It was nearly five a.m. on Monday morning. He had been up since eleven at night on Sunday but it had all been worth it. Their meeting had gone off without a hitch and he had had one of the most amazing nights of his life.

For the first time in a long time, Alex Rider was close to being unequivocally happy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like this. he just felt like smiling. Not the goofy grin that Jack always wore or even the jittery smile that usually graced Tom's face. It was just a soft smile. Just something to remind him how much things had changed.

Alex knew he would probably fall asleep in at least one class this morning but it had been completely worth it. Being with her down by the water, just the two of them-it had been great. Sure they had been under a bridge and the entire thing was a piece of crap but it nice to them. Their spot, she'd called it. Always, their spot.

Slinking through the alleyways back to his home, Alex let himself smile a little more widely. He could just imagine Jack's face if she caught him sneaking in after spending the night out with a girl. Jack wouldn't know what to do; ground him for breaking the rules or be happy that he was finally living the life of a truly normal teenage boy. Probably both. Eagle would just laugh. And maybe congratulate him once Alex showed him her picture.

But Alex had no intention of letting them catch him sneaking back in. What good were his spy skills if he couldn't put them to good use? He may not be working for MI6 anymore but he could find a way to make sure he stayed sharp. Sneaking out of the second story window was the perfect way to keep up on his breaking and entering abilities.

And it was with that thought that he finally turned the corner and saw a sight he never wanted to see again.

His world began to crash around him.

Cameras, crowds, and vans were scattered all over his street. People were going in and out of his front door. Police tried to hold back crowds of neighbors. He saw ambulances and more horribly, a coroner's van.

What had happened?

As he maneuvered his way down the street he sent up a silent prayer to any deity that might listen to please let Jack and Eagle be okay. He got to the sawhorse barricade and looked out across his front lawn. There was a body bag resting on a stretcher by the coroner's van with a man writing something on a clipboard near it.

He felt the breath leave his body.

No.

Unable to stand there any longer he turned and pushed his way back out of the crowd, flipping up the hood of his jacket to keep anyone from recognizing him. He didn't want to be stopped. Clearly something bad had happened and he didn't want to be caught off guard. He'd spent far too much time being caught off guard.

The hospital was just as he remembered it. The front entrance was lit up in a friendly kind of way and the shrubs bordering the building were perfectly manicured and well kept. All in all, St. Dominic's would probably never change. Alex was sure of that.

This was the first stop on his list as he began his search for his friends. Someone had died at their home but someone had probably been injured as well. If that were the case then this was the hospital they would be at. The military controlled it for the most part and the SAS would want to make sure their own was being taken care of. So to St. Dominic's he went.

Alex forced himself to walk through the sliding glass doors and into the whiteness that was the lobby. He still had trouble walking into the building without seeing the dead security guard, a friend, that had been killed during his stay. He'd seen too much, he concluded, and he sent up a prayer hoping that Jack and Eagle were alright.

"Alex?"

The teen turned toward the voice. Fox. Both Fox and Snake were staring at him as if they'd seen a ghost. Fox had managed to stand in his obvious shock but Snake was still sitting in the hard plastic chair. He had an arm resting on the back of the chair next to him and Alex looked to see his best friend looking just as shocked.

Tom looked horrible. There were dark circles under his eyes, he looked as if he'd been crying, and he was pale. His hands were clasped around a steaming cup of something and Alex wondered if the other boy had been through some sort of trauma.

"What's happened?" Alex asked, his own voice sounding a little scared and worried. He couldn't keep himself emotionless though. Not now when everything was seemingly falling apart. "Where's Jack?"

"Where were you?" Fox snapped and Alex took a step back from the man at the harsh tone. "We've initiated a manhunt!"

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked, finally crossing the twenty or so paces from where he stood to join them in the small section of the lobby they'd claimed for themselves. "I was just at the house. Who was killed? Where is Jack and Andy?"

