Chapter 2

As soon as Alex was squarely in front of it the Mercedes shot forward closing the seven foot gap in about half a second colliding with him, crushing his right arm and leg against the bike and sending him rolling up the windshield and off the side of the roof of the car.

Screams rang out as bystanders watched the horrendous accident. Except everyone knew that it wasn't an accident; they saw the malice with their own eyes.

Alex hit the side view mirror of the car next to the black one and came to rest on the ground between them. The killer car then shot off down the road driving over his hand in the process. One outraged citizen shouted for the perpetrator to stop and actually gave chase a short way but it was no use.

Then as time resumed its normal pace so did the passage of thoughts for Eagle and Tom who had witnessed the whole thing. The first thought that came into Tom's head was that Alex was dead. That he hadn't seen the kites that they were going to use. That he looked too limp being thrown like that. Absurd thoughts. He wondered what Jack would say to him when she found out. Then it occurred to him that maybe he wasn't dead yet.

He rushed forward pass the other cars that still hadn't moved as the sound of sirens wailed in the distance. He knelt down beside Alex's still form where a pool of blood was forming beneath his head. The sight of it terrified Tom even more, to the point of hysteria as reality finally set in. He started screaming now, yelling Alex's name as though he would wake up, shaking him and then trying to roll him over so he could hear better although he knew that Alex would not, until powerful arms took him away even while he continued to yell and scream. On the other side of the street Eagle set Tom down and tried to calm him down as the paramedics arrived.

You're a friend of Alex's right?" Eagle asked gently

Tom nodded crying now. "It's not fair!" he yelled "Why do all these thing have to happen to him; kids shouldn't have so many enemies!" he continued not realizing what he was doing. "I know he's doing good, some body else should do it!"

Eagle was surprised "You know about Alex's work?"

"Of course I know" Tom snapped ranting now as he watched the paramedics tending to Alex. He didn't seem to realize yet just what kind of person he was talking to nor what it meant.

"I'm his best friend." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he saw the grim looks of the paramedics. "He had to tell somebody. They just wanted him to keep quiet and never say a word even when he need someone to listen, how-" He suddenly broke off as the ambulance doors were sealed.

He looked at Eagle for the first time and a slight inkling of fear for this person seeped into him. "Who the heck are you?"

"I'm a friend of Alex's too; from work you could say." Eagle explained "I ran into him just now on his way home and he told me he was meeting a friend here. I came with him since it wasn't out of my way and I'm glad I did. You must be Tom."

Tom nodded

"I'm Jake."

"So you're a spy too?" Tom asked quietly realizing just how dangerously lax he had been.

"No, but our paths have crossed before." Eagle answered vaguely as he was watching an official looking person who was talking to the police. "Are you supposed to know about Alex?" he asked suddenly

"No" Tom answered cautiously "He told me secretly."

Eagle nodded understandingly "Well I suggest you keep it that way for now and refrain from losing it the way you just did."

Tom nodded somewhat shamefaced as he wiped away the stray tears from his cheeks watching wearily as the official looking man came over to them.

"My name is Detective Rennings of MI5 on behalf of the NCIS." He said showing them a badge "I will be conducting this investigation and I need to bring you two in for questioning."

Sometime later Jack was being delivered the disturbing news by Mrs. Jones herself.

Jack had been in the kitchen cleaning up her spaghetti dinner thinking about the type of people Alex apparently met on his job and what they were like. Namely whether Jake was a good person, a good friend to Alex and then it dawned on her that Alex had been gone for quite a while without calling to let her now how things were.

She wouldn't normally have asked this of him but she was worried about him and all the trouble he got into nowadays. It made her feel better when she knew he was safe at least most of the time. She was entertaining the thought of calling him herself when the door bell rang.

She looked out of the peep hole of the door and felt her heart do a scared little leap when she saw two men dressed in black with serious expressions on the front porch.

She cautiously opened the door hoping against hope that they didn't have anything to do with Alex. Of course they did.

"Can I help you?" she asked guardedly

"Ms. Starbright?" one of them asked

"Yes" she answered tersely

"Come with us please."

