"I'm so sorry," Alex said guiltily while using the shirt to bandage the older man's arm. "That's twice now you've taken a bullet for me."
"It's fine. Probably needs stitches but it's not that bad," Ben replied. "How did you know what was going to happen anyways? I knew something was off and tried to get us out of the open but I didn't sense the gunman."
"Instinct." Ben raised an eyebrow at this so Alex continued reluctantly, "I've been shot before."
Ben frowned at this but remained silent and alert for the rest of their train ride and flight back to London, as did Alex. They were both lost in thought, one realizing the horrifying implications of his young charge's statement while the other contemplated their current situation and mentally prepared himself to face Mrs. Jones again. At least Blunt would have already retired by now so he wouldn't have to see him again. When they reached Heathrow airport, there were agents waiting for them again to escort them back to the Royal & General Bank. Making their way to room 1605, Ben knocked on the door before entering upon Mrs. Jones' response. Very little about the office had changed since Mrs. Jones had taken over from Blunt. It was the same furniture arranged in the same way. The only difference was the bowl of peppermints now on the desk.
"Agent Daniels," Mrs. Jones said with an expressionless nod in Ben's direction. Then, she focused on the 15 year old before her with evident concern in her eyes. "Alex, I don't know what to say. First, you run into the mission that I tried to keep you away from. Next, I hear from Joe Byrne about the attack at the train station! You were supposed to be safe. Away from anyone we were investigating. Frankly, I'm not sure where to put you now." She paused, weighing her next words, and unwrapped a peppermint. "The negotiations are far from over. Scorpia have agreed to our terms but are adamant that they have nothing to do with the attack on the Pleasures' home. They're either lying and are working on something else behind the scenes or they really do have a rogue operative. It didn't help that rumours circulated through the entire intelligence community that you had quit field work so were under no protection while you were in America. Of course, it was true but they remain rumours because we've denied everything about your time with us. There's nothing more we can do about Scorpia except assign protection detail to you." She paused for a breath. "The triads have been more difficult to negotiate with this time. The usual methods and incentives haven't worked. It's almost as if whoever hired them for the park bombing in San Francisco has direct control over them in regards to this matter."
"Who would have the power to control the triads?" Alex asked.
"We're not sure. But maybe Joe will be able to give us an idea since the Americans are already investigating the park bombing and the triads. I had just answered a secure video call from Joe but put him on hold when you walked in. Would you like to hear what he has to say?" Mrs. Jones offered.
"Yes," Alex said simply. To him, there was no question as to whether he wanted to hear the information.
"Alright," Mrs. Jones resignedly agreed. She didn't want to manipulate him anymore so she had given him a choice but hoped that he would refuse. For his own sake. Pushing a button on her computer, she turned the screen so they could all see Byrne's dark and tired face.
"Alex, I'm glad to see you've made it to London!" Byrne exclaimed with relief. "My agents had reported you as the target after they took down the gunman and cuffed him. Thankfully, there were no casualties."
"Must've been quite the surprise to find out the triad you had in custody had a twin," Alex sarcastically replied without thinking. He was pleased that no one else had suffered from the attack but frustrated that the triad had clearly escaped the CIA the first time around.
Ben widened his eyes and stared at Alex's bold response while Mrs. Jones and Byrne only coughed - one in mild amusement, the other in a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. "Yes, well, he escaped while we were transporting him to another location. The agents responsible for this oversight have been demoted and sent back to training. Frankly, I suspect a mole." Everyone in the office was surprised at this revelation. Not because of the idea presented but because of the CIA director's willingness to admit his suspicions to another intelligence agency. "But that's not why I made this call."
