The door slammed open, startling the boy resting on the couch into wakefulness and causing him to dive across the room, rolling to a stop behind the wall divider. Beside him sat the chest of drawers, and reaching behind it, he pulled the Glock .45 from where it was cellotaped to the wood.

Footsteps stormed across the previous rooms floor, separating as they headed to different parts of the apartment. Fluidly Alex spun round the wall, gun up coming to face with a woman, her own service issue beside his own.

There was a beat of silence, where the two just stared at each other, ignoring the calls of clear that came from the men in bullet proof vests searching the rooms. One man with almost a novelty version stood in the doorway, unabashedly staring at the woman and child himself.

"Uh, guys." He called, as two men strode back in, holstering their guns. "There's one here."

The woman coughed, lightly, ignoring the sound of her two team mates redrawing their guns and moving to get a better vantage point. "NYPD, give me the gun."

Alex paused, taking in the entire room before cursing and sliding the gun into his waist band without any other outward emotion. "You have got to be kidding me."

The woman tightened her grip on her own, shifting slightly. "I said, give me the gun."

"Show me your ID first then."

There was a pause before she did so, gun not wavering from the boys chest. He took it and sighed, moving to the couch were he pulled his own ID from under the seat. "Alex Rider, MI6." The boy offered, flashing it with a small grin, startling the group into silence.

"Oh. Wow." Castle decided, eyebrows raised. "I did not expect that."

Kate Beckett crossed her arms as she stared at the boy sitting in the room with a cup of coffee, flicking a straw between his fingers. Beside her, Ryan fidgeted.

"There was nothing on him in the system besides that he's English, and moved over here temporarily. Everything was wiped, and quite recently by the looks of things."

She shifted from one foot to the other, glancing at him. "What do you think?"

He paused before replying. "I don't know. From what I can tell, his ID is real, but he can't be any older that 18."

Esposito walked over, carrying a thin folder. "This is everything I've got. It doesn't amount to much though, and I have a feeling we may have raised some flags. I'd get in there before he gets taken away from us."

She nodded, opening the door quietly and slipping inside, watching him raise his face towards her.

"I was wondering when you would come in. You won't learn much by just watching."

Beckett tilted her head. "What makes you say I was watching?"

He leant back comfortably, taking his cup and setting it on his leg. "What can I do for you detective? You didn't break into my apartment just for the sake of it, so something led you to it. A lead on a murder I presume, since you are after all a homicide cop."

She blinked, recovering quickly. "How did you-"

"You broke my door down at whatever ungodly hour and you won't give me anything?"

"It was four o'clock in the afternoon."

Alex paused before shrugging. "Doesn't matter really. The point is that unless you're arresting me, I'm leaving. I came down here to help, but apparently, my presence confuses you, so I was not what you were looking for."

"That apartment was supposed to be empty. The man staying there had fled for the Congo Islands a month ago."

"He has." Alex nodded. "But the point remains the same. I hope you fixed the door."

Beckett raised her eyebrows, staring at him for a minute before shaking her head. "What ever. You're not under arrest."

"Well then, it was nice meeting you." Alex said standing and placing the mug down carefully.

With that, he strode out the door, leaving a stunned Esposito and Ryan watching him head towards the elevator. He smiled at them once before the doors closed, cutting him off from view. Beckett stepped out of the room, looking confused.

"What?"

Esposito whistled quietly. "That was impressive."

The two turned to look at him, and he offered a grin. "He's definitely secret service. You got nothing out of him."

Alex Rider let out a breath he had been holding, before stepping stiffly out of the elevator. The precinct was centered in a public place, which definitely caused him some trouble. He could not afford to be seen at this point.

With a roll of his shoulder he vanished into the crowd, distinctly aware of the two men who followed him. It didn't take much to loose them.

A cup of coffee appeared in the corner of her vision, startling her from her thoughts. Castle grinned, barely able to contain his excitement.

"So, where is he?"

"Gone." She replied, shrugging.

Castle's mouth dropped comically. "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"Like gone, as in walked out, not here, gone."

He frowned, pouting almost. "Aw, I really wanted to talk to him." He ignored her raised eyebrow to look at the board she was in front of. "So, do we have anything new?"

"Nothing. That apartment was our last lead, so we're out of options now."

"Did you ask what the kid was doing in the room?"

"No. But then again, he didn't exactly answer any of my questions." She took a sip of her coffee as Ryan strode over, frowning.

"Beckett; I was just going over the tapes for the precinct to gt a picture of Rider since there wasn't one in his file. But the boy isn't in them."

She frowned, standing up. "What do you mean?"

The three went into one of the back rooms where two screens were. After a second, he pressed play, showing the video of the group walking in. There was literally nothing where the boy was supposed to be, just a black smudge that moved with the cops.

Castle summed up the confusion easily. "What the hell?"

Ryan paused the screen, turning to speak as Espoito darted in, phone in one hand.

"There's been another one."

The two bodies were strewn across the alley floor carelessly, eyes wide and unseeing, their horror clearly plastered on their faces. Lanie stood at their arrival.

"Same kind of thing. They were in a fight before they died, killed presumably from some kind of hit, and it was definitely instantaneous. This is the fifth pair we've found, Kate. Something going on."

She frowned, before turning to the men beside her. "Canvass the area; I want to know if anyone saw them coming into the alley, what people heard, and why the hell they were targeted."

Castle coughed, crouched beside one of the bodies as he looked over carefully. "I don't think they were."

She paused, the three glancing at him. "What do you mean?"

"The fight, the dodgy area, the fact that, no doubt, no body saw or heard anything. These men haven't been singled out. They were ambushed."

"You think they're tails?" Esposito asked, seeing where this was going.

"Impossible. He's a kid." Ryan said, looking between them. "He couldn't possibly have killed them."

"He's MI6, and he has a gun. I think that's enough reason to be suspicious." Castle muttered, standing up.

Beckett nodded, still unsure. "Ryan has a point though. Plus, these are fresh. There wasn't enough time for him to get here and kill them, as well as wipe himself from the tapes."

"Unless that wasn't him." Esposito mused. "I did think that we would have been visited by someone to tell us to mind our own business. And yet we haven't. It's a possibility that he wasn't the one who cleared the tapes."

Kate shook her head, before moving away. "Pick him up anyway. I've got a few questions to ask him."

Castle looked over the crime scene once more, eyes straying above them to see the chimney of the building beside them. "What the hell is going on?"

As he turned away, he didn't see the chimney move.

(A/N) I don't know if I particularly like this :/ Let me know what you think! :D