A Sickle In A Haystack

Chapter 1

Sam had to admit. Waiting at King's Cross on a chilly Saturday afternoon for an unknown agent was slightly worrying.
He had been dropped off at the station an hour ago by a bemused agent after being forced into a mission by the new head of RISC; George Riltz, after the previous director, Astrin was fired. He knew immediately that George had taken a disliking to him and wondered if this was Riltz's way of removing him, possibly permanently.

He had been saved 4 months ago after he ran away from his father, a member of a criminal syndicate, and since then has been training at RISC, a very highly secret organisation, so secret in fact, that even MI6 were unaware of its existence, and since he had no other family he knew of, it was essentially his only home. He sat down on a bench and sighed, brushing a strand of soot-black hair out of his emerald eyes.
After pacing up and down the platform for a while, listening to the rhythm of his cane tapping against concrete flooring, whilst continually checking the clock on the wall, he noticed someone heading to him.

It took him a moment to realise who it was, then he understood. The blonde hair and dark maroon eyes made it obvious who it was.

The famous Alex Rider would be working with him! He'd of course heard of him back when there were rumours that a boy had shot the Prime Minister to stop the release of the Stormbreakers by Herod Sayle.

"Well, this is exciting," Sam told himself as he stood up and approached the other boy, the handle on his cane becoming sweaty due to Sam's excitement. As he reached Alex he extended a hand to shake.

"Alex, it's coo- nice to meet you." Sam extended an arm, bearing a smile.
They shook, Alex gave a brief nod.
"Mind telling me who you are?" Alex questioned. "I'm afraid I don't know you, just that we're working together."

"Oh, yes, I'm Ashton...Samuel Ashton." He joked, smiling.

Alex smirked. "Don't tell me, you're a practising Bond actor?"

Sam shook his head, "I wish!" He grinned. The sound of incoming trains and the announcer's voice over their head deafened them as they began to leave, wading through incoming people as they headed to the arriving train.

Walking out of the station, Alex briefly glanced at Sam, noticing he was limping. He decided not to ask.

"Do you know what it is we're here for?" Sam asked, his eyes scanning their surroundings as they headed out onto the street.

"Something to do with an arms dealer. MI6 just said I'd meet you here and that you could be useful, though, they didn't say how."

Sam chuckled nervously. Great, so MI6 knows who I am as well, just perfect. He cleared his throat.
"Did they...say anything about me?"

"Nothing, just that you had useful knowledge of what we could be getting into."
Sam nodded. "Right...okay...great." Sam sighed sharply as they walked out onto the main street.
As they walked down the street, Sam's phone buzzed, an unknown number text him...

"There is a black SUV waiting for you at Pancras Street, go find it. Failure to comply will result in undesirable consequences. We are following you."
Sam stopped moving, frowning at the message on his phone.

"We have a problem..."
Alex turned to face him; Sam showed him the text.
"Well this doesn't sound great...come on, let's go see what they want." Alex said, pocketing his hands. Sam stared at him.
"Are you nuts! You want to blindly walk into a trap?" Sam asked. Alex shrugged and nodded.

"Yep...don't have much of a choice do we?" He replied, before leaving Sam there, walking seemingly undisturbed to the black SUV that came into view, among others.
This one stood out, at the side of the vehicle was a suited middle-aged man, staring at them, very intensely.
"Are you certain about this?" Sam whispered, keeping his eyes on the man.

"I'm curious, besides we don't know how threatening they are, I'm unimpressed really," Alex replied, walking past Sam who looked around himself anxiously.
He couldn't see anyone following them. Was it an empty threat?

"Alex wa-" It was pointless, Alex was already heading to the car at a steady pace.
With a restless groan, Sam reluctantly followed, picking up his pace, wincing as a jolting pain shot up his left leg, a consequence of not being careful enough when he walked.
Finally reaching the side of the vehicle, the suited man opened the back door and Alex climbed in, Sam didn't follow.

"Don't make this hard for yourself boy...if you leave now we'll have to dispose of you...and it won't be pretty."
He made his mind up and promptly climbed in beside Alex, passing him his cane.

The driver in-front paid them no notice as he waited for the suited man to sit beside him.

Once inside, the SUV they drove off in complete silence. Sam dared not look at Alex for fear he'd easily show his uneasiness.
He didn't even look out the window, just down at his shoes and let the silence consume them until they arrived at their destination. He was constantly running through his head the possible events that could take once they arrived. Needless to say, he didn't like most of them...

After a tense two hours, Sam looked out the window as he noticed the car slowing down and stopping. They were in a garage, white-walled and completely bare, no items of interest except the light switch and button for the garage door.

"We will return later." The man said, exiting the vehicle with the driver. The two men left the garage closing the only other entrance behind them, a bolted wooden door.
"Well now what?" Sam asked as he began looking around the vehicle, for something, anything that could get them out of their leather tomb.

"I have something that might help" Alex replied, taking a pen out his pocket.
"Oh...what are you gonna do with a pen, draw an SOS?" He asked, tilting his head as Alex took off the lid and began drawing on the window, leaving red ink all around the glass rim.

"Watch," Alex said.
To Sam's amazement, the ink began fizzing and glowing orange. The glass fizzed and screeched from the heat until it left a clean cut around the whole window. With a push from Alex's hand, the glass clattered onto the floor.

"That's...so cool!" Sam whispered, following Alex as he climbed out the window.

"Need a hand?" Alex asked, offering his hand through the window, guessing Sam might need help out.
Sam reluctantly nodded and took Alex's hand, pulling himself out of the car, grabbing his cane from inside once he had climbed out.
"Thanks."

"No worries."

"What now?"

"I don't know, what about you, Fake Bond, any ideas?"
Sam chuckled dryly. "None..." he replied, limping up to the far right of the room and tracing his hand along the wall.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked, coming up behind him.

"Looking for something not normal." He replied

"Oh, let me help." Alex offered.

The two slowly and methodically examined the walls, scanning every crack and brick for anything unusual.
"Found something!" Alex called after a few brief minutes from the other end of the garage, inspecting an oddly placed brick in the wall.

"Looks pressable," Sam said, still anxiously staring around with a nagging worry they would be discovered.

Alex pressed the 'pressable' brick, and sure enough the wall began to part slightly, revealing a marble stairway going down flight after flight, lightbulbs flicked on, revealing the staircase seemed to be more like a pit than anything resembling a staircase.

"Well...this'll be fun." Sam groaned.

"Yup, come on," Alex said, starting to head down the looming staircase.
Sam muttered to himself after pressing the brick on the opposite side, closing them in...