him after lunch, and see what he gets up to,' said Alex, outlining the plan.

'How?'

'We just will.'

'You mean you haven't planned this out?' said Anya, shocked. If Alex was a spy, he should know better.

'Hey, he's just a PE teacher,' said Alex.

'But you want to find out that he's not,' pointed out Anya. Alex hesitated. It was a fair point.

'Alright, we'll just walk by, look like we're running messages back and forth, keep an eye on him, count on Tom to cover for us, then pretend we're going to our lockers after lunch and follow him. Then we'll see whether he goes straight to the staffroom. If he does, then we'll sit outside in the corridor, have lunch there, wait till he leaves and then follow him again, very sneakily – maybe only one of us will go – and if he doesn't we'll follow him to wherever he goes, whether it's the car park or what.'

'Ok,' said Anya.

They walked quickly down to the oval, where they could see Tom and Mr Morgan's class. They were running laps around the oval, Tom and Mr Morgan leading. Alex and Anya got closer, walking across the other end of the oval, and watching Mr Morgan in turns, talking to each other.

'So anything suspicious?' asked Anya. It was Alex's turn to look.

'No,' said Alex. 'Looks like a normal PE teacher to me,' he said disappointedly.

They took turns looking, but none of them could see anything suspicious. Alex wasn't disheartened, though. If he was a spy, he was unlikely to do anything during PE class. After the bell rang, Alex and Anya snapped into action.

Mr Morgan left and discreetly (or how they thought was discreetly), Alex and Anya followed.

They dodged the students escaping from the classrooms and followed Mr Morgan until he came to the staffroom door. Immediately Alex and Anya stopped, paused, and sat down by the door.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Alex and Anya couldn't hear a thing – Mr Morgan was silent. Alex looked at Anya; she shook him off.

Then the telephone rang.

'Ooh,' whispered Alex.

'Hello?' asked Mr Morgan cheerily. He sounded like he was eating something at the same time. 'Oh, that's fine. Don't worry about it. So I'll meet you tonight, yeah?'

Alex raised his eyebrows, and Anya resisted the urge to slap him on the arm.

'At the station. Yeah, 9:00. Alright, honey, love you, bye!'

Anya shook her head and Alex pretended to vomit.

They stayed there for the rest of lunch, but nothing much else happened. Mr Morgan stayed in the staffroom for the whole of lunch, and when the bell rang for the next lesson, he went straight down to his class.

'Nothing, then,' concluded Anya.

'He might have just been hiding it because he knew we were there,' pointed out Alex.

'Oh, give it up, Alex, I don't reckon it's him,' said Anya, sighing.

'Alright, alright. Who next?'

x.x.x

The next target was Mr Aldridge.

'No, Alex, he's my science teacher!' protested Anya.

'We have to try!' said Alex. 'Look, you distract him by talking to him about some science subject, and I'll search his stuff.'

'Alex!'

'I don't think following them is enough! One lunchtime of non-activity doesn't prove anything, but a clean bag proves a lot more – especially if it's not as clean as it looks,' said Alex.

'Alex, are you really that desperate?'

'Trust me, I do this all the time,' he said, with a little bit of pride in his voice. Anya sighed.

'Mr Aldridge has got playground duty today. How are you going to dodge the other teachers in the staffroom?'

'Oh, I'll just tell them I'm picking something up for him, search around in his desk, and use that excuse. Plus, they all like me, don't they?'

Anya laughed. 'Like Mr Callaghan likes you?'

'He doesn't like anyone,' said Alex.

x.x.x.

'Hi Mr Aldridge,' said Anya, as sweetly as he could.

'Hello Anya,' said Mr Aldridge, smiling at her. Most of the teachers liked Anya, because she was smart, pleasant and mature. Most of them wondered why she hung out with Alex and Tom in the first place. 'How are you?'

'I'm good, thanks. I was just wondering… you know how we learnt about electrical resistors the other day? Well, I didn't quite get it, and I was wondering whether you could explain…'

'Of course,' he said. 'A bright student is never afraid to say that they don't understand.' Anya smiled.

