Chapter 14

Jamie was sitting up in her bed when Alex came into the room carrying a duffel bag. He paused in the doorway and watched as she typed furiously on the computer in front of her. It was good to see her being so interested in something instead of just being in pain. He took a step into the room and Jamie's head whipped up.

"Finally! It took you forever!" Jamie typed a few more keys on the laptop and then closed the lid and moved the small table away from her. "I am so looking forward to having real clothes again." Alex smiled and handed over the bag.

"Here you go. I had Jack come with me so that we would pick out something suitable." Jamie chuckled at that. Alex smiled as Jamie riffled around in the bag and pulled out the clothes and accessories he had brought.

"How did you know these are my favorite?" Jamie asked holding up a pair of jeans. Alex shrugged. "You better not be stalking me Alex Rider."

Alex balked. "What? It was just a lucky guess, miss paranoid."

Jamie laughed at that and continued to pull her things out of the bag. She let her mind wander back to the last week she had spent in the hospital. When she had finally, officially woken up, she hadn't had a clue where she was. She had turned her head to find Alex sitting in the bedside chair reading a magazine.

"Wh… what happened?" she had asked. Alex had nearly jumped out of his chair at the sound of her voice and then he moved to stand next to her bed.

"Dylan shot you, but we managed to get you to the hospital quickly enough. You were in surgery for a while and you lost a lot of blood. The casted your wrist while you were under as well." Alex spoke quickly but quietly, like he didn't want to force too much of the information on her at once.

"How long have I been out?" she had asked.

"Three days," Alex told her.

"Three days? I can't have been out that long!" Jamie exclaimed. She tried to sit up, but she winced and Alex pushed her gently back against the pillows.

"Like I said, you lost a lot of blood and your heart needed the time to recover." Alex took a breath and then continued. "Your heart actually stopped while you were in surgery because of the damage." Jamie had sat in a shocked silence. Dylan had actually accomplished what he had set out to do. He had temporarily killed her. It was a miracle.

"Did you find him?" Jamie whispered. She wouldn't meet Alex's eyes because she didn't want him to see the fear that resided there.

"He's in prison and he won't be getting out for a long, long time, especially with your testimony," Alex assured her and was surprised by the pure joy and excitement that spread along her face as she looked up at him. The most astounding was the relief in her eyes.

After that meeting, Jamie and Alex had gotten into a routine where he would bring her her things so that the hospital room would stop feeling so cold and empty. They spent a lot of time talking about school and comparing their lives a little bit. Neither of them brought up the mission or MI6 or terrorism or anything of that sort. They had gotten to know each other fairly well in that week. Jamie had even met Jack who had come in with Alex one afternoon. Jamie had like her from the beginning, which was rare for her. It was also nice to have another American around and Jamie continued to tease Alex about that.

Now Jamie pushed the covers down and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She gave Alex a look. "Are you going to stand there staring? I would like to change." Alex nodded and pulled the curtain so she would have her privacy. Getting dressed by herself was a little tricky because of the bandaging on the left side of her chest. Her chest was also still sore, but she wouldn't tell Alex that. The cast also wasn't doing anything to help the situation. Finally she called in one of the nurses and when she was dressed she sat down on the bed while the nurse opened the curtain and allowed Alex back into the room.

"You look a lot better now," commented Alex as he looked her over. Jamie raised an eyebrow because she was in her usual scruffy jeans with a tank top and open button down shirt with a pair of sneakers. It wasn't exactly a nice looking outfit. "You look more like yourself." Jamie just shrugged and stood up again.

"Are we going to MI6?" she asked as she put her hairbrush back in the duffel bag and zippered it up.

"Yeah, they want to formally close this case," Alex replied with mild dislike.

"Do you think they are going to chew me out?" Jamie asked a little timidly. She fingered the necklace Smithers had given her at the beginning of the mission. She was surprised she still had it.

"They better not. You're the one who really saved everybody by destroying the two ways to set off the bomb," Alex said truthfully. He bent down and grabbed the duffel bag and swung it over his shoulder. He then reached for Jamie's knapsack, but she had already beaten him to it. "You're still hurt, you shouldn't be lifting things," Alex reprimanded.

"I am not letting you carry everything yourself, Mr. Macho. I can take care of this myself," Jamie retorted and held open the door so Alex could go through. "Plus, only my left side is really injured, so I can carry things on my right." Alex just shook his head and led the way out of the hospital and down to MI6 headquarters.

Jamie enjoyed her time outdoors. The hospital staff hadn't even let her open a window for fear of her safety. She didn't think there was that much of a threat since Dylan was locked up. She smiled broadly; no one could hurt her now that Dylan was gone. Her parents had been locked up as well for their part in the scheme. She was a ward of the United States. She thought she should feel more upset or sorry, but she just couldn't summon the emotion. They had tortured her for so long, that this was finally her chance to be free. One of the soldiers who had been sent to watch her had told her that her parents, her mother especially, had been asking to see her. Jamie had told him that she did not want to see them. She wanted them to worry about her for once. She was setting a somewhat brisk pace; Alex was surprised at how well she was doing. He was pretty sure he would have been out of breath after his incident with the sniper. Alex led the way down the streets and as they got closer to the bank he noticed that Jamie wasn't looking as eager anymore.

