The morning fell with Alex oblivious to the rising sun outside the dark walls of his captivity. Another fact he was clueless of was the multiple units of SAS soldiers marching steadily towards the compound inhabited by the terrorist organisation. Police followed, news reporters hovering; no one understood why a small gang was being treated as a major threat. MI6 were panicking, for once, with their youngest agent being dragged into the media circus.
The cold floor had helped soothe his wounds and lull him into a fitful, but long needed, sleep. He never expected to be rescued today; quite frankly, he never expected to be rescued at all. In the long line of his missions he had come to the conclusion that MI6 couldn't be trusted when in a life or death situation. They would leave you without a moment hesitation if they believed that it would be beneficial to them and, more often than not, they would sacrifice an agent for the so called 'greater good'. He hadn't accounted for the fact that his abduction had been public and had a witness which meant the police and other forces would be condemned if they left a young boy at the mercy of criminals. Never mind the fact that this particular young boy was an orphan with no family who had already lost his guardian and was well loved by his teachers. There was nothing in the public sphere which could be used to explain why he had been a target.
The door slammed open and, rebounding off the wall, resounded with a bang. Alex started awake. Blood stained the wall behind him. His skin was beginning to take on a pale hue from the lack of nutrients and sunlight. The differences a few days can make are amazingly apparent.
The door lay open with the killer framed by the door. It was obvious he was taunting Alex, daring him to try to escape knowing the teenager was too weak to attempt the fight. Alex pushed himself and, with straining legs, forced himself to stand.
Connor watched his struggles with mocking eyes, a small crooked smile showing on his face. He said, "Bad news I'm afraid. I really wanted to spend more time with you but it seems our time needs to be cut short."
Connor pulled a small pistol from the waistband of his trousers. Cocking the pistol he aimed it at Alex's chest.
Bang.
The pressure behind the bullet pushed Alex against the wall where he slid down to rest on the cold ground.
As Alex's eyes finally slid closed he heard footsteps approaching the room. His final sight was of Connor turning to face the newcomer.
"Sorry about this Connor but we need to make it seem like you went rogue and aren't working under Scorpia's orders so you need to be eliminated. No hard feelings; we just can't have you leading them back to us," the other criminal said as he drew a gun from his waistband.
Meanwhile, the SAS units arrived to the compound on the edge of town. The building was a simple two storey with a metal fence surrounding the area. Splitting off into the separate units, the men went on their way. F-unit began to stealthily creep down the stairs to their right. Any guards were swiftly dispatched, their bodies leaving a trail of blood across the hallway.
As f-unit approached the next corridor, a shot echoed followed by a second in close succession. Sprinting towards the sound they rounded the corner just in time to see one of the members of Scorpia fall backwards and land, eyes wide open, sprawled at the feet of his killer. A man stood directly behind him and the gun which he still held in his hand marked him as the assassin. The man dropped a card onto the body and slunk away swiftly into the shadows.
F-unit moved forward as a group, crowding tight towards each other in defence. They reached the body and the unit leader, Tiger, crouched down to grasp the hand which had landed in the pool of blood which was falling from the bullet wound in the body's head.
"Ignore the body; we need to find this agent. Check the rooms."
Looking into the door open just across from the murder scene they were alarmed to see a second pool of red spreading slowly. When they entered the room they saw the body of a young boy lying in the cold floor with blood spreading from a wound in his chest. The medic, Frog, crouched low and grasped the boy's arm to check for a pulse.
"He's alive," Frog breathed in relief. Pulling out his medical kit he immediately began to pad the wound to try to stop the bleeding. "Call a med evac."
Tiger said, "The kid looks even younger like this than in the photo they showed us. I mean, shit, the kid can only be around 15 maximum and he's working as an agent. What the hell is special ops thinking using a child soldier."
Over the radio, f-unit confirmed the location of the agent and acknowledged that all units should be withdrawn from the building.
Frog picked up Alex with a gentle yet firm grip and began his retreat with Tiger and Shark guarding the front and Giraffe behind. Up ahead they could see k-unit also hurrying towards the exit and running behind them they jumped into the helicopter.
The helicopter raced towards the nearest hospital as Alex's heartbeat slowed to a stop.