"Andy interrupted a kidnapping attempt," Snake said calmly. "Although we'd originally thought they'd succeeded. Where were you tonight? Around one in the morning?"

"I was out," Alex replied causally, as if it was completely natural for a fifteen year old boy to be out on the town at one o'clock in the morning on a Monday.

"Out?" Snake asked, pressing for answers. Alex decided to just tell them. They looked too haggard for lame, teenaged excuses.

"I snuck out to see a girl," he said feeling slightly embarrassed despite knowing that he had no reason to be.

"Oh yeah," Tom said sounding more alive than he looked. "How did that go? I told you Cindy liked you."

"Wait a second," Fox snapped looking angrier than either boy had ever seen. "You knew where he was the entire time? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I forgot about it," Tom said and Alex could tell he wasn't lying. The other boy looked as if he'd been through a rough night.

"You forgot?" Fox exclaimed incredulously.

"I've had a rough night," Tom shouted attracting the attention of the dozen or so people milling around the lobby. "I've been stuffed in a hole and been through the entire Schrödinger scenario. Leave me alone!" The boy then pulled his hood up and looked down in an effort to avoid everyone and everything. Alex had only seen him do such a thing once before and he knew that it meant that Tom was about to shut down. He needed to distract the soldiers. If they left the kid alone, he would bounce back.

"What happened to Jack and Andy?" he asked drawing the attention back to himself.

"Jack's fine," Fox said quietly equally aware of the people around him. "Andy's been in surgery for the last few hours but he should be in recovery right now. He was run down by a car as the intruders tried to flee the property. He managed to incapacitate two of them but one was killed by his own."

"How bad are the injuries?" Alex asked suddenly all business. It surprised Fox even though it shouldn't have. He'd seen Alex on the job before. He knew what the boy was capable of but he'd also seen the kid be a kid. It was odd seeing him as a soldier again after all that time.

"His leg has been crushed. He'll be lucky to walk again. He's already been benched from the SAS."

Alex winced. It just sounded so harsh. He also felt incredibly guilty. Andy's career was over because he'd been trying to save Alex from a situation the teen hadn't even been in. He couldn't help but think that it was-marginally-his fault.

"Also," Fox continued and Alex wondered just how much more bad news he was about to hear. "Wolf's been taken. We aren't sure by who and we don't know where they could have taken him. He managed to stuff Tom into a hiding spot in his closet before they broke down his front door and forcibly removed him from the flat.

"We found a bullet embedded in the wall of his bedroom but no blood. There's a good possibility that wherever he is, he's alive."

Alex nodded his head.

"Any leads?" he asked.

"No," Fox said.

"Any suspicions?" the teen amended. Fox didn't reply. His silence was enough to tell Alex more than any half-hearted lie could. He glanced at Tom who had risen his head in order to listen fully. Alex grabbed Fox's upper arm and pulled the man further away and out of earshot. Snake took the cue and began encouraging Tom to drink whatever was in his cup. Alex knew that unless it was coffee and Scotch, Tom wouldn't be interested in it anytime soon.

"Alex, even if I wanted to tell you about it I can't," Fox said before Alex could demand anything. "It's classified. You know better than anyone what that means."

"I'm a part of this," Alex replied. "There's no denying that I was a target. With Eagle out of commission you're going to need an extra set of hands. What is going on?"

"It appears," Fox acquiesced, "that an old enemy from South America has followed us home."

"How does he even know who you are?" Alex asked, knowing it should have been impossible for a target to trace an SAS team back to their homes.

"Clearly, there's a leak in the organization," Fox replied. "It's one of the things being looked into."

Alex started to reply to that but he never got the opportunity.

"Alex John Rider!" The scream was followed quickly by a flying mass of red hair which was the last thing he saw before he was swept into a bone crushing hug. He returned it. Jack quickly pulled away and planted her hands on his shoulders firmly. "Where have you been?"

