Sorry for the long wait guys! I was in Longleat this weekend – no computer and definitely no internet. : ( but the update got here eventually – and I do believe that this is the longest chapter so far. So R&R for more chapters like it.

Thanks to CunningMascara for once more being my Beta:)

Disclaimer: Can you believe that Horowitz doesn't want to sell the Alex Rider series to me. I know – I was shocked too.

Previously: "…we must follow through with the threat. And I know just what has to be done."It was six o'clock on Saturday night and, instead of being out doing something – anything - Alex lay on his bed thinking; completely oblivious to the meeting about him taking place just outside London. He had no idea how to contact K-Unit – he only knew that he had to talk to one of them without
other people – who may or may not be watching him – knowing. Ben, Fox, was his best bet. The man probably understood what Alex had been through more than any of the others, more than that – he had actually been there on the last mission that had almost killed him. He could trust Ben more than the others, not that he didn't trust the others. They were there to protect him. Suddenly it came to him. Jack. The 'bad guys' were probably watching her too, but not as much as Alex. He just had to…confuse matters.Getting up, Alex considered what he was about to do. It was risky…but it was worth it.
"Jack?" he called, slowly making his way downstairs
She didn't respond immediately, "Hmm?" Entering the kitchen Alex saw why. Jack was sitting at the counter eating from a tub of ice cream.
"Hey." Alex began cautiously, "Jack, I was thinking. I have an idea…" Jacks expression hardened, cutting him off.
"This isn't going to be some crazy half-baked idea is it? And you promised me that you would talk to those people…" shoving some more ice cream in her mouth Jack momentarily stopped her rant.
"Jack, it's ok. Just listen to me. I can't go to MI6 – I'll be putting Tom's life in danger. So…" he paused - unsure how best to phrase what he was about to say.
"Could you do me a massive favor?" thinking, he quickly added, "please?" The last thing he wanted was to put Jack in a bad mood. When she didn't say anything he quickly told her what he wanted her to do.

"Alright; but you owe me for this mister." Jack sighed. "Just don't expect me to get involved any more after this. And you have to promise that you will leave this to those suits at MI6. They can handle it—not you."Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex hurried upstairs to get ready. The hardest part was over. Hearing the back door open and close, only five minutes later, Alex knew that it was time. Jack had gone out and now he had something to do.

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"Eagle! Get over here! Something's happening!" Fox hissed to his partner. He and Eagle were supposed to be on duty – watching the house, but is seemed that his partner found rearranging the tent far more interesting."What? What's happening? It's not the enemy is it?" Eagle hissed back.
There was something else in his voice. Sarcasm? Excitement? Fox didn't have time to place it. He made do with rolling his eyes and motioning for Eagle to come over.Handing Eagle the other set of high tech binoculars, Fox went back to observing what was going on.
Finding the house, Fox saw a young red haired woman appear round the back. It looked like she was taking out the rubbish, but he couldn't be sure.

A few seconds later, the front door opened and Alex stepped out onto the street. It looked like he was signaling to them to…watch Jack? Again, Fox wasn't sure if he was right, but when it came to Cub, the unexpected was to be expected, if that made sense."Keep an eye on Cub, Eagle" Eagle looked questioningly at Fox who just signaled for him to follow Alex. "Go!"
Sighing, Fox went back to watching the housekeeper. She was now just about to go back into the house. Fox wondered if he had missed something, he had been sure Alex was up to something, maybe he had been wrong. But then, just as Fox was about to give up, she turned casually and appeared
to adjust her top. At least, it looked just like she was doing that – to the untrained eye anyway.
It was subtle, but Fox was able to pick up on it. She was using a method of sign language to ask for a meeting. It was just fortunate that many members of the SAS knew sign language – including Ben.Somehow, Alex must have known that—but how did he know sign language? Ben was sure that it wasn't something that interested young boys these days, nor was it something that had been mentioned in his file.Despite that it was going against direct orders, Ben decided to pay Alex a visit, he had a feeling that something was wrong – after all, the kid clearly knew about them already, so there was no point in pretending any more. If there wasn't something wrong Cub would have come and seen them
directly—wouldn't he?Ben kept questioning himself – going against orders wasn't something he liked to do, nor was it wise in his line of work. He'd have to tell the others but then there was the problem of getting in. They couldn't just walk up to the front door dressed in camouflage surveillance gear and ask to
speak to Alex. There had to be another way. --------------------------------------------------------Alex jogged down the street at a slow pace. He had been running for almost five minutes, and that would have been plenty of time for Jack to put the plan into action. He only hoped that it worked, and someone – hopefully the right someone – had been watching her at the time.

