AN: Sorry for the delay, but here is the chapter.

Reviews:

Albany: Thanks, the plot will come together shortly. :)

SCORPIAssassin: Thank you, and I love both Alex Rider and Burn Notice also. :)

Lots of help from my beta, Dark Rook, thank you.

FLASHBACK:

He was lying in bed, relaxing, when some idiot burst in. Alex immediately reached for his gun and pointed it at the intruder only to be disappointed to see Kevin. He had a new haircut, Alex realized. A brown military cut.

"Geez man, the boss finally lets you have a gun, and you're waving the fucking thing around like it's a toy," Kevin told him as he walked over to his bed and crashed onto it.

"I'm just nervous," he lied.

Kevin laughed. "Hell, Danny, we were all nervous on our first delivery. It's not that bad. If you stick to the plan you might not die."

"Oh, that's reassuring. Get out."

"Fine, fine. Be ready in a few hours; we need to have everything packed by then. And for some reason, the boss is coming on this one. I wonder why." Kevin strolled out the door.

"Yeah, I wonder why," Alex murmured to himself. He repetitively turned his gun over in his left hand. Something at the back of his mind was tugging at him, telling him the whole situation was amiss. He ignored the feeling for now; he had to concentrate on the drug deal he was going through with in a few hours. Moreover, he could not give away his identity no matter what happened. If his 'boss' was suspicious, things would go downhill fast.

After a few hours of cleaning, taking apart, and reassembling his V2, his mind became clearer. He went to the garage, meeting up with Kevin, George, Ronald, and Charles there.

He had grown used to Kevin's stupid bickering in the short time he was here. It was not that Kevin was dumb; he was actually rather smart. However, he acted as if he was thirteen rather than thirty. He was all street smarts and no common sense.

George, on the other hand, was like a teacher. Even though he was the same age as Kevin, he was smart enough to know not to jump into something without thinking first. George had slick black hair and a suit.

Ronald and Charles were cousins. They both had the exact same suit, different colors. Ronald had ruffled black hair and a gray suit, whereas Charles had ruffled brown hair and a tan suit. For some reason they absolutely hated him. He did not know why, he would have thought they knew who he really was, even though that was not possible. He had only been here a month. From what Kevin had told him, he was the youngest person ever to join their group. Did they hate him, or were they really just jealous?

All four of them were currently standing around a van that screamed 'drug deal'. Seriously, a white van? Couldn't they have gotten something atleast a little less conspiculous.

"Hey, Danny, why are you late?" George asked.

"I was cleaning my gun."

"Hold on," Charles said. "Boss let you have a gun this early? We couldn't have a gun until we were at least three months in, but now you can stroll in and demand a gun when you've been here less than a month?"

Ronald scoffed. "Do you even know how to fire one?"

Alex sighed, and then nodded his head. "Well enough."

"'Well enough' will get you killed on this job," Ronald said.

"Hell, it could get one of us killed!" Charles pushed Alex roughly against the side of the van.

"Hey, Charles, leave him alone," Kevin said.

"Great, now Kevin is fighting your battles for you." Ronald laughed.

"Stay out of this, Kevin," Charles yelled.

George stepped forward, fearing something was going to happen, but backed off when he saw Boss stroll in.

"Charles, you have better control that temper of yours or you will get us killed. Leave the kid alone, he passed the range before I gave him back his gun," Boss told him as he walked over to the little group. "And by the way, he has a better shot than you did when you first enrolled." He smirked when he saw the look Charles shot Alex.

"Danny, what the hell are you wearing?" Boss yelled at him.

Alex looked down at his attire, then back up at his 'boss', who knew his real name after Alex had caught him eavesdropping on him. So far his mission was partly a success. No one knew exactly who they were working for, except for him, but he would keep quiet about that for now.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, putting his hand in his sweatshirt pocket. His light-wash denim too big on him as he had lost a lot of weight.

"It looks like you've been in the streets!"

Alex cocked his head while he told the truth. "Well, you did find me in the streets Boss. Why does it matter?"

Boss sighed and pointed at George. "Explain it to the kid; I don't have time." He then made his way towards the van and gestured for everyone else to follow.

George made his way over to Alex and sighed as he put his arm around his shoulders. "Listen kid, if you look like trash then no one is going to take you seriously. That's what's wrong with your street clothes. And Boss likes to make an impression, so clean and fast is his motto, not bum and screw up. You get me?"

Alex nodded. "I get you," he said. They slowly made their way over to the van.

"Okay, so you," Boss said as he pointed to Ronald, "and Kevin will be spotters. George, I need you to smooth things over with the receptionist while Charles and Danny go in for the money. I'll wait outside."

Kevin and Ronald glanced at each other before nodding. George nodded while watching Alex's reaction. Charles was fuming.

