Thanks for the great response to my first chapter!

There was no place Alex liked more than being in Sabina's embrace. Locked in her arms he could've stayed there forever but after last night he didn't think she'd let him. They were stood on the steps that led up to the door of Alex's uncle's house. It was his, of course it was now that his uncle had passed on but he could never quite get himself to admit it. It was the beginning of summer and sunshine shone through the leaves of the trees that surrounded Ian's house, a soft breeze played in the air teasingly as though trying not to alleviate the intense heat. Sabina drew away from Alex but still held tightly onto his right hand. She looked at him with those eyes that showed she cared so much for him, before she pulled her sunglasses over her eyes and walked away.

"Hey," Alex whispered and jerked her hand back to him so he could kiss her one last time. He tried his hardest to capture everything he felt for her in that one kiss but somehow it still felt empty. He drew away from her and although he could not see her eyes he knew what he's see there.

"You don't have to prove anything Alex." She said quickly and turned sharply on her heel to walk away from him. He watched her go through the gates and all the way down the street. Sabina went to a university near the house and Alex, after so long spent with MI6, had taken a year out to finish his A levels and even then he was unsure of what he wanted to study at university. Or if he even wanted to go. He walked back into the house and shut the door. In the hallway he cursed himself for telling Sabina what had been troubling him but he couldn't hide it from her anymore because she was right; every time he looked at her he wished she was that somebody else that was giving him these nightmares. He walked into the living room, not even sure of what he was doing for he didn't feel like his body and mind were connected anymore; it was a strange sensation. When he sat down he closed his eyes and although he tried to fight it he couldn't help but travel back to those memories of just two years ago.

-Flashback

Two years ago-

You know how when it's a staggeringly hot day, perspiration builds up on your forehead and seeps from your body and you're wearing as little clothing as you can get away with but it's still too hot to even think? And then you are presented with a tropical drink with ice floating on the surface of the pink, cold liquid and when you bring the glass to your lips you sense how cold it is and then the satisfaction as the liquid pours into you, cooling every part of your body. That's what she was like. Hera.

Alex watched as she stood on the deck of the boat, waving to him and growing impatient as he pretended to ignore her. Eventually she gave up and slung her arms lazily over the railing of the boat and he stood at the pier, also leaning lazily against a wooden pillar there. She looked down at him and blushed; for the past two weeks she'd only ever seen him covered in dirt with torn clothes as they had run through the backstreets of Mumbai together. Now he stood in a black suit they had bought him and she laughed; she had forgotten in the space of three weeks how handsome he was. The annoying thing was that when he was with her, he knew it; he acted so arrogant just to get on her nerves. And she did the same in return.

Alex had wondered why she hadn't called out to him for at least a minute and decided to steal a look up at her. Even covered in dirt she was stunning so seeing her against a backdrop of stars and the night sky, in her pretty blue dress with her dark hair falling against the railing, took his breath away. Of course, he wasn't going to let her know that. There was an unspoken contract between the two that although it was obvious to everyone, even them, that they were infatuated with each other, they would never admit it. And to cover up the pain that came along with looking at someone every day and not telling them how you feel, they settled for teasing and annoying each other; the only thing that had stayed with them from their childhood. Alex lazily walked towards the stairs that led up to the deck of the magnificent ship and Hera turned to the stairs with equal indolence. She inspected her nails as he approached her, hands in his pockets, staring around them as though nothing interested him.

"Evening," he said and looked her up and down quickly. She smiled and looked round as though just noticing him.

"Evening," she replied, "what brings you here stranger?" She locked her eyes with his and everyone, even they, marvelled at the fact that there eyes were that same, intense blue that had the same hard and determined look. She looked him up and down slowly, "forget something?" She asked and pointed to his feet, he looked down and saw he had forgotten to put his other shoes on and so stood in his trainers. He smiled as he looked down and put on a straight face to look at her.

"That's the look I was going for." He said and she nodded even though she knew it was a lie. He pointed to her neck which was bare and walked to her side.

"Did you forget something?" He asked and out of his jacket pocket pulled out a necklace.

"Wha…" She stopped speaking as she felt him move her hair to one side of her neck and place a necklace around her. The metal felt cold against her skin but she didn't feel it as his fingers brushed her skin too. He pulled away from her and she pulled the pendant of the necklace into view and smiled, it was a simple pear-cut diamond. Alex watched closely and for a second felt satisfaction as a small smirk appeared on her face but she soon looked at him as though unimpressed. "And this is for?" Alex took her hand and pulled her close, smiling at the fact that for once she was lost for words.

"I was alone for so long," he whispered to her, "everyone who came to me as a friend turned out to be a liar, an enemy but not you." For once their smiles were genuine, "everything I felt I had to keep hidden for so long, but not with you." She wrapped her arms around him and they looked at each other, for some strange reason, with the same look they gave when about to go into another mission; that determined look that they wouldn't let the other fall. They had never, in the two years they had been together, they had never held each other like this and it felt strange, almost liberating. "Hera, when you weren't around-"

"I love you." She said suddenly and Alex stumbled over his words.

"What?"

"I love you." She said with more clarity, "more than I ever remember loving anyone." She finally admitted it, not only to Alex but to herself, "I'm sorry." She said when he said nothing.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked, still dumbfounded by her revelation.

"Because it messes everything up," she began but stopped as he put a hand to her chin and tilted her towards him.

-End flashback-

Alex shook his head as though that could rid him of thoughts of her. He didn't want to remember what had happened that night, he didn't want to remember why, just six hours after that moment, she walked out of his life.
-Royal and Genera Bank, London-

A pear shaped diamond caught the light in Alan Blunt's office that morning as it hung from the silver chain around her neck. Blunt looked across to the girl in front of him. Nineteen and deadly. That's what they'd called her and she lived up to that reputation as though trying to prove it. She had never cared much about anything and she always liked Blunt to know that. For instance, this meeting was scheduled for 8 AM and she had turned up at 8.20 AM. He'd waited for twenty minutes, reading through her psychiatric profile which stated her attachment to the forgotten Alex Rider. It was clear she did not forget him, or else she wouldn't have come back so quickly.

"How are you?" Blunt asked as he handed the file to Mrs Jones who sat next to him.

"You care?" Hera replied and Blunt nodded, that meant she was fine. Blunt finally looked to her with bored eyes, he had shouted at her enough before to get her attitude to stop but it was no use. "Rider," she said quickly before he could ask her anything, "what do you want with him?" Blunt sighed.

"We hear news that an organisation wants him," Hera gave nothing away; she simply stared at Blunt, waiting for him to carry on. "We can't have that; he knows too much about us." Mrs Jones, sucking on a sweet as she usually did, coughed as though about to make a point but said nothing when Hera glanced to her. "He needs protection." Blunt said plainly. Hera sat forwards.

"Why me?"

"You know why."

"Because I'm the best?"

"Because you don't want him to get hurt." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't care for him." She said stubbornly.

"You do-"

"That organisation you're talking about," she interjected, "they approached me." Blunt and Jones looked to each other quickly and sat forwards, immediately Mrs Jones began writing.

"Well, girl," Blunt pressed her, "what did they say?" Hera took a deep breath and looked him in the eye and for a split second Blunt saw something sinister, something evil, pass over her face.

"They said I could kill him."

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