He had only had a short time to show her what to do, and he hoped that she remembered it all. One wrong finger could have a completely different meaning. It was a meeting Alex wanted, not a fight.
Alex only knew the basics of sign language. He had picked little bits up from everywhere - TV, Ian, even Tom when he decided to try sign language last summer. Alex laughed at the thought – his friend never stuck at anything except sports. Why he had suddenly decided to take up sign language had
always puzzled him. He had only kept it up for the duration of the beginner's course—eight weeks, before deciding that it was too slow paced. Nonetheless, Alex had managed to grasp the basic concepts of it and still remembered the signs for 'need, meet and soon'. These were the words he had quickly shown Jack; hopefully, those three words would get the message across. It also helped that they were fairly small gestures, easily missed if you weren't looking hard. Snapping out of his reverie, Alex turned his attention to the task at hand. Realising that he had come a tad further than he had intended, he slowed to a halt and turned round. He crossed the road and began to walk home; there was no reason to run.

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Arriving home almost ten minutes later, Alex met a slightly disgruntled Jack.

"Okay, so what do we do now? Do they just turn up when they feel like it or am I to expect a mysterious phone call?"
Jack doubted Alex's plan—that much was clear. She also didn't seem to believe that these highly trained soldiers would be able to pick up on some very subtle hand gestures."Jack! Calm down. They will have seen you, and they will probably call in tomorrow. If they don't, then I'll have to do something else. The forty- eight-hour deadline ends tomorrow but I don't know when. These people will probably target some more of my friends. I don't know who since I don't
really have any."
The last sentence was barely audible, but Jack picked up on it easily enough. "Hey mister, you have plenty of friends. Don't start that. You're just going through a rough patch, that's all. And even so, its not you're fault. This mess will clear up just fine. Believe me. Now come on, we can order some pizza or something."
Her tone had softened considerably, as had her expression. Suddenly Alex looked up

"Jack! That's it! That's how they can get to us!" Seeing her confused expression he elaborated; "Scorpia sent me on a mission disguised as a pizza man! It was easy, and the guards didn't suspect a thing! A pizza delivery! It's so simple – it's perfect."

"Alright, I see where you're going with this but maybe it's not the best idea."
Alex's expression visibly fell. What was once a look of pure delight was now replace with one of disbelief and anger. Seeing this, Jack felt the need to justify her statement.
"I mean - a pizza delivery with four guys that lasts for however long they're going to be here. But, you know, the plumbing upstairs has been on the fritz lately. I've been thinking of having the whole bathroom repaired. Maybe we need to call the plumber in." Saying this, she smiled at it, Alex realised that Jacks idea was much better than his. It completely justified having muscular men coming to the house and being there for hours.

"That would mean having lots of men coming into the house and doing things wouldn't it? Maybe we need to talk about this elsewhere."
Catching on to what Alex meant by this Jack smiled, "How about in the garden; it's not too dark and it's a nice evening." Alex smiled back at her. Jack always had a way of making things interesting.------------------------------------------------

Ben continued to watch the house. Alex had arrived back at the house a few minutes ago and Eagle had joined Ben moments later.

"Anything happen?" asked Eagle, slightly out of breath
"Not much." Ben gave the automatic response before realising that, in fact, something very big had indeed happened "Actually, something did happen. We need to talk to Cub; rather, Cub wants to talk to us - secretly."

"Us? Us as in the whole unit or what? Hey!? How did he find out about us?"
"Yes the whole unit. Well maybe. That red haired lady, Jack I think her name is, signed for us to come over for a meeting."
"She used sign language? A bit 'secretive' isn't it? Is that why Cub went 'for a jog'…like a diversion? And how the hell are we supposed to get over there for a meeting - 'secretly' or whatever?
"Eagle, I have absolutely no idea." Fox turned his back and resumed watching the Rider household, a few seconds later the door opened.
"Hang on, Eagle! Grab you're binoculars—something's happening again."

------------------------------------------------Coming out into the garden, Jack looked at Alex who just winked before yelling at her "Jack! I do not want some plumbers coming and destroying Ian's bathroom!""Alex. It's no use. I've spoken to the plumber and he's coming over tomorrow. There is absolutely no use in complaining. He and his unit will be coming over tomorrow. End of story."
Jack was careful to pronounce each word, emphasizing 'unit' but at the same time, despite having her arms crossed, used the same sign language as she had earlier. She and Alex had agreed that this was the best way to get the message across, and having the conversation as an argument gave them a reason
to shout.
"Fine! But don't expect me to help them – or act like one of the team! I don't need this right now."
With that he risked a quick look in the direction where he was sure K-Unit was before storming back into the house, leaving Jack alone in the garden. He had no way to know if the plan had worked, but he hoped it had. It would look strange indeed if no plumbers at all turned up tomorrow. But possibly explainable. Now, all they had to do was wait.------------------------------------------------

"What the hell was that all about!?" Eagle exclaimed.
To him, the conversation clearly had no significance. Fox, on the other hand, had different ideas.