"I can't just come with you." she snapped already irritable "I don't know who you are, where you're from, or what you're about, nothing! I have to know something!" her voice rose with each word. She was pretty sure of who these people were and what they represented and that's what had her a way.

"Our apologies. We're from the Special Ops division of MI6" the same man continued showing her identification "and we have information regarding your ward. If you could please get in the car we can further explain and take you to him."

Jack felt some of the life go out of her when she heard that. She leaned on the door frame for support pulling her hand through her hair. "Let me get my things." she answered in a weak voice.

As she went to grab her handbag and mobile phone she noted that the men followed her inside but she gave it no further thought.

Then they led her into the black Rolls-Royce that was waiting. When she got in the back she was confronted by Mrs. Jones.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news concerning-"

"What happened to him?!" Jack demanded as the car drove off down the road.

"Please try and remain calm. We're taking you to seem him right now. Unfortunately he was hit by a car on Kings Road. He's been transferred to St. Dominic's Hospital were he's in surgery right now."

A funny feeling appeared in Jacks legs as though they had become very weak and soft all of a sudden and a hard lump had formed in her stomach. She dragged her hair out of her face again holding it there as she glanced out of the tinted windows biting her lip.

"How bad is it?" she finally forced out facing Jones again

Mrs. Jones sighed as though she really cared. "He's in critical condition right now."

"And um, how did he simply get hit by a car?" Jack asked angrily struggling to keep her voice steady. "If its one thing Alex isn't its careless."

"We believe that it was a deliberate attempt on his life." Jones answered cautiously

Jack's whole manner instantly changed. "You mean that one of the enemies that you created for him nearly killed him with a car. Where was his protection? Surely being one of your agents he's entitled to protection.

"The situation is complicated Ms. Starbright and not all of the details of it will be disclosed to you but he was being protected."

"So you're saying it wasn't enough!? Why not? He was supposed to be well looked after. Who was able to get through your defenses and do this?"

"You may not realize it Ms. Starbright but no form of security is completely foolproof and it is not easy to protect our agents from outside elements.

"Apparently you also don't realize that you wouldn't have this problem had you left him alone!"

Mrs. Jones ignored her outburst. "We're here."

Jack quietly fumed, sick with fury and worry as they made their way through protocol up to the waiting room of the OR. She was surprised to see Tom and Eagle there as well.

She remembered that Tom was with Alex. "Tom, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He answered quietly "Jack, this is Jake he-"

"I know," she informed him "Alex introduced us just before he left to meet you."

"I'm sorry we had to meet again like this, under such circumstances." Eagle apologized as he stood up. "We've been here since about 4:30 waiting for you and looking for an explanation, but we still haven't gotten one straight answer from the men in black since then." He went over to Mrs. Jones looking particularly displeased and the fact that he was impressively taller than her added to the intimidating aura he gave off. Jack hoped that he would give her a hard time.

"I hope you know that we know this was deliberate. We know he has enemies." He began

Mrs. Jones glanced at Tom looking slightly uncomfortable. "I'm interested in knowing just how you came to be a part of all this and what you think you know." She answered looking up at him.

Eagle opened his mouth to respond but just then a doctor came out of the OR removing his cap and gown. Jack hurried over to him. "How is he?"

"You must be Ms. Starbright." He offered his hand "Doctor McKnight" Jack nodded impatiently shaking his hand.

"They're closing up everything now." He explained gesturing to the operating theatre where the other doctors were still working. "His most severe injuries have been stabilized. He had several broken ribs one of which punctured his right lung, but we had no trouble re-inflating it and with rest that should heal up nicely.

His right leg, which was broken in four places is a little more complicated. His growth line, was damaged. It's small section of the bone that facilitates the growth of that bone in children and adolescents, It's a small strip of cartilage that, when broken like this, if complications occur it can caused impaired growth of that limb. Fortunately we were able to set it back precisely. Dr. Cooper, the orthopedic surgeon, will talk to you both about taking care of the fracture to ensure that it will heal correctly.

The right lower arm was also broken but the fracture was simple and should heal excellently."

By now Jack was beginning to feel a little better about the outcome of all this but apparently Dr. McKnight was saving the bad news for last.

