I really should be studying...but oh well.
Chapter 14
Alex stood outside the caves in the fresh air, watching on nervously as Desiree, Robert and Julie were treated by the medical professionals.
Piers, who had been the most affected (due to a suspected overdose in his water) had already been successfully treated by Snake, and had been sent off with the rest of the children back to Bayswater camp. The incident had been explained away by blaming the strange behaviour on the un-fresh cave air. Alex and Matthew's actions had also been blamed on this. And the children had been reassured (multiple times) that Professor Willard was not dead, merely knocked out.
Speaking of Willard, the man was still unconscious. He was currently lying on the ground, securely handcuffed, with Snake keeping a close eye on him should he wake.
Robert had a gas mask strapped onto his face, and appeared to be slowly regaining his mental state. Julie's eyes were becoming much more focussed on reality.
"Stop her!" One of the medics suddenly shouted in panic.
Alex spun to see Desiree taking off, complete fear pasted across her face. The gas mask that had been strapped on her face had been ripped off and tossed to the ground.
She kept looking over her shoulder, seeing something that was merely a figment of her imagination, but that had spooked her badly enough to cause her to run.
Knowing that he was closest to the fleeing girl, Alex took off after her. A quick glance behind him told Alex that Matthew also had the same idea, but he was nowhere near Dessi as Alex was. A small victory for Alex, and both boys knew it.
Desiree led them on a wild chase through the fields. Before long, they were completely out of sight of the buzzing ambulances, medics, MI6 agent and lone SAS man.
Desiree began to slow down, giving Alex the chance to catch up to her. The girl was looking around in confusion, as if wondering why she was actually running. Alex took the chance to reach out and snag one of the girl's arms, before pulling her to a stop.
Alex lifted Desiree's chin up, forcing the girl to meet his eyes. Even behind the contact lenses, he could see them clearing of their previous drug-induced state, though there was still a fair bit of haziness about them.
"Dessi?" Alex murmured softly.
It was then that a heavy weight knocked right into him, sending him staggering. Desiree had somehow managed to avoid the blow, and was currently blinking in confusion, her eyes still focused somewhere between imagination and reality. Alex looked up into the snarling face of Agent Matthew Lake.
"What the hell is your problem, Lake?" Alex demanded.
"You are my problem," Matthew sneered, shoving Alex again, "You think you can just pick up where you left off? Well, here's a news flash: she's not interested! You don't know how she's changed, you don't know what she's been through! Hell, through four freaking years, not once did you bother to write to her! To contact her!"
Anger flared like fire, suddenly ignited.
"And what makes you think you're any better than me?" Alex snarled, stepping forwards to glare into the other boy's face, "Huh? What makes you think she deserves you?"
"Because I actually care about her!"
Alex snorted. "If you cared so much, you would let her make her own mind up, instead of trying to force yourself on her!"
Matthew spluttered wordlessly. "What?...Force?...I never..."
"Take it from me, Lake," Alex sneered, "She's not interested in you. She never was. She never will be. Get over it!"
Before Matthew could retaliate, whether verbally or physically, they were interrupted with a small, slightly confused, whisper.
"Alex?"
Alex spun, shocked, to come face to face with Desiree, who'd somehow managed to sneak right behind him. It took all his control not to break out into a victorious grin. She had called him 'Alex'. Not 'Rider', 'Alex'.
"Dessi? You okay?"
Desiree blinked. "Where am I? What happened?"
"You were poisoned. Willard spiked come of the water he was handing out with BZ Gas."
"I thought it tasted a bit off," Dessi muttered. "Hang on. Some? Why not all?"
Alex shrugged. "He hasn't been questioned yet, so we don't know. But if it were me, I would've done it so that I could instil much more fear. I mean, if you don't know who'll be hit next, you'd be much more afraid."
"That's a good one! But the other reason could be that the man simply didn't have enough."
The three teens spun around to face the new speaker. Desiree seemed to instinctively step back into a defensive pose, though it was so subtle that Alex thought he was the only one who picked it up.
A man wearing sunglasses and a black cap with the letters 'NCIS' emblazoned on its front stood before them, a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other.
"I'm sorry," Matthew began, "But who are you?"
"Oh," the man laughed, giving Matt a mock bow. "Forgive me, your highness, I was not aware that I had to report every detail of my life to you."
"Don't insult my partner," Desiree growled.
"What are you going to do about it?" The man laughed again, his American accent extremely noticible. He seemed to be taking the thing as a joke, completely missing the dangerous look on Desiree's face. Before he could go any further and cause himself bodily harm, they were once again interrupted.
"Tony! Have you found the – oh,"
"McGleek!" The man named Tony turned to face the intruder, "Don't interrupt the interrogation!"
'McGleek' shot Tony a rather annoyed look before giving the highly confused teens a smile. "Hi there. You must be the missing agents we were looking for," he said, speaking very slowly and clearly as if they were five-year old children. It was obvious that he didn't believe for a second the three teens were actual agents. "I'm Special Agent McGee, NCIS, and this is Special Agent DiNozzo."
"Super Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony corrected, holding out his badge.
Desiree snorted. It seems she'd taken an almost immediate dislike to the man.
"Riiiight," Agent McGee trailed off, sensing the tension in the air, "Well...er...why don't we head back to where the others are? We can continue this...interrogation there."
