Twelve hours later, K Unit, now showered and fed, were wrapping up their debriefing. All the facts had been shared, including Cub's involvement.

K Unit were starting to understand what Cub meant when he said he'd been used by MI6. Alan Blunt's biggest concern seemed to be confirming that Cub had managed to pass along the password. Satisfied, Blunt dismissed them. They ran in to Mrs. Jones outside Blunt's office.

Wolf stopped her. "Do you know how Cub- Alex is?"

"He survived surgery. That's all we know," she answered curtly, and left them.

K Unit exchanged surprised looks, and shared frowns.

"You mean that's all they'll tell us," Fox growled.

"I still can't believe they flew all the way back to London! A local hospital would have at least stabilized him first," Snake cursed. As far as he was concerned, the long flight had cost precious hours.

"I just wish they'd tell us what's going on," Wolf sighed. He hated to admit it, but he was worried about Alex too.

They walked quietly out the door, though once out, Eagle suddenly grinned.

"You know, a boy shouldn't be in the hospital without a visit from his very worried Uncles."

Eagle played the part beautifully, and now they were being led to the boys private room by a pretty nurse who had been relieved to see some family interest. Obviously, MI6 hadn't told them anything, and had warned everyone to keep a lid on what they did know.

They stopped outside room 345, but nurse Swan held them up.

"Are you really his Uncles?" she asked suspiciously, sizing them up. It was very obvious they weren't, but she seemed desperate for someone, anyone, to care.

Wolf looked her straight in the eye. "We're all he's got."

She accepted it for what it was. The simple truth. "Do you know how he got injured?"

Wolf shook his head. "I'm sorry, M'am. That's classified."

"He's in a bad way. He survived surgery, but we're going on 24 hour intervals."

Eagle frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means that every 24 hours he's alive is a step in the right direction, but that we're not willing to guess beyond each 24 hours," she replied sadly. "He's in a coma, but you can talk to him. It might help."

She let them in, sensing that they didn't need to be pre-prepared for what they were walking into.

K Unit stared at a bed that was mostly wires, tubes and hanging bags. And barely visible underneath all that was a 14 year old boy with a pallor that matched the shade of the white sheets he was lying on.

His head and the small of his back were propped up by hard plastics lifts with padding on them to keep his damaged back from touching anything solid.

"Jesus," Eagle swore, feeling sick to his stomach. The softly whispered expletive sounded loud in the room. The only other sounds were from the monitors and the ventilator that was breathing for Alex.

Wolf frowned. "Didn't Cub have a Guardian?"

Fox blinked, trying to remember. "Yeah, he did. I wonder why she's not here?"

"You think MI6 bothered to tell her?" Snake wondered.

It was one more question they had no answer to, and those were starting to add up. The more there were, the more determined K Unit became on somehow finding answers.

AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW AR FW

In Washington, Jack Starbright sat staring at a computer screen, her hand hovering hesitantly over the mouse. On the screen were flight arrangements to return to London waiting to be confirmed or cancelled.

She had received the phone call hours ago telling her that Alex Rider was, once again, in the hospital, and, once again, in critical condition.

Her mother, Alice Starbright, put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "If you go back now, you'll never leave." The words, while harsh, were delivered gently. "This is exactly the reason why you left in the first place."

Jack nodded, tears in her eyes. "I know. But he's hurt, and he's got no one to look after him."

Alice bit her lip. She felt for her daughter's dilemma, but she couldn't stand to see Jack hurt any more than she already had been.

Jack had arrived on her doorstep in tears, and since then had told Alice more about her charge than she'd heard for the past 5 years. Oh, there was a lot she couldn't say, more she couldn't explain, but Alice got the general gist.

The boy was in trouble, and Jack was no longer in a position to help, and staying there, watching it happen, had been killing her.

"As your father is so fond of saying, Jack, it's time to shit or get off the pot. You can't have it both ways. The decision is, of course, yours to make, but you need to stick to whichever one you make."

"I feel like I'm abandoning him."

"Maybe you are, but you were never meant to be a full time caretaker of a teenage boy. Had it been anyone else, your employment would have ended with the Uncles death," Alice pointed out.

With that, she left the room, leaving Jack staring at her computer screen.

Jack hurt, deep down. She had come to her parents, and made the decision that she would not return when Alex got back. She simply couldn't do it anymore. Waiting by the phone for days or weeks on end to get that one phone call, the one that said a young life had been ended far too soon, had been agony for her soul.

Alex himself had changed so much over the last year. She didn't know that boy, anymore, and what's more, she wasn't sure she wanted to. She had made her decision, but now that he was, once again, injured and on Death's door, she felt him pulling her back to him.

But she knew that it would always be this way. He was always hurt on missions, and she knew, in her heart of hearts, that he didn't have it in him to stop. It had become so much a part of who he was, and she forgave him for that. He didn't fit anywhere, anymore, and these missions, loathe them though he did, gave him some sort of identity.

And it would never stop. There would always be a world to save, always be some maniac thinking to kill thousands of people, always be one more mission that only he could do. Alex hated MI6, and she truly believed he did, but he cared too much about what was happening, about who might get hurt. He knew what evils there were in the world now, and it wasn't in him to merely stand by and let them happen.

She sobbed out her decision. It would never stop.

She clicked on the "cancel" button, and opened Word. She couldn't leave things where they had been. She had to explain as best she could.

"Dear Alex.

I'm so sorry I'm not there for you, but I can't be. Not anymore. It's breaking my heart watching MI6 do this to you, and I can't take it. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough.

I know you're lost, and I wish I could help you find your way, but I think the only one who could have done that was your Uncle. He would be so proud of you, if he could see you now, if he could see all that you've accomplished.

I've made my decision. I can't come back. I hope you understand. It's not because I don't love you, Alex. It's because I love you too much to see you go through this time and again.

You're in a coma they don't even know you'll come out of, and it's all their fault! I don't know the specifics, but I do know that. I'm going insane with worry, but if I let myself be dragged back for this, then I'll let it happen again.

I'm staying with my parents in Washington, so please know I'm safe.

Get well soon and come back to the world. It needs you.

Love,

Jack."