A/N: Ok, so from now on I'm going to update FFH on Mondays, because otherwise I just seem to forget. Ah well, here's the next chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Nothing you recognise belongs to me. I am also fully amenable to letting Anthony Horowitz take Matt Starbright with him. I don't want him!

Alex pressed his back against the door, listening to the rush of feet pass the door and trying to calm his laboured breathing.

"That went well, I thought," said the red haired man, leaning on his knees and half doubled over from running.

"We got you out, at least," said Alex, checking the window and biting back the retort that of course it hadn't gone well. If it had gone well they would already be back at headquarters with no pursuit to shake off!

Graham moved further back into the room, heading for the door on the far side.

"We need to keep the noise down," he said a minute later when he returned. "There're a few women sleeping upstairs. No men."

"So not part of the resistance," said Alex, with a frown "And therefore not our allies."

"No," said Graham with a twisted smile.

"So, who are you, exactly?" asked Matt.

"I'm Alex and this is Graham," said Alex. "We're members of the British force and came over here on assignment."

"Alex and Graham who?" asked Matt. "And what assignment?"

"Alex Rider and Graham Bellamy," said Graham roughly and Alex looked at him curiously. It was actually the first time he'd heard his second name.

"French origin?" he asked.

"My grandfather," said Graham shortly, walking over to check the window again.

"Never knew," said Alex, shrugging briefly before turning back to Matt who was now sitting at the small kitchen table.

"So, Alex Rider," said Matt as the teen sat opposite him. "I assume you are the Alex Rider. The Alex Rider my sister looked after?"

"Yes," said Alex coldly, his face closing at the mention of Jack.

"Which means you're here on behalf of MI6," said Mathew, his eyes hardening. "Oh don't look so surprised," he snapped to Graham. "Jack told me all about it. God knows the woman needed someone to listen to her. You nearly drove her crazy with worry. You should have just let her come back to America where we could look after her. But you were too selfish to let her go and so she's dead!"

Graham snarled and hurled himself towards Matt, lifting the considerably leaner man of the ground by his t-shirt.

"It's ok, Gray," said Alex, his face pale. He looked as if he was going to be sick. "He's got every right to be angry and we're on the same side now."

Graham hesitated and Alex sighed. "Put him down," he instructed, slowly. "We can't afford any noise, here."

Graham obeyed, but the scowl didn't leave his face.

"It's not your fault. I don't care what he says."

Alex sighed again and smiled sadly. "It is, but there wasn't anything I could do about it."

The spy stood again and went to check the window, relieved to see the street was empty.

"Leave it five minutes and we can leave," he said. "We should be safe then."

"So we have a bit of time," said Matt, putting his arms on the table and leaning forward. "Now, Rider, why don't you tell me how my sister died?"

They were greeted with tense smiles and sighs of relief, frantic hands pulling them through the door and into the warmly lit room. Alex looked around. There was something wrong. It was written on every face. But his thought was inerupted.

"Uncle Matt!" cried a voice and Emily pushed her way forward. "You're ok!"

Matt was roughly pulled into a hug and Alex backed away. He didn't want to be around Matt if he could help it. The man had made his feeling about Alex clear and the teen just wanted to stay out of his way.

He made his way to the edge of the crowd and saw his team standing in the corner. Eagle had a sling on his arm and Snake had a nasty cut above his eye, but apart from that they seemed fine, just a bit banged up. Graham was already there, greeting Tom with a frown, a frown which Alex mirrored as Tom grinned at him from behind his black eye. It looked surprisingly painful.

He began to make his way over, when a hand grabbed him.

Roughly pushing down his instinct to take down first and ask questions later, he turned around.

"You let me believe you were dead!"

He winced.

"Sabina," he said.

"Don't you 'Sabina' me!" she screeched. "Why didn't you tell me? I grieved for you. Hell, I flew in from San Francisco to go to your funeral!"

Alex winced again and a cold voice rose from the silent audience.

"Do you ever think of others Rider? Or are you completely uncaring about the pain you cause."

Alex visibly bristled and span to face Mathew.

"You don't know anything about me, so just shut the fuck up!" he hissed, viciously.

"I'm going for a run," he added with a glance at Wolf. He didn't even wait for a response before pushing his way through the crowd and ducking out of the door and back into the night.

"That was unnecessary," commented Emily, eyeing Matt disappointedly.

"That man is the reason my sister is dead!" spat Matt angrily.

"Your sister chose to look after him," said Yassen, his voice deathly quiet. "She knew the risks. You cannot blame Alex for that. He did everything he could to protect her. It's not his fault that MI6 abandoned her."

"Because of him!"

"Don't you think he's got enough shit to deal with without you adding to it?" spat Wolf. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to go and find him."

"I'm coming with you," said Yassen.

"No you're fucking not," growled the soldier, stalking passed the blond.

"I know him better than you," said Yassen. "You'll never find him on your own."

Wolf paused and glowered at him for a moment before relenting.

"Fine," he said, grumpily, turning on his heel.

"Gods, I hope we find him quickly," he muttered.

Alex had found his way to the rooftops when they finally tracked him down. He had known they would eventually, but the last few hours of darkness had given him time to cool down and think. Of course Matt would blame him and of course he would be angry at Alex, but that didn't mean he was right. It was no more his fault than it had been before. If he could deal with remembering what he had done to Jack every day, he could deal with Matt blaming him.

All too soon two figures pulled themselves up and sat down, one on either side. Alex didn't flatter himself by thinking it was anything about him – the two just wanted to be as far away from each other as possible.

"So you found me then," he said, dully.

"We found you," confirmed Yassen, resting his arms on his knees and looking out over the rooftops, as Alex had been.

"You ok, kid?" asked Wolf, mirroring the assassin, save for a hand resting on Alex's shoulder.

Alex shrugged it off. He wasn't overly comfortable with physical contact.

Wolf shifted, suddenly embarrassed.

"I'm fine," said Alex in the same flat tone.

"Ignore Starbright," said Wolf. "He's just a jackass."

"He's grieving for his sister. He's angry and he's looking for someone to blame," said Alex.

"You're too reasonable by far," commented Yassen.

Alex snorted.

"Sun's coming up," said the teen, looking at the distant horizon. Idly he wondered how far away the horizon was. It should be possible to work out using the curvature of the earth and speed of light or some shit. Not like he'd ever get the chance, though.

"We'd better get back," said Wolf, standing up.

"You're not going to tell me are you?" said Alex quietly. "You're both thinking about it, but you don't want to tell me."

"Tell you what?" asked Wolf, shifting uncomfortably, but Alex was already thinking back. Tom, Graham, Emily, Yassen, Wolf, K-Unit, even Chad had been there, along with a crowd of Emily's men. But someone was missing. Someone important.

Alex's eyes snapped up to look at the two men standing in front of him.

"Where's Steve?"

A/N: Oh, sorry, that's rather an evil cliffy, isn't it? You reckon Steve's alive? I mean, on a mission as dangerous as that, what are the chances fo everyone getting out alive?

Review and tell me what you thought!