"I snuck out," he said truthfully. "To see that girl I told you about. Cindy."

"Oh thank god," Jack replied pulling a surprised teen back into an embrace. "I've never been so thankful for teenage hormones."

"Okay," Alex said lamely not entirely sure how to react and therefore resolved to just let Jack have her moment. His guardian released him again soon enough.

"You're grounded," she said. "Now come on, Andy's ready to receive people."

The nurses may have thought that Andrew Rosten of the SAS, codenamed Eagle was ready to receive people but Alex could tell with one look that the man didn't even know what was happening around him. Fox tried to debrief him but after a very few short sentences the man gave up.

"Andy," Fox said sternly in a desperate attempt to get his teammate to focus. "What do you remember about the man in the room? The one you tasered?" Fox was speaking really slow as if talking to a really young, really dense child.

All Eagle did to respond was try to reach over to play with other soldier's dog tags. Fox grabbed his arm and forced it back onto the bed.

"Do you know where you are?" Fox asked.

"Where's Alex?" Eagle mumbled.

"He's right here," Fox said patiently pointing at the teen for the third time in two minutes. "Are you in pain?"

"Yeesss," Eagle moaned. Fox looked at Jack.

"He says he's pain but I'm not sure," Jack said. "The nurse said if they give him anymore medicine that he could overdose. I think he just likes the high."

"Andy, focus," Fox continued still trying to get answers.

"You're not going to get any answers," Alex finally cut in and Fox huffed and straightened up. "He's too doped up. Just let him sleep."

"He's the only one who saw these people," Fox said sounding annoyed. "He might have seen the people in the car."

"As they ran him over?" Alex asked incredulously. "Ben, you know as well as I do that there's almost no possibility of him remembering who was in that car. There's almost no chance that he could identify anyone."

"He doesn't even know who he is," Tom supplied not very helpfully. He was watching Eagle fiddle with a loose thread on his blanket as if it was the most fascinating thing on the planet.

The injured soldier eventually looked up with the same vacant expression he'd had since they'd entered his room.

"Where's Alex?"

Fox rolled his eyes and left.

"Where is it?"

Wolf ignored the voice. He didn't know who it belonged to. He didn't much care either. The electronically distorted voice came over a loud speaker in his tiny prison cell. He'd been strapped to a chair and wired with open electrical lines. It was torture.

"Where is it?" the voice pressed. He wasn't sure how they were seeing him. He couldn't see any cameras anywhere. He guessed it was a disguised two way mirror. There was a television mounted on the wall directly in front of him but it was currently off. He didn't have the slightest clue what it was there for.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wolf responded coldly in an effort to avoid more shocks. It hurt like hell.

"The flash drive," the voice clarified. "The one from South America that you and your little teammates stole from Skelter's base. We know you never turned it over to your commanders. Where is it now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do!" the voice snapped and even through the electronically modifiers Wolf could plainly hear the anger. "Where did you put it? In your flat? In the Rider home? Somewhere less stupid?"

Wolf remained silent.

The shocks continued.

Tom fiddled with the straps of the rucksack Wolf had given him. He and Alex were currently ensconced in the corner of the Intensive Care Unit's waiting area. Alex had his knees pulled up onto the chair, the sleeves of his hoodie pulled down over his hands, and looking absolutely miserable.

Digging around through the rucksack was more of a busy task to keep Tom's mind off of Wolf than anything else.

"What are you looking for?" Alex asked knowing Tom needed a distraction and more than willing to offer up a meaningless conversation for the sake of sanity. Tom had told Alex everything the moment the two of them had been alone. The ex-spy felt horrible and the last thing he wanted to do was let Tom out of his sight. The other boy was the closest thing Alex had to a brother and losing him would be a blow he probably wouldn't recover from.

"My mobile," Tom said. "I'm pretty sure I saw Wolf through it in when he was packing."

"Do you really need it right now?" Alex asked sounding a bit like Jack.

