Disclaimer: you know the drill Alex Rider aint mine.
Jace woke early the next morning; looking around the dull bedroom of the safe house she saw the luminous alarm clock on the bedside table – 5 am. A shiver of excitement ran through her as she thought of the day ahead. For the first time in a long time Jace felt hopeful, today she would get to talk to Ash, or Reid or one of the boys, but also for the first time in months Jace was going surfing.
In Henderson, Jace's home town in Australia, surfing and the beach was just a way of life – home to some of the world's best breaks Jace had learnt to surf early in primary school. Jace had heard form boys at the school that Parmouth Bay, where the class were going that day had some good waves.
Soon Jace heard a knock at the door and Agent Daniels head appeared in the room "rise and shine, its excursion time"
Jace flopped back onto her pillows,
"Have I told you recently I hate you Daniels?"
Daniels waved the insult away with his hand "bah, you love me deep down"
He was then forced to duck suddenly as a book winged its way through the air towards his head. Quite frankly, Jace thought it was highly possible that she would have liked Ben Daniels – if he wasn't from MI6, that made everything impossible, even co-operation from Jace.
Perhaps Jace and Alex Rider were similar in that respect – they both, when backed against a wall, liked to wear down their opponents with smart ass remarks until their nerves snapped. Highly entertaining for them and often helpful in sticky situations.
Jace sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, rubbing her eyes before searching around for clean clothes.
It was summer in England, 25 degrees – not that that meant much to Jace who was used to 40 degree summers in Australia. She pulled on a pair of track pants then searched around the room for one shirt in particular. Five minutes later Jace pulled out a black T-shirt emblazoned with bright blue writing that said,
'Bells Beach Classic -– junior champion'
It was one of Jaces' most treasured possessions. Bells Beach sounds nice huh, but in reality Bells is a word uttered with fear. One of the single greatest breaks in the world, Bells beach boasted one of the highest death tolls of any beach, it was pro turf and even then the fearsome waves were only conquerable with a mixture of adrenalin, insanity and incredible talent.
Half an hour later, Jace was slamming the car door and making her way to the Brookland school gates, in her backpack a black wetsuit given to her by Ben Daniels from MI6.
Within a few minutes the rest of the class had assembled around the gates and a bus had pulled up to the curb, a trailer attached behind with racks stacked with surfboards.
Jace acknowledge Alex Rider with a nod. Soon the class boarded the bus, Rider sat in the middle of the bus and as Jace made her way past to the last spare seat near the back she reached out and felt something small slip into her hand. Immediately Jace slipped Alex's phone into her pocket before taking a seat beside a tall brown haired boy.
"You surfed Bells" he asked in disbelief
"Sure did, you know of it?"
"Know of it – it's legendary, the best of the best surf at the Bells pro"
"And they still can't beat the locals" Jace added
"You're from around there?"
Jace nodded "sort of, I live a an hour or two away from Bells, but in the same area"
'Near the beach?"
"Two steps from the back door" Jace said with a smile
"That must have been awesome"
Jace nodded, and then held up the phone – "do you mind, I've got to call a friend back home, I don't know if I'll pick a reception outside the city." The boy nodded,
"Sure, I'm Cody by the way"
"Jace" she replied dialling a number into Alex's phone, her heart began to beat faster a she held the mobile to her ear – it was really happening, she was about to make contact with her friends.
Jace waited nervously as the phone rang – on the fourth ring Jace heard someone pick up,
"You have exactly four seconds to tell me who you are -what you want -and why it should give a shit"
Jace smiled weakly, hearing a familiar voice was like heaven,
'That's a nice way to treat old friends Reid Romanov – what your mother would say if she heard such language"
There was a crash at the other end of the line- almost as the though the phone had been dropped then –
"JACE! – is that really you?"
Jace's grin widened, "sure as shit is – how've you been mate"
'A lot better for hearing you voice" there was a pause as Reid hailed the others at the top of his lungs to come quickly.
The other four inhabitants of Lexsael castle came quickly; Ash's greeting the most enthusiastic of all. Jake as always kept himself in check, though Jace could hear the emotion in the quiet Irish teen's voice. Then -,
"Reid! Get a trace running on that number! Stop standing around likes its some effing tea party!" came a deep, authoritative voice,
"Come to crash the party Alistair" Jace joked,
'you always make me out to be the bad guy" Alistair replied,
"That's because you always are"
"Whatever, Jace, get talking - you didn't call to make fun of the way I run things"
Jace's voice took on a serious tone as the momentary ecstasy of talking to her friends again wore off and the reality of her situation came back,
"Right, you lot have got to high tail it – now"
"Why?"
"Because MI6 knows where you are, they've told the US and at this moment – your darling big brother, Alistair, is coming to blow your pretty little castle to smithereens "
"With us inside, right"
"However did you guess" Jaces voice replied laced with sarcasm
'I know that little shite like the back of my hand" Alistair remarked angrily, "how many are coming?"