"My god, that kid thinks of everything. He just told us what to do."
Eagle just looked confused by Fox's statement.
"What? How the hell…" Suddenly it dawned on him. Slapping a hand to his forehead he looked at Fox before exclaiming, "I am not dressing up as a plumber!"

Fox just grinned before standing up. "We gotta go tell Wolf. He won't be pleased, but when you get a situation like this… can't be helped.""You want us to do what!?" Wolf roared as Fox told him the situation
"Aw, come on man. The kid practically told us what we need to do. He needs to talk to us – and it seems urgent."
Wolf seemed to mellow a bit, but clearly did not like the idea. "Are you positive that he already knows and he needs to see us. Hell, why doesn't he just come up here? We are jeopardizing the whole mission with this. The orders were…"

Wolf never had time to finish this as Eagle, clearly bored by this whole matter, cut in
"Screw orders! Cub needs to talk to us—and best bet is he can't come to us—so now we need to go to him."

Fox looked at his team mate, slightly shocked by the outburst, then continued, "And it isn't against all orders since we may be helping him. Which is slightly like protecting him. We may even be able to protect him better."
Fox gave Wolf his best, albeit uncomfortable, smile. "Fine! We go in tomorrow. But where or how do we get hold of some plumber's equipment? Any ideas?" Wolf was angry, but he knew that Cub didn't joke about this sort of this. Reluctantly, he knew that this had to be done.

Suddenly, the fourth team member spoke up – startling the others.
"I know where we can get everything we need."
Fox looked at Snake, possibly the most reserved member of the group.
"You do? Great! So what do we have to do?"
"I will go and talk to my cousin. He may be able to lend us everything we need."
Following a questioning look from Wolf, he continued, "He runs a plumbing company."------------------------------------------------

The night passed quickly fox Alex. Waking at ten o'clock he cursed himself for sleeping in late. He didn't like getting up late – even on a weekend; there was too much to be done. He quickly threw some clothes on and made his way downstairs. He soon realised that Jack was already up; the kettle was boiling and he could hear quiet talking. Who was she talking to though?Cautiously, Alex pushed open the kitchen door. Sitting at the table were two men in blue overalls. Who were they? Suddenly Alex remembered what had happened last night. It had worked.

Hearing the creak of the door, everyone in the kitchen turned to face him. Alex suddenly felt horribly exposed, and slightly apprehensive.

"Hey sleepyhead, looks like your plan worked, hey?" Jack seemed happy this morning. It looked as though MI6 would be involved after all.

Ben/Fox, who had been leaning on the counter just out of sight came over to Alex and gave him a brotherly hug. "Hey Alex – been up to much?"
"Not really, but other people have." Seeing the Bens smile fade he
quickly changed the topic, "How's your shoulder now? Last time I saw you, it wasn't pretty."
Ben smiled briefly again "Oh you know how it is…" leaning closer he whispered, "They don't know yet so… yeah"
"Right" Alex smiled again. "Hey kid! So what's all this about. Last thing we heard, you were in hospital with appendicitis, and now we're here supposedly protecting you. What's going on?"
Trust Wolf to get to the point, thought Alex. "Um, actually I just need to talk to Ben…Fox, for a moment."Jack seemed to think that the situation was under control, and that she was no longer needed.
"All right boys, I am off. You behave and try to keep the house tidy whilst I'm out."

Saying this, she shot a glare at Eagle who was attacking a packet of crisps. Noticing the silence, he slowly looked up to see Jack. Sheepishly, he tossed the offending packet on the sideboard and paid attention for a change. Jack turned to Alex before continuing,
"I shouldn't be too long, I'll just be over at Violas—she called this morning." Jack smiled at Alex and walked briskly past the four men, to the door.

"Erm…who's Viola?" It was Alex who had spoken this time – much to the shock of the SAS men, all of whom seemed terrified of the young, red-haired American woman."Oh. You know, She went to college with me ages ago and she's here visiting some relatives. She came here only a few years ago – you don't remember her?" Seeing Alex's expression Jack just sighed.
"Okay, well I'll be back in time for dinner; you boys can handle lunch by yourself can't you?"
Just as he was about to speak, Eagle was silenced by a glare from Wolf.
Seeing Jack's expressions, Ben decided to intervene before she changed her mind and decided not to go. "We'll be just fine ma'am, and thank you for your hospitality."Slightly suspicious, Jack decided to leave it at that. Turning her back slowly, she made her way to the car.

So, you know the drill – Read and Review people. Lots of reviews make for a happy writer. : )

Thanks for all the reviews to the previous chapter – responses will be posted later (in this chapter) but I have very little time to spare. So, thanks to you all. Hope you enjoy this chapter too : )