He took a deep breath before saying, "The Pleasures were attacked two days ago." Alex's heart stopped and he couldn't breathe. Sensing this, Byrne hastily added, "They're fine. Just a little shaken up. They've also been moved to another location since then." With that, Alex let out a deep sigh of relief, closing his eyes for a moment while the director continued on. "We didn't manage to capture anyone but the triads left a message. It said the Pleasures were going to be their main target if you didn't give yourself up by tomorrow on Albert Bridge just before midnight." Byrne paused on seeing Mrs. Jones and Alex stiffen at the location given but was forced to ignore it for now as the new head of MI6 waved a hand for him to continue. "I'll let Mrs. Jones handle that situation but I hope neither of you are thinking of sending someone, or sending Alex, to meet with them. The other reason I called is that we weren't aware that Alex was in Berlin when our agents followed a lead on the park bombing to the capital. We've determined the next bombing to be sometime tonight at Unter den Linden Boulevard and have a plan to counteract it. The agents caught up to the escaped triad at the train station purely by chance. That was when we realized Alex was there. Mrs. Jones, is there anything I should know about the situation? Because we both know that if Alex is involved, then it changes everything."
Mrs. Jones studied Byrne and the other occupants of the room for a long while before coming to a decision. "Joe, I assume you are aware of the monosuncane situation?" Byrne nodded so the head of MI6 continued. "Before he retired, Alan wanted Alex to go undercover among the Sinaloa cartel to find out more about the drug while we negotiated with Scorpia and the triads." Byrne grimaced at this, disagreeing with the method but knew it was the way Blunt operated. Gesturing to Ben, Jones said, "I sent Alex with Agent Daniels to Germany for a vacation instead. The agent we ended up sending on the mission was killed shortly after he arrived at his destination in Mexico. This morning, Alex ran into a monosuncane deal and overheard them talking about a shipment coming in tonight on the Spree. As soon as I heard about it, I ordered their return to England and an agent has been sent over to Berlin to look into it." Looking at Alex, she suggested, "Why don't you describe everything you saw and heard, starting from when you first noticed the drug?"
So Alex recounted everything from walking down the street to the moment when Gold Tooth had followed Pox into the motel. The only thing he left out was the Russian lessons before the encounter, replacing it with an early morning jog as the reason he was on the streets without Ben instead. He wasn't sure why but he wanted to keep that to himself and he ignored the frown Ben had upon hearing this. During his retelling, the three adults had been amused at his nicknames for the drug dealers but chose not to comment. Instead, they focused on more important details, such as the exact wording and actions of the dealers.
After they finished going over every aspect of the incident, Byrne muttered, "The timing of the shipment and the bombing can't be a coincidence," and everyone in Mrs. Jones' office nodded. "But how are they connected?"
"Our guess is as good as yours," Mrs. Jones responded dryly. "I was rather hoping you might have information on who hired the triads."
Byrne shook his head, "No such luck. The triads we've had in custody aren't talking and there haven't been any leads as to who hired them."
"Bait them," Alex suddenly interjected. Everyone looked at him in surprise and he had a sinking feeling in his chest. He had gone over everything he now knew about their predicament and the resulting suspicions indicated a worse situation than everyone was currently assuming. The partially formed plan in his mind would require him to be the bait but it was the only chance they had of getting the information they needed. It was the only chance he had of protecting the Pleasures. And they were running on limited time.
"How?" Byrne asked warily. The CIA director didn't doubt Alex's ability to come up with a good plan and a solid argument for it. What he was worried about was the plan putting the boy in more danger than he was already in.
"Keep to whatever plan the two of you had for tonight. Tomorrow, I'll go to Albert Bridge," Alex said, confirming Byrne's concerns.
"No," Mrs. Jones refused. "I ordered you to stay away from this business. I'm not about to let you walk right back into it. Besides, we'll have more information by the end of tonight."
"Even with the information tonight, you might not find the connection before it's too late," Alex argued. "Especially when it's not just those two that are connected. I know you have the same suspicions there as I have, Mrs. Jones."
"What do you mean?" Ben asked, finally joining in on the debate. Byrne looked at Alex and Mrs. Jones expectantly, wanting to hear the answer to that as well. Silently daring her to deny his statement, Alex looked hard at the woman.
Mrs. Jones sighed and unwrapped another peppermint. "The fact that Albert Bridge was the chosen location for Alex indicates that Scorpia is involved as well. The organization might have been weakened recently and their reputation has taken a major hit, thanks to Alex, but we all know that they are still the most capable and powerful criminal organization out there. If Scorpia is involved, then this is a much larger scale operation than we previously thought and the chances are that we're running out of time."
