Meetings

Edward Pleasure stared at the man in front of him. Over the last few weeks he had interviewed Alex's teachers, Wolf, the Sergeant who had been in charge of Alex's training, various anonymous figures in the CIA (all of whom appeared to owe Alex favours), children of billionaires, actual billionaires and his own daughter. He had gathered evidence – video footage, photographs, documents. Alex's story had been thoroughly supported by hard fact. In fact, it was nearly complete and ready to publish. But never had he expected to meet the former prime minister of Great Britain. He hadn't even voted for the man.

"I wasn't fully expecting you to show," Edward said honestly, breaking the silence.

"I never agreed with the use of a teenager in intelligence work," The ex-prime minister said carefully (choosing his words like a true politician). "I don't believe it's right, and I'm ashamed that it occurred within my term of government. I would like to make that very clear."

Essentially he wanted to protect himself, Edward realised. The ship was sinking and people were throwing others off to get to the life rafts – if you were going to be a part of a scandal it might as well be on your own terms. Edward sighed and started asking his questions, like he had many times before.

In truth, none of those he had met had engaged him in the way Alex had. He would never forget a word of Alex's story. He felt his mind drift back towards when Alex had finished telling it, back in Wales.

Edward Pleasure let out a breath he felt he had been holding since Alex had started to talk. As usual, the young spy had been right; he had not been expecting the story that had tumbled out of Alex. It was more shocking and horrific than he could have imagined; but it had also reminded him of exactly how remarkable Alex was, to be not only competent but excelling at the dark and difficult job that he had been forced into.

This had to stop. While some of Alex was still left intact. Frankly he had no idea how much of Alex still was; just one of the many of the things that had happened to Alex would be enough to finish most people off, but Alex was most definitely not most people.

Edward realised that Alex was waiting for him to speak. The guarded expression the fourteen year old was wearing was well beyond his years. Perhaps he was afraid of what Edward was thinking. He knew Alex blamed himself for a large portion of his situation.

"Thank you, Alex." Edward said simply. "Not just for being so honest, but for everything you've done. For saving my life and for saving Sabina's. I know it wasn't always your choice, but thank you anyway."

"Aren't you afraid of me?" Alex asked. "I've done a lot of bad things."

"You may have done some bad things, but they've been for good reasons," Edward said slowly. He was trying to be as careful as possible with his words. He wished that he could reach over and hug Alex, but he didn't think that would go over well. He knew then that he had to do whatever it took to help Alex.

The ex-prime minister asked him a question, and Edward realised his attention had wondered. He pulled his mind out of the past.

In another room, another meeting was taking place.

"He's done as you predicted, maim. The story is nearly complete and it will be published within the week. Alan Blunt is going down," The man Alex had once called 'The Boss' said, speaking to his own boss. His own boss who had been the real boss all along, telling him what to do and what to say. She had been the one making all of the decisions, watching via camera and speaking to him via earpiece. Dealing with Alex Rider had been too important for him alone so he had simply acted as her hands.

"You doubted he would?" She asked, sounding curious.

"May I speak freely?" The Boss, who was actually called Robert, asked rather tentatively.

"I welcome it." She said, her voice expressionless.

"I thought that you had probably broken him. When I was hurting him I did not expect him to survive it in a way that would allow him the ability to fight. When you told me to be more severe with him I truly believed that he would be broken beyond repair. For a child to have such resilience... he is quite remarkable."

"If I had wanted to break him I could have done in days, not months. He thought he was being taught to submit, but I could have taught him submission in hours. And allowing an escape... honestly, If you want to break someone you don't leave them something sharp. I knew Alex wouldn't break. You are quite right, he is remarkable; he always has been. Taking Ben Daniels so that he would have someone to save was just allowing him the strength to act once more." She responded.

"Will he ever know? That it was you all along, manipulating him even after he escaped? That 'the Boss' was just a fictional device to irreparably damage his relationship with MI6." Robert questioned.

"No. He can go on thinking that he took down a madman. After all, that is what he did. It's just the madman he escaped was Alan Blunt. This was hard on him, and I regret that this is what it came too. I know you had your doubts about it." She said with a small sigh.

"I was wary of hurting a child, but I do as I'm ordered. And it worked. Alan Blunt is destroyed." Robert replied carefully.

"And lives will be saved. He was far too powerful for his own good. The decisions he was making... involving Alex in the first place was just one of the signs that he was going too far. We did a bad thing for a good reason. With someone new in charge of MI6 it can become a force for good once more. Thank you for your service on this project Robert. It will not be forgotten." She replied. Then she reached forward and took a peppermint from her bag – a dismissal.

"Thank you, Mrs Jones." Robert said, and left the office in a hurry. The smell of peppermints was reminding him of things he had done that he would rather forget.

Mrs Jones finished her peppermint in silence. She knew that they would be coming for her soon; she was too linked to Alan Blunt for him to fall without taking her with him. So she had chosen to pull both of them down. The replacement had been quietly groomed by her for years, and would undoubtedly be chosen. She herself would disappear; after dishing the dirt on Blunt she had a plan in place to quietly fake her own death. Nobody would question her guilt ridden suicide. Robert was part of a team out in South Korea, and she would be taking over its operation.

Mrs Jones had few regrets. Involving Alex at all was one of them. Hurting him was another. But taking down Alan Blunt would resolve her; she was sure of it.

I was really nervous about this chapter. What do you think? Did anybody guess that Mrs Jones might have been behind the whole thing? Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought of this twist, I would really appreciate it! Thank you so much to all my previous reviewers too, you really encouraged me to find my computer and start writing.