In the Night Sky

Chapter 5

Ben Daniels stared at the spilt tray of medical equipment that he had knocked over in his surprise at seeing the former MI6 agent. He slowly dragged his eyes up to face the boy reluctantly but just as he opened his mouth to say something, a fist flew towards him and his head snapped back, pulling him into unconsciousness.

Alex Rider watched his former partner in saving the world fall to the ground. To say Alex hated surprises would be an understatement. One would think spies liked surprises since they had to deal with them all the time but really Alex hated them with a passion that words cannot describe, even though he was really good at dealing with them.

Looking at the still form of Ben, Alex decided that he needed to refresh his memory on how to deal with surprises. One: Act as if you are totally unsurprised and as if the surprise occurred on a daily basis. Two: Do NOT punch the surprise in the face, you'll have a hell of a time explaining to the nurses in the hospital why your 'friend' suddenly fell unconscious and how they got a black eye in the process of falling unconscious. Three: NEVER blame the black eye on the patient in the hospital bed, also unconscious and without bruised knuckles. Luckily, Alex never blamed Ben's sudden unconsciousness on Carlie and instead dragged the man back into his seat and walked out of the hospital as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The reassuring weight of the SIG P226 that he had pulled out of Ben's MI6 issued holster rested comfortably at the back of his waistband. In his casual T-shirt, dark denim jeans and black jacket that fitted on him loosely, he resembled a young man and could pass for being 18. His serious brown eyes helped him appear older and Alex prepared himself to face the darker side of spying: joining a new, unknown and possibly unstable criminal organization. He really knew how to choose them.

The former spy made plans in his head on how to reach Yassen Gregorovich. First he needed to know where the ex-assassin had gone off to when he had supposedly 'retired'. Next he'd need a way to get out of the country to where the assassin can be found. After that he'd probably need to get a way to talk to the assassin without being killed beforehand. Lastly, he'd talk, scream and demand the assassin to give him a place in his organization. He should also punch the assassin a little, kick him in the balls hard and not hug him. He's meant to be expressing his displeasure in being lied to and hugging did not convey a message of 'I hate it when you lie to me, I hated it so much that I'll start a fight with the world's best assassin because that's how much I hate it'.

For stage one of his plan to work, he'd need to get into an CIA headquarters or hack into their system from another place with the right technology, that is, if the CIA's security was that slack. Weighing his options and deciding he didn't like either of them, Alex decided he shall just make a call and get the info himself.

"Welcome to the Royal and General Bank, how may I help you today?"

"I'd like to speak to Tulip Jones please."

"Who? I'm afraid we do not have a worker called Tulip Jones in our company, perha-"

"Yes, yes. Tulip Jones doesn't exist, she's not real, and I'm hallucinating. Whatever just get me on the line to Tulip Jones right now, and if you're really that dumb, Jones is the lady with the peppermints."

"Really sir I must insist, there is n-"

"Oh bloody hell! I called a number that is different to the ones that connect you to the actual bank and you would think I'd know about the agency and all if I'm calling this number, how dumb can you get? Just tell this non-existent Jones that an A. Rider would like to speak with her and when the non-existent lady says 'Yes put him on the line please.' I can promptly say you are a useless receptionist at such an 'important' company."

"If you'll please hold sir, I shall check again to see if I can find a Jones."

"You do that."

Alex tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the stupid guy to get him Jones. If it had been Ruth, who had been the receptionist before whoever the hell this guy was, then she would have connected him instantly.

"Alex?"

"No it's Arthur Rider, King Arthur."

"Alex King Arthur's last name was Pendragon."

"Yes I know that, I was just kidding. Christ, you need to relax woman, have some fun once in a while."

"Alex did you call to kid around and tell me to have fun or did you actually need something?"

Alex couldn't tell if Jones was actually displeased at hearing from him or if she just uses that emotionless tone whenever she talks on the phone, not that she sounds much different in real life but body language can help you understand what a person is saying more than the words itself.

"Oh yeah, that, I need the current address of Yassen Gregorovich."

"Who?"

"Oh for god's sake! Why is everyone asking me 'WHO?' as if they didn't know perfectly well what I'm talking 'bout!"

"I see you are fitting in with boys your age nicely, I'm glad."

"Jones I am not-" Alex paused and then said "Did you just joke with me?"

"I was once a field agent Alex I do know about human behaviour and how to act normal. Now I'm afraid I don't know where they buried Gregorovich, why do you need to know?"

Sometimes he wondered if Jones liked having long conversations with him because she got bored or if she felt the need to 'spy talk' to him because she thought it'll be good practise.

"Now come on Jones, you and I both know that Yassen isn't dead, and if he were then you would definitely know where he was buried."

"Alex may I ask why you are looking for a dead assassin."