"No way in hell I'm doing a job with this druggy!"

Alex stared at his feet while George came to his defense. "Hey, the kid's doing better, hell of a lot better than you when you first came."

That was what Alex's cover was for this operation, an undercover druggy. He had to get into a gang, which he had, so now he had to play the part.

"Doesn't matter, Charles, you will give the drugs to Room two-hundred and forty-seven," Boss said before things got out of hand, "And Danny will collect the money."

"What, you don't trust me with the money, so you're giving it to the kid?" Charles asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, but for the most part I don't trust Danny with the drugs," Boss said. He glanced at Alex, who stared at him.

"Right, let's head out," Boss said as they got in the van.

George was in front of the secretary's desk, talking words of wisdom; the secretary soaked the words up like they were rays from the sun. Kevin was off to the side, sitting on a couch and reading a magazine as Ronald was talking to the manager, complaining about the long trip he had just endured. If you went up two floors and looked left, you could see Alex walking down a red-carpeted hallway. Alex followed the door numbers, coming up to 420. Exactly seven doors away from his pickup.

He sighed as he came to yet another turn he would ignore, glancing down it briefly before faltering altogether. There, a few yards away, stood Charles. Smirking.

He was not supposed to be here. According to the plan, he was supposed to drop the drugs off and then be gone, with Alex coming half an hour later to get the money. Yet here he was, standing in the hallway, smirking at him. Why was he still here?

Charles turned away and walked away, not saying a word. Alex continued walking the rest of the way, or at least tried. He was two doors away when a cop came around the corner. Shit, Alex thought. He turned around and started walking, but only got a few feet before a cop came around the other corner.

Damn-it, this was a set up from the start, Alex thought as he took the corridor Charles was in a second ago. He practically ran down the hallway, keeping his head forward, not looking back once.

Until a shot shook the air.

Alex stopped and moved to the side to avoid the oncoming bullet. He turned and faced the cops, his hands raised above his head.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Alex asked. The one who fired the gun moved closer, the second cop took out his gun and pointed it at the ground. He was obviously confident that his partner had everything under control; that was his first mistake.

The first cop was approaching rather slowly, almost as if he was afraid. "Are you

Danny Watson?" he asked.

Alex looked at him before shaking his head. "No. You must be mistaken. Why, what'd he do?"

"I think you're Danny. You are under arrest for drug dealing and use," the officer said. He stepped forward one more time. That was when Alex made his move.

He whipped his gun out so fast the guy did not even see it until it was pointed at him. Alex fired once at the middle of his chest. The cop had a bulletproof vest on so it would only sting like hell. Alex didn't waste any time watching him go down, turning to the other person in the hallway.

The second cop had snapped to attention as soon as the shot rang out, but in a matter of seconds the gun that shot his best friend was now pointed at him. Then he made his second mistake; neglecting to wear a bulletproof vest. The second cop fired at Alex, though he wasn't fast enough. Alex fired at the officer and didn't miss.

He had aimed at the officer's shoulder. Fortunately, the cop had missed him, barely nicking his leg. Alex wondered if that was where he was aiming in the first place. Either that or the cop had a horrible aim.

He did not linger on it too long as he shot down the hallway towards the Room two-hundred and forty-seven, leaving the bloodied officers where they were. He put his gun back in place. As soon as he arrived at the room, he pounded on the door.

The door opened to reveal a younger man, probably mid-twenties. Alex held his hand out. "Can I have the money?"

The guy shook his head. "No, I already gave it to that other guy. Get lost." He shoved him out of the doorway and slammed the door shut.

Alex could not believe what was happening. Everything was going wrong; he had to get out, now. He ran to the end of the hallway, flinging open the window and looking down and around. He saw, not that he did not already know, that he was on the second floor. He wasn't very high up either.

He glanced at his silver watch, the ten glowing a bright red. The hands on the clock said twelve thirty six. Six minutes after he should have been outside; the cop trouble had cost him a lot of time. Without a second thought, he jumped out into the night.

He hit the ground rolling, and skidded to a stop. He jumped up and pushed his bullet wound to the back of his mind.

Looking around, he saw that he was not far from the meeting area. He jogged to the end of the building and looked around the corner. He saw a white van pull away. He ran towards it; it had to be theirs.

He was only a few feet away before it started to gain some speed. He redoubled his efforts and a few second later he was behind the van, running to keep up with it. He banged at the back of it, on the hatch. The van stopped so suddenly Alex almost ran into it.

He was got his breathing under control as he stood off to the side, waiting for them to open the back doors. Soon enough, the back doors swung open, almost taking Alex out in the process. Alex moved a few feet away from the van, sitting on the ground to avoid further injury.

