Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. Or NCIS. Just German Grammar, the plot and the ability to grin widely at every review I get. ;)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 90 REVIEWS (so far)!

AN: BTW - I got a few PMs asking who Hugo was (chapter 5). Incidentally, when I wrote the chapter, he was just a guy Ben hates. Then I decided he was the guy at the party mentioned in the first chapter (scroll down to the end). Just wanting to clear things up a bit.

If anyone's interested: I listened to Gentleman's new record while writing this. Especially 'Homesick' and 'Memories' fit the chapter (I think).

Chapter 16: Planning (~1,700 words)

Alex woke when she heard soft footsteps in the hallway. She sat up, waiting for whatever they had planned this time.

Walker accompanied four guards. She had never seen their faces before, so she took that as a sign for rotation amongst the men. Besides, they could hardly let the same idiots watch her that were now in the infirmary or dead. Right?

"You have an appointment, Alex. I trust you slept well?"

She simply got up from the cot and walked - head held high - towards the door.

"We took the liberty to send a copy of your last session to your friends. I hope you are not... upset about that," Walker continued.

Alex ignored him. Inwardly she was fuming again. She had wanted to spare Chris the torture and pain - not increase it.

Vlad was already waiting with his favorite - the whip - in his hand. Alex braced herself, ignored the looks she got and let her mind wander to more pleasant things.

Chris and Alex were half-hidden in the shadow of the car and the sea of people. She got on her toes and kissed him square on the lips.

"Thanks for annoying Ben and Wolf for me.", she whispered in between kisses.

Chris smirked, drawing her closer to him, holding her tightly. "Don't mention it. That's the least I could do."

She laughed and he relished her rare genuine happiness. He bend down to kiss her again.

"Oh please! Could you keep your fingers to yourself?", Tom teased mid-kiss.

Alex flashed him the finger, not letting her boyfriend go nor feeling any desire to do so anytime soon.

Tom snorted at her reaction. "Lovely, Ms. Daniels." Claire hit him none-too-gently. "Leave them alone you insensitive idiot."

Alex rolled her eyes. Chris chuckled.

She stage-whispered: "Remind me. Why did I invite them again?"

"They're your best friends."

"Ah yes. I thought there had to be some sort of reason..."

Chris chuckled harder now. Tom rolled his eyes. Lou smiled happily while Claire smirked.

"What are you waiting for? Get in the car or stay behind.", Ben threw in.

Chris and Alex were squeezed in between Tom, Lou and Claire and Luke (Wolf) and Lemming on the other side.

It ended with Alex having to sit on Chris's lap, not that either of them complained.

Another gleeful shout from McGee tore him out of his thoughts. Immediately Eagle stared at the technology expert.

"We have a few hits. There are two houses that could fit what we are looking for," McGee announced.

Eagle allowed himself to hope they had broken the case. Gibbs motioned for him to elaborate, sipping on his large black coffee.

McGee pulled two pictures of the houses up on the screen.

"Well, they were both officially bought by a couple – which we can safely say might be fake – in the last six months. They both have been rebuilt. One claimed a water damage in the cellar so Abby and I would favor that one. I mean after all Ben told us... Anyway," McGee took a deep breath.

"They are farm houses, inconspicuous from the outside and overlook most of their surroundings which would have helped to spot Alex when she tried to escape. Virtually no neighbors. Nobody will hear shots if fired. Any extra cars could be explained as visitors. A fence is not very suspicious if you only see a protection barrier or decorative item."

Ben had listened attentively to every word, thinking hard.

Chris followed her on the roof, not saying anything until she caught herself first. The night was clear enough to see the stars in-between the clouds. Even the moon. He held her close, trying to keep her warm in her dress.

"I hate him. Lemming's an idiot, a newbie, but claims he knows everything better than you three. When he got shot he endangered all of you. I... That is not acceptable."

"No, it's not. Why do you think we have extended leave? The Sergeant wants him to realize he is not all he thinks he is."

"So you are supposed to screw his head back on his shoulders for the Sergeant?"

"Basically. But I think he counts on one of the emergencies, so you can show him up majorly."

