Disclaimer: Maybe…just maybe, if I wish hard enough I will be able to own the rights to the Alex Rider series…wait for it…wait for it………….. Nope, that didn't work DX So I still don't own them…

PC. Harpur glanced at her partner as he collapsed next to her in the passenger seat of the police car, closing the car door behind him with a sigh as he did so. PC. Tryner was breathing hard, his head back and eyes closed.

"I take it you didn't catch him then?" She asked. Without opening his eyes PC. Tryner shook his head. "Another unit got him first. If they hadn't arrived just then I would have had him though."

PC. Harpur smiled as she put the car in gear and pulled out onto the road. "That's what you always say."

Opening one eye to peer at the road, her partner asked. "Where we going?"

"Just got a report of a possible burglary in progress. We were the nearest unit when the call came in, but you took so long to get back here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone was already there."

He muttered something grumpy sounding before suddenly realising he hadn't put his seatbelt on. A Policeman could get in a lot of trouble for things like that. He tried to stealthily put it on without PC. Harpur noticing, but of course she did. She always noticed little details like that; it was what made her so good at her job.

She didn't say anything about it, though the raised eyebrows were enough.

Wanting to change the subject before she gave him a lecture along the lines of being 'hypocritical', PC. Tryner asked. "How far away is it?"

"Not far, but you know the traffic round here. Even with lights flashing and the siren going you don't get anywhere nearly as fast as you should do."

He nodded and made a vague noise to signal agreement, his eyes on the streets they passed , instinctively looking out for wrong doers after so long in the force.

It all happened so quickly, one second it looked as though Alex was going to just put the chair down, next second he had thrown it.

Jack heard the two shots, painfully loud in the almost silent room, followed seconds later by an almighty crash as furniture met man in mid-air.

There was screaming as well. Coming from her. She was the one making the long, drawn out cry of pure terror

Later, she wouldn't be able to recall what made her scream, hearing the gun go off or seeing Alex slump backwards, blood cascading away from him as he did.

All she knew was that she was suddenly screaming, her mind in shock at the sight in front of her. She struggled, the knife biting into her neck and drawing blood, causing a small scar that would stay with her for the rest of her life as a momentum of this day from hell.

After a few seconds, she was surprised to feel herself suddenly being released. Jack's screaming stopped as Daniel shoved her viciously away from him.

He rushed over to Mike who was scrambling out from under the heavy, and now slightly broken chair. He was swearing profusely, one hand on his head where the chair had connected painfully with it, the other still clutching the gun.

Daniel could hear sirens nearby and drawing ever closer. With a growl of "Fuck!" followed by a string of muttered curses, he grabbed Mike by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

"The cops are coming!"

"Oh hell!"

Daniel dragged his partner along as quickly as he could, desperate to leave the property by the back door that they had broken into before the Police arrived at the front one. He knew the cops; it would only take them a few seconds to get round the back as well to try and block them off.

They were almost out of the door before he remembered that he had left the red haired women alive. Daniel stopped abruptly, letting go of Mike.

Snatching the gun roughly off him, Daniel started to head back in the direction they had just come from. He needed to get rid of her and finish the kid off if Mike's shots hadn't, even though he was pretty sure the boy must be dead, he had seen at least one shot hit him in the chest.

Then he stopped. There was no time. Oh shit, just how wrong did this whole thing have to go?

As much as he hated to, he would have to leave them and just try to get out of there while he still could. So, giving up on that plan he pushed Mike out of the door and ran over to the gate that they had entered by.

Pulling it open, he stepped out onto the small path made of gravel and weeds beyond.

Just then he heard the approach of rapid footsteps, their sounds increasing dramatically on the crunch and spray of gravel underfoot.

Daniel raised the gun, and as PC. Tryner sprinted around the corner of the fencing, he shot him. The Policeman fell to the ground with a cry.

