Tom Harris was many things. Not as many as Alex Rider granted, but still many things. He was a football player, a good student, a little brother, a son, and a damn good lair. He was also the best friend of a hero/soldier/spy/idiot. Tom only discovered how well he could lie when he had to start lying for Alex. When you had to lie because someone could die you made damn sure it was a lie that was believable. And Tom had acquired the skill of spinning a web of lies for his friend. Some were obvious, like the oh-he's-sick-again lie.

Nobody fell for that one anymore. But he would still use it. Rarely could someone find fault with it other than, "Surely his immune system isn't that crappy."

Tom remembers when he met the blond boy that came to be so many different things. They'd been five at the time and even then the boy was an enigma, quiet and full of surprises. He remembers when they became real friends. They were nine and Alex had saved his arse from a beat down from a bunch of twelve year olds and in Tom's mission to thank the boy they'd gotten close. Unfortunately, it wasn't until Ian Rider's death and Alex's chronic disappearance that Tom was able to prove just how good of a friend he could be.

Tom could read Alex better than anyone. Probably better than his bosses even, and especially better than Jack. He could tell when the other boy was lying. Alex started lying a lot that year he became a spy. At first he wrote it off as grief. Tom understood what it was like to bury a family member having buried his older sister when he was seven. But unlike Alex, Tom had other family around. While Jack was a great guardian and all there was only so much she could do.

So while his classmates spun wild stories and created conspiracy theories that should have made little sense to anyone who knew Alex longer than ten minutes, Tom worried about his friend and ignored them all.

He'd stopped by the house after Alex's first missed week to see how his friend was holding up but Jack said he wasn't there. Out of town, she said. Tom knew the other boy had no where else to go. Where was he?

When Alex did return he seemed different. Again, Tom wrote it off as grief.

Then Alex left again. And again. And again. And each time he came back he was a little more different. A little quieter, snappier, guarded, and tense. And always with an injury.

The rumors flew for months, getting wilder and wilder with each disappearance. For a while Tom just gritted his teeth and let them say what they felt they needed to say. He'd never believed any of it. Alex wasn't the druggie type. He was stronger than that. Alex wasn't in a gang. He wasn't violent like that. Alex wasn't in a psyche ward. He was the last in his family, almost completely alone. He was just grieving.

But even the dumbest of their peers could tell Alex was morphing into something else. There something about the boy that was very familiar to Tom. Something in his eyes, how he talked, how he acted.

Alex was never extremely popular despite his annoying good lucks and confidence coupled with his position on the football team. He didn't like basking in attention.

Tom watched as the few "close" friends Alex had bended and broke to the pressure. They each gave their own little tidbits of information that usually only friends had the right to know. And suddenly everyone knew that Alex had nobody left expect for some random American housekeeper.

The day Tom finally snapped was when one particularly jealous rival of Alex's all but spat on the family Alex had lost. He'd punched the boy in the mouth. Nobody messed with Tom after that. They kept their most vile rumors away from his ears. He heard them anyway because someone would always take pity and inform him of what the people were saying. And each time Tom would do his best to put a stop to it.

It went above and beyond the normal title of friend he knew. It didn't help that Alex didn't tell him what was going on with him. Tom just figured it was his business and if he wanted to talk he could. Alex didn't deserve what was happening to him. All he had done was lose his uncle. How could they hate him for that?

On the plane to Venice, Alex confided in him and told Tom the truth. And despite how ridiculous it sounded to have a fourteen year old spy in anything other than the movies, Tom believed him. Because suddenly things made sense. The way Alex carried himself, that look in his eyes, Tom was finally able to place it. His neighbor, a Vietnam veteran originally from America, had that same air about him. Tom had spent enough time with the nice man to know that haunted look and guarded aura came from battle. From doing and seeing things that were beyond Tom's scope of reason.

Tom understood why Alex had chosen the plane. Tom couldn't just walk away from him. Alex told him what he could, or at least what he thought his friend could handle. When Alex was done Tom surprised him with the only two words he could think of.

"Thank you." Alex's shocked expression almost made him laugh. It wasn't often he got to see that face.

"For what?" It was obvious by Alex's tone that he had no idea where Tom was going with this.

"For trusting me," Tom replied. "That's one intense secret Al."

"Yeah, I guess it is," Alex said, recovering fast.