The walk back was probably the most awkward thing Alex had ever experienced in his life. He and Matthew were ignoring each other, walking either side of Desiree. This was for two reasons; the first being that they could both be in contact with her. The second was to stop her physically lashing out at 'Super' Special Agent DiNozzo, who kept sending the girl infuriating smirks. McGee brought up the rear, looking highly confused at the whole situation.
"Boss! Boss, we found them!" McGee called out the moment the others came into view.
A greying man looked up with eyes that had seen too much. Alex noted the way they narrowed slightly when they passed over Desiree and Matthew.
"Alex!" Rose exclaimed, hurrying over to the boy. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Alex smiled. He was about to ask after her when a commotion broke out right next to him.
"Let go of me! I'm fine!" Desiree shouted, struggling against the medics who had pretty much pounced on her the moment they could.
"This is just a standard testing procedure!" One of the medics panted.
"Dessi," Matthew murmured, reaching out for the girl's arm, "Let them do their job."
Desiree glared at her partner for five full seconds before relenting with a sigh. One of the medics tossed Matthew a grateful smile before they hurried the girl off to the equipment piled up next to the ambulances.
"Well..." Rose trailed off, slightly confused.
"Don't ask," Alex muttered, shooting Matthew a glare. As he looked away, he caught the eye of a woman who also wore an NCIS cap, the Star of David around her neck. She was talking to an uncomfortable looking McGee. "Rose, who's that?"
Rose looked in the direction of Alex's discreet nod. "Oh, that's NCIS's Mossad liaison officer Ziva David. And make sure you pronounce it 'Daveed', or she gets really annoyed at you."
"Mossad liaison? She's the one who gave Dessi the info about the BZ gas."
"Really?" Rose said, interested, "I guess that's why Gibbs doesn't look too happy with her."
"Er...Gibbs?"
"Oh, right," Rose laughed, before pointing out the greying man whom McGee had referred to as 'Boss'. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He's the man in charge of their team. Unit. Whatever the Americans call it."
"Hey...what happened to Robert and that other kid...Julie," Alex asked, looking around for his friend.
"They were sent back to camp," Rose shrugged, "Same 'copter that dropped off the NCIS team picked them up too. Hang on Alex, I think Snake wants me," she said, looking across at the madly waving SAS man. "I'll be right back."
Alex watched her run off before snorting under his breath.
"Join the Intelligence; we're eco-friendly," Alex muttered sarcastically before leaving with the intention of joining Desiree. Unfortunately, he was interrupted halfway there.
"Hey, kid!"
Alex spun to see the Mossad liaison officer jog up to him. "Yes?" He asked warily.
"Are you Matthew or Alex?" Ziva asked. She spoke with a slight accent, probably Israeli considering her nationality, but it wasn't very noticible.
"Alex."
"Well then, Alex, it is very nice to meet you," Ziva smiled, extending a hand. Alex's eyebrows rose in surprise – she was the first of the NCIS team to actually show some courtesy.
"Nice to meet you too," Alex said, accepting the handshake, "You're Ziva, right?"
"Yes. I just wanted to apologise in advance for anything my team may do; Tony and McGee did not actually believe that people your age could be high ranked Intelligence Officers, and Gibbs well..." Ziva trailed off, shooting a subtle look around to check for any eavesdroppers, before lowering her voice, "I have not been debriefed on the full details, but apparently there was some sort of feud going on between Gibbs and the agency your friends work for."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Figures," he muttered.
"I know. Though I must admit, I cannot actually believe that girl over there is the Agent Swan," Ziva went on, "Mossad has been looking for that girl for years. She's like a celebrity; you know she exists, but you do not know where to find her."
Alex snuffed a laugh. "MI6 were...well, still are...like that, trying to scrounge for any scrap of information on her. That was how we first met, actually. Four years ago."
As he spoke, a distant memory of a flimsy USB, smashed into a thousand pieces, floated through Alex's mind. If he needed anymore evidence that he'd done was right thing, it was here in front of his eyes.
"Hang on, if Olsen is working with Dessi, shouldn't you at least know something about her?"
Ziva shrugged. "Apparently not enough, if my father has not removed the Code Red."
"Alex?"
"Speak of the devil," Alex said with a smile for Desiree, who'd just joined them. "Hey, you took your contacts out!"
"Yeah," Desiree said carelessly, crystal blue eyes glittering under the sun, "Figured I didn't need them anymore. We've been withdrawn from camp now that Willard's been caught."
Crystal blue eyes flickered across to the slightly star-struck Ziva, down to her Star of David, and back up again, before a small smile appeared on Dessi's face. "You must be Ziva."
"How –?" Ziva asked, surprised.
Dessi shrugged. "You look like your father."
"I am not sure if that is a compliment," Ziva said.
"Neither am I," Dessi smiled, holding out her hand. Ziva took it with a grin.
And now they're introduced, it's about to get interesting...
So, how did you like that chapter? Was it good? Bad? Could've been better? Tell me in a REVIEW!
Constructive criticism, ideas, things you want to see happen, are all excepted. And now, I shall get back to studying...don't tell anyone about this piece of procrastination...it'll be our little secret...
Love Chariots99
VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION! – I know that currently the NCIS director is Vance. However, since in my timeline this occurs a year after the BZ gas incident, Jenny Shepherd is technically still alive. SO...Do you guys want Jenny or Vance to be the director?