Mr Aldridge launched into a detailed explanation, as they walked around the playground together. Anya stole a look at Alex, who was already dashing away, off and up to the Science rooms.

x.x.x

Alex knocked, and waited nervously. He shouldn't be nervous, after everything he'd done, but he wasn't at school a lot, and teachers still scared him, after Point Blanc.

'Hello Alex, what do you want?' asked Mr Reynolds, trying hard to smile at the student who was away half the time.

'I just need to pick something up for Mr Aldridge…' said Alex hesitantly. Hesitantly because he thought it would be less suspicious, and hesitantly because he was hesitating.

'What is it that you need?' asked Mr Reynolds. Alex gulped.

'Just some exam papers – he wanted to show me something on it…'

Mr Reynolds concealed a sigh. 'Alright, his desk is over there.'

'Thank you,' said Alex. He rushed over to Mr Reynolds desk, stole a glance to check that no one was looking too carefully, and praised his luck. Mr Reynolds had left the staffroom and no one else was even paying the slightest attention to him.

Alex worked quickly, because he knew he didn't have long. The desk had nothing of interest, and too much digging around underneath all the mess would make Mr Aldridge notice that someone had been there. Bad if he was a spy, and worse if he wasn't. Alex checked the drawers quickly, for hidden guns and the sort, but there was nothing but paperclips and spare chalk. Under the desk was nothing, and finally, his bag was gone, so Alex couldn't even check that. To Alex's disappointment, the place was clean.

Sighing, he left the staffroom.

x.x.x

'Nothing,' said Alex.

'See? I told you there was no point searching his desk.'

'It gives me more conclusive information,' argued Alex.

'So, who else could it be?' asked Anya.

'Ruby Lewis, the new secretary.'

'Ooh, she might be hard to track, in the office all day. Is there anyone else?'

'A few more, but they're really unlikely. Patricia Hammond, the new librarian –'

'Eugh,' said Anya. 'Definitely not.

'Mr Callaghan's reasonably new.'

Anya almost spat out the juice she was drinking.

'Mrs Reeves?'

'Yeah, sure. She's nasty enough to be,' commented Anya.

'Apart from that, no one else is new.'

'Apart from Ms Knight.'

'Yeah, apart from her.'

'Alex?' said a voice from behind him. Alex turned around to see Ms Knight bending over the desk they were sitting at. He stood up abruptly and pretended to smile.

'Ms Knight,' he said awkwardly.

'Alex, can I talk to you?' she asked, raising a perfectly formed eyebrow.

'I'll leave,' said Anya quickly. She gathered her stuff and left the classroom quickly.

'Alex,' said Tamara. 'Can you please stop snooping around the teachers?' Alex sighed. Tamara was good, he knew, but he'd hoped that his snooping would have escaped her notice.

'But –'

'That's my job. You're still a schoolkid, you know that?' she said, trying to sound gentle but coming off as a little prickly nevertheless.

'I know, but –'

'I know you know there's someone bad in the school. I would not have expected anything less from you,' she said, smiling. 'But, just concentrate on your schoolwork, ok?'

Alex almost was going to just be resigned and agree, pretend to leave the subject alone, but he was getting annoyed.

'How can I concentrate on my schoolwork when there are MI6 and CIA agents running around the school, showing me that there's something going on?! How can I concentrate on my schoolwork when there might be someone trying to kill me at any moment?' burst out Alex. For once, he just wished he were normal.

'Alex,' said Tamara soothingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He shook her off. 'I've got it covered, alright? You saved my life, I'll look after yours.'

Alex was silent.

'Come on, Alex, just don't worry about it, ok?'

'Alright,' said Alex, resorting to pretending. 'Bye.' He picked up his stuff and left without saying another word, off to find Anya.

x.x.x

'Anya,' said Yassen. He knew she was hiding something from him. Anya peeped out of the door to her room.

'Yes?' she said innocently. Damn, the girl was a good actor, thought Yassen, but not good enough to fool me.

'How's school going?' asked Yassen.

'Fine,' said Anya.

'Can I help you with any homework?' he asked.

'I don't have assassin class,' teased Anya. 'Unless you want to teach me…?'

'No,' said Yassen firmly. Ever since her discovery of Yassen's old job, she'd wanted to learn a bit of the craft. Yassen sent her to martial arts lessons and told her a few tips when they came to mind, but he had no intention of turning his newly found daughter into an assassin.