Alex giggled. "I have to admit, his face would be worth a little emergency. Do you remember when we pulled the prank on him? It was hilarious."

Alex was freed out of her shackles and taken down. Again, there was a smile on her face, her eyes had a distinctly far-away-look but she was semi-conscious.

The men had less of a problem to move her on the table.

She was still struggling against them, but the new and the 'old' wounds were sucking most of her strength out of her body.

'Struggling' might be a bit stretched too.

The fuzziness hadn't lifted, if anything it had intensified.

Poison? There might be something in or on that whip...

Her vision was whacked; off, too. If it was poison, it had to have some part hallucinogen in its mixture.

However, the guards didn't seem to notice when they fastened the restraints on her.

Alex kept her eyes open, doing her best to glare at the Russian that tortured her. She withdrew again into her inner world, leaving them none the wiser.

"We're decent, if I say so myself.", Sabina called out.

Chris stuck his head in, dramatically bowing in their direction. "I was going to offer my service to you, m'ladies."

Alex laughed and curtsied. "Thank you, kind sir."

Sabina giggled at their antics. "You are really cute together.", she admitted. Then she sincerely said to Chris: "Thanks for making her so happy."

Ben had listened attentively to every word McGee uttered. Now he nodded slowly, calculating every possibility.

"I think you are right. They would have tried to make it the most legal and inconspicuous exchange possible. We should definitely go with the water damage-house first. If they are not there, it has to be the other one. Only then it will get harder, since we will have warned them with storming the first one."

"What do we need for an infiltration?" Tony wondered.

"Last year, in Germany, Alex organized ten Special Forces men, high-end protective gear, masks, snipers on the surrounding buildings, comms, two hackers, extra-ammo, medics, guns, semi- and automatics, knives, combat clothes... She went in first, to take the alarm out. I don't know how she hacked that."

"I know the basics. She taught it to me, on a mission."

"I think we need to have a helicopter on stand-by. We don't know how bad she is. It has been over four hours since we received the video. They won't leave her to rest and recuperate. They are desperate," Wolf added.

Gibbs nodded. "I'll ask for two SWAT teams. Someone still owes me a favor. Do we need agents as well?"

"I think, McGee and Abby can handle hacking into the system. It's pretty basic. They never expect anyone to break in," Ben said.

Chris nodded and smiled faintly, but stayed serious. "I'll always have your back. Just promise me something, princess."

Alex tilted her head to show she was listening.

"Try not to get killed."

She knew he meant it. Nonetheless there was a faint smile on her lips as well. "I'll do my best."

"And if you need to fake your death or something, tell me somehow. Please?"

"Promise.", she whispered, against his lips, straddling him to kiss the tears goodbye for this night at least.

Alex was moved again. She knew that she was losing too much blood to still struggle successfully.

The poison made her head go crazy, there were random bursts of pain, her whole body seemed to exist only in a world filled with pain... She was restrained, again, and she let herself fall.

Fall deep into the tornado of emotions...

Chris had wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. "Don't you want to sleep?", he whispered in her ear, worried that she was going to have a nightmare again.

"No. I am okay where I am right now."

He smiled. "That's good to know."

"So why don't you go to sleep?"

"I'm okay where I am as well, believe it or not."

Gibbs nodded. "I'll ask for two SWAT teams. Someone still owes me a favor. Do we need agents as well?"

"I think, McGee and Abby can handle hacking into the system. It's pretty basic. They never expect anyone to break in," Ben added.

"Then let's do it. We don't have any time to lose."

Everyone got a task to finish during the last preparations.

Eagle was the first done with checking his equipment. - The many competitions against Alex seemed finally to pay off.

The extra-weapons they had received were in top-condition. He had slipped into the protective gear like a fish into water.

Princess, just hold on a little longer. Please. We're coming.

He helped check the others over, to make sure everyone was as protected as possible.

There was no taking chances. Dead they would not help anyone.

Walking out of the room, he grabbed Alex's duffel bag.

Ben could distribute the gadgets as he saw fit and explain how they worked until they got there.

They had an hour-and-a-half-long drive before them.