Alex Rider - You Left Me

24. Eavesdropping

Eagle burst into the sergeant's hut, flinging the door at the wall as he did so.

"EAGLE!" Jace screeched in surprise. He had fallen back against his table and some papers went flying.

"SIR!" Eagle coughed, struggling to catch his breath, "SORRY SIR!" He hastily handed over the letter.

The sergeant read it quickly "How did you get this?!"

Eagle nervously twitched and told half of the truth. "Some soldiers had it."

"Which soldiers?" Jace had to resist slamming his hands down on the table out of anger.

"Errm..." Eagle muttered under his breath, wanting to avoid snitching but knowing that he could get in trouble if he didn't.

"WHICH SOLDIERS?!" The sergeant demanded again.

"I don't know, it was all a sea of heads."

"Right. Would you also like to be the one to tell them they all have midnight training for a week."

"Erm no, Sir. I'd like to avoid being beaten up, Sir."

"It was not a question, Eagle." The sergeant said through his teeth and shooed the soldier out of the door, tutting at the dent on the wall made by Eagle's entrance.

Jace sighed, piled up the papers again and leaned against the table. He wasn't stupid, MI6 didn't need their best agent back - Alex obviously isn't an imposter to them.

But does he need to send Alex back? No he does not. The sergeant picked up a lighter and flicked the flame on. Jace held the paper over the lighter and watched the heat catch. The flame danced about, slowly consuming the letter.

And now the paper is gone, the sergeant could try and pretend no such letter existed. He settled back into his seat and waited for John to arrive.

The Sergeant knew it was morally bad to hide someone's son from them but he kept thinking that if John was alive all these years, why did he never go searching for his son; even if it was just to let him know his dad was alive or even to take him away and hide together.

Jace thought it would be better if Alex and John had no idea as the outcome could be quite terrible. Would Alex even accept John? Or if he did accept his Dad back, would he reject the Sergeant as a friend and never talk to him again? The truth was, Jace was scared.

A knock came at the door. "Come in," the sergeant called out. The door opened and John slipped in

"Sorry I'm a bit early."

"That's ok," Jace said as he got some beer cans out of his mini fridge under the desk and handing one to John. "Shall we go for a walk?"

John nodded, unsure how to act infront of his old friend, "Ok."

And together they walked out and towards the western lake whilst making small talk.

Alex sat in a tree, twirling a stick about like it was a wand and he was Harry Potter. If only magic were real, I could easily get off of this world. A thought occurred to him, one that had been plaguing his mind ever since he first got dragged into MI6. He drummed the stick against a tree branch and then out of anger, threw it down at the ground.

"What was that?" He heard someone hush from below him.

John and Jace almost jumped when a stick dropped down next to them. They looked up and saw nothing. "What was that?" Jace asked.

"A stick." John said nonchalantly.

The other man rolled his eyes, "You haven't changed."

"A stick just fell, it is fine. Stop being your paranoid self, ay?" John nudged his old friend who shoved him back.

"I stand by my words. You haven't changed one bit."

John smiled, "You have changed a bit."

"Oh really?" the sergeant raised his eyebrows and John nodded, swung an arm around Jace and ruffled his hair.

"Where is the person that said children were yucky and sex is weird? And now you have your own child." Jace looked confused. Sure he did have children but they died. Surely John wouldn't know this? It was true though, Jace did hate the idea of children and the idea of sex until he met the love of his life. "Oh come on! Don't look confused. It's quite easy to tell Jaguar is your son! You even codenamed him after me, thank you."

Jace struggled to hold back a laugh, contemplating whether to deny or go with the flow. Alex sat up above, intently listening. At the small gap of silence, his breath was frozen. "Oh no he's not my son!" Alex's eyes prickled.

Oh , so that's the truth, Alex felt betrayed.

"But he is like one to me."

Alex smiled and his eyes prickled again but this time he was happy.

"That's sweet," John said and took a gulp of his beer. "Sometimes I wonder about my own kid."

"I forgot you had a kid." Jace lied, he very much knew.

"He's 15 now. I wish I could see him but I'm still in hiding, plus he's lived his whole life like this. It would he weird for me to just barge in, steal him away and everything..."

"Have you not watched him from a distance?" Jace asked.

"No, I know he is safe with my brother." John sighed, he longed to see his brother and his son but just couldn't bring himself to do it.

The sergeant gave a little cringe. Ah, so he doesn't know about his brother. That's probably for the best.

Alex pondered about this new instructor who clearly has known the sergeant for a long time but not talked for ages. He is in hiding? He has a 15year old boy who lives with his brother. It briefly passed through his mind that the kid sounded like him but it couldn't be, could it?

"Is Helen alive too?" Jace asked. Alex sat up straight and tried to listen in more closely.

John looked down at his boots and awkwardly shuffled, "No." he muttered.

"I'm sorry, mate." The sergeant hugged him.

"It's been 14years, i'm coping now."

Alex's eyes were wide open. Am i dreaming? What is this? Who is he? What? This isn't real. It... it can't be.

AN: p.s i literally posted this as soon as the aeroplane i was on finished it's flight lmao