"The only thing we are concerned about is the skull fracture and resulting bleed. The fracture in itself is not a problem and the bleeding in his brain has been brought under control but with injuries like this some degree of brain damage is usually present." Seeing the look of dismay on Jack's face he quickly tried to show her the good side of the situation. "However since the bleed was caught quickly that means the brain wasn't under pressure for long. Because he is still young what little damage might be there should heal with time. For now we will wait and see and when he wakes up we'll know for sure."

Jack nodded trying to be optimistic. After all Alex wasn't the kind of person to let these sorts of things get him down. Although he had never been hit by a car before, he would probably push past it like any other obstacle that had gotten in the way, making a remarkable recovery.

"In about twenty minutes he'll be transferred to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit and you'll be able to see him. Then we'll wait to see how long after the anesthesia wears off does he wake up on his own."

The room itself was pretty big so that all of them could fit in there with ample room to spare but the size of everything also made Alex seem very sick and very young. His head was wrapped in a white bandage that partially covered his right eye and his cheek was slightly bruised. His right hand was encased in a rigid mitten and his right leg and forearm were casted as well. His eyes were closed in sleep but he seemed to be in pain nonetheless.

Jack suddenly realized that her cheeks were wet. She turned to Mrs. Jones whose eyes seemed to register a mixture of sadness and guilt.

"Seven freaking years have I been looking out for him. All those weeks when Ian wasn't home, when he didn't have anyone but me," Jack ranted in a low broken voice "I always looked out for his safety, and took care of him. But then you all come on the scene and take him out of my care.

Now he's constantly on the brink of death; I'm never sure if this is the time or not." She took Alex's free hand in her own "Look at him" she choked out "He's just a kid, he's not supposed have enemies any worse that the school bully; and he could always deal with them anyway."

Eagle was glad that Jones did not try to justify herself to Jack. He didn't think that Jack would have been able to handle that without blowing up or doing something she would regret. He glanced over at her as she was dragging her hands through her hair in frustrated worry and he felt distinctly sorry for her to have to continually worry about whether Alex would come home alive or not.

He turned back to Mrs. Jones "Let's take a step outside." He commanded "I have some questions."

Jones followed him into the hallway and Eagle leaned in to make sure they weren't over heard. "You remember me from K-unit right, Alex's unit?" He asked

"Yes Eagle," Jones answered freely using his codename now that Jack and Tom were out of earshot. "I remember you but I'm wondering what you're doing here."

"That's not the point." Eagle countered angrily "The point is that Alex is an illegal child spy who wasn't given the necessary allowances to ensure his safety. How did that happen?"

"He was under our protection. However we believe there was a tip from the inside, a traitor you might say, that gave him away." Jones informed him.

"Scorpia doesn't need an inside tip to know how to hit a fourteen year old with a car." Eagle insisted disgustedly

"We have no proof or evidence for that matter indicating who has done this." Jones responded guardedly

"Except that Alex just came back from a mission that involved Scorpia and it didn't end favorably for them." Eagle interjected snidely "Don't you think they would be your prime suspect?"

Jones said nothing but her face did register a small amount of surprise.

"K-unit was one of the SAS teams dispatched to the old church when the signal was sent. I assume Alex is the one who sent it?" He answered her unasked question and asked one of his own, which she did not answer. She was most likely becoming uncomfortable but she didn't show it.

"You're right; Scorpia is our prime suspect but there isn't much we can do if it is them."

"You can protect him!" Eagle pressed in exasperation "He can't protect himself from the dangers you expose him to. He needs someone-," he stopped when he realized that the hard look on Mrs. Jones face wasn't going anywhere. "You know what, we're going to have to do it. For now at least. If you all were doing it this wouldn't have happened. And if Scorpia is behind this then they're not going to stop until he's dead."

"What are you saying Eagle?"

"I'm saying that until we have proof that he is being properly guarded, K-unit is going to look out for him."

"I know you may want to help Eagle but I can't allow that. That would almost be taking him into custody and nothing of that sort is going to happen."