'Anya,' said Yassen. 'How's Alex going?'

'Alex… he's going well? Yes, he's fine,' said Anya, a little flustered.

'Is that him on the phone?'

'Um, yes…'

'Can I talk to him?'

'Just a sec…'

Anya took the phone out from her room and gave it to Yassen hesitantly.

'So, we have to check out Ruby Lewis – Anya?'

'Hello Alex,' said Yassen. Anya's heart fell – she'd heard Alex spill the beans. She was meant to be lying low, not trying to investigate. Boy, was she in trouble.

'Oh, Yassen…' said Alex. Crap, Alex thought.

'So, who's this Ruby Lewis?' asked Yassen, pretending to make pleasant conversation.

'Well, she's a girl that I think is pretty hot,' lied Alex. 'I wanted Anya to check her out for me –'

Yassen barely fought back laughter.

'Alex, can you please stop playing detective?' asked Yassen.

'Alright,' he said, sighing. You didn't argue with Yassen. Nobody argued with Yassen, even if he was a "good guy" now. You still didn't argue with Yassen Gregorovich.

'Thank you Alex. Goodnight.' Yassen hung up and saw that Anya's bedroom door was closed.

'Anya?' he called, climbing up the stairs again. He knocked on her door.

'Yes?' she said. 'I've got homework to do, can I talk to you –'

Yassen was right behind her, before she even turned around to look.

'I thought I told you to stay low,' said Yassen, staring at Anya. She shrunk back a little into her chair. Even if Yassen was her uncle, she could still see the outline of a gun at his hip.

'I was just trying to see –'

Yassen sighed. 'It's alright, Anya. I know you're curious… just try and curb it for a little while, ok?'

In the past, Yassen dealt with disobedience by torture or simply murder. Now, he dealt with it by giving Anya a pat on the head and a kiss on the forehead.

x.x.x

'No more investigating, then,' said Anya.

'No. I think Yassen's right anyway,' said Alex.

'Yassen's always right,' said Anya, sighing.

'Alex, Anya, will you please stop your chatter!' shouted Mr Callaghan.

'Sorry,' said Anya.

'He's such a bore, isn't he?' whispered Kiara, who had suddenly magicked herself to Anya's desk.

'Yeah, he is.'

'Want to get out of the lesson? Will you come to the bathroom with me?' asked Kiara.

Anya raised an eyebrow. It was an odd request… but then Anya remembered that girls usually went to the bathroom in twos, and that Kiara might be having…

Well, she might be having girl problems.

So Anya said yes.

'Mr Callaghan, could we please go to the bathroom?' Mr Callaghan flicked his hand, and Kiara and Anya left the room.

'So, have you done that assignment on Romeo and Juliet yet?' asked Kiara.

'Not yet,' said Anya.

'It's so annoying, assignments! I hate them, don't you?'

'Yeah,' said Anya, with decidedly less rigour than Kiara.

'And Mr Callaghan's really annoying, isn't he?'

'Yeah.'

Anya felt a little out of place with this overtalkative girl.

They went into the bathrooms, and Kiara gave Anya a little smile before disappearing into a cubicle. Ok, so no girl problems then. Anya decided she might as well go to the toilet if she was here already.

She did her business, washed her hands and waited for Kiara. And waited. Kiara still wasn't out yet…

Then Anya heard the school bell ring, and raised an eyebrow. According to her watch, it wasn't time for the lesson to end – it had only just started. She wondered whether her watch was wrong.

The bell kept on ringing.

2 seconds, 3, 4, 5, 6…

It was a lockdown.

And Anya was in the toilet.

'Kiara, it's a lockdown!' she shouted to Kiara, who was still in the toilet.

Anya waited for an answer, but none came.

Seconds passed.

'Are you alright?' she asked. Still no answer.

Then the toilet door flung open, and Kiara rushed out.

'Ki-'

But Kiara didn't stop running. She charged at Anya and pinned her easily to the wall. Anya's eyes widened. She should have been more careful. She should have seen it coming.

And now there was nothing she could do as the hands around her neck tightened.

x.x.x

'Lockdown,' said Alex. 'We should get to the nearest classroom.'

