DISCLAIMER: I do not own Alex Rider or any associated characters. They were simply created for me to play with!
***
Alex rose from his seat on the plane. Mrs Jones had commandeered a jet to fly them from Italy back to Heathrow. Alex, however, wouldn't be going that far. The co-ordinates had come through and been linked to a secure facility, supposedly part of Astra Zeneca, a large pharmaceutical company, though a detailed search would actually prove that it was privately owned. No amount of searching would result in a name.
Inspired by his last venture into a secure facility, where he had BASE jumped in from a cliff, Alex had exchanged his diving gear for a parachute and was now preparing to jump. Lynx, none other than the man who had helped Alex, had wanted to come with him, but Alex had pointed out that after over a month of captivity, he should probably go straight to hospital to be checked over.
It had been awkward at first, when they realised that they were, at least on paper, team mates and yet had never met each other before and Alex wondered exactly what the rest of K-Unit would say when they found out. Apparently K-Unit was starting to be thought unlucky. They had had the most interactions with special operations, and so their members were more likely to get shot, kidnapped... or leave to join MI6.
It had been Lynx who had pushed the button. Alex could remember the feeling of being completely and utterly frozen, knowing it was what he had to do and yet being unable to move. He realised he couldn't do it. Killing all those people just by pushing one button... it had to be wrong. Lynx had seen his hesitation and had grabbed the remote off him. The buildings had been blown up. When it had gone up, Alex could feel their eyes on him. None of them had known exactly what it would do. Alex felt the weight of their accusations settle upon him. Murderer. It may have been Lynx who pushed the button, but the intent had been his.
Now he just had to finish the job.
Alex could see the building below him. Flood lights shone over the entire compound. It looked more like a prison than the drugs company it was masquerading as. He closed his eyes briefly and jumped.
The air was whipping past him. The plane had been flying low, as low as it could without arousing suspicion, but it was still almost twice the height of his previous jumps – far higher than the recommended height for skydivers – and the air was thin. He could barely catch his breath.
There... the air was getting thicker. He could breathe more easily, especially if he turned his head to the side. Still free falling... The ground seemed miles away. He had wanted to leave the parachute until the last minute, less chance of being caught, but his hand was itching. He was desperate to pull the cord but he couldn't he'd be seen. He remembered what Lynx had told him in the plane.
"Thirty metres is the record. It's almost suicidal, and you'll still come down with quite a thump. I suggest no less than forty. You shouldn't be noticed. You're parachute is black and it'll only be deployed for just over a minute. If you leave it that long, you won't have time to deploy your back up shoot if something goes wrong, but I guess you'll have to take your chances. Have you ever done this before?" he had asked.
Alex nodded. "Parachuted twice... base jumping once... similar to this..."
Lynx raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I want to know. Good luck, kid!"
That had been just ten minutes ago, it felt like a lifetime already. He was just falling forever, nothing before and he sure as hell couldn't see anything after. Just constant falling...
No wait. Shit! He had to pull the shoot. Now!
He yanked on the cord. It didn't budge. Alex felt pure blind panic gripping his mind. He was still falling. His breath was coming in short, sharp pants. He yanked on the cord again, desperation lending him strength. The parachute deployed.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know what had happened, but he felt himself relax at the sharp tug on his shoulders, slowing his speed.
He was perhaps twenty metres from the ground and it seemed to be rushing towards him far too fast. He hit the roof of the building with a thump, wincing as the impact sent a shockwave through his ankles.
Hurriedly, he stuffed his parachute away and shouldered the bag. He could dump it later when he found a suitable hiding place.
This part was going to be easier than the last. MI6 had proved their worth and found the blueprints of the building. Surprisingly, it had actually belonged to a drugs company before Scorpia bought it in suspicious circumstances. With the tracking device installed in Smithers' Alex-Bot, this should be easy.
Mrs Jones had warned him against any 'pyrotechnics' this time. His job was simply to get the prisoners out so that SAS could storm the place. They wanted to have a chance to find intelligence. Alex had given Mrs Jones the file, which contained several legal deeds for properties in Europe, most of which should have been in government offices, and the memory sticks. But they were encrypted, and the small laptop that Mrs Jones had with her wasn't up to the challenge of decoding them. It would have to wait until she got access to the MI6 mainframe, and the many computer technicians who worked there.
Alex lowered himself over the edge of the roof and dropped down onto the fire escape. The door would be alarmed, he was sure of it, but there was a window right next to it that might not be. He couldn't see another way in, so he didn't really have much choice. Carefully he took off his riding jersey and wrapped it around his hand before punching the glass. It broke with a loud smash and Alex paused, shrinking into the shadows. There was no sound. He shook the glass off his top and pulled it back on.