"Yeah," Tom replied without missing a beat. "It's a very important thing to have." Alex shook his head and continued watching Tom search.

"Oh, hey," Tom said after a few moments of searching. He pulled out a rosary Alex had never seen before. It was beautiful, handcrafted, and made of dark wood. "What's this?"

"You've never seen it before?" Alex asked reaching out and gently taking the necklace from Tom's grasp. Tom shook his head.

"No," Tom replied. "Rey doesn't wear jewelry. He only wears his dog tags."

Alex examined it closely. Wolf wasn't the type to randomly stuff things into a rucksack. The soldier never panicked. If it was there, it was there for a reason. Finally, after several minutes of turning over the wooden beads and cross in his hands he found it. A thin line, almost imperceptible, where the very top of the cross met the hook attaching it to the rest of the rosary. The cross wasn't solid.

He pulled and the cross came apart easily enough. It was hollow inside and he turned it over in his hand bring the small piece of wood down firmly on his palm. Soon enough, a small piece of paper came loose and fell into his hand.

It looked like the slips of paper one would find in a fortune cookie and Alex quickly unrolled it.

The answer lies where the Royals cross.

It was in Wolf's handwriting.

"Since when is Wolf into riddles?" Alex mumbled.

"Since he had something to hide."

Both boys snapped their heads up towards the voice.

Snake didn't look happy and he quickly snatched both the rosary and the piece of paper from Alex's hands.

"Don't," the soldier warned sternly.

"Don't what?" Alex asked, his own tone just as cold. "What is that? What's Wolf hiding that's so dangerous?"

"Cub," Snake snapped already over the demands for explanations. "You want to be involved then I suggest you call Mrs. Jones and ask to be re-activated. Otherwise, stay out of it."

"You know who has Rey," Tom suddenly accused. "Don't you?"

Snake didn't answer. He simply reassembled the rosary and put it on, hiding it under his shirt and tracksuit jacket. Then he walked away, leaving the two kids in their little corner alone.

"Where did you hide it?" the voice asked.

"I don't have it," Wolf insisted. "We turned it over to our Commander. We're soldiers not private investigators. Whatever we saw or didn't see in our operation was reported."

"You're lying," the voice said.

"No," Wolf replied. "I'm not."

He had the sudden strange feeling that he was arguing with Tom. The back and forth was all too familiar and he had a flashback to standing in the kitchen and arguing with the teen about what constituted a healthy breakfast cereal. However, the stakes were much higher here.

"Where did you hide it?"

Wolf remained silent.

"If you don't answer I'll be forced to get ugly."

Wolf didn't know what that meant. They'd already tried to torture him into giving up the information. He didn't know what else they could possibly come up with.

"Go to hell," Wolf snapped refusing to play along.

Suddenly the blank television screen flickered to life. But instead of showing something from a TV channel he saw a picture.

Tom's picture.

It had clearly been taken without the teen's knowledge. He was looking over his shoulder at someone or something behind him but Wolf could see Alex in the background looking in the same direction. They were both wearing their school uniforms and Wolf guessed that they were walking home. Probably to Alex's home. The color of the leaves told Wolf it had probably been taken a few weeks ago. Wolf would have been in Japan.

"Are you ready to talk now?" the voice asked condescendingly. "Or do you need to see more?"

Soon enough the surveillance photo disappeared to be replaced by family photos. Photos Wolf had never seen before.

Tom and Alex, aged five, in their Halloween costumes.

Tom hugging a football with a Christmas tree in the background.

Tom with his siblings, his sister in a hospital bed and his brother grinning like a manic, Tom pouting.

Tom and Alex with Jack, probably soon after she had become Alex's main caregiver.

"How about now?" the voice asked. "Where is the flash drive?"

Wolf replied. And he was certain that if his mother had ever heard that reply she would have scowled and pulled out some ivory soap.

The voice wasn't pleased.

The shocks continued.