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“I can’t go out, I’m grounded,” Alex complained to his best friend on a video call, even if it was said best friend's fault for Alex's situation right now.
His uncle chose that moment to open the door, making Alex mute Tom before his friend could mutter another word, which resulted in grounding him even further.
“I’ll have to go to the office. I’ll see you later, alright?” his uncle informed him, already moving to close the door again before he stopped as if he remembered something.
“Oh Alex, that school you were talking about wasn’t Point Blanc, was it?”
“Yeah, why?” Alex frowned. It was a weird question, besides why was his uncle so interested in a random school? He just hoped he wasn’t getting any ideas about sending him there.
“No reason, just well-remembered,” his uncle responded with a half smile on his face before closing the door.
‘That was weird,’ Alex thought.
“And a window of opportunity swings right open,” Tom suddenly said from the other side of the screen. Alex didn’t even realize that he had unmuted his friend.
Alex laughed. “How come you want to go to the party if we still don’t know the address? I don’t have your phone; Ian took it.”
“Yeah, but he left, didn’t he? So you can just go look for it in his office. I mean, that’s where he probably hid it.”
Alex clearly remembered the moment when Ian put Tom’s phone in the glovebox. Alex got out of the car pretty fast, annoyed about the situation, but he knew that Ian didn’t bring the phone with him. So that meant the phone was still in the car, the same car that was leaving right now.
Alex shook his head. “No, it is still in the car. Forget it, Tom; we aren’t going.” He crossed his arms.
“Oh come on, mate, just go to the bank he works at, spot the car, and take out the phone. Simple,” Tom explained, shrugging his shoulders as if it was a simple one-step plan.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Tom,” he said, laughing.
“I’m serious, mate. This night might be the only chance we get to go to a party. Do you really think Aisha will notice you if she only sees you in history?” He added the last part with a smirk.
“Alright,” he gave in. He didn’t have much to lose anyway; he was already in trouble. But then he froze. “I just realized I don’t know the address of the bank he works at,” he admitted, a little ashamed.
“What? What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Ian doesn’t speak much about his job and he’s never taken me to the bank. Besides, he’s always on those business trips.”
“Focus, you must know. Come on, you and Aisha’s lips are only one phone away.”
“That’s it!” Alex exclaimed, already opening a new page on his computer. “Do you have ‘Find My Phone’ switched on?” he asked.
“Uhh, yeah?” Alex quickly put all the information he needed, waiting for the location to load, only to frown when it appeared.
“Uh, he’s in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
“Perhaps he has a date and didn’t tell you,” Tom said, raising his eyebrows up and down.
“No way. Besides, it’s like an industrial warehouse. A date there would be creepy.”
“Okay then, let’s go.”
Alex shook his head. “No, it’s faster if I get it. I will come to pick you up when I have it,” Alex decided, already getting out of bed.
“Don’t take long,” Tom said just before Alex closed the laptop, silence taking the room. He grabbed his jacket and picked up his shoes, before silently exiting his room. In the hallway, he heard Jack in a room listening to some music while talking to someone on her phone.
He tiptoed down the hallway, entering Ian’s office to grab his car’s spare keys from the top drawer. Thankfully, it wasn’t really a secret where Ian kept them.
Having them, he could finally get out of the house as silently as he could. Grabbing his bike, he put his phone into the holder showing the directions to the sketchy warehouse that Ian was in. Thankfully, it wasn’t that far.
He cycled down the street. The closer he got to where Ian was, the fewer cars he saw, and the less light the street had. It was a sketchy place alright; it had him wondering if Ian was doing something illegal.
He parked his bike against a fence, leaving his helmet behind. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ian had parked his car inside. He just had to hope that he wouldn’t find his uncle still inside the car, doing a drug deal or something.
He went around the building, finally finding the entrance. The place had light, not much but more than the street had. Alex tried not to think about how this whole situation was weird. What was his uncle doing here? It was certainly not his office.
Finally, he spotted the car parked with no one around. A smirk decorated his face. He pressed the key button for the car to unlock, going to the passenger side to retrieve Tom’s phone. He picked up the device victoriously before he stopped. If he took Tom’s phone with him, Ian would know. He unlocked the phone, finding the text with the address before sending it to his phone. Now he could go.
He threw Tom’s phone back into the glovebox, closing it back up, making sure to leave everything like before. He locked the car again, pocketing the key. Finally, he could get out of this place.
He was turning his back around when a voice stopped him. “Ian,” the unknown voice echoed through the empty building.
He should go before someone saw him. He should just go and go to the party with Tom. He shouldn’t snoop on his uncle’s business. He shouldn’t, but he would anyway.
Ian was clearly hiding something. This was obviously not his office.
