A/N: Look, an update! I'm sorry for the delay. The last few weeks have been exhausting between freelance writing, work, school, and internship. But I won't make you wait any further. "Enjoy" chapter twenty one of Some Rich Man's Son! Challenge is at the bottom. I checked this time, I promise. Thanks to all the reviewers! This has been my most reviewed book by far. Keep it up!
Oh - and there is the promised scene between Alan and Alex!
Katakana's death had shocked everyone. Fox had been hauled out of the room slightly later, despite Wolf's protests. Wolf had all but begged their captor not to take Fox away, but he'd just been mocked, smacked, and shoved to the floor with a vicious kick. Wolf was somber as he looked at his comrades. Snake had recovered somewhat from his beating, but was still subdued, and despite the seriousness of the situation, was sleeping.
Wolf couldn't wake him up.
Eagle was awake, but Wolf would almost rather he go to sleep. After he got done grilling him, of course. They'd checked the room for bugs, and found none. Not that it really mattered to Wolf, it was just standard SAS procedure. "What happened?" he growled as he looked at Eagle's arm. Ian had cleaned Eagle's arm up a little bit, but it was still matted in blood.
"Ian," Eagle muttered grimly. He had given up on getting his arm clean. After Katakana had been murdered, and Fox had been dragged out of the room, Eagle, Wolf, and Snake had been moved to another room. Snake had responded by promptly responded by falling asleep, which worried Wolf more than he cared to admit. Snake was usually so ready for action… to see him like this scared wolf.
"A little more detail would be helpful," Wolf growled. Eagle chuckled, just glad to see someone on their team acting like their usual self again, a relief in itself. "Start at the beginning. What happened? All I know is that we looked for you at the house, and you weren't there."
"It was so stupid," Eagle muttered. He looked really upset, which didn't make Wolf feel good. Although he didn't blame Eagle for being upset – he had just seen his comrade be killed after all – he was a little nervous for his whole team. "Alex told me it was a stupid idea, that he thought it was a bad idea that he even came. I told him that it was a good idea, I mean, after all, he needs to get his old stuff from his house, right? So I suggested checking into a hotel and then coming back. I thought that would give Alex time to calm down, for me to call Sarge and let him know that we got there."
Eagle was the only one who could call the sergeant 'Sarge' without getting his ass ripped off by the sergeant himself. Wolf reflected on that for a second, wondering about it, and then shrugged mentally and turned back to Eagle. "I'm guessing you never made it," he said. "Or that the hospitality of the hotel wasn't very good," he added.
Snorting in response to Wolf's last comment, Eagle responded, "Yeah. Ian had been in the house, and unfortunately, he saw us before we saw him. Not that I'm sure it would have done much good if we'd seen him," Eagle added bitterly.
Alex nodded. Going to the hotel would give him a chance to emotionally regroup before he faced the house that had nearly killed him. Although, admittedly, the house hadn't nearly killed him – his so-called father had. "Sounds like a good idea to me," he responded.
"That's a very good idea," a voice behind them said. Suddenly, Alex clutched at his neck, grabbing behind him. Alex clutched his neck as he felt someone grab him from behind. He tried to move, but found a hand wrapped around his waist. "Why not invite me in?"
It was Ian Rider.
Alex would recognize the man's voice anywhere. His blood froze. His uncle had formerly been in prison for three counts of rape and one count of child abuse. Alex swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "N-No m-monsters allowed," he stuttered.
"Well, well, well," the man responded. He touched Alex's cheek, making the boy's skin crawl. "Looks like I get to have my fun early,nephew." He held the knife he'd acquired from the house at Alex's neck before moving it to where it couldn't be seen by passerbys. Not that there were any at the desolate hour.
"And I get an added bonus as well." He glanced at the man. It was a good thing for Eagle that Ian hadn't recognized him, because Blunt had originally wanted to shoot Eagle upon sight. "Put your weapon on the ground if you want the boy to live," Ian said.
Eagle swallowed hard, but did as the man said. The man shifted and grabbed the pistol. Now he had two weapons. "We're going to get in the car very slowly," the man said. "I'm going to get in the backseat with Alex, and you're going to drive."
Slowly, they did as the man commanded. Eagle had as sinking feeling in his gut, as if he was signing their own death warrants.
"I just felt so hopeless," Eagle confessed. "I knew that by listening to Ian I was signing my death warrant, and probably Alex's too. But I didn't really see any alternative that wouldn't get us shot."
"We'll get out of here, Eagle," Wolf said, trying to be comforting.
"How?" Eagle said, his voice depressed. Wolf winced. Eagle was cheerful 99.9% of the time. When he got on one of his depression cycles, as Wolf liked to call him, it was not pretty. Shit, Wolf thought. "In case you didn't realize, they just killed Katakana – they shot him with a fucking real bullet and they were scraping his blood off the floor! Who is going to explain to his family that he died? Oh, jeeze, I don't know, maybe no-one, because we'll all be dead too!"
"Eagle-," Wolf started, but was interrupted as Eagle launched ahead.
"Wolf," Eagle responded impatiently. He was also one of the brave few that challenged Wolf's thinking. "I don't know, man. I just…" he sank down to the ground. "Wolf, they took Fox away. They branded him with what – I don't know, but it looks god-awful. Snake looks like he was beaten half to death, for what – I think you said it was moving his shoe! I want to help Alex, I want to get out of here, but I don't know how! And don't give me that 'when there's a will, there's a way' bullshit either. These guys are pros. We need a plan."