Without pausing for a second, Daniel started to run in the opposite direction to where the man lay dying, Mike a few steps behind him. They burst out through a hedge and onto the road beyond.

To their surprise, they saw a white van idling on the kerb. Inside, a man they both vaguely recognised waved desperately at them, indicating for them to hop into the back.. They did so as quickly as possible, their hearts pounding, their wounds aching and adrenalin pulsing through their bodies.

Man was that close!

As Daniel had pushed Jack away, she had landed awkwardly, spraining her ankle as she fell.

She had bigger things to worry about though' besides a little bit of pain.

Alex was still laying crumpled on the floor, blood all over him. So much blood…

Rolling over painfully to look at him, Jack let out an involuntary chocking gasp. Suddenly, her eyes were stinging and within the next second, tears were coursing down her cheeks.

Jack hated crying and hardly ever did it. Even when Ian had died she had tried her best not to cry in front of Alex, though she hadn't always succeeded. She had tried to stay strong for him, even when she saw him preparing to go off on another mission, knowing that he could so easily be killed, and that even if he didn't, he would still return to her a just that little bit deader then before. She sometimes cried when he was away, though, as her imagination ran riot with the little bits of information she had gleaned from his past missions, imagining all those things, and worse, happening to him.

And now…How could this have happened? Her one chance to actually protect him from harm and he was laying on the floor, unmoving and bloody.

Jack scrambled to his side, tears clouding her vision as she placed one hand on his chest.

"Alex? Alex?" She sobbed. "Alex?"

Just then there was a shout and a crashing sound. Jack had no idea what was called out though; the boy on the floor was her whole world just then, (as he had been since Ian had first decided to employ her) she didn't seem to be able to hear anything but her own ragged breathing and sobbing.

Until a figure hurriedly fell to its knees next to her.

"What happened?" A worried female voice asked Jack.

She looked up, blinking tears away. "He, he got shot. They shot Alex. Twice." She was barely audible over her near hysterical crying. Saying it made it so much worse-it somehow confirmed for her that this was really happening. Alex had been shot. Again. And she hadn't been able to stop it happening. Again.

PC. Harpur leaned past her and gently lifted up one of Alex's pale and bruised arms. She pressed two fingers to his wrist. "There's a pulse."

A sudden rush of relief shot through Jack's body, but she knew that they weren't out of the woods yet. Just because Alex was alive, didn't mean he would be in five minutes.

The policewoman passed her mobile phone over to Jack. "Call for an ambulance. I'm going to put pressure on the worst wound.

Jack hadn't even been able to tell where exactly the gun shot wounds were through all the tears and blood, but PC. Harpur immediately grabbed a small table cloth laying crumpled on the floor next to her and started to put pressure on the worst wound.

It was in Alex's chest, on the far right, just below his collar bone. The other was on his right as well, but in his arm.

As the policewoman tried to stop the bleeding, she prayed to what ever God was up there that no main organs of arteries had been severed. The boy had a very slim chance of survival if they had been. Especially if the Ambulance didn't get there soon. She glanced up to see the red-haired woman women speaking into her mobile phone. She was still crying and clearly in shock, a terrified look on her face.

PC. Harpur was worried as well, not only for the boy but for her partner. He had gone around the back to try and head off the robbers if they went that way and he had never reappeared. She was sure she had heard a shot, and she knew from the teenager's wounds that the criminals had a gun. She feared the worst but couldn't go investigating yet, not before the Ambulance or a backup squad arrived.

A couple of minutes later another Police car arrived. PC. Harpur hastily told them what she knew and they quickly went off in search of her partner and the thieves.

Seconds after they ran off, the medical help arrived as well and swept the lady and boy away, sirens blaring.

It wasn't long before it was discovered that another Ambulance was needed. It was already too late by then though.

PC. Harpur would cry herself to sleep that night.

Epilogue one:

Mike leaned back against the van wall and let out a sigh of relief.

Daniel wasn't so relaxed though, he was leaning forward, his fists clenched and anger smouldering away in his blood-shot eyes.