"What's the importance of Albert Bridge?" Ben asked, narrowing his eyes. He had thought that the only time Alex had had any contact with Scorpia was the mission with him in Australia. This told him otherwise and it made him furious that the boy had been put into so much danger.
"Classified," Mrs. Jones answered impassively so Ben let out a sigh of frustration. "And Alex, you're still not going."
Looking at Mrs. Jones the whole time, Alex explained his plan in a hard and determined voice. "We all agree that the drugs and the bombing are connected. If we're to find out how, then we need to get inside. The triads have already demanded that I give myself up to them. They won't suspect that I'm there for information. Mrs. Jones, you said that they were resistant to your negotiations and it felt like they were being controlled by someone else. If this is true, then when I go to Albert Bridge to meet them, they might bring me to whoever hired them. The iPhone that Mr. Smithers gave me will let you trace my location and I'll wear the bulletproof clothes too."
Both Byrne and Ben looked impressed with his insistence on going through with the plan. It was a good one but neither wanted him to be placed in danger. Mrs. Jones didn't either and asked, "Why? I gave you a way out and tried to keep you out. You don't have to do this so why are you choosing to go back into the field?"
"I just want to protect the Pleasures," Alex simply answered. "They've done so much for me but now, I'm the reason they're in danger. I don't want them to end up the same way as Jack," he finished quietly. Having already known the reason for Alex's move to America, Byrne looked at the boy in sorrow. The teen should never have gone through any of this. Meanwhile, Ben was only just piecing together a small part of Alex's past from this conversation and felt a cold fury rise in him in response to the conclusions he had drawn. Still, he kept it in check. He would be of no use to Alex if he was kept out of the operation because he couldn't remain professional.
Mrs. Jones' protest died on her lips and she nodded upon hearing Alex's reason. There was nothing she could say to that so she reluctantly agreed to his plan. "Alright, we'll start organizing for tomorrow's meeting with the triads then. I'll have Smithers hack into that iPhone so we can hear everything going on around you as well. You can put the iPhone in the hidden pocket of the clothes Smithers gave you. No one will be able to access or detect the contents of that pocket but you." Those pockets were common knowledge to MI6 operatives but Mrs. Jones gave the instructions to him because she knew it wasn't something Alex was familiar with. Admittedly, it was their fault that the boy didn't know any of the standards and protocols even though he has worked for them multiple times. They had kept him in the dark about almost everything. Even some crucial information about the missions they sent him on. Now, she turned to Ben and said sharply, "Agent Daniels, you'll coordinate this mission and you are personally responsible for Alex's safety. If he is harmed, you're fired. And get your wound properly bandaged when this meeting ends."
"Yes, ma'am," Ben said while Alex grimaced at Mrs. Jones' orders. Considering his track record, there was a high possibility of him being injured in some way and he didn't want to be the reason that Ben was fired.
"I don't like this but I suppose there isn't much I can do about it," Byrne said. "I'll try to keep my agents' operation from interfering with yours, Mrs. Jones, but I have a feeling Alex will end up meeting with my people anyways. Anything else I need to know?"
"Yes, there is actually. Mr. Byrne - " Alex said.
"Joe," interrupted Byrne. "Please, call me Joe. We've worked together, and I've relied on you, enough times that we shouldn't need to be so formal."
"Alright... Joe," Alex continued, testing out the feel of using the CIA director's given name. "Back in San Francisco, who was the man with Agent Martin when I identified the triad you had in custody?" He wouldn't have brought up a sensitive topic so abruptly, but the Pleasures' lives might depend on it. Technically, he was supposed to be loyal to MI6 and only help another agency when Mrs. Jones had approved it. But he wasn't exactly known for letting politics and bureaucracy like this stop him from doing what he thought was best. He ignored his discomfort at being stuck between the two intelligence agencies.
Byrne was confused as to where this was going but trusted that Alex had a reason for bringing it up. "That was Agent Roberts."
"He was too relaxed."
