So some of you are becoming attached to Sienna Atherton, or not, as the case may be... Anyway, my suggestion is DON'T. She might make appearances throughout the story, and don't worry, there will be plenty of lusty OC's, but she is not the one. Anyway, please read and review!
"So what are you proposing we do now then?" Alex enquired, as the stood in the chilly evening breeze. "We can't hail a cab, there's no one coming to get us, and I'd offer to break into a car and hotwire it but we'd be shot on sight if we were seen driving in the exclusion zone."
"We can walk somewhere," she announced, "come on then, unless you're going to leave me all by my lonesome."
"This is a horrible idea," Alex said, "we'll get pulled up by the National Guard and I'll spend the night in lockup for attempted kidnap. Can we at least not walk towards 10 Downing Street?" he implored her.
"No, I won't. Fine then, where else do you suggest we go?"
"Well I suggested nowhere, but you seem to have your heart set on moving for god knows what reason,"
"I won't sit around in those dark, depressing parliament buildings any longer, they are draining the heart and soul out of me," she huffed, standing on the sidewalk.
"At least at this rate you still have a heart and soul, it's not lying in pieces around Westminster," Alex replied, glancing up and down the street. "Alright, so if I organise a position change, will you stop bugging me?"
"You can do that? You've been able all along and you've been holding out on me?"
"Yes," Alex replied, grimacing, "but only because I don't like the alternative. However, I'm even less enamoured with it than the idea of spending two hours here with you. So I'm only agreeing if you'll agree to be quiet."
Alex really hated security detail. With a passion, one might say. Part of the hatred was born from the fact that it was simply so painfully uninteresting watching supposedly important people carry out their lives that he was almost reduced to tears.
Even though the bomb had only gone off half an hour earlier, Alex found himself struggling to care. No one had been killed or even injured, and already the chatter in his ear was saying it looked like an IRA attack, which from his (limited) experience were usually one off events with no follow up or timed detonations.
These factors, when combined with the fact that he had little desire to play nursemaid any longer, led him to agree to a change of locale. He called the head of security and gave a dubious spiel about how a van that was illegally parked was sitting lower over the rear axle and how the vehicle could possibly contain any amount of explosive potential.
Obviously, he incited near panic, as they desperately tried to work out what to do. Alex added that they were currently within the blast range, which drove the poor man to a virtual apoplectic fit. The suggestion, then, that Alex move locations was seen as the only option.
They were in Westminister after midnight, and there were no cars in the vicinity. Alex, however, located an alley, and without a word, began to walk towards it. He knew he was probably going to get into deep trouble for this stunt, but there was an overarching aim also; he was hoping that he would never be asked to do security detail ever again.
Sienna Atherton cried out, and clumsily chased Alex in her heels.
"Where are we going?" she demanded.
"You wanted to leave, we're leaving. I'm going to find us a car," Alex informed her shortly.
"I don't like this," she complained, and Alex rounded on her.
"I'm not doing this for my benefit, I'm perfectly happy to wait until our extraction team arrives," Alex spat.
"No, no, I want to go home," Sienna Atherton moaned, and Alex shook his head. He would never get used to how grown up he felt, how grown up he had become.
A small mercy had been that given the event was being held in Westminster, the surrounding buildings were government or business locales, meaning that the exclusion zone started at the boundary of the first residential building, almost half a mile away. All other businesses, shops and offices had been cleared the day before, and no one without a permit could get in or out.
This made the event infinitely easier to provide security for, however, in their present situation, it made locating a vehicle infinitely more challenging.
Alex, naturally, had scanned the map in the dossier on his way in, and had noted important locations to be aware of. He was certain that he had spotted an underground car park, and was making his way towards where he thought it was located.
In all honesty, there was no need for a vehicle. In fact, if he was truly concerned about the PM's daughter's safety, he would suggest they progressed on foot, utilizing alleys and breaking into buildings where necessary to keep them out of sightlines and under cover.
But he wasn't that concerned with anything other than getting home, and leaving Sienna Atherton behind forever.
He spied the underground car park he'd seen on the map, and stopped in the dark alley.
"Well this is fabulous, isn't it?" Sienna Atherton said, rattling the bars of the sliding gate, "how are you proposing we get it?"
"Stand back, and don't touch anything metal," warned Alex, as he unstrapped his knife from his leg.
He approached the security card reader, ignoring the gate completely. Using the edge of the blade, he prised the button cover off, followed by the input register. Once the circuit board was exposed, his reattached his knife to his leg, and set about fiddling with the intricate device.
Suddenly there was a bang, and Alex swore, and shook his electrocuted hand furiously as an alarm started wailing shrilly.
"Oh well done," was the contribution he received from his mark, and Alex, who had been about to offer his jacket to the girl who was standing there rubbing her arms in the cold night air, thought better of it.
