Tom's grandmother answered the phone at 3, thinking it was his friend asking for directions to her house from the main road. The sixty year old artist was happy that Tom would have someone to talk to, who understood and was also coping with the aftermath of the trauma of surviving that school. The past year had been hard on Tom. His mother and father's separation two years ago had driven the quiet boy to go wild, stealing cars for joyriding and underage drinking; acting out for attention and the fact his parent's were ignoring him. Evie Blantyre would have taken him in and straightened him out then; not afraid of tough love and commitment, but her daughter had gone for the easy option. Evie had thought she had taught Grace Blantyre-McMorin that if it sounded too good to be true, you could bet it was. Sending her only child to that school in Grenoble, where Tom had been imprisoned, beaten and traumatised at that supposed Academy producing fine upstanding members of the community in a matter of weeks. Tom had been acting out only because both his parents did not have time for him. In the past eighteen months, she had taken sole custody and only twice had to get into her car after he failed to come home from school; both times embarrassing her grandson and reassuring him that with her he was a number one priority, not an afterthought.
She was looking forward to meeting Alex Rider, equally amused and amazed by the stories told about his escape from Point Blanc to alert the authorities of the shenanigans going on with those clones. Tom,never an athletic child, had taken up snowboarding last winter and was now hooked, all his spare time spent earning money to spend on boarding.
"Hi, Ms Blantyre?" The woman on the phone asked.
"Yes?"
"My name is Melissa Durant, I am a Representative of the Ministry of Children and Family Development acting on behalf of Alexander John Rider. I'm just letting you know, Alex will not be coming to stay tiday. He attempted to cross the border without parental consent this morning and was refused entry. However, there was an incident at Douglas Border Crossing. He is currently at Vancouver General Hospital recovering from some serious self inflicted injuries. He will be under observation in the Psychiatric Unit for a couple of days if you or Tom want to visit."
Evie closed the conversation with a bland "Thanks for letting me know.". The old woman would have to talk to Tom, wondering if her grandson was aware his friend had runaway and was that ill.
Bus after bus had arrived, but no Alex. Tom's phone rang at five past three, Evie telling him to come home, she had news. He stepped off his bike, and pushed his pike through the open garage door. His grandmother sat in the car on the drive waiting for him. "Hurry up, trouble. We need to get to Vancouver ASAP."
Tom groaned, he had thought mommy dearest was in Toronto this weekend so he had been spared his weekly torture session of ignoring his bitch of a mother, as Evie tried to mend the broken bond between mother and son. As the old woman stating often to her grandson, Grace made a monumental mistake, well a series of them considering she'd married Colm McMorin in the first place, but Tom did not have to like or forgive her for her failures, but try to move on from them not for her sake, but for his. Feelings needed to be addressed, the underlying resentment talked through and not left to fester.
The impatient woman had started the car. "Come on, we're going to see your friend Alex. He's not very well and needs his friends. You can text everyone on the way to the hospital."
Evie understood mental illness better than most, her elder brother on returning from Vietnam had been a changed man. After witnessing horrors, he withdrew into himself drinking himself into an early grave, refusing help or any attempts at interventions. Evie, herself, had settled in Vancouver in 1960, far from her republican parents and stuffy upbringing. Forced to leave home at eighteen, pregnant and alone. Her daughter born a Canadian, far from her baby's father. A monumental mistake on her part, believing in true love conquerers all, he was a married man, whom Evie had loved as the other woman in his life, sharing him. Grace was his only child, one he had never met.
After telling Tom the few details she knew, he was silent; busy texting his friends, three in the US, one in Holland, one in Germany and one in France. He had the hard task of telling them that their hero and rescuer had tried to kill himself. The boys all knew Alex was very depressed after Jack's murder. The Point Blanc survivors would now be pestering their parents or guardians to get their fingers out and help the fifteen year old who had saved all their bacon. Last of all Tom put a call in to his mother and left a message for her to contact him this evening and it was urgent but not super critical. It was the first time he had initiated contact since early 2001.
…
At the Emergency Department, Evie Blantyre enquired on the whereabouts of Alexander Rider. It turned out he was still in a cubicle and waiting his transfer to the ward, which was expected within minutes. The trauma specialist attending Alex introduced himself as they were shown through into the assessment area.