"And if you can shut the fuck up for a minute, I can give you one!" Wolf responded. Normally he wasn't so crass with his words, but he couldn't help himself that time. "Look. These guys are pros, and yeah, that's bad. But it's also good. They're pros, right? They're experienced. They've done this a thousand times before."
"How's that good?" Eagle whined. He seemed to be a little better after his rant.
"Because they're predictable," Wolf responded, remembering what he'd always heard from the famous FBI television shows. "Remember? Pros are usually people who have one set method. They aren't going to be expecting us to try anything now, right? They killed Katakana, separated us from Fox, and beat Snake. They think the last thing we'll do is try anything."
"I know that." Eagle looked impatient for a second, then his face lit up with a smile. "So we surprise them, right?"
"Yup." Wolf glanced at Snake. "How many people do you think have escaped out of this fine facility with a comrade unconscious?"
"None," Eagle responded, turning worriedly towards Snake. "What happened?"
"Beaten for moving his shoe, just like I told you before." Wolf was beginning to get impatient. He had a plan, he needed to share it with someone. Eagle would probably be more agreeable to it than Snake. Snake always used too much common sense.
Maybe it was better that Snake was unconscious for the duration of the plan. If the plan didn't actually involve getting all three of them killed, that was.
"I've got a plan, but it's risky." He glanced at Eagle, trying to determine where his teammate was at.
"Risky is better than dead," Eagle replied. "Let's hear it."
"Um, yeah, there's one more thing."
Eagle turned back to glance at Wolf. "I was expecting that. You know, you haven't even begun to talk about the plan yet. Just don't be like Jackie Chan's grandfather with the 'and one…'"
"Eagle," Wolf said impatiently, "Shut up. Here's the thing: the plan involves using you as bait."
"Get up!" Alex was roughly shoved against the white wall. He groaned, blinking rapidly as he awoke. He knew he wasn't back at home with Tyler and Jack, so where was he?
"I said stand up!" Alan Blunt yelled. Alex groaned, knowing the answer to his question immediately. He tried to move his body, but it refused to listen to him. Alan growled and grabbed Alex's left wrist. "Worthless human being," he responded.
How dare the sergeant think he could be a better father than Alan Blunt? Alan smiled again as his son let out a scream after he kicked his son. Alex tried to scramble away from his father's hand, but Alan held firmly – until he shoved his son face-first on the floor.
"You only thought you could get away from me, boy," he gloated.
"S-stop," Alex responded, weakly trying once more to get away.
Alan's temper flared. He'd spent years training Alex not to ask him to stop. Now, because of his time with the sergeant, he'd have to retrain Alex again on all the damn rules. With this in mind, he decided to solve problems once and for all.
He grabbed Alex's arm and twisted it firmly, admiring the tears that ran down his son's face. Alex had held out this long without crying, which was actually pretty good. But he wanted – no, needed – to see his son cry again.
That translated too – he needed to know that he was in charge again. Alan grinned happily as his son cried out as his arm snapped. Good. He'd broken his son's arm. His right arm, the one Alan had seen him usually use. Damn, was his kid right-handed or left-handed? He couldn't remember. He decided he didn't care.
He dropped his son on the floor, deciding not to torment him too much – yet. For so long he'd been careful not to attack Alex too much because he didn't want others knowing. But now, the secret was already out, thanks to Alex. So who really cared how much damage he did to his son?
Alan Blunt certainly didn't. He knelt down next to Alex, watching his son try to blink his tears from his face. Alex never wanted to cry. Didn't he realize that was what Alan Blunt wanted him to do? Stupid child. Alan took the time to smack his son in the face – hard. He wished he'd knocked some of Alex's teeth out, but it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon. It was probably better that it didn't anyway. "I have good news for you, Alex," he said happily. He watched his son pull himself up shakily to look at him. He glared at Alex, trying to convey the message that he was in charge again. Alex would get it – one way or another.
"Go to hell," Alex responded wearily. His son looked truly exhausted. Alan was glad for that – less chance of Alex deciding to fight back.
"Language, son." Alan grinned happily. "Now, I've appointed a caretaker for you. You probably know him – his code name is 'Fox.' As soon as I get done beating his real name out of him, we'll start our journey across the country. How does that sound?"
"Don't hurt him!" Alex responded. Alan resisted the urge to smack him again, then decided to do it anyway. He backhanded his son once more. He didn't really care about Fox's real name. He wasn't going to call him by that anyway. He just wanted an excuse to break the SAS agent.
"I'm in charge now, Alex. Not the sergeant, not Fox, and certainly not you. Get used to it. Anyway, we're going to go across the country. We're currently in America right now, which is great, because my crimes were committed on Britain's soil and not American soil. Less people, if anyone, will be looking for me here. We're going to go to California because I know someone there who will help us start a new life together. Fox will be your caretaker, but he will also be your brother. What do you think?"
He smirked inwardly at Alex's glare. Well, it looked like his kid was upset. Good, that was what he wanted. "Although, if he or you screws up too badly, I could just kill you both. Got that?"
With one final kick at his son, Alan Blunt left the room.
Whoa! You read it this far. Congrats! You must like it a little bit, right? *Review if you do.*
Two challenges this time.
One: How is Alan Blunt going to break Fox?
Two: What is Wolf's plan that "Involves using Eagle as bait?"