George jumped out of the van and smiled at Alex, holding his hand out as a friendly gesture. Alex sighed and took his hand. George hoisted him up and pushed him in the van, closing the doors behind him.

George sat down next to Kevin while Alex took in his surroundings. The van started up again. He noticed the whole front of the van was blocked off with what appeared to be a metal sheet, obstructing the view. There was only a small hit hatched window in the middle of the otherwise smooth piece of metal. Even though there was a window, Alex could not see anything on the other side.

Alex turned his attention to the escape routes. There were the back doors he just came from, which had a tight metal hatch for the lock. The doors were not locked now, though if it was it would take a heck of a lot of strength to pry them back open. There were also two sliding doors, one on each side of the van. Upon closer inspection, Alex noted that they were sealed shut by a simple metal flip lock.

Alex, George and Kevin were on one side of the van, Charles and Ronald sat on the opposite. No one was talking, which Alex found odd. This was normally quite a loud group, especially when they all hated each other. When they did, they found any possible way to torment and nag one another. You would think they were actually teenagers at school instead of grown men in a gang.

There was one thing Alex was not the least bit surprised about. Charles was staring at him. He would have glared back, but right now he was supposed to be Danny Watson, not Alex Rider. He sighed and directed his eyes to the floor.

Kevin broke the silence by asking a question Alex knew he could not avoid. "Hey, Danny, why'd you take so long?"

"I got held up," Alex said, shifting his gaze from the floor to Kevin.

"By who?" George asked. His head was tilted in thought.

Alex mumbled something inaudible. "What?" Kevin asked.

Alex sighed. "The cops."

"Did you tell them?" There was a small hint of concern in Ronald's voice.

"I said nothing," Alex said. He was not lying.

"Obviously you said something, otherwise they wouldn't have held you up," George said.

"I didn't do anything. They just started shooting at me."

"Right, they shot at you," Charles said, sarcasm tainting his every word. "So, tell me, what did you do?"

"I shot back," Alex said in a calm voice.

There was a small silence as everyone stared at Alex.

Ronald broke the silence. "My god, you killed the cops." He shook his head.

Alex sighed, "No, you don't understand."

"Geez, the kids in denial," Charles laughed.

"We all have our first kill, so it doesn't matter," George told Alex. "So where's the money?"

Alex's face fell. "I don't have it," he whispered. George was about to ask if he had heard right, but he didn't get the chance. The van suddenly stopped. Alex saved himself from lurching out of his seat by grabbing onto the side of the van. Everyone else did as well, except for Kevin, who landed on the van floor with a thump.

The back doors flew open, the force hitting the van with a crack. Boss stood there with his fists at his side. "What do you mean you don't have the money?" Boss yelled.

"Well – " Boss grabbed Alex's arm mid-explanation and pulled him out of the van.

Alex caught himself and stood up, glaring at the boss. Boss glared right back.

"George!" Boss barked out. "Search him."

George came over, looking down at Alex. "Sorry, Danny," George whispered. "Spread your arms."

Alex continued to glare at Boss while he did as he was told. George searched him, only finding his gun and nothing else. "He's clean boss. Except his gun," George took out one of the magazines and flipped it open. "He's missing two bullets."

"So he killed two cops?" Kevin asked while looking at Alex. He did not think Danny could even fire a gun, let alone shoot at someone, land a hit, and kill him. Was it possible? Kevin glanced at George, who looked worried too.

"I don't care about that, where's the money?" Boss yelled. Alex calmly glared at him

"I told you, I don't have it."

"Probably hid it somewhere." Ronald jabbed him.

"No." Alex shook his head. How was he going to get out of this one?

"Just tell us where it is kid, or you're going to be in a whole world of hurt," Charles said as he shoved him in the shoulders.

Alex tripped over his feet, but George caught him before he hit the ground. Alex murmured a quick thanks as George let go of his arm. Alex was grabbed by the front of his sweatshirt.

He was now face to face with Boss, who glared at him. It was not very intimidating, but Alex feigned fright.

He looked down at the hand clenched around the warm fabric. "I told you –"Alex's words were cut short when boss lifted his gun and slammed it into Alex's temple.

The blow was hard enough to knock him out, but not enough to kill him. Alex welcomed the darkness as he slumped forward, his body going limp. Boss threw his body to the ground, turning to walk back to the van.

"What the hell was that?" George yelled, going to assist Alex.

"I did what was necessary," Boss said. "And don't tell me you're sticking up for him. If you are I will kill you on the spot."

"No," George said.

"Good." Boss nodded, turning his back to the van. "Carry him to the van, I know he is keeping something. And thieves never get away."

AN: What will happen to Alex now? Answer to see of you are right. Or simply drop a review for your thoughts, I would like to know how my story is going. :D