'Yeah,' agreed Ryan, and they ran into the maths classroom a few metres away. The door wasn't locked, and the classroom was empty. That was odd.

The two boys rushed into the classroom, and performed the basic lockdown procedures. They closed the windows, turned off the lights and locked the door. Alex and Ryan hid under the table, and waited.

'It's probably a drill,' said Ryan.

'Hm,' Alex said, pretending to agree, but he knew something was wrong. For one thing – it was during the middle of term; usually they had lockdown drills at the end of term so that they weren't interrupting important classes. For the second thing, there had been a ridiculous amount of agents in the school lately. Something was wrong, and the intelligence agencies knew about it. If only Alex had worked out who was the enemy in the school! Alex would be willing to bet that Tamara, Ben and Miss Treat were all in the middle of some sort of action at that moment.

He was dead wrong – they were trying to find him.

Alex didn't see Ryan's punch coming.

Ryan's fist hit the side of his face, and blood started gushing out of Alex's nose. Alex didn't ask questions, and didn't wonder what was going on with Ryan; his spy instinct kicked in. There would be time for questions later. Now was the time for self defence.

He ignored his nose and hopped out from under the table. Ryan was faster than him, though, and caught him in a headlock. Alex was surprised by the strength of the boy – he certainly wasn't a normal student.

Alex lifted his leg up and kicked back, kicking Ryan in the shin. For a split second, Ryan loosened his grip and Alex took the opportunity. He grabbed the other boy's arm and tried to fling him forward, but Ryan was unexpectedly heavy. Alex did, however, cause him to lose his balance, and Ryan attempted to balance himself.

While balancing, he couldn't defend himself, so Alex used the time to take him out. He made a direct kick to the groin – a dirty tactic, but effective nonetheless. Ryan bent over in pain, and Alex made the mistake of relaxing.

Ryan recovered quickly – or ignored the pain, and threw himself onto Alex, pinning him to the floor. His hands wrapped around Alex's neck, and started to tighten. Alex knew he had to act quickly, before all the breath was forced out of him. With a great heave, he rolled over, and pushed Ryan down to the floor. Unfortunately, Ryan still had a hold on Alex's neck. Alex looked around for anything he could use to his advantage – and spotted a knife in Ryan's pocket. He reached for the knife and pulled it out. He held it to Ryan's own neck.

'Oh,' said Ryan, obviously amused. 'Stalemate. But do you have the guts to kill me, Alex?' he taunted. Alex increased the pressure on Ryan's neck, but knew he had to bluff his way out of this. He would not kill someone without even knowing exactly what they wanted. Perhaps Ryan was simply jealous, or just wanted to prove himself. Alex doubted it, but he would never rest if he never knew.

'I will,' lied Alex.

'Are you sure?' Ryan asked. Alex could feel him gaining the upper hand through his conversation – he was making Alex think twice. However, Alex had a plan.

'You don't believe me?' asked Alex, and he drew the knife up, ready to stab. Ryan saw him hesitate, and was about to laugh, before the knife came plunging down at him. He let go of Alex and rolled over. However, Alex never intended to stab. The knife had been flung to the right, burying itself in the classroom wall.

Alex jumped to his feet, and proceeded to finish the fight quickly. Ryan was still lying on the floor – not as quick as Alex back on his feet. Alex kicked him in the side, and gave him a slap on the side of his head, which knocked him unconscious.

A million questions were running through Alex's mind as he flung open the door, but he didn't try to answer them – his main objective at this point was to find Tamara or Ben.

And then one of the more persistent questions answered themselves.

What about Ryan's sister?

She went to the toilet with Anya.

Alex swore.

If there was something wrong with Ryan, there was bound to be something wrong with his sister. Alex had considered it odd that Kiara asked Anya to go to the toilet with her, but he had put it down to "girl problems" that he had no desire to know about. Now he knew what was really going on.

It was odd how things that concerned him almost inevitably concerned Anya as well these days.

He weighed the consequences. Tamara and Ben could be in any of the classrooms, and the school would take at the very least 10 minutes to search, especially with all the doors locked. That was too long – Anya wasn't much of a fighter. On the other hand, Alex knew that there were only 2 girls' toilets in the school, and Anya and Kiara had probably gone to the nearest one.

He decided to head for the toilet.