"Any chance of you telling the rest of the school?" Tom asked and Alex was immediately irritated.

"Why would I do that?" he snapped.

"So your best friend could the ultimate 'I told you so' moment." Alex responded with a very solid punch to his arm.

An hour later saw an extremely annoyed Alex Rider leave the plane as he was forced to listen to Tom whine about receiving the fist sized bruise on his arm unfairly. After all, it had only been a suggestion.

Alex was pissed. Tom could see that very clearly. They were standing at Alex's locker at the end of the day and Alex was reading a note that had been slipped through the vent of the locker door. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"You alright there, Alex?" Tom asked. It was Friday and Tom was spending the night at Alex's place again. He was kind of hoping K-Unit would be out there. Attacking them with paintballs had been fun and he wanted another crack at it just to see how long they would last without getting caught.

"No," Alex hissed. "Look at this." Alex handed him the note. It was written in a girly script and Tom immediately thought it was a love note. That notion was dashed rather quickly.

Rider,

I know you blew up the Science building. I know you murdered someone doing it. And I

have proof. I want 3,000 by Monday or I go to the police.

"Dude!" Tom exclaimed, eyes wide. "Someone's blackmailing you!"

"Really Tom?" Alex said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Did you come up with that all by yourself? Very astute."

"Hey, man, don't take this out on me," Tom snapped. "You're going to need my help."

"Oh really?" Alex asked one eyebrow rising. Tom gave him a smirk and nodded.

"I know this handwriting," he said. "I saw it every English lesson last year. We were even partners for that essay project."

"Who is it?" Alex asked, amusement and sarcasm suddenly gone.

"Melissa Harper," Tom replied. "I don't why she's only demanding three thousand. She needs like eight for the tuition to some fancy boarding school she wants to go to."

"Do you really think she has proof?" Alex asked as they made their way out of the school and to Alex's house. Tom nodded.

"Melissa wants to be a director," he told his friend. "She's like attached to her camera. Probably has the whole thing on film." Alex let out a groan and mumbled something like, "Blunt's gonna be pissed." They didn't continue the conversation until they were in his kitchen.

Jack was out at the moment and the note on the fridge said she wouldn't back until eight that night.

"Do you know where Melissa lives?" Alex asked him grabbing a bag of Cheetos and sitting across from Tom at the table.

"Yeah, why?" he asked mouth stuffed with cheese flavored snack.

"We need to get that tape," Alex said absently. Tom almost chocked.

"Alex!" he almost shouted. "You can't break into her house. What if you get caught? That's a murder charge plus a breaking and entering!"

"Then what do we do?" Alex asked and Tom was surprised at how he seemed at a loss. Alex could handle blackmail. What he couldn't handle very well were normal kids. Melissa would in no respond well to any threat Alex may devise to keep her quiet. And it was not a good idea to expose the girl to MI6. She was only a classmate with some rather incriminating evidence. Not a terrorist.

"Convince her to give it to you and then destroy it," Tom said with a shrug. "Or pay her. Either way she should be gone by next semester."

"I don't have her number," Alex said. Tom ignored that for now. He kind of wanted to know what the girl was even talking about.

"Why did you blow up the science building?" he asked.

"I had to kill the clone," Alex said absently. Tom gave him a weird look. Alex told him about Point Blanc in more detail than he originally had and when he was done Tom shook his head as if trying to clear it.

"Jeez, Al," was all he could muster in response. They were quiet for a little bit until Tom asked, "Do you want to talk to her or should I?" Alex paused to think a moment.

"You should," he said. "You know her better." Tom finished his mouth full of snack then dug out his Blackberry, found the girl's number, and dialed. It took her three rings to answer.

"Hey Tom!" she squealed. Melissa was a squealer.

"Hey 'Lissa," he said. "So, I hear you're into blackmailing now. Is that going to be a side career to your director dream job?" His tone was none to friendly and heavy in sarcasm. Her pause was enough for him to know that she knew he was pissed and that she was caught.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said slowly. Even Tom could tell she was lying. He was used to reading Alex after all. Everyone else was just too easy.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure you do," Tom said. "Trust me Melissa, this isn't a good idea."

"I need that money Tom," she said coldly.

"I'm sure you do," he said. "But you should know that this isn't a good idea. You don't want to go through with this."