Alex stepped forward towards the voice, lowering his body to remain hidden, being mindful of where he put his feet. One wrong move and he would be grounded until university.
Finally, he spotted three figures. The middle one he could make out to be his uncle. He found some crates nearby, running towards them to hide himself behind them.
“Small world, don’t you think?” Alex was brought back to the conversation, peeking his head out to see what was happening. His eyes instantly widened. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: his uncle, his boring uncle, his uncle who follows the law by the letter was holding a weapon, pointing it at the guy in front of him.
How could he? How could his uncle even hold a gun? What business did Ian get himself involved in?
“How was New York?” his uncle asked.
The other guy shrugged his shoulders, like he was completely unbothered by the gun pointed at him. “Didn’t see much, mainly the bottom of an elevator shaft.”
Alex frowned, his mind bringing him to the news that his uncle was watching at dinner. Wasn’t Parker’s dad the one who died in an elevator accident? Did the guy just confess that he had something to do with it? But what did his uncle have to do with it? Even if the guy was a client at the bank, surely this was a job for the police.
“Where do we go from here, Yas?” his uncle asked.
Suddenly, the Russian guy raised his own gun towards Ian. “You won’t go anywhere.”
“Drop the gun,” another voice echoed. It was the guy behind Ian that had said it. Alex had forgotten him until now.
His eyes widened even more. He had the gun pointed at him. Was his uncle being double-crossed? His uncle complied, dropping his weapon, the guy kicking it aside.
“Martin, do you have any idea who you are working for?”
“I know what I’m being paid.”
“Do you think you’ll live long enough to enjoy it?”
Alex’s heart was beating fast. He had to do something. He couldn’t call the police; they wouldn’t get here fast enough, and Ian was running out of time.
Alex then remembered the car keys still weighing in his pocket. The car was far, but hopefully it would still work.
“I’m sorry, Ian,” the Russian guy said, raising his weapon.
Alex clicked on the button, the car alarm blaring out, cutting through the silence of the warehouse. It was enough to distract everyone. Alex got up from his hiding spot, throwing himself towards the Russian guy with enough force to send them both flying to the ground. The gun that the guy was holding falling from his grip.
Everyone still seemed surprised, not knowing where Alex had sprung from. Alex raised his fist, striking the guy in the face.
Alex got up, looking at his uncle, who had knocked the other guy out. “Alex,” his uncle exclaimed in shock.
“Ian,” he said, leaping forward to grab his uncle for them to run out of there. Before he could, the back of his shirt was grabbed, and he was pushed back.
The Russian didn’t stay on the ground long enough and now was holding Alex’s shirt, looking at him like he had seen a ghost.
“Let him go, Yassen,” Ian said, pointing his retrieved gun from the floor.
“Who is this?”
“No one. This is between you and me. Let the boy go,” his uncle said.
Yassen still hadn’t taken his eyes off him. “John,” he said, looking at Ian.
His uncle remained quiet, but the look in his eyes said everything. Who was John? The only John Alex knew was... His father.
“Let him go, Yassen,” his uncle persisted.
“No,” and suddenly Alex was pushed even further back, and a gun was pressed to his head.
“Yassen,” Ian said in a nearly desperate tone. Alex remained quiet, not knowing what to say. The interaction between the two of them felt strangely familiar.
“Don’t follow us,” the man began to walk backward, dragging Alex with him. His uncle quickly disappeared from view before Alex was thrown into a car.
Ian didn’t know what to do. Now alone in the warehouse, with Martin unconscious next to him. He didn’t know what had happened: first Martin was a traitor, then Alex appeared out of nowhere, and then Yassen had him.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, his hand trembling.
“Jones,” the woman on the other end answered.
“I need backup. Scorpia is back, Martin is working for them, Yassen Gregorovich is alive and has taken Alex.”
“Come back to base, Ian,” Jones said before hanging up.
Ian swallowed the urge to scream in frustration before running to his car. He didn’t know which car Yassen was driving, but he still circled the streets a few times trying to find him.
Eventually, he gave up and drove back to the department. How could Alex be involved in his business? What was he doing there?
He opened the door and was immediately greeted by Jones.
“Blunt is waiting for you,” she said before hurrying back inside. Ian followed behind to Blunt’s office.
“Yassen has Alex. I need to look for him,” Ian said as soon as he entered the office.
“Alex?” Blunt asked.
“My nephew, John’s son,” he clarified.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning? Smithers is tracking Gregorovich through the CCTV,” Blunt said.
“First Srenkov and now Roscoe—two high-profile deaths made to look like accidents. They have one thing in common: both had unruly teenage sons who attended a school, Point Blanc, and returned with perfect behavior, ready to take over their fathers' businesses,” Ian began. “I contacted Martin, and he said our contact in Moscow wanted to meet us but refused to talk about this school over the phone. It was a trap. Gregorovich showed up and admitted he did something to the elevator that killed Roscoe. Martin knew about this.”