"He's a kid damn it!" Eagle interrupted "And not only is he our teammate but our friend as well. If you can't take it upon your self to keep him safe, then we will while we can."

"And what sort of protection can you give him that we can't?" Jones asked coldly. She was not happy with the insinuation of uselessness that Eagle was making about MI6. ", a man to hold his hand? I told you we're already on it."

Eagle narrowed his eyes menacingly "When we see some action we'll back down; until then work on keeping your word." And he left with out another word heading home and Jones was smart enough to let him.

As he drove home in the waning evening light he thought of just how quickly everything had gone wrong. A simple trip to the neighborhood bakery turned into the beginning of something big. Something dangerous. Eagle knew that when Scorpia found out that Alex wasn't dead they were going to make sure he was the second time around.

Eagle sighed as he threw his keys on the kitchen table of his one bed room flat and flopped into a chair. He thought back on just earlier that day when he and Alex had been joking about their shared assignment with know knowledge of the impeding danger; and further back to about a month ago when all five of them had met up for the Quasar Tournament. They'd all had a good time and the event had served to solidify the friendship that was growing between the men and Alex.

Now the kid was unconscious in the hospital with only half of his limbs functional because of a slight on MI6's part and Scorpia's inflated temper.

Eagle cursed out loud and got up thinking about his next move. He finally decided to call Wolf who didn't live very far away and let him know what was going on with the youngest member of his team.

At first he couldn't remember the number for Wolf's cell phone so when the number for the house he and his fiancée had just bought popped into his head, he called it.

He wasn't surprised when Rachel picked up.

"Oh hi Rachel, it's Jake. I forgot Ryand's mobile number so I called the house; is he there?"

She pleasantly answered him in the affirmative and he soon heard her calling for Wolf from where ever he was.

It wasn't long before he picked up. "Yeah?" Wolf answered almost pleasantly. It sounded as though he had just been laughing a moment ago.

"Sounds like you're having fun." Eagle observed

"Rachel and I were watching something." Wolf answered "But I'm pretty sure that's not why you called. You sound down."

Eagle sighed again "Guess who lives a few blocks from me?" he began

"If its not somebody important then I don't feel like guessing." Wolf answered only half interested

"Cub" Eagle continued ignoring Wolf's answer "He showed me his house and his guardian, Jack, today after I ran into him on the way home. A little after that he was knocked down by a car." He paused to let it sink in.

After a long silence Wolf said "You saw it?"

"Yeah" Eagle continued heavily "I was walking with him to King's Rd but I didn't cross with him. He was almost across when a black Mercedes slammed him off his bike."

"Aw shit," Wolf voiced angrily "So when are you going to tell me whether or not he made it; or do I have to beg you to cut the suspense."

"He's not dead if that's what you mean. But his right side took the brunt of it. He just came out of surgery a little while ago but he hasn't woken up yet and the doctors think he may have brain damage because he hit his head pretty badly. Like I said I saw it and it was ugly."

"Do they know?" Wolf asked coldly emphasizing his dislike for 'they'.

"Yeah they do." Eagle answered becoming angry again as well. "That's part of the main reason I called you. There's actually more to this that the civilians on the street would know, but I can't say anymore over the phone. I need you to tell the other guys so we can meet tomorrow and discuss what's really going on."

"I see." Wolf answered gravely "Poor kid is mixed up in too much shit for his own good."

"I know what you mean." Eagle agreed

"Okay I'll meet you tomorrow morning at your place." Wolf finally decided "And I'll see if I can bring the others."

"I'll see you then." Eagle answered

"Wolf Out." Wolf concluded apparently forgetting, as he usually did, that they weren't using walkie talkies.

Eagle hung up the phone feeling slightly better.

Those of you who have come to know the kind of writing I do and my quality level may have realized that I kind of fell short with this one. I think writing a full story requires more time that the Spyfest allowed for which is why one shots were better for that type of thing. This story kind of rings as clunky to me. But for those of you who enjoy it please do review and if you have a piece of constructive critism you'd like to share, by all means do.

The thing I'm sure I'll hear about is my scarce use of commas. But I'm getting better. (I hope)

Thanks and have a good day