Choice

Alex nearly ran. His hands shook from the adrenalin rush that had coursed through him as soon as he had seen Alan Blunt (because that man meant pain and fear and manipulation); Alex's body was desperate for him to move, to escape. But he didn't – his mind held him back. He just knew that behind the door there would be a plain clothed man ready to stop him. And if he used violence (or the window) to run, then he would be out of this school for ever. Mr Bray would have no choice but to kick him out. Plus he had nowhere to run to – there would no doubt be a black car parked at every corner of his life, waiting for him.

In that second, Alex realised how pointless his whole plan to evade MI6 had been. You couldn't avoid the people who had the power. They had simply being toying with him, giving him some rest and recovery time. In reality they had just been waiting for him, all of this time, inside this room – the room that they knew he wouldn't run from. That was how MI6 worked; they gave him a choice (but the choice was never really a choice, it was always rigged).

"What do you want?" Alex asked, jumping straight to the point. He didn't want to faff around with small talk. He wanted to sound challenging and confrontational, but what came out was just accepting and passive; the anger had dissipated to be replaced by a lifeless tiredness that filled his very bones.

"Why do you assume we want something?" Mrs Jones asked. "Your wellbeing is important to us, Alex."

That made Alex snort with derision. Mr Bray gave him a sharp look, which reminded Alex that the teacher still thought he was with child services. Would MI6 hide the real purpose of the conversation or would they just make Mr Bray sign the official secrets act? Did Alex want the teacher to know about his other life? "Right… Which is why you didn't find me for months? Why you abandoned me? Why you never help me?" Alex said slowly.

"You rarely need us," Blunt observed coldly.

"I needed you when I was with the Boss. I needed anyone," Alex said darkly.

"You got yourself out very successfully," Blunt reflected.

"I was there for months," Alex said tersely. "Do you have any idea what they did to me? What they're still doing to me?"

"I have a very good idea actually," Blunt retorted. "Your injuries were documented and accounts were taken from the other prisoners. Which you would have known if you had debriefed." Alex didn't say anything to that. But he could feel his anger creeping back sluggishly.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand what is going on," Mr Bray said suddenly cut in. "Alex, do you know these people? Have you been in contact with child services before? I wasn't made aware that you already had a relationship. And what are you talking about?"

"They're not from child services," Alex said abruptly. Even later, when he thought about it, he didn't know what made him say it. He held no illusions about Mr Bray's power over MI6 –the head wouldn't be able to do anything to help. Maybe Alex just wanted to tell the truth for once.

"Alex? What do you mean?" Mr Bray asked, confused. Alex didn't respond.

"We're just here to talk, Alex," Mrs Jones said softly. She was lying. She was good at it, but Alex had learnt long ago how to read the guilt in her eyes.

"I thought that I made it pretty clear that I wasn't interested in talking," Alex pointed out.

"Which is why we've had to resort to such drastic measures," Mrs Jones responded.

"Your school is not a neutral zone. We're not under any obligation to contact you only at home," Blunt said sharply. "You do, however, have an obligation to speak with us."

"I'm finished with you. I don't want any of it anymore. I just want to be normal!" Alex said desperately.

"You aren't normal. You never will be. You know that better than anyone," Blunt said brusquely.

"I can try to be!" Alex snapped back.

"But you need to help us first. You left things in a mess with the man you call 'the Boss'," Mrs Jones responded.

"I left things in a mess?" Alex said icily.

"You killed all of the staff we could have interviewed. The other prisoners haven't given us anything useful. You won't talk to us and debrief even though you're probably the only one who knows anything useful," Blunt summarised equally icily.

"What? Killed people?" Mr Bray asked eyes wide. "Will somebody please tell me what is going on?"

"Alex is one of our operatives. I'm head of MI6 special operations," Blunt said simply. "But Alex is behaving in an extremely uncooperative way that is endangering lives." Alex realised what Blunt was doing – he was trying to get the teacher to side with MI6 and turn against Alex. But he wasn't going to let that happen.

"I am not one of your operatives! You don't pay me or acknowledge me! And blackmail is a reason to be uncooperative!" Alex snapped back.

"Are you telling me that you have been employing a minor?" Mr Bray asked, looking scandalised.

"This is a matter of national security. You will be required to sign the official secrets act. In fact, you already signed it before we had this meeting – you really should read the paperwork you sign." Blunt responded evenly.

"This cannot be legal! Alex is only fourteen!" Mr Bray said, aghast.

"It doesn't matter. You can't go against them. They make the rules," Alex said listlessly.

"We don't force you to do anything," Mrs Jones said.

"We're just here to inform you that we've located 'the Boss'," Blunt said. "He's in Istanbul."

"You want me to go to Turkey." Alex said shortly. It was not a question. "What makes you think that I would even consider that?"

"Because you're the only person we can send. As you said earlier you were with him for months. You know his methods,"

"Far too intimately to be objective," Alex cut in. Blunt ignored the interruption.

"You'll be the son of a British diplomat," Blunt continued.

"What's the point of a cover? The Boss knows my face," Alex pointed out.

"The Boss isn't in control. We've neutralised his organisation. But he's retreated to his base in Turkey. We had a tip that he's hiding in an embassy,"

"So you don't' care about getting him. You want to know which embassy; which country is lying to you and sheltering him. I'm guessing he knows a lot of secrets that you don't want shared. So I don't see why this needs me. Or why I would ever agree."

"We thought you'd like to go." Mrs Jones spoke up.

"Explain to me why I would ever like to go to a foreign country to try to find a man who held me captive for months," Alex asked with contempt. But he had a strange dread in the pit of his stomach; MI6 were about to reveal their ace.

"Ben Daniels," Mrs Jones said. "He went to investigate and hasn't been heard from for over a week."

"What?" Alex was thrown.

"We think that the Boss has him. As you said Alex, you know his methods intimately. So you know exactly what is probably happening to Daniels right now," Blunt said with a small sigh.

"Ben is a friend of yours. He's even taken a bullet for you. We thought you'd like the chance to help. You wouldn't want to abandon him," Mrs Jones said. She knew that she had won, but she carried on regardless. "But it's your choice Alex. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." She looked up at him, and both of them already knew that the choice had been made long before either of them had entered the room.

Please, please leave a review! Do you want me to right about Alex in Istanbul or just when he gets back to Brooklands? And this isn't the last of Mr Bray!