"I want to join the dead assassin."

"You want to kill yourself? Alex I'm not sure that's a very good idea."

"I see this job is good for you, you're getting a sense of humour."

Alex grinned and he was generally happy that the stress of the job was making Jones act more like a normal person (though it was probably considered abnormal for her to act normal) and not turning her into an emotionless bastard like Blunt.

"How else would you like to join the dead assassin?"

"By not killing myself but possibly killing him. Would that make him a dead-dead assassin?"

He heard her sigh and he almost smelt the peppermint from her breath and realised he really did need to find something to do with his life before he went insane. Well, more insane that normal. Perhaps blowing up a building will help.

"Alex I'm not giving you his address just so that you can find him and join him in world destruction."

"You think so highly of me, I'm just thinking of country destruction right now."

…

"I'm kidding Jones, I wouldn't actually do anything that would kill the world, it'll ruin my good work on keeping it alive. Excellent work if I may say so myself."

"Don't you think you should stay where you are right now? Living with the Pleasures seems to have done you good and you're almost like yourself again."

Jones sounded tentative, if the head of Britain's intelligence service could ever sound tentative. Alex wondered if she was like this with everyone now or was her soft spot for him getting softer as he's gone away.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Sitting in her office chair Tulip Jones, the new head of MI6, contemplated whether or not she should give the young ex-spy what he wanted. Although MI6 did not know the exact whereabouts of the Russian assassin, she knew roughly where he could be located.

She had already sent in a couple of spies to see if they can be recruited into the new organization that the assassin had started but she knew next to nothing about them. She didn't even know the name of the organization, apparently they wanted to live in the shadows for now and either didn't think the outside world needed to know about them or they weren't strong enough yet to have people come looking for trouble and testing their strength.

It would be good if Alex got in but she had decided after taking over for Blunt that she would never use Alex again, the spies she'd sent haven't yet reported in. One of them has already missed a check point and the other two's check points where in two more days. She hoped they weren't killed once Gregorovich realised they were spies, she'd always known that the Russian was smarter than most leaders of powerful organizations; she just hoped that his security wouldn't be as tight since he just started this new group.

"Jones the Pleasures have been good to me, but… I don't think they're good for me."

She heard Alex sigh and realised that he must be really tired, Alex hardly ever let people know he was vulnerable. Then again, he could be playing her by giving off a hopeless-lost-little-boy aura so that she would help him.

"Living with them has helped me get myself together, the school is great too and I've made friends but the more I spend time with them the more I realise I can't ever be like them again. People my age walk into a room and openly search for their friends, I walk into a room and search for possible exits and hiding places without trying to look like I'm doing it. My friends have dreams of becoming a spy thinking it'll be great fun while I've already been a spy and realise it's not about fun at all. My friends will help a stranger when they ask for directions but I'll act friendly while actually analysing them and trying to determine if they're a threat and how many possible weapons they might be carrying."

Jones listened and wondered when the young boy who jumped out a sixteen story window to satisfy his own curiosity had grown into a spectacular spy that knew how to play the spy game better than those who've been in the underground world for years.

She knew that Alex had the skills, the ability to become the best there is, and not just the best spy, but the best of everything in the world of lies and deception. She knew that he could plan better than most masterminds trying to take over the world, she knew that he could lie and act better than her best spies and she knew that if he was pushed hard enough, he could kill as easily as breathing.

Jones had seen the fourteen years old school boy grow into an international spy by the age of fifteen, she knew that he was probably the best spy the world could offer and that if he joined Gregorovich, he'd become the best spy, assassin and thief the world has ever seen. He might even one day start his own organization and end up ruling the criminal world and eventually the whole universe if he chose to do so.

Two years ago, when Jones first met Alex Rider, she would have said, and truly believed, that the young boy could never grow up to kill in cold blood, that he would never sacrifice the innocent to achieve something better and that he would never turn on the good of the world to join the bad. Now, she knows that MI6 took in a school boy and turned him into something lethal, something that might one day end up killing them all and she didn't know what to do.

She knew that if she refused to help Alex, he'd just go somewhere else to get the information he needed. Jones knew that the young spy was resourceful, it might take longer for him to find Gregorovich than if she simply told him but she knew he'd find him in the end.

As the head of British Intelligence she has to consider the option of bringing Alex in. It would not be an easy task and there was a big chance of failure, but she needed to protect her country and Alex Rider joining a criminal organization may just be the world's downfall. Unintentionally, Jones had formed a type of love for the boy over the years, she did not want to capture him and it may be good for her and the agency to stay on his good side.

However hard the decision is, she knew that she could not sit on the fence and decide to not help him or hinder him. Jones was a smart woman and she knew that Alex would probably break all ties with her if she chose to do nothing. If she tried to stop him, he may admire her for trying to do the right thing but she would go on his long list of enemies. If she helped him, he'd be grateful and she'd stay in his good graces for another day.