"Hi. I'm Chris Allen. Alex is comfortable at the moment, out of immediate danger, but he is restrained and has been sedated, so he's a bit groggy. He is going up onto the general ward in the next few minutes for the night for observation and our Psychiatric team will assess him tomorrow. You can go up with him and stay until 8."
In the cubicle was sat a prim woman, who looked a bit hassled, studying her laptop intently.
The artist then read the woman's ID lanyard, this was the Social Worker that had called this afternoon. "Ms. Durant. Thank you so much for calling me and letting me know about Alex. You stated he's under the Ministry's temporary guardianship, as a teenager at risk. I would like to formally put in for fostering, if its needed. I have fostered several teenagers over the years, I normally deal with your colleagues Geoff Golightly and Suzanne Brant. I'm currently acting as primary care-giver for my grandson, Alex's friend. They both went to school together in France last year and have been close ever since."
The woman smiled as she put her computer away. She already knew that Evie Blantyre was a naturalised Canadian Citizen, a former town representative and keen environmentalist. A woman with lots of friends across British Columbia as well as the mother of the chief executive and chairwoman of Canadian Media and Cable Incorporated. "Thank you for offering. Alex's case is already stirring up a hornet's next of controversy. Would you be able to attend an emergency court hearing first thing tomorrow. The psychiatrist is seeing Alex at 8 and has promised his assessment by 9. I think it would be in Alex's interests to stay with you and your grandson." The woman could foresee a turnaround in the teenager's outlook if 'Plan B' came into affect, which was staying with his friend. Ms. Durant would like nothing better than to pull the rug out from the officials in London, Washington DC and Ottawa calling for Alex's detention in a high security facility without even seeing the teen nor awaiting any official assessment from the hospital and its physicians.
Alex woke and smiled weakly at Tom. In truth, he had not expected any visitors, certainly not the Canadian teenager he had planned to visit and then move on from. Alex's perceived future was of living his life alone, without friends who could be used to blackmail you or to destroy you. He had made a black and white decision this morning. Now, here he was with his classmate from Point Blanc, a fifteen year old he only knew from a few hours in France and from a handful of emails and even fewer phone calls. The ex-spy was at a loss at how to deal with this situation. The failure of Plan C, had not meant to have been a second chance. Finding that his sort-of friend still willing to interact with him, was confusing. "Hi" he rasped.
Tom poured a beaker of water and helped Alex sit up. "Good evening. You've been snoring. I hope thats just an affect of the drugs, because we're sharing a room at Gran's house. I should warn you, I also snore. Drove Cassian up the wall when we were at Point Blanc sharing a cell." He helped the constrained patient drink small sips, having noted that the nurse said to be careful as Alex had vomited several times today. "Gran's here as well, but outside conspiring with that creepy woman."
Alex lay back already exhausted from just sitting forward. "Ms. Durant?"
"Yeah, lady who looks like a MILF but acts like an ice queen. She's got quite a game plan already, completely pissed off with some guys in Ottawa and Washington who seem to think you need locking up ASAP. Gran is working on getting temporary guardianship and by tomorrow will have called half the her friends in BC to secure it. She knows three judges and half the people in the Ministry personally from her Environmental work." Tom then noted Alex's confused expression. "Ms. Evie Blantyre likes nothing better than hopeless causes, you Mr. Rider are her new project. She also thinks I could do with a friend who can relate to all the shit I'm still carrying. I told her and Ms. Ministry of Family and Children's Affairs about Cairo and Jack. If MI6 send a toady to drag you back to London, they have to deal with those two women first and good on them. My gran has never backed down from anything and loves ultimatums. Hell, she was a single mother in the early 1960's when it was a complete taboo, political active for a thousand different local environmental and social causes and founder of the Nelson Arts Commune. Officially, she's retired from all that crap, but well last few years all her energy has been in fighting for me and telling Mom that being a mother takes more than hiring appropriate staff and being there at Christmas." Tom held onto Alex's hand, careful of the bandages and the padded restraints. "So, I might not be spy material, but mommy dearest is just like your uncle, never around and never giving a shit. My housekeepers were never as cool as Jack, but mom never saw eye to eye with Gran. I only really got to know Evie after Point Blanc and what can I say, she's weird but families are. Welcome to the family Alex. I and all the other guys are fighting for you. You've done your bit, sit back, get your head together and catch your breath. Time to chill and Vancouver is the place to do that."