"You never told me you 'ad a gun." He growled in a voice that suggested he was doing his best to surpass his rage, and only just succeeding.

Mike shrugged. "The Boss gave it t' me. Said I might need it. How come you never told me ya had an escape vehicle waiting' for us?"

Then Daniels voice changed from angry to angry and confused. "What? I thought you musta. Weren't me."

The man in the front leaned back and glanced up from them to the road for a second. "The Boss arranged it. Two vans, me in this one on that road, Josh in another van on the top road. We were told to wait for you."

The two criminals looked at each other quizzically. The Boss had never provided an escape route or weapons before. This was weird.

"Oh, and I forgot to say, the Boss wanted to see you straight after, so that's where we're going now." The man in the front continued.

Man this was getting a bit odd…What exactly as going on here? Daniel decided to ask when they saw the Boss. He would never get all the answers he wanted though.

It took another five minutes to reach the seedy bar that was the front to the Boss's HQ.

Once inside they were led to the back room in which the Boss had all his meetings.

He was an unassuming man, the Boss. He had a receding salt-and-pepper hairline, a rather normal looking face, a weak chin and nearly always wore a boring old black suite.

His eyes, stuck somewhere between blue and green and grey, regarded the petty thieves, just two of the low level criminals who worked for him.

"Sooo…?" It was the start of a question, one to which the two men in front of him knew the answer to. And so did he, but he asked all the same in order to see them squirm.

Mike in particular was very good at squirming, where as Daniel just hunched his large shoulders like a vulture and glared at the floor.

"…how did it go, Mr. Fletcher? Mr. Stanley?" He finished, nodding to both of them in turn.

There was no answer, so instead the Boss asked a different question in the same cool clam tone as he had asked the last. "Did you use my gun, Fletcher?"

This got a small nod from Mike as he hastily reached into his pocket and handed the gun in question back to the Boss.

"Kill anyone?" Mike fidgeted slightly before mumbling, "Think so..."

Eyebrows slightly raised, their Boss replied, "Think so…? What do you mean?"

Mike shuffled from foot to foot, unsure of whether the boss would approve or not.

"There was a boy there. An' a lady. An' there was a fight. I shot the kid a couple o' times. I think I killed him." He was not proud of this fact.

"There was a fight, was there? Dear me, how did that happen? I thought you two were supposed to watch the property before attempting a robbery."

"We did!" This time the reply came from Daniel, his eyes still fixed on the patch of carpet in front of him.

"But we never saw no kid there. He surprised us, knocked Mike here out. I ended up fighting with him but he got away. And the lady got back. She had a knife but then Mike came down with that gun, see? And then the bloody kid threw a chair at Mike and he shot him. I was gonna finish the lady off two with her own knife so there were no witnesses. But then the filth arrived so we' ad to go. I shot a Policeman on the way out though."

Unlike Mike, Daniel showed no remorse at all for his actions.

The Boss seemed to think carefully about the thieves' words before asking, "Was this 'boy' a teenager with blond hair?" The question was asked as though it was a matter of little importance to the Boss, but he waited anxiously for the answer.

"Yeah, he was." Mike mumbled.

It was never a good idea to ask the Boss too many questions, but Daniel was curios, "Why do ya ask?"

The boss seemed very blasé and casual with his answer though, "Oh, no reason…" The rest of the answer he said in his mind but not out loud …Or, at least, no reason you need to know. You know far too much already. Fools.

He could see that Daniel was about to enquire something more and decided that he was bored of all this.

"Mr. Stanley. Mr. Fletcher." He said in a heavy and final voice.

"Yes?..." came the uncertain reply.

"Goodbye."

Before either of them had a chance to even say, "Huh?", The fourth and fifth shots were fired from the same gun in one day.

The two petty criminals slumped to the ground, dead. Just as it had been planned, all along.

