Chapter 10

Alex walked purposefully out of the Royal and General Bank and headed back towards the park where he had met with Jamie the night before. He had just come from meeting with Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones. As always, they had not been very helpful to him. Neither had been very surprised with his story about Jamie's family being involved with a terrorist group, but they were extremely interested with the flash drive. Smithers had taken it, but he was having some problems breaking through the security codes. Since that was taking too long for their liking, Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones had decided on another approach to getting the information.

"You want me to just go and hand myself over to these people without a fight?" Alex cried in disbelief. "You're just going to give them what they want? The one guy wants me dead!"

"Yes, but that is why this is going to work," explained Mr. Blunt calmly. "They want to have you in their grasp. If we sent anyone else, they would not get inside or they would ask the wrong questions and get themselves killed."

"How do you know that they won't just shot me and leave me in the park?" asked Alex skeptically.

"They want to show that they are better than Scorpia. That is what you told us," said Mrs. Jones. "In that case they will want to take their time, draw out whatever is going on. They want a show. They will not do something that seems cowardly or it would make them look worse."

"That makes me feel so much better," said Alex under his breath.

"Jamie will recognize you and know that you can help her. That will make it easier to get her to trust you and thus come out of this in one piece," added Mr. Blunt. "We need her because she is the best link we have found to getting the drop on some of the major terrorist organizations in a long time." Alex couldn't believe that he had been drawn into their schemes once again.

"How will you be able to tell where they are taking me?" asked Alex dejectedly.

"Smithers has created a new tracking device that is extremely hard to uncover, even while it is transmitting," said Mrs. Jones. "He will be waiting for you in his office." With that Alex left the room and met with Smithers to receive his tracking device. He had to note that this was not making him feel any more secure with the situation at hand.

When Alex walked out of the bank he had the tracking device hidden in the buckle of his belt. He couldn't believe he was actually going through with this assignment. It was suicide! He didn't even know whether Jamie had been telling him the truth. He prayed that he was not walking into a huge trap.

As Alex reached the area where he and Jamie had been surrounded the night before he slowed down and started to act like he was looking for Jamie. MI6 wanted it to look like they had arranged to meet the next morning, but Alex was positive Jamie would not be there. He soon got the feeling that he was being watched. Alex headed down some of the side streets where he and Jamie had hid. All of his instincts were screaming at him to be more cautious and careful, but that wasn't what MI6 wanted. As he rounded a corner someone struck him on the back of the head and he crumpled to the ground. A truck pulled into the alley and the men stowed their cargo and took off.

Alex came to as the van was pulling through the gates of a group of industrial looking buildings. Even though his ankles and wrists were bound he tried to push himself up to get a better look out of the windows. Alex quickly laid back down right before the back doors to the van crashed open and one of the men climbed into the back with him. A blindfold was tied around his eyes and then his ankles were untied. Then he was guided into the building by his abductors. The hallways seemed very quiet, but Alex guessed that the main activities would be hidden deeper inside the building; away from prying eyes. Suddenly, there was much more noise and activity. The men holding him called out in a language Alex did not recognize. There was lots of movement and Alex thought he could hear computers.

"You can take the blindfold off of him now. I doubt he could find his way out," said a smug voice from in front of him. Alex felt someone untie the blindfold and then he blinked in the brightness of the artificial light. The man in front of him seemed to be in his forties. He was wearing khakis and an open necked shirt and seemed to be in control.

"Where is Dylan?" asked one of Alex's captors. The man in front of Alex smiled.

"Where do you think he is? Someone has to teach that brat to do as she is told," replied the man. The other men laughed and Alex wondered what was happening to Jamie.

Jamie pushed herself away from the wall and faced Dylan. Again.

"Am I not hitting hard enough or are you just too stubborn to stay down?" Dylan asked tauntingly. Jamie just stood her ground and kept her mouth shut.

"Ah, the silent treatment, huh? I guess I can work with that." Dylan threw some feints, but Jamie didn't move. She didn't have the energy to do more than block his real punches. She was totally concentrated on waiting him out, which turned out to be really frustrating for him, much to her amusement. Dylan came at her and she managed to dodge most of his worst hits. With all of her training she should have been on offense, but she didn't have the strength or energy. "You waiting for someone to come and rescue you?" Dylan taunted.

"I take care of myself, thanks," snapped Jamie.

"Of course you can," Dylan replied in a mock baby voice.

"Stuff it already!" Jamie leaped at Dylan, catching him by surprise. She hit him in the nose and managed to land a few more good hits before he recovered. All too soon she was pinned against the wall with Dylan's hands tightening around her neck. He kept squeezing as Jamie tried in vain to loosen his grip. She was starting to see black spots.

"I knew you didn't have the self control to fight me," he said smugly as Jamie's attempts to break free became weaker. Dylan backed up, and then threw Jamie at the wall. She was unconscious before she even hit the wall. He watched her to make sure his job was done and then he left the room, wiping blood from his nose.

Alex had been made to stand and watch while his captors went over some of the last minute plans on a nearby computer. Unfortunately they were all speaking what he figured must be Arabic and the plans on the computer were also in Arabic. Finally, they had taken him down a hallway in time to see another man walking towards them. Alex's guards called to the man and they began talking which gave Alex time to get a good look at this newcomer. The man looked like he had just been in a fight. He looked to be in his middle thirties and was dressed in a t-shirt and sweat pants. Then Alex realized he knew this man. It was Dylan, the man who had confronted Jamie in the park the night before. Dylan looked at Alex and smiled broadly. He said something to the other guards in Arabic that made them laugh and then Alex was led off to a door down the hall. The door was opened and Alex was pushed inside. He stumbled over the door jam and landed on his face in the middle of the room.