Routines were dangerous. If Alex had learned anything in his time as an agent for MI6 it was that routines were dangerous. Routines provided time for planning and planning improved chances for success. Good spies didn't have routines and bad spies were dead. But after years and years in the U.S., taking a different route to school each day and even in the early years after graduating he'd taken a different route to work and requested odd unpredictable hours, Alex had grown to realize that no one was after him here. He'd finally started to relax and blend into the rest of the world. Sure, every once in a while Alex would take a different route or suddenly call off for a week but for the most part he'd started to assimilate into society and become a person again, and not a weapon for MI6. Five years after his last mission and his move to the US he met a woman named Eve and they quickly fell in love. He married the gorgeous woman one year later. Five years after that, on Alex's twenty-fifth birthday, Eve gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy who they named James. Five years later little James Rider had just finished his first day of kindergarten…

James POV

"Alright students don't forget your backpacks hanging up in the back of the room. Tomorrow you're going to need those pencils and notebooks we were talking about earlier." The teacher, Mrs. Miller, shouted. Why did his teacher always have to shout? "Rider! Are you listening?"

"Don't forget my backpack and bring pencils and notebooks tomorrow." He replied. The pencils and notebooks were already in his backpack, though, because his dad was big on being prepared.

She scowled, having thought the little boy wasn't paying attention. She went back to addressing the class as a whole. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye Mrs. Miller." The kids chorused. James snorted. Even the kindergarten teacher was on a power trip.

James dutifully grabbed his backpack from the back and walked out the door following the line of kids to the front of the school. At the end of the hallway most of the kids turned right, towards the buses, but he, two girls, and one other boy turned left towards the parking lot. These four kids would be picked up by parents waiting in the parking lot. James would have loved to ride the bus with his new friends but his dad winced every time James even mentioned it saying, "I don't think so James. There're not a lot of exits. Not a lot of control. I think it would just be better if your mother or I picked you up." James had no idea why exits and control had anything to do with getting to school but his dad felt pretty strongly on the subject. He would approach the subject again next year.

Today James's mother was in the parking lot, standing next to her bright blue minivan, and waving her arms to get James's attention. "Jamie! Jamie! Over here!"

James did a great imitation of a blush before running over to his mom. He told his mother that he hated that nickname but in reality…he liked it. He definitely couldn't show that to his friends, hence the fake blush. When he reached his Mom he wrapped his arms around her thighs in a hug. "Mom! Can we go get ice cream?"

His mom smiled indulgently. "Can we go get ice cream…"

"Please." James finished.

His mom nodded and asked. "How was your first day of school?"

James rolled his eyes dramatically. "Boring; very, very boring. Mrs. Miller, my teacher, just kept shouting at everyone. 'Specially me. She kept saying that I wasn't paying attention but I knew the answers to all her questions."

His mom chuckled. "Aunt Sabina tells me that's how your dad used to be."

"He still does it." James said remembering a time he'd told his dad a story and then realized he was focused on his work laptop. James had whined that his dad wasn't paying attention and to his surprise had his story retold to him, word for word. "That's okay though. It's pretty cool. Dad does a lot of cool things."

"Does he now?" His mom asked. "What kind of cool things does Dad do?"

"Well, one time he did this really cool driving cause I was late for the doctor. We went really, really fast and Dad was passing all these people and we went through stop signs and–" James's eyes grew wide. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that Mom. That was our little secret."

His mom shook her head, amazed. "You know what James, its okay. I won't tell Dad if you don't tell Dad."

James sighed in relief. "Thanks Mom. If you told Dad he might not do cool stuff with me anymore."

"You're one smart kid you know that James. I–holy crap!" His mom slammed on the brakes and only the seatbelt Dad always made him wear stopped him from flying out the window.

Through the space between the two front seats James could look out the windshield and see two black SUVs blocking the road. Four men hopped out. They were dressed in all black carrying large guns. The surrounded his Mom's minivan and flung open the doors. One spoke, "Get out."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" His mom shouted, making no moves to listen.

"Get out Mrs. Rider before we shoot the boy." He said. "We only need one of you."

His mom didn't even hesitate. She turned, unbuckled his seatbelt, and pulled James up to the front of the car. She got out first and then lifted him down, never letting go of his hand. The men corralled them to one of the black SUVs and opened the door. "Get in."

His mother hesitated but got in the car pulling James in behind her. Two men with guns followed them in. The doors were slammed shut and the SUVs sped away. The last two men with guns hopped into the minivan and followed the black SUVs.

Five minutes later a light grey car drove down the same street. There was no evidence anything had taken place and the car drove on without a second thought.

Alex POV

As Alex helped a particularly slow learner attach the oxygen tank to her back he contemplated how he'd gotten here. Who would have thought after the work he'd done for MI6 Alex Rider would end up married, with a son, and working as a SCUBA instructor? The woman sniffed. "I don't think I'm ever going to get this Mr. Rider."

"Alex, please. And of course you'll get it." He replied. "The people that learn the quickest on land learn the slowest in water and vice versa."

"Really?" She asked smiling.

Alex nodded. "Why would I lie?"

Alex's diving partner and fellow instructor, Matt, whistled loudly to get the class's attention. "Is everyone ready to go diving?"

There were shouts and fist pumps as agreement. Matt continued, "Does everyone have their diving buddy?"

