Prologue
John Rider sat at his desk at home, scribbling furiously. Outside the door, he could hear his wife dragging their luggage down the hall and to the front door. The cries of his young son, Alex, who was only a year old, could also be heard from the desk. Alex was suffering from an ear infection, and was unable to go with John and his wife, Helen, on their trip. He would stay with his uncle until they got back.
The slam of the front door made John jump.
"John, Helen, I'm here for Alex!" Ian, John's brother, shouted up the stairs. Helen rushed down the stairs to greet him. John signed the paper he'd been writing on and shoved it into a manila envelope. He left the office and went to meet Ian.
At the foot of the stairs Helen was handing Alex and his bag to Ian. "Be very careful with Alex, he's delicate," Helen said in a very serious tone. Ian looked overwhelmed by the motherly protection.
Helen grabbed her bags and pulled them out the door. She looked at John when he finally arrived. "Hurry up, John, or we'll miss the flight," she said.
John, with one last glance at his home, grabbed his bag and shoved the manila envelope into Ian's only free hand.
"Just don't drop him."
Ian's POV
Ian pulled up to a large suburban house. Alex was crying next to him in his recently installed high chair. Getting out of the car and opening the other door to get Alex out of his high chair, he noticed a wrinkled manila folder. Well, that explained why his seat as so uncomfortable. Ian had almost forgotten about it, and had he not noticed then, it probably would have fallen to the floor and been considered trash, never to be seen again except by a woman who helped pull cardboard out of recycling repositories. He grabbed it, not thinking much of it, and walked up the driveway and into his house, throwing the folder on the kitchen table and carrying Alex down the hall and into his room.
Once Ian felt Alex had settled in (a crib had been moved into the household beforehand), he walked into the kitchen, intent on getting something to eat. Leftover lasagna, perhaps. Those colorful noodles were also easy to make. Deciding that lasagna was easier to just heat up, Ian decided to go with that. This was when he noticed the folder still on the counter top. He ignored it once again, in favor of food. The folder couldn't possibly be that important, or at least not enough to disrupt his food eating, right?Deeming it okay to read and eat at the same time, Ian decided to open the folder.
It was a perfectly normal day. Ian had often taken Alex before, as his parents were often away on important "business trips." Ian knew from experience that Alex was normally a very quiet baby, and Ian's sleep was almost never disturbed by Alex.
Ian opened the folder. Alex started to cry in the other room.
Chapter 1 The Truth.
(Alex's pov)
It's almost time to leave. The black taxi sits outside, waiting for me. Sitting alone, in this big, empty house, I've never felt more devoid of feeling, of anything really, since Jack left after a couple of missions.
"It's too hard for me. I am going back home to Washington. Besides, you don't need me anymore Alex, you grew up." she had said before getting in a cab and driving off.
I stand up, ignoring the honking of the horn outside, and go to grab my hoodie from the hall closet; I notice a manila envelope lying in the back, covered in dust. I begin to open it, but before I can the driver honks the horn of the cab again; loudly.