Climbing through the window, he dropped silently onto the pale linoleum floor of the dark corridor. He ran silently down the corridor, ducking into a janitor's closet at the end. In the pitch black of the cupboard, he pulled out a torch and the blueprints.
He guessed that Jack and Silvia would be held somewhere in the basement, the location seemed the traditional place for cells anyway, and so studied the prints for a flight of stairs. There were two flights, each running from the top floor to the basement. One was right on the other side of the building, but according to the blueprints, the other was just around the corner.
Perfect.
He slipped out into the deserted corridor. It was the work of a minute to find the stairs and only took him a few more to reach the bottom. So far it had been easy, ridiculously so in fact, but he knew that this level would be more secure if his guess was right.
Apparently he was. The door at the bottom of the stairs was locked, though it was only the work of a minute to pick it, and when he opened it, it was to see the surprised face of a guard. Alex blinked and lashed out with a kick. The man wasn't expecting it and fell instantly. Alex pulled the limp body and walked through the door, locking it again behind him.
He pulled out the small electronic tracker he had been given on the plane. There was an electric blue arrow pointing somewhere off to his left. Alex shrugged and followed it. He met two more guards on the way, and took them out silently, one with a blow to the head, the other with kick to the stomach.
He noticed that the arrow had slowly started turning red, and he guessed that he was getting close. He turned one last corner and saw two men standing outside of a room. Both were armed with serious looking guns held close across their chests. Alex slowly backed around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't seen him. Now how the hell was he supposed to get past two armed guards with nothing but his hands?
Slowly a plan formed and he retraced his steps, smiling.
When he reached the place that he had stashed the body of the unconscious guard, not two minutes ago, he hastily removed the man's jacket and trousers, quickly replacing his own with them. The trousers were too long, as were the sleeves of the jacket, but hopefully they were baggy enough to hide his narrow stature and make him appear to be another adult, at least for long enough to fool the guards. He pulled on the security-style hat that went with it.
He picked up the guard's gun, the heavy weight feeling uncomfortable in his hands. Slowly he headed back to the corridor where he had seen the two guards. He turned the corner, keeping his head down, the brim covering his youthful face. The guards didn't call out as he approached. Every step seemed to take a lifetime and he was expecting a bullet in his chest at any moment, but he forced himself not to hurry and to keep moving in the same purposeful, steady gait.
He didn't look up until he was about three feet from the guards. Then he raised his head and jerked the barrel of the gun into the guard's nose. He spun the gun around and hit the second guard over the head with the butt before he had a chance to raise his gun.
They both fell to the ground unconscious, a look of surprise etched on their faces. Alex quickly searched them, but found no keys. He swore under his breath and pulled out a roll of lock picks. It took him about five minutes to open the lock. It was perhaps the tensest five minutes of his life. At any moment a guard could come around the corner, or an alarm could go off. He was surprised when none did, but wasn't about to start complaining.
The lock finally clicked and Alex slipped inside.
"Oh! Alex!" someone cried, and Alex immediately found himself trapped in a tight, desperate hug by Jack.
"Jack," he gasped. "Need to breathe."
"Oh, sorry. Are you ok?" she asked, releasing her death grip on his neck.
"I'm fine. How are you and Silvia? Did the hurt you?" he asked, looking around. Silvia was in the corner, white faced. She was staring at him with what looked like shame written on her features.
Jack shook her head.
"Smithers?" said Alex cautiously.
"Here, dear boy," came Smithers' voice, though it sounded slightly distorted.
Out of the shadows at the back of the room, came another Alex. It wasn't exact but it was close enough that you couldn't tell the difference until you saw them together.
"God, this is creepy," remarked Alex, then shook his head. Focus, he told himself sternly.
"We need to get out of here," he said urgently.
"No, you really don't," said a voice behind him.
He turned. There was a woman and four burly guards standing in the doorway.
"Alex Rider," she said, "How good of you to finally join us."
***
A/N: Mwahahaha, the evil cliffy returns! I know I am very, very, very mean. But you all love me anyway, don't you?... No? - *pouts* - Fine then. Be like that.
No A/N at the start because I didn't really have anything to say, and I have come to the conclusion that A/N's for the sake of them are wrong and, frankly, probably don't get read. Oh, and for anyone who had forgotten, I mentioned Lynx when Alex was talking with K-Unit. He is Fox's replacement and went MIA about a month before the story started. Well, I couldn't just leave him like that, could I?
Please review! The more reviews I get the quicker I'll update!
Ok, so no, I'll update on Monday no matter what... but review anyway, 'cause it makes me HAPPY!!! Lol. So yeah, please review and let me know what you thought. Hope you enjoyed it,
Oddx