Journey - REVISED EDITION

Escape Plan

I do not own Alex Rider...or his friends...except maybe for a few character twists...and the plot...but on to the story!

"Why didn't you tell me that Smithers was your friend in MI6?"

Zayn turned around, caught by surprise. Not by the person and the sudden entrance, but by the question. Alex was standing in the doorway, half-supported by Snake, and Bear - Liam - stood a little behind the two, an inquisitive look on his face, arms crossed. Alex held a small piece of paper in his hands, which he willingly surrendered to Zayn when he saw the question in the man's eyes.

It was a message from Smithers, of course, but Zayn simply skimmed over it, not bothering to read it just yet. Alex had asked a question and it needed to be answered.

"I didn't tell you because it was a secret, and besides that, we haven't really had a normal conversation, so when would I have told you?"

"It would have made things a lot easier if I had known. Smithers is a long-time friend of mine; if I knew that you knew him personally as well, I would have trusted you a lot sooner."

"And what good would that have done?" Zayn rolled his eyes, a little frustrated with the boy in front of him. The note was burning a hole in the pocket where he'd shoved it. "We've only known each other for a total of about three days. We haven't had much time to "bond" as it is."

Alex simply pursed his lips. "What did he mean by, 'The shipment will arrive by three P.M. tomorrow?'"

Zayn swallowed down a mocking reply and simply took the note back out, reading it carefully. "I need to talk to Wolf about this." He folded the note and tried to pass by the others, but Alex reached out and grabbed his arm tightly. For a boy that could barely stand on his own, he sure could hold a man in place.

"No. Answer my question first. What did Smithers mean?" Alex's voice was sharp, and his eyes blazed.

"MI6 wants their little spy back. They'll be sending a car tomorrow afternoon to pick up you and bring you back to London for a debriefing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go discuss the details with Wolf if there's even going to be a chance that we'll get you out of here before then." Zayn yanked his arm back and stalked down the hallway, ignoring the way that the blood had drained from Alex's face at his words and how there had been little to no resistance when he pulled back his arm.

"WOLF?" Zayn called out, running down the stairs.

"Over here!" Wolf answered from the doorway in the kitchen, having just come in from the outside.

"MI6 wants Alex back by tomorrow afternoon, 15:00." Zayn said hurriedly.

Wolf's forehead wrinkled, and he set down his gun, approaching the little group by the stairs.

"My insider at MI6 says that they've put together half a plan, enough to get us to France, but we'll have to leave Europe entirely if we really want to make it out."

Wolf pursed his lips and folded his arms. "What else does it say? Any details?"

Zayn looked back down at the paper. "There's a getaway car that's going to come to the house at 23:00 sharp. The driver has sworn to silence, and they'll take us to London. There are nine tickets for the Eurostar that will take us to Paris, some cash, and..." Zayn trailed off.

"What? And what, Panther?" Wolf sounded agitated, but Zayn couldn't believe he'd read the code right.

"I-they...apparently they've also provided all the intel they collected about our two missing members. But MI6 shut them down before they could find out more. From what it sounds like, there's more to this than just Alex and missing soldiers. MI6 might be compromised." Zayn looked back at Wolf, shock flickering over his normally stoic face.