A/N: Happy 2010, if I haven't wished you it already. I'm even managing to stick to the Wednesday thing, so I reckon I'm doing ok. One of two resolutions is being kept, so fingers crossed that this continues. (My resolutions are update on time and leave nice long reviews when I read a story. Still working on the second, but I am trying here.) Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, we actually get to the plot in this chapter, instead of dwelling on the situation. I'm sorry it's moved so slow up until this point, but it should speed up now! Anyway, enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Everything you recognise belongs to Anthony Horowitz.

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He was dragged next door and handcuffed to a chair. He didn't say, 'this isn't fair'. He didn't say, 'you can't do this'.

Because the facts were that they could – and would – proceed to make his life a living hell unless he did what they wanted, if they didn't just end it outright.

Mrs Jones sat down opposite him. He could still feel the barrel of a gun at the base of his skull, and thought that they were going a bit overkill. What exactly did they expect him to do while handcuffed to a chair with SAS soldiers guarding the only door which, inconveniently, led to a room with even more soldiers in? He'd have to be crazy to even try to escape.

Mrs Jones was still looking at him. It was starting to creep him out a bit.

"What?" he finally snapped.

"Was it you who helped Yassen Gregorovitch escape?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Alex tilted his head to the side. He had, but he wasn't about to admit it straight out. He'd probably end up with a bullet in his head.

"A life for a life," he said instead.

She frowned.

"I'll take that as a yes. Where is he now?"

Alex remained silent. He wasn't about to answer that.

"Rider, if you do not answer this question, things could go very bad for you," warned the woman.

So, this was an interrogation, was it? Slowly he began to count. Never lose control. Never answer a question without thinking it through first.

"Rider," she repeated warningly.

He felt the gun removed from his neck, only to have it slam into the side of his face. He gasped at the sudden rush of pain, but otherwise didn't react beyond flicking his hair out of his eyes.

"You won't get the information out of me, Jones, or have you forgotten what happened to the last people who tried to interrogate me?"

"I have not forgotten," she said calmly. "It is thanks to you that Scorpia is still barely operating within the UK, and not at all in London."

"Didn't stop you trying to kill me though, did it?" he snarled, caustically.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door and Wolf entered, followed by Steve, Graham and Tom.

Wolf threw a guilty look at Alex before speaking, "Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but these three were disrupting the others. They wanted to know what happened to C- Rider."

"Rider?" said Graham, obviously confused. "His name is Walschmitt. Alex Walschmitt."

Jones sighed. "His name is Alex Rider and he defected from MI6 two years ago."

"Defected?!" exclaimed Alex angrily. "You tried to kill me!"

His Graham and Steve were looking at him disbelievingly and Tom looked worried.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that he worked for you? Aged sixteen?!" said Steve.

"There were... exceptional circumstances. You are... friends... of his?"

The three of them nodded. She frowned thoughtfully.

"You will accompany him," she announced.

"No," said Alex forcefully. "No. You might be able to force me onto this suicide mission, but you are not killing them as well."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course, we will not force them. I simply assumed that they would want to go with you, given how close you appear to be."

"Of course we're going," said Graham, authoritively.

"Good, now that that is settled, let's begin the briefing, shall we?"

"First, why don't you try removing the handcuffs?" suggested Alex with a glare.

"Well, I think it is safe enough to assume that you won't try anything with your friends here. Release him."

Alex massaged his wrists for a second after they were released, and flexed his shoulder muscles. True, he hadn't been tied up long, but they had hardly been gentle with him.

"You ok?" asked Graham.

"Fine," Alex assured him, rolling his shoulders.

"If you are done talking, perhaps we could move onto the briefing," said Mrs Jones, waspishly.

"By all means," said Alex, inclining his head calmly. A flash of annoyance crossed Mrs Jones' face, gone as quickly as it appeared, and Alex smirked inwardly.

"There is a young man in the United States. A few years ago, he became known to the CIA through his remarkable dissertation on the weaknesses in security systems, predominantly computerised ones. He based the paper on the CIA's own mainframe alongside the security of the American nuclear weapons – it might interest you to know, Alex, that the incident on Air Force one was also included, though the CIA are at a loss as to how he discovered it."

Wolf shot Alex a surprised look. "That was you?" he asked, his eyebrows rising. It was quite a while ago, but some things stick in the mind, Alex guessed. Alex nodded his affirmation curtly and the two of them turned back to Mrs Jones, ignoring the curious looks from Graham and Steve. Tom, obviously, already knew about it.

"Anyway," said Mrs Jones, loudly, drawing both Steve and Graham's attention back to her, "they asked him to design a system without these faults which he did."

"And what does this have to do with us," interrupted Alex, impatiently.

Wolf frowned at him, but Mrs Jones ignored him apart from a single raised eyebrow. She remembered his sarcastic temperament well. It was not something she was likely to forget.

"There have been rumours that the Americans are planning on ending the war by targeting Europe with nuclear missiles. Predominantly, we believe their targets to be capital cities, but also include the Hague, which – as I am sure you all know – is as good as the head quarters of the United Nations and has several institutions essential to the European Union."

"So you want us to go in, kidnap this guy and find out how to deactivate the weapons?" said Alex.

"You make it sound like a normal day's work," muttered Wolf. "Sounds more like the end of the world to me."

Tom looked at him speculatively. "You never did learn much about his missions, did you?" he asked.

"Shut up, Tom," said Alex, good naturedly, although the glare he sent Tom's way threatened serious retribution if he didn't

"It's not quite that simple," said Mrs Jones.

"Simple?" murmured Graham incredulously.

"The man in question was head of the resistance in Washington. He has been arrested and is currently being held somewhere in the city."

"Great, just bloody great," said Alex. "Who is this activist, anyway?"

"His name is Mathew Starbright," said Mrs Jones. "I believe you knew his sister."

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A/N: So did you enjoy it? Review and tell me!