"Too many for you to take on alone"
"Right – you had better go, before someone realises who you're talking to"
"HANG ON!" Reid and Ash's angry shouts came in unison, "we're going to get her aren't we"
"Right now that's not a priority" Alistair snapped, "now move, pack the equipment, we needed to be gone hours ago"
"It's ok, boys, MI6 won't touch me, they're too scared of my father"
"I don't care" came Reid's voice "I'm not leaving you there, especially not when they have that Rider kid around"
"Reid, do what Alistair says, there'll be plenty of time for you guys to bust me out later"
No reply came, but Jace could hear the scrapes of equipment being loaded into boxes,
"Alistair, I've got to go"
"Alright – thanks for the heads up"
"What would you ever do without me" Jace sighed jokingly
"To be honest, I'd probably still be in school, Reid would be an even bigger mafia king pin and Ash would still be a geek sitting on a beach"
Their good-byes were cut off as the phone lost reception. Jace slipped it back into her pocket and let out a breath - they were ok, she had warned them in time – her world was not falling apart anymore and now, Jace had the freedom to do what she had been itching to from the start – wreak havoc on MI6.
Jace was no murderer or terrorist, she was not into that kind of thing if she could avoid it, what she was into, however, was pranks. Jace Winters, when it came to pranks was unbeatable; she was going to bring MI6 down from the inside without a shot being fired.
Soon the bus pulled into the seaside town of Parmouth Bay, from her seat Jace could see the surf; it wasn't terribly big, but good enough anyway. Her and Cody had chatted the rest of the trip – it turned out he was quiet the surfing fanatic, they talked about the beaches they had surfed, where they wanted to go and the boards they would buy if they had the money. For Jace it was a pleasant conversation that allowed her not to think about the tangled mess her life had become – today she was just a kid, with a board on a beach – just like everyone else, and she revelled in the simplistic delight.
Once off the bus, the group stood around as the boards were unloaded. The look on the girls faces when they were told there were no change rooms was classic. Soon enough though the whole class stood in their bathers - either lining up to borrow a school wetsuit or pulling their own out of their bags.
Jace noticed only two others had their own wetsuits apart from her and Cody, they were Alex Rider and a boy Jace faintly remembered as captain of the football team, she thought his name was Tom – Tom Harris maybe?
Jace also noticed she was the only girl to be wearing a bikini; she guessed the other girls, all wearing one piece racing bathers, had no use for beach wear living in the city. Either way it made no difference to Jace, who wore her rip curl bikini with pride – it along with her Bells top and a pair of shorts were the only clothes she still had of her own as she had been wearing them at the time MI6 had captured her.
Jace stepped into her wetsuit and pulled up the zip, giggling as others in the class struggled with the back zips on their wetsuits. Surprisingly Jace thought, Ben Daniels had a good eye for size, the wetsuit fit her perfectly.
Mr Jones sorted the class into according to experience, Jace found herself in a group with Cody, Alex and Tom Harris – the only experienced surfers of the class. As such they were allowed to go out on their own to the bigger waves while the others in the class stayed to the shallow water with the teachers.
Before going out though Jace made a point of giving Alex his phone back,
"Thanks, Rider"
The blonde nodded "no problem, I guess I get what kind of situation you're in"
Jace seriously doubted that but smiled all the same "not many people could" she replied before jogging out to the beach and throwing her board down into the water and paddling hard out to a rip.
A rush of adrenalin flowed through Jace as she pushed up into a standing position and cut down the face of a wave, this is what she lived for – pure wild adrenalin.
After zig zagging down the wave Jace rode back up to the crest and spun the board 180 degrees as it was propelled into the air and splashed back down. Jace rode the wave while longer before dropping off the back and paddling back out to where the others were.
"Whoa, where did you learn to do that!" Tom exclaimed.
Jace felt her cheeks redden a little as the other three boys joined in the praise,
"My brother taught me"
Not long after Cody and Tom paddled off to attempt the stunt themselves, leaving Jace floating beside Alex.
"Jack taught you that" it wasn't question, but a remark for Alex.
Jace nodded, "he was the best surfer I'd ever seen, could've gone pro if he hadn't joined the army"
"Why did he join the army?"
Jace smiled "Jack wanted to change the world – he was going to use the Army as a springboard into the UN along with Ash's big brother – it was a dream of their's"
"He sounds like a nice guy"
"The best" Jace said firmly "people didn't come better that Jack"
They floated in silence for a moment – they had been in the water nearly two hours and from the beach Mr Jones was signalling them to come in. Before he could paddle away,
"Alex!"
"Yeah?"
"I don't have to tell you this, but I will, you helped me so I'm giving you the heads up"
"About what?" he asked slowly
"Look, MI6 have nothing over me now I've warned my friends and I intend to make as much mess as I can before I leave"
"You're going to escape?"
"If you tell anyone Alex, your dead"
Alex held up his hands "honestly, I wish you the best of luck – your fight with MI6 is none of my business"
"They'll suspect you helped me"
Alex shrugged "to be honest, right now I'm considering helping you"
"Your help is welcome anytime"
"So what are you going to do?"
"Ever fantasised about putting a pin on Blunts chair?"
"Countless times" Alex said with a smile
"Superglue on one of Mrs Jones sweet wrappers?"
"Genius, that'd be classic!"
"Well, that's small time compared to what I'm going to do" Jace said with a smirk, "I told Blunt not to mess with me and now he's going to pay the price"
Alex laughed at the happy prospect of harmless, violence free revenge.
The pair began to paddle in to the beach,
"I didn't know you could surf like that" Alex said
"You never asked" Jace replied "you're not so bad yourself"
All in all as Jace reflected on bus back to Brookland, the day had been a total success, with a potential added bonus – Jace Winters and Alex Rider getting even with MI6 - the possibilities were endless.
Alex Rider, Jace thought. The kid wasn't half as bad as people had made him out to be.