Instead, he grabbed the gate, and with considerable effort, managed to haul it open along its rollers.
"How'd you manage that?" asked a surprised Sienna Atherton.
"Short circuited the entire system. Didn't mean to, but hopefully means the CCTV will be off as well. Most businesses have security systems that a well equipped 12 year old could defeat with no trouble at all. They run their entire system on the single power line, for one," panted Alex.
"I didn't understand anything that just came out of your mouth."
"Just start looking for a car to use. Preferably something from before 1986 if you can find it," Alex instructed, looking around.
"Why can't we take a new car?" she whined, still rubbing her arms.
"Because cars of that vintage generally have a carburetted engine and a single ignition coil and distributor, and therefore can be started from the engine bay, which makes it a hell of a lot easier, that's why."
Sienna Atherton was looking like she hadn't quite been able to picture what she was letting herself in for, and Alex managed to muster up some pity for her. She hadn't asked for this. He removed his jacket and held it out to her.
"Keep warm, I don't know how long this could take. There's another floor, I'll check this one, you take that one. Remember, we're looking for an older car."
"Can't I stay with you?" she asked, and Alex realised that she was scared. It was beginning to hit her just what had happened, and he had to remind himself that she wasn't built for this. She was a glorified civilian who was being thrust into what she thought was a dangerous situation where she was completely out of her depth. Her response was to be petty and childish, and cling to the nearest source of security, which in this case was Alex.
"Fine, you can help me search, there are only about ten cars that have been left here anyway, and the ones down the end look like company cars."
Naturally though, this was an inner city business car park. It was all late 2000 model German coupes with modern advanced security systems that Alex had neither the tools nor time to break in to.
In the end, the best he could do was a Mercedes C320 from about the turn of the millennium, which still posed considerable difficulties.
He cared little about the alarm, and there was no need for subtlety, so he simply removed his knife and dug it under the keyhole. He wrenched the entire lock off the door, and then it was a simple case of using the point of the knife to unhitch the latch and the door swung open.
Of course the alarm proceeded to assault his eardrums, but after levering the steering column open and cutting the wiring out, the only noise he still had to contend with was the softer alarm that echoed around the car park.
Alex quickly located the two wires that were striped, red and black, and used his knife to strip an inch off both of them. Being careful not to let them short circuit by touching them against any other components, he twisted them together. Looking in the glove box, he found a window cleaning cloth, which he shredded, and tied around the wires to protect the connection, leaving himself the tiniest space to work with.
Next, he took the ignition wire, stripped it by half an inch, and positioned it over the intertwined wires. Placing his hand on the accelerator pedal from his kneeling position on the edge of the footwell, he touched the wires together while simultaneously revving the engine.
The Mercedes C320 spluttered to life, and Alex pumped the accelerator to get the engine running.
"How did you do that?" came the voice from behind the car.
"Magic. Now get in before I leave you here," Alex instructed.
He hopped into the driver's seat and waited for his passenger to join him, before reversing out of the space. Alex was officially under the age limit to have his full licence, but MI6 had presented it to him on his 16th birthday. His licence had an exemption stamp on it, allowing him free rein to drive where, when and what he pleased.
"Where to now?" enquired Sienna Atherton, while conspicuously checking her hair in the rear-view mirror.
"I'm going to call and warn them that we're coming. I wouldn't want to get you shot by police sniper because they think we're carrying a bomb.
Alex removed his phone from the pocket of his suit pants, which were now ruined, and keyed in the access code. He then punched out a short message to his operational supervisor for this assignment, conducted mainly in code.
"What are we waiting for?" the blonde girl asked.
"Confirmation."
Alex couldn't quite decide what to make of Sienna Atherton. One minute she was scared, the next she was demanding answers. He supposed everyone reacted to shock differently, and didn't really retain the capacity to act like themselves.
The response he received was less than satisfactory from Alex's point of view. He was told on no uncertain terms to remain in his current location and wait for backup to arrive, and they would be extracted with the remaining guests. No risks were to be taken.
Alex simply replied with a simple message.
Black Mercedes – plate: LA51ABC. Birdcage Exit. 2 minutes.
Then he turned to his passenger, who was watching him type out the quick message.
"You better put your seatbelt on."
"Why? It's not like we're likely to run into any other cars," she replied.
"If I get shot and we crash, you'll go through the windscreen," Alex said, as he pulled out into the laneway.
"Who the hell is going to shoot you now?" she demanded in a high pitched voice.
"My operational supervisor, if someone lets him near anything with a trigger," Alex answered.
I hope you all appreciate the idea of Alex actually being good at what he does, rather than outrageously lucky. I'll never know how Anthony Horowitz managed to sustain the series for as long as he did with a character that was essentially a slightly better informed, better equipped version of your average kid.