Chapter Text
Yassen
Yassen Gregorovich strode down the grim, underground corridor in a very sour mood. And yet he understood on some level that this day, this moment, was always going to arrive.
The guard opened the metal door in the corridor, and Yassen walked through into the room beyond without breaking stride,
The sight of the blond figure tied up on the chair in the centre of the room brought him up short. It wasn't surprise, he knew exactly who his men had captured the moment the detailed report came in, and yet the site of Alex Rider stopped him in his tracks.
Maybe it was because Alex had grown to look so much like his father. The hair fell the same way across the forehead, the cheekbones were the same, the set of the lips and the shape of the chin. They were all from John Rider. Minus the teenage plumpness, the man Alex Rider was going to grow into was clearly stamped on his face. Assuming he lived to grow up, that is.
Yassen permitted himself a sigh. He had done what he could to avoid this meeting, but it seemed fate had decided that his life and the Riders were always going to be intertwined.
He walked over and stood in front of Alex. The boy, no, the young man watched him approach with curiously flat eyes. His expression didn't change.
'Alex Rider,' Yassin shook his head in a sorrow that wasn't totally feigned. ‘What did I say?'
'When?' Alex said, through a split lip.
'I said that I didn't want to kill you. But here you are.'
Alex shrugged in reply.
'How old are you?'
‘Seventeen’ Alex said, ‘Eighteen next month'
‘And still being used by MI6?'
It wasn't really a question, and Alex only gave it the merest twitch of the shoulders as a reply.
Yassen walked around his prisoner. Alex didn't turn his head to follow him. Alex’s hands were still securely fastened behind him. That was concerning. Yassen knew that Alex was trained well enough to get out of his bonds in a matter of seconds, but it looked like he hadn't tried.
‘You're the third MI6 agent they have sent to spy on us,’ Yassen completed his circuit and stood in front of Alex again. ‘They both died. What should I do with you?'
Another shrug in response.
The indifference irked Yassin. He drew his pistol and pointed it at Alex's forehead in one smooth motion.
Alex didn't so much as flinch. He just stared up at Yassin with calm dead eyes.
'Do you want to live?' Yassen asked,
'I don't know,' Alex said.
Yassen held the pose for a second longer, and then dropped his hand and put the gun back in its holster. He moved around behind Alex and cut the cable ties holding his wrists together.
‘Get up,' he told him,
‘What?'
‘Get up.’
Yassen put a hand under Alex's left arm and pulled him to his feet. Alex stumbled up and let himself be guided to the door.
‘Where are we going?'
'Guest quarters,' Yassin told him, also informing the guard who fell in behind them without a word.
It was only a five-minute walk to the low building in the compound that held the guest rooms. Yassen opened the door to one and turned back to the following guard.
‘Get Raj here.’
‘Boss'
Yassen didn't watch the guard go but pushed Alex before him into the simple, but comfortable room, He guided the youth to the bed and pushed him down to sit on it. Alex did so, sitting and rubbing his wrists while he kept his eyes on Yassen, YassEn himself, stood near the door with his arms folded while he waited,
There was a knock on the door and on Yassen’s command a tall, thin Indian man walked in wearing the same grey uniform that all Yassen's men wore
'Alex, this is Dr Raj. He's a medic. He's come to see you're all right. He'll patch you up'
'And then?'
Yassen was pleased to hear some curiosity about his fate from Alex, but he didn't show it
'And then you sleep, You look like you need it. We'll talk in the morning.' Yassin checked his watch 'Later on this morning'
Yassen left them to it.
++++
Back in his quarters, Yassen stood drinking a cup of strong coffee while looking out at the darkness that lay beyond the west coast of La Palma island. There was nothing to see in the dark of night. Even in the daytime, all that was out there was the North Atlantic with only a passing cargo ship between him and the coast of North America.
There was a tap at the door and Yassen turned to see Raj come in.
‘Report.’
‘A few bruises and cuts. Nasty gaze on his right hip I assume came from the lava field. All disinfected and dressed. I don’t think they’ll get infected. He looked exhausted so I don’t think he’ll be long awake.’
‘Good, thank you.’
Raj half-turned and then stopped.
‘There’s more?’
‘He’s… ‘ Raj seemed to be searching the words. ‘… burnt out,’ he said eventually. ‘How he got there at that age I don’t know. But I’ve seen combat bets with full-scale PTSD with more life in them than that boy. He’s burned to ashes.’
‘Agreed,’ Yassen put his cup down. ‘What do you suggest we do about it?’
‘You’re not thinking of recruiting him!’
‘Not yet. Let’s say I’m interested in his welfare.’
‘He needs rest first of all. A place where he can be safe and where he can build some resilience.’ Raj looked away and then met Yassen’s gaze. ‘It sounds trite but I think he needs hope. And Idea that things will get better.’
Yassen nodded. ‘I’ll bear that in mind. Thank you, Doctor.’
Raj took that as the dismissal it was and left Yassen alone with his thoughts.
Yassen turned back to the non-view and wondered how to solve the problem that had just landed in his lap.
++++
It was actually mid-afternoon before Yassen and Alex got to talk. They sat together on the veranda outside Yassen’s quarters. The remains of a substantial lunch of bread, cheese, cold meat and salads lay on the table between them. Alex had been the main eater, devouring most of the bread as though he were starving. That wasn’t an impossible scenario, Yassen thought, or maybe just a teenager’s appetite.