Dead silence filled the room. Everyone stared at Alex, not quite sure what to make of his response. "... Are you suggesting," Byrne asked slowly, "that he's the mole I've been trying to weed out?"
"Possibly," came the response so he resolved to look into it.
"Thank you, Alex. I have to go deal with tonight's operation now but I imagine I'll see you soon. Try to stay alive." Still reeling from the possible identity of the mole, Byrne ended the call and the occupants of Mrs. Jones' office found themselves suddenly staring at a blank screen.
"Well, you certainly know how to make an impression, Alex. Don't expect to be on a first name basis with me though," Mrs. Jones said dryly. "Go prepare for tomorrow. And I would prefer if you stayed in the building. There are beds and toiletries in the basement floors you can use for tonight."
Alex nodded his acceptance and Ben gave another "Yes, ma'am" before they left the office. As soon as they were out of the door, Ben rounded on him.
"What the hell, Alex?! I don't even know where to start!" Ben exclaimed with wide eyes. Confused, Alex just raised an eyebrow which made the older man pause. "You don't even know what I'm going on about, do you?" He sighed and shook his head in response to Alex shaking his head. "Alright, first, I can't believe you dared to talk back to the head of the CIA, only to be asked to call him by his first name!" Ben said in awe.
Alex just shrugged so Ben decided to move on, thinking about what an unusual kid the teen was. "Second, how in the world did you get Jones to agree to your plan when she was so set against it at first?! I tried to persuade her into one of my suggestions once and all I got was an order out of her office and a pile of paperwork the next day," he moaned.
The corner of Alex's lips twitched in amusement. "I'm as surprised as you are. She's never really cared about what I wanted."
"What were you going to do if she didn't agree?" Ben asked curiously.
"Go anyways. It wouldn't be the first time I've acted on my own."
By now, the ex-SAS man was burning with curiosity but he knew Alex wouldn't answer the questions he had. Over the past week, the boy had only revealed information about himself when asked a direct question. Even then, he gave little detail about his missions. Alex did answer most of Ben's questions about his personal life though. Ben looked at the teen contemplatively. It had only been a little over a year since he had first met the teen at the SAS camp in the Welsh Beacons. That meant Alex had served for about a year. Except he had already been on enough missions to work with another country a few times on top of serving his own. No one did as many high level missions in a year as the boy walking beside him had. While he didn't know the extent of Alex's missions, he knew that if all of them were like the one in Australia, then his former unit mate would need help. He wanted to ask about Jack but, considering the implications of what had been revealed in the meeting, he was afraid of crossing a line with Alex. The earlier concern he felt for the teen was coming back and it didn't seem like it would be going away anytime soon. Finally, Ben stopped studying Alex as they reached one of the basement levels where the small, functional bedrooms were located.
"Well, I've got to organize some people for tomorrow night's operation so I'll leave you here for now," Ben said. "I'll come get you when I've gathered everyone and we can discuss the plan."
Alex nodded and was soon left to his own devices. He looked around the bedroom and saw gray walls, a twin size bed with white and gray sheets, a dark-wooded bedside table with a phone, and a telly. There was also a security camera in one of the corners of the room. Any other teen would have found the security camera in the bedroom to be creepy but Alex just took it in stride. He was, after all, in the building of an intelligence agency. Walking over to the telly, he turned it on and found that it only had news channels. With nothing better to do, he left it on and laid on the bed, listening to the newsman. After the long day he had had, he soon found himself slowly falling asleep to announcements of another new prime minister being voted in and western countries accepting more immigrants in response to the refugee crisis in the Middle East. Even while he was in America, he had kept up with news in England so he wasn't surprised that another prime minister was in power so soon after the previous one had been elected. The previous one hadn't been in power for long when Alex had been kidnapped by Desmond McCain and had, apparently, ordered Blunt's retirement. According to the news, his power hadn't lasted long because he didn't know that his advisers loathed each other. Both advisers had constantly sabotaged each other which resulted in the whole administration's operations being undermined and calls for the prime minister to step down soon followed. Alex's last thought before fully succumbing to sleep was that the current prime minister seemed more competent than the last one.