"Are you nervous about what they will say?" Alex asked. Jamie looked at him, and then nodded.

"I haven't told anyone what my family was for years because I was afraid that they wouldn't believe me and Dylan would kill me for telling or that they would just arrest me as well and send me to jail even though I did not even want to be a part of this." Jamie took a breath. "I am happy that people believed me though."

"I know I was happy when some of my friends believed me when I told them I was a spy for MI6. It was like the weight of the world was taken off of my shoulders."

"Yeah, that is how it feels."

Finally they arrived outside the doors to the bank, and went inside. Jamie walked up to the counter and gave the woman her name and was told to take a seat. Jamie stared around the building again. It was only the second time she had been here and it had only been two weeks ago. It really felt like years had passed since she and her mother had come in here claiming that her father had been kidnapped. When the elevator doors slid open, Jamie turned and watched Mrs. Jones walk towards where she and Alex were sitting. Jamie stood up.

"Mrs. Jones," said Jamie in a slightly wavering voice.

"Hello, Jamie, how are you feeling?" asked Mrs. Jones.

"I am doing much better now."

"That is good to hear," Mrs. Jones replied. "Alex, I will come and get you in a few minutes. We would like to have a private word with Jamie first." Alex nodded silently and Jamie followed Mrs. Jones up to Mr. Blunt's office.

"Good afternoon Jamie. Take a seat," Mr. Blunt said as Jamie came into the room and Mrs. Jones closed the door behind her. Jamie sat down in the chair facing Mr. Blunt. She was feeling extremely uncomfortable at that point. She had no idea what was coming next and she also knew that she could disappear right now and no one except the two people in front of her would ever know exactly what had happened. Mr. Blunt continued reading the report in front of him, completely oblivious to Jamie's internal struggle. He finally put the report back into its manila folder and placed it in the bottom right corner of his desk. "We need to talk about the events that brought you and your family to us, Ms. Falcon." Jamie forced herself to meet his eyes.

"You and your mother came here claiming that your father had been kidnapped. Why were you actually here?" he asked sharply.

"My uncle, Dylan, had decided that he needed to have the government on our side and felt that having my mother gain access to this building would be a good way for him to gain inside information," Jamie thought for a moment. "Dylan also wanted you to think you had to protect me especially because he wanted to show he was better than Scorpia by getting rid of Alex."

"What sort of part did you play in this whole scheme?"

"I guess I was sort of the bait for Alex," Jamie began hesitantly. "And then Dylan needed my knowledge of computers so that he could get information, like floor plans and schematics. He needed me to run the program to complete his project and he needed me to put together the extra detonator, which I did not do."

"Yes, we have noticed that your loyalties seem to lie elsewhere," Mr. Blunt said. "The flash drive was very helpful once we figured out the protection on it. You are very skilled with computers. That could be dangerous in the wrong hands." Jamie squeezed her hands together even though it made her shoulder ache a little. Mr. Blunt thought for a minute. "Do you have many pictures of your early childhood?"

Jamie looked at him, completely surprised. "Well, no, not really. My mother and father were not really interested in taking pictures or displaying pictures."

"So you have never seen pictures of yourself as a young child? Possibly even from when you were born?" asked Mr. Blunt. He was very determined, but Jamie had no idea where his questions were leading.

"No. I don't think we had any pictures of when I was born," Jamie replied. "What does this have to do with what just happened?"

"Your parents were very worried about what we might tell you since they are no longer here to feed you their story," said Mrs. Jones. "Your mother wanted to visit you and tell you what liars we are."

"What do you know that I don't?" asked Jamie nervously.

"Do you want to see your biological mother?" asked Mrs. Jones. Jamie stared at her.

"Um… wait a minute. Are you saying I am adopted?" Jamie asked incredulously.

"In a matter of speaking, yes," replied Mr. Blunt. He opened the manila folder he had been looking at when she had come in and pushed the folder towards her. Jamie pulled the folder towards her and found a picture of a family. There was a mother, father, and a little boy. The mother was holding a small baby. "That is you in your mother's arms." Jamie thought back to her current mother. There were definite difference, but not so huge that Jamie had guessed ahead of time.

"What happened to them?" Jamie asked quietly, still staring at the picture. Drinking in the life she had not had.

"They were murdered. The house was set on fire one evening when you were only a year old. No one else survived," Mr. Blunt told her.

"How do you know it was murder then?" Jamie asked looking him in the eyes.

"There was a certain calling card found at the scene. Also, you made it out alive."

"Who murdered them?"

"Your present parents, and Dylan."