‘I thought you were dead,’ Alex said. ‘MI6 said you were.’
‘We both know MI6 lie,’ Yassen replied. ‘I did nearly die. I spent a long time in a secure hospital. Then quite a while recuperating in their special prison on Gibraltar. After you finished with Scorpio they decided I was “safe”,’ Yassen put air quotes around the last word. ‘And put me to work.’
‘You never tried to contact me.’
‘You were with the Pleasures and it was one of the conditions of my continued existence. I worked with them for a year to so and then faked my own death. Clichéd, I know. And then I started Javelin and I’ve been building it up into the operation you see now.’ A sweep of Yassen’s hand indicated the small military camp they were in. ‘And what about you? I thought you’d retired?’
Alex grimaced. ‘It didn’t work out with the Pleasures. It really didn’t work out. I wasn’t a good fit at school or with the family. So I came home. Mrs Jones set up some sort of guardianship arrangement where I could live at home but…’ Alex shrugged.
‘They started using you again.’
Alex nodded. ‘Yeah.’
‘Why did they send you to spy on us?’
‘The usual. Potential terrorist training. Blah, blah. Danger to the world. Blah, blah.’ Alex paused. ‘Also I’m nearly eighteen. They probably thought this was the last chance to use me while I’m still legally a child. It all changes in February.’
Yassen thought that MI6 sending Alex Rider to investigate his outfit was too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence but he kept that thought to himself.
‘What are your plans once you’re eighteen?’
‘M16 want me in the army. Apparently, there’s a place for me at Sandhurst.’
‘That’s what they want. What do you want?’
Alex looked Yassen in the eyes and Russian saw the same defeated look in them that he had seen in the holding cell the previous night. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought. It never seems to matter. Every time I think I’ve got away they always seem to reel me back in.’ Alex shrugged. ‘After a while, you stop trying.’
‘Why not work for me?’
‘What?’
‘Why not? You have skills I could use.’
‘But?’
‘Don’t worry about what MI6 told you. We’re not terrorists. Javelin is an independent military contractor. We’re small scale specialising in small, specialist ops. Surveillance, robbery, sabotage, kidnap, exfiltration.’
‘Assassination?’
‘Occasionally but I’ve enough snipers that I don’t need you to fill that role.’
‘What do you have in mind for me?’
‘You’ve always shown a talent for property destruction. How would you like to learn how to do it properly?’
‘You’re not serious?’
Alex was sitting forward now, no longer slumped in his chair.
‘I’m very serious,’ Yassen made a show of thinking things through. ‘But it wouldn’t be safe if you started straight away. Let some time pass between you spying on us and then joining us. MI6 are going to be watching you.’
Alex slumped again. ‘Then they’ll have me.’
‘I didn’t say you had to stay in London.’
‘What then?’
‘Can you surf and paddle board?’
‘Yes.’
‘Think you can supervise tourists doing that?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Well, Carlos Morata runs a surf school and shop down in Tazacorte,’ Yassen pointed south along the coast. ‘He owes me a favour so he should take you on. All you need is a beach lifeguarding qualification and you’re good to go.’
‘But where do I get the money to do that?’
‘Alex you’re about to inherit everything your parents and your uncle left you. On top of that, you’ll own a house in one of the most expensive areas in one of the most expensive cities in the world. If you don’t want to sell it, rent it out.’
Alex looked slightly stunned. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘And MI6 didn’t mention it. I’m shocked.’
Alex grinned at the sarcasm and then became more serious. ‘But what if I don’t want to work with you?’
Yassen smiled. ‘Then you’ll have a marketable skill. Plenty of people migrate with the sun lifeguarding in Europe from May to September and then down in Australia and South Africa from October to April. There’s plenty of competition but if you’re good, what’s the worry?’
‘What do you get out of it?’
‘Oh, I owe MI6 a few. Ruining their plans for you is a nice reward.’ He looked at Alex. ‘What do you say?’
‘Can’t say I’m not tempted.’
‘Well, I think we can hold you captive for a few days before we stage your escape. Assuming MI6 isn’t going to ride to your rescue?’
Alex snorted. ‘As if!’
‘Great. Have a holiday on Javelin. I’ll introduce you to Carlos and you can impress him with your language skills. His last trainer always got left and right mixed up.’
‘Yeah, okay.’ Alex’s smile was enough to give Yassen hope that this unlikely plan might just work.
++++
Four days later Yassen and Raj stood together watching as a couple of Yassen’s men hosed down a small, smouldering shed at the edge of the compound. It had been the victim of a carefully controlled, if noisy, demolition. After all, Yassen had decided, no one was going to believe in an Alex Rider escape if nothing got blown up.
Yassen’s phone rang.
‘Yes. Report.’
‘Rider met his contact in Santa Cruz and they’ve just boarded a flight to London Gatwick,’ Arajuuri, one of Javelin’s surveillance specialists told him.
‘Anything noteworthy?’
‘No. Standard exfil by the look of it.’
‘Good.’ Yassen ended the call. ‘Alex is on his way,’ he told Raj.
‘It’s going to take more than this to sort that boy out,’ the medic said.
‘I know. But it’s a place to start.’
Yassen watched until he was sure the fire was out and then headed back to his office.