“And where is Martin?” Blunt asked.
“I left him handcuffed. He was unconscious and will probably remain that way for a while.”
“You mentioned Alex. Where does he fit into this story?”
“I don’t know what he was doing there. He couldn’t have followed me; I would have noticed. He just jumped on top of Yassen out of nowhere. I don’t know where he came from, but he saved my life.”
“We’ll find him, Ian,” Jones said, trying to comfort him.
“There was something else. Yassen recognized Alex as John’s son. I think that’s why he took him.”
Blunt didn’t have a chance to respond before Crawley entered the room. “We found Alex. He’s at a park three miles from here, no sign of Gregorovich.”
“Go,” Blunt said to Crawley, but Ian got up anyway, fully intending to go with him.
“No,” Blunt said before Ian could even move.
“He’s my nephew,” Ian argued.
“That’s exactly why. Crawley will go and bring him here.”
Alex was in a sort of trance; the last few moments had been nothing but confusion. First, his uncle was involved in some shady business, and then some Russian guy threw him into his car, giving him odd looks.
“What did Ian tell you?” the man asked.
“Look, I don’t care what you’ve done to Ian Banks’s clients. Just let me go,” Alex began, already trying to come up with a plan to get out of there.
“So, nothing then?”
“What?” Alex asked.
“I hope we never meet again. Don’t get involved in your uncle’s business,” he said, unlocking the car.
Alex didn’t even try to process what had been said. He simply opened the door and ran out of the car.
He ran until he couldn’t see the car anymore, stopping to rest in a park, looking around, trying to see if he recognized where he was. He didn’t.
He took his phone out of his pocket. It was kind of amateurish not to have taken his phone, but Alex wouldn’t be the one to complain. Unfortunately, Alex had forgotten, and suddenly he felt like the amateur.
A car suddenly stopped in front of him. Alex took a step back, fully prepared to make a run for it. A man stepped out. “Alex? Your uncle sent me to get you,” he said calmly, as if he weren’t trying to spook Alex. To be honest, it was a stupid decision. If this were a horror movie, Alex would be screaming at the screen for being so dumb, but he was tired and cold, so he nodded his head and got into the car.
The man didn’t say anything; he just drove. Not for long, and they quickly entered a dark parking lot.
“Your uncle is inside,” the man said, guiding him through the darkness, Alex feeling dumber by the minute, falling into the number one rule of stranger danger.
Against all odds, when the door opened, his uncle was there, pacing back and forth.
“Alex,” he exclaimed in relief when he spotted him, rushing forward to put his hands on his shoulders. “You’re okay.”
“Ian, what happened? Who was that guy? He was going to kill you.”
His uncle sighed. “Sit down, Alex. There is something I need to tell you,” he said, sitting down and gesturing for Alex to do the same.
“I’ll give you both some privacy,” the man who brought Alex said, exiting the room, leaving them in silence, with his uncle clearly thinking about what to say.
“Alex,” he began, “I don’t work for a bank. What you walked into today was part of my job.”
“What, You being almost killed?”
“I work for a special division of MI6. Your father did too,” he finally said.
Alex remained silent, processing what his uncle had said.
“So you’re a spy?”
Ian smiled softly. “Yes, I’m a spy.”
Alex stared at his uncle, the uncle who had lied to him his whole life about what he did, about who his father was, everything.
“Alex, what were you doing there?” Ian didn’t have to specify where.
“I was getting the address for the party.”
“How did you know where I was?”
“From Tom’s phone. He had ‘Find My Phone’ switched on.”
“You realized that you were grounded, didn’t you? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You could have died,” Ian lectured him.
“No, you could have died. That guy was literally seconds from killing you, and then what? I’d have no family left. You would leave me alone.”
“Alex—”
“No, you don’t get to talk right now. You lied to me my whole life. You lied to me about my father. How many times were you even close to death? Why didn’t you tell me the truth from the beginning? Don’t you trust me?”
“Well, we don’t trust anyone. It’s sort of what we do,” his uncle replied. Alex stared with his mouth open. Was he serious?
“Seriously? You don’t trust me?”
“I do, Alex, and I swear I would have told you the truth as soon as you turned eighteen.” His uncle sighed. “Alex, lying comes with the job. We do that to protect the ones we love.”
“And who protects you?”
“It’s a risk we take. What you did today was extremely risky. Yassen could have killed you, Alex. If it weren’t for your past—”
“What about my past? Who was that guy?”
“I guess it’s time you finally learned the truth.”
In another room, two figures were watching the security cameras that showed the conversation between the uncle and nephew.
“Quite an ingenious boy, don’t you think?”