"It's just Rider," she said. "He's a wuss. He couldn't even talk to me himself. Had to have you do it." Tom easily caught the fault with her logic.

"You claim he murdered someone and blew up a building," Tom reminded her. "Not very wuss-like behavior." Alex gave him a strange look as he was only listening to one side of the conversation. Melissa paused and Tom wondered what was going through her head.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"It's a bit obvious isn't it?" he asked perhaps a bit too mockingly. "I want that tape."

"No," she said firmly.

"No?"

"I need that money Tom," she said. "I can't pay my tuition without it."

"Ever hear of a scholarship?" he snapped. "Or a damn loan? I know the banks are in a bit of crisis but I'm sure they can spare three grand. You don't want to do this."

"He's not going to pay me, is he?" she asked. Tom paused to look at Alex and mouthed the words, "Would you pay her?" Alex shook his head 'no'.

"No, he isn't," Tom said.

"Then I'm turning it in," she said. "No pay means jail." She sounded smug, as if she had them. Tom didn't feel backed into a corner at all. Even with his limited experience with blackmailing, he could easily see all her mistakes. Of course, if they had done things Alex's way they wouldn't even be talking with her but Tom didn't think breaking and entering was a good idea. She might still set the cops on his friend.

"I don't think you will," Tom told her matching her smug tone.

"Why not?"

"Because if you turn that tape in, we'll turn you in for extortion," he said. "That means no boarding school. They'll never take you if you have a record." He heard her gasp as that reality hit her.

"You don't have any proof," she snarled.

"How about this lovely blackmail letter? In your handwriting?" he said and saw Alex give him an amused smirk. "Really Melissa, you should have done the whole magazine letters on the paper thing. It took us all of a minute to figure out it was you. I recognized your handwriting and it will be all too easy for the cops to nail your arse to the wall."

"I'm not giving it to you," she said. "And if you turn the letter in, I'll turn him in." Great, they were at a stalemate. Tom considered his next move. Alex would be pissed if he did it, but they couldn't leave that video with Melissa. It was dangerous not only for Alex but for her. Tom had no desire to meet the heads of MI6 and he was sure Melissa wouldn't find it a pleasurable experience either.

"Fine," he said. "Then think about this. There's a reason I'm talking to you and not him. You claim he killed someone, what makes you think he won't come after you?" Yup, Alex looked pissed. While he waited for Melissa to respond he covered the mouthpiece so Alex could talk.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alex hissed. "You're making me sound like a monster!"

"Well, if I made you sound like the fucking Care Bears she'd either turn it in or keep blackmailing you because she wouldn't be scared of your reaction!" Tom hissed back. Alex gave him an annoyed look but let him continue.

"He won't come after me," she said but didn't sound as if she believed her own words.

"I don't know, he's pretty pissed," Tom said not entirely untruthfully. "Just give me the tape and this'll all blow over."

"If I give it to you," she said. "He won't hurt me?" Tom felt bad about having to paint such an ugly picture of his friend but he didn't see any other way around it. Tom wasn't dumb; he knew MI6 shouldn't get involved with this and if Alex was arrested for breaking and entering that would be exactly what would happen. At the very least, they were shielding Melissa from a potential nightmare. The girl was desperate and a little dumb but she wasn't a monster.

"No, he won't hurt you," Tom said. "He won't even talk to you."

"Fine," she said. "You can pick up the only copy tomorrow. I didn't hide it in the house and I'm babysitting tonight."

"Sounds good," he said. "I'll be over about noon." He hung up after that. "She'll give me the only copy tomorrow."

"Thanks, Tom," Alex said with a smile. Tom just shrugged.

"Whatever," he said. "No big deal." They sat in silence for a few minutes before Tom broke it.

"This all Wolf's fault you know?" Tom said and Alex gave him a sharp look.

"How is this Wolf's fault?" he asked.

"He let the clone get away in the first place," Tom told him. "Honestly, all he had to do was lock down the school and secure the clones. How hard is that? He would have known if he was missing one because there would only be one of you." Alex looked highly amused at that.

"Well, if you want to complain, I can pull a few strings and hook you up with his number," Alex replied. "And then you can tell him what a shitty job he did at Point Blanc." Tom knew Wolf on a certain level. Wolf was scary.

"No, that's okay," Tom said quickly. "Best not to cause him any trouble. Besides, it might hurt his feelings."

"That's what I thought."