As the Boss put down the gun that Mike had borrowed off him, he put in a call to his sectary, asking for the cleaner to come to his office at once to dispose of some rubbish on the floor.

That done, he turned to his laptop and started to compose an e-mail to his boss.

Epilogue Two

"There has been a violent break in at Alex Rider's house. He has been shot. His condition is serious but stable." Mrs. Jones rattled off the information to her boss, putting the file containing the corresponding report on Mr. Blunt's desk.

"Oh dear." Mr. Blunt replied. He didn't sound upset, but nor did he sound sarcastic. He was simply giving the minimum reply that society would expect him, without any kind of emotion behind it. Like a robot.

Mrs. Jones was used to this sort of reply, but still it infuriated her. She wasn't one to let it show though. The only one she was ever able to rant to about him was her poor cat. It got a lot of rants for a creature with a brain small enough to fit into a tea-cup.

Smithers also seemed to know how she felt, though she had never actually talked to him about it. Then again, this was Smithers; for all she knew; he could have turned her cat into some sort of cyborg with inbuilt listening devices. She wouldn't put it past him…

But now she had other things to think about, like the safety of Alex Rider.

"What are we going to do?" She asked. She knew what ever answer she got would not be satisfactory.

"Do? Well, we could always send him a nice bunch of flowers. Or maybe grapes? Don't people in hospital usually get grapes?"

Mrs. Jones interrupted his musings and replied in clipped tones, "I meant about the boys safety."

"Hmm… I somehow predict he won't take too kindly to body guards, no matter how subtle. He'd probably say they ruined his 'street cred', or what ever it is teenagers talk about these days…"

One look at Tulip Jones was enough to make him change tack.

"I've received notice that the house next door to him has recently come up for sale. MI6 will buy it and we will put one of our best agents in it to watch over him."

"He will notice."

"Of course he will, he wouldn't be worth employing if he didn't notice."

"He won't like it."

"No, I don't suppose he will."

"He'll come here to try and make us get rid of the agent."

"Perfect."

"He's in hospital because of two gunshot wounds! Surely you're not considering sending him on another mission already?"

"Of course not." It was a lie. Mrs. Jones left in disgust.

Humming, 'Rule Britannia' to himself, Alan turned the brown file around so he could read it.

Epilogue three.

It was two weeks later and Alex was sitting up in a hospital bed with a small array of cards and flowers surrounding his bed.

There was one from Jack, Tom, the school (Alex though they must be really fed-up of sending him all these get well cards), and one from Smithers, which amazingly, hadn't blown up or done anything odd this time. Alex was still suspicious of it, though.

Despite the medication, he was still in a lot of pain. He was going to recover fine though, the doctors had said. He had been lucky and nothing major had been hit. It was true that Alex felt lucky to be alive, but it seemed more like some strange and twisted God was keeping him alive for their own amusement* rather than the luck of the Devil.

Jack bustled in a few minutes later, beaming at him. Alex was glad she was starting to remember how to smile again; he had hated seeing her looking so worried ever since the 'incident.'

"Guess what, Alex?"

"You won the lottery? You're becoming Prime Minister? You've found the key to world peace? The penguins are invading?"

Jack laughed for the first time in what seemed forever.

"Not quite. But a cute guy has moved in next door. I'm going to go round later and give him some homemade chocolate chip cookies, straight out of the mixing packet!"

Alex sighed and shook his head in mock exasperation. "God, Jack!"

"What?" She asked innocently.

"You're so American!"

*I Think he's on to something there, don't you?

And there you have it, the end of my first serious fanfiction.

I thought this chapter would end up really short but it was in fact the longest one of all!

Thank you to all the people who have made it this far, put this story on alert or favourite, and all those who have reviewed.

And special thanks goes of course to With The What Now for putting up with my incessant chattering and for looking through all my more resent chapters for mistakes. Without her this story would probably make even less sense!

Please review this last chapter nicely, and remember, this spoon is deadly!