People moved around to form four groups of two. "Good. Buddies, check each other's equipment."

Someone tapped Alex on the shoulder and he turned. It was a man in his early forties. His hair was graying and he looked a little round in the middle but all in all he was pretty unspectacular. "Are you Alex Rider?"

Something about this man made the hair on the back of Alex's neck stand straight. He answered carefully. "Yes, unfortunately our class is full right now. You need to call Rider Diving to set up a time but I think we're pretty much booked for the rest of the year."

"I'm sure you are. Alex Rider succeeds at everything." The man said. There was no spite or jealously in the statement, just fact.

Alex frowned. "Is there something I can help you with sir?"

"Yes Mr. Rider I think there is." He said. "Do you mind walking with me?"

Alex frowned but nodded. He looked back at Matt who held up his hand making a circle with his thumb and index finger but left the rest of the fingers extended. Diver speak for, Are you okay?

Alex returned by holding up his hand outstretched and then laying his hand flat, palm to the ground while wobbling it back and forth. Five minutes, I have a minor problem.

Matt nodded and Alex turned back to the old man. "Let's walk."

There was a short path around the building for Rider Diving. Alex used it to run as did many of his employees. He followed that track now to walk. "What can I help you with Mr…"

"Smith." The man replied. "John Smith."

Alex raised an eyebrow at the obvious fake name. "Alright Mr. Smith."

"I know who you are…Agent Rider." Mr. Smith said.

Shock and fear slammed into Alex's heart but his face revealed nothing except amusement. "Agent Rider? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb Alex." Mr. Smith said. "You worked with MI6 at fourteen over fifteen years ago."

"MI6? Like James Bond?" Alex asked. His papers said he'd lived here all his life and he'd adopted an American accent as soon as possible. "Why would I work for MI6 when I'm an American citizen?"

"You can drop the accent Alex. I know you were born in Chelsea, London and while the accent is good it is not perfect." Mr. Smith said. "Don't play stupid with me. You told Mr. Matthew Neman that we had five minutes and we've already wasted two of them."

Alex frowned and gave up denying. He let the American accent drop and slipped easily back into the British accent of his youth. It felt good to be himself again. "You don't sound British Mr. Smith. How do you know about me and how did you find me?"

"For your first question, everyone in the intelligence world knows about Alex Rider. You're a legend. The legend paints the MI6 as the bad guys if that makes you happy. As for your second question, it was not easy to find you. There are 311,846,000 people in the United States alone and that was after we narrowed it down to the U.S. Waving your name around by owning a diving school certainly helped but that did not make it easy." Mr. Smith said. "You've gotten lazy in the last decade. Owning a shop with your name on it…tax returns…marriage license…birth certificate. How are Eve and James by the way?"

"Fine." Alex said through gritted teeth.

"As far as you know, right?" Mr. Smith asked, he had a cruel smile on his face.

Alex had been shocked and fearful before but it was gone and replaced with rage. Out of the view of others Alex grabbed the front of the man's shirt and shoved him into the side one of the shed's holding diving equipment. "What have you done with my family?"

Mr. Smith showed no signs of fear. "Put me down, now."

"Or what?" Alex asked. He was testing waters; Alex knew they had a 'or what' but he wanted to know what that 'or what' was.

"Or you never see your family again and you live with the fact they died because you couldn't reign in your temper." Mr. Smith said.

Alex felt like someone ripped his heart out with their hands. He glared at the man for a moment before dropping him. "How do I know you really have my family?"

The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a phone. "I can call and allow you to speak with them. Once the phone is in your hands you have thirty seconds to receive proof that your wife and son are alive. Thirty seconds, understand?"

Alex nodded, eager to hear Eve's voice and to make sure James was okay. Mr. Smith dialed and waited for an answer. "This is Smith. Agent Rider would like to speak to his family…Thirty seconds." He handed the phone to Alex.

After a moment a voice came on. "Alex, baby?"

"Eve." Alex replied. Then he got straight down to business. "The first date, where did I take you?"

"That little restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you." Eve said. "You liked the fact you could see exactly what they put in your food."

Alex asked. "What was I wearing?"

"That Steelers t-shirt, even though you weren't a fan." Eve replied automatically.

"What happened to it?" Alex asked.

Eve laughed in spite of herself. "The cook caught it on fire. You had to spend the rest of the date shirtless."

"What's the one candy I can't eat?" Alex asked.

"Peppermints." Eve said. "You can't even stand the smell of my gum."

Alex sighed in relief. "Is James okay?"

"He's fine. We're both fine." Eve said.

"Tell him I said I love him." Alex said.

"Of course."

"I love you Eve." Alex said.

"I love you too, baby." Eve replied.

Mr. Smith held his hand out for the phone. "Say goodbye."

"Bye honey." Alex said.

"See you later." Eve said.

Alex hung up and handed the phone to Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith pocketed the phone and said. "Now you know we have your family. I need you to understand that we have no problems hurting them or killing them. We only need one to ensure your good behavior. If you do anything anti-progressive to our goal we will kill one of them as a warning. I don't like killing woman or children but I can."

"Understood." Alex said.

Mr. Smith led Alex to a black SUV parked in Rider Diving's parking lot. As they came into view of the class again Alex made a final diving signal that Matt could see even as far away as they were. Using his forearm he made a huge sweeping arc.

Diver speak for Emergency.

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading and please review!