Chapter 6

"They believed you? Are you positive?" Dylan asked Aisha forcefully.

"Yes. They seemed quite sincere and willing to help; especially with our fear of Jamie being targeted," Aisha Falcon replied. "They even gave her her own bodyguard."

"He is not my bodyguard," replied Jamie from her perch in the windowsill across the hotel room. It was later in the day. Jamie had talked her mother into going through some street vendors where she "bought" her new crescent moon necklace, which was hanging from its black ribbon around her neck as they spoke. After checking into the hotel, Aisha had called Dylan and he had decided that they should have a meeting at the hotel room as quickly as possible.

Now Aisha and Dylan were talking about the meeting with Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones while Jamie tried not to look too interested. How she wished she was outside running around in the park with normal people at that moment.

"Who is your bodyguard?" asked Dylan. Jamie looked at him long enough to catch the malicious glint in his eyes.

"He is not my bodyguard," she reiterated forcefully in his direction.

"His name is Alex Rider," her mother interjected.

"Good!" exclaimed Dylan and before she could stop herself Jamie gave him a questioning look. "Ah, you don't know about him, do you little Jamie? He has been a pain in many of our peoples' sides for some time now."

"Why?" Jamie couldn't help expressing her curiosity.

"Jamie, please tell me you have been paying attention to Scorpia's failed attempts these past few months?" Dylan taunted her. That was when Jamie remembered the Arabic article she had discovered just days ago that mentioned a teenage by who had a price on his head for destroying one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world.

"He's the one who did all of that? He completely destroyed Scorpia?" Jamie let the shock and surprise read on her face and in her voice. "Well, then you really do have your work cut out for you."

Dylan stopped and turned to her. "Excuse me?"

"Well, if one teenage boy can destroy all of Scorpia do you really think you stand a chance? I mean, compared to them your one small fish in the sea," she said. She knew she would pay for being so bold later, but the effect on Dylan was worth it for then.

"You think I would let someone your age beat me?" Dylan was right in her face, but Jamie refused to back away. Then Dylan smiled. "That's why we have you to play decoy."

"I told you, I don't want to be part of your crazy schemes. Not now, not ever," Jamie said.

"Well it's a good thing you have no choice in the matter then," sneered Dylan. "What would you tell your new friend Alex? No one would believe you."

Jamie got up from the windowsill, grabbed her messenger bag and strode to the door, but her mother was blocking her way.

"Where do you think you are going?" her mother demanded.

"Outside, to get some fresh air," Jamie replied in a clipped voice. "I am not going to tell anyone anything, don't worry." Dylan must have nodded behind her because her mother let her through the door and Jamie left the room as quickly as she could.

She had always known this day would come, especially once she had figured out what her parents actually did for a living. She should have been able to guess sooner, what with all of her training and everything. What other family in the world speaks almost every language? Or stresses the importance of weapons handling?

Jamie was sitting out in one of the parks under a tree, letting her thoughts just wash over her. Her drawing pad was on her lap, but nothing would come.

Why did she have to live in a family of crazy people?

She flipped back through her pad to the picture she had drawn when she had figured out what her parents really were and what they were training her to be. It was in pencil, her favorite medium, laid out in black and white, the way she wished more things in her life were laid out. The picture was of a farm, with American flags sprouting out of the ground instead of crops. In and among the flags were bombs, growing like weeds. Bombs and guns. Who said that terrorists had to come from Middle Eastern countries? They could be just like any other American. Her own parents were of the home-grown variety. Just proves that people everywhere are crazy. Her parents enjoyed the idea of spreading pain and destruction throughout the United States and any of its allied countries, but she hated it. She had no reason to hate America or any other country for that matter. She did not want to be a terrorist like them, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

Jamie couldn't believe that they wanted her to keep Alex out of their way, and then she realized the opposite. Dylan didn't want to get caught by MI6, but taking out the operative that had destroyed Scorpia would move him up the ladder quite a bit. But where could she go with the information that her family was planning some sort of terrorist attack in London? The police? MI6? Alex? No. Like Dylan had pointed out, no one would believe her anyway. Jamie realized that like all the other times in her life, she was completely alone. There was no one she could trust.

Jamie looked around the park. It was a beautiful day and there she was, dwelling on the dark thoughts of her family. Better to try to think about them as little as possible. Jamie flipped to a clean sheet of paper and began to sketch.