Jones knew that eventually, Alex was going to hate her for something or rather. He already had bad feelings about her from when Blunt was head and she had helped him force the young boy to lie and kill. She knew that one day, Alex Rider was going to come after her for something that she will chose to do. Her job was to do what was best for her country and she had no doubt that somehow, somewhere Alex was going to get in the way of that.

"Alex, I would like to help you but you must know that I cannot just hand you the country's secrets now that you are not part of MI6."

She heard a pause on the other side and wondered if the young spy was going to hang up on her.

"Is this you trying to get me to join MI6 again?"

The surprise was evident in her voice as she replied, "What? No, no of course not. I'm just saying that I cannot simply hand out our country's secrets to whoever asks for it, even if we do have a good relationship."

"Jones, I'm not asking you to tell me Britain's secrets, I'm simply asking for Gregorovich's secrets. Unless of course, Yassen has decided to become a faithful British citizen and a patriot."

Jones smiled at the picture of Yassen being a patriot of Britain and made a decision that she knew she was going to regret some day.

"There is nothing simple about what you're asking for Alex, but I will help you. Gregorovich is currently residing somewhere around Australia, as to where exactly, I do not know."

"Australia? But that's down in the southern hemisphere, he couldn't be thinking of building a base for his organization down there could he?"

She smiled once again but this time at familiarity of Alex's curiosity. She could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out why the assassin was currently residing in the Southern Pacific Ocean.

"Why should he not build a base in the southern hemisphere?"

Jones also had a curious nature and she wondered why Alex thought that Gregorovich should not reside there.

"Well, it'll take a long time for him to fly from his base to anywhere important in the world. SCORPIA's base had been in Venice and that had been in Europe, where underground activity was common and they had fast access to other organizations. If Yassen set up his base in Australia, it would take hours for him to travel to meet almost anyone in the underground world since hardly any of them permanently stay in Australia. In fact I'm pretty sure that hardly any of them even visit Australia."

The head of MI6 had to agree with the young Rider on that line of reasoning, she did not know why the assassin had chosen that particular region to settle down in and she knew that underground activity was not common there. It would be hard for him to obtain any large amount of weaponry without smuggling them in from overseas, she also knew that it would be quite hard to smuggle things in to Australia or its neighbours compared to some places in Europe and America.

"I do not know why Alex and you should keep in mind that he could have chosen an island around Australia or a country near there; I'm not too sure about his exact whereabouts."

She was hesitant to tell him about the spies she had sent in but she desperately needed to know if they were successful and it would be a warning to Alex, that her spies haven't reported in, for him to be extra careful.

"Alex, I hope you will not tell anyone of what I am about to tell you, even if you do decide to join Yassen."

"I will take it to my grave, you can trust me Jones."

"I've sent three spies in to try and penetrate Gregorovich's organization; one has failed to report in on his checkpoint five days ago and failed to report in on his backup date two days ago. The other two have failed to make any communication with their handlers and I fear that they may all be dead or captured. Alex… be careful out there, what you did for us was hard on any spy but there are still more evils in this world that you have yet to see."

This time the pause somehow communicated that Alex had understood what she meant, that he would take it to heart and be cautious as he re-entered the world of grey.

"I will, thank you Jones. I know that I have no right to ask you for anything more but… I saw Ben Daniels in hospital today, he was visiting my friend Carly. Do you know why he was here?"

"I would help you if I could Alex but I do not handle all the agents myself, Ben has a handler who he keeps contact with, as his last important mission was the one with you, I have not personally given him a mission or contacted with him since then. However I do know that he has family in America even though he spent most of his childhood in England, perhaps she is related to him?"

She could hear the suspicion in his voice as he replied, "Yes, perhaps she is."

The sound of wheels screeching on concrete blasted into her ears and she opened her mouth to say one last thing before saying goodbye but Alex's voice overrode her.

"I guess this is goodbye Jones, you take care of yourself too and keep England safe. I'll just go and see what trouble your little agents have gotten up to. It was nice listening to you again."

And with that he promptly hung up on her. Jones admitted that it was good to hear his weird sense of humour again and his sarcastic side was no more suppressed after all he's been through. She had formed a bond with the boy and at that moment, she was glad she chose to help him.

Hi guys, sorry for not updating for so long :L Some of you may notice that I've changed my pen name to xwerewolfgirlx, this is so that it matches my pen name on fictionpress :) I apologise for any mistakes in this chapter and all mistakes are my own, I lost contact with my beta and it seems as if she has fallen off the face of the earth (I dearly hope this is not true) and any mistake or boringness in this chapter would be my fault :/ sorry. Don't forget, reviews are love! :)