James lay in bed the following morning, tempted to use the exercise equipment in the other room or see if he can get away with an excuse of wanting a run so he could get a better layout of the island. That was probably a better idea, more beneficial for the mission. James had been woken up at four am due to a horrible nightmare. He could feel himself drowning and watched as darkness surrounded him the deeper he fell. James kicked those thoughts away and got up. He decided he would do some sit ups and press ups and other similar exercises before going out. It was too early to try and sneak out. That would be seen as very suspicious if he was caught.

As James was getting dress he remembered his conversation with Alex last night. He had no idea why he hadn't thought of Alex as Ian's nephew before. It only really clicked when he was watching Alex, looking into his eyes. He had the same eyes. That was a stupid connection, loads of people have blue eyes but it was how focused they were and then suddenly, they weren't, they were wistful. Just like Ian. He got like that if you suddenly changed the subject or brought up his nephew. And the name, Rider. No one had said 'this boy is Alex Rider'. He had been called Alex by Moneypenny and M had called him Agent Rider. James groaned at his idiocy for not noticing it sooner.

I must be getting slow, he thought to himself.

James brushed those thoughts away and started his exercising. First, press ups

1, 2, 3, 4... James counted in his head.

When James finally decided to go out for a run it was nearly quarter to eight. It was silent so Alex was either still asleep or not out of his room yet. James left quietly, feeling somewhat more protective of the teen and his needs. Ian Rider had looked after James when he first joined up, showed him the ropes, the least he could do was keep his nephew alive and let him sleep in.

James should have listened harder when he was in his room. He got to the front door without encountering anyway but was met by a wall of rain. It was slamming it down outside. James could hardly see an inch ahead, this would not help him at all. He'd just get lost and probably end up in a mine field somewhere.

"James," a voice said behind him. He almost missed it over the thundering rain in front of him.

James turned around and came face to face with Gabriel.

"What are you doing?" the man asked.

"I just wanted to go for a run." James said, "I thought a bit of fresh air might be good."

"Well, not this fresh air, I think it might give you pneumonia." Gabriel chuckled. He then stopped laughing. "James, I think it is best that neither you nor Alex leave the house for the next few days. I am concerned that we are being watched and would not like for them to see a connection between us."

James smirked.

"Why, worried I'll bring your reputation down?" he joked.

Gabriel grinned but didn't respond.

"Come, join me for breakfast. I meetings throughout the day but I'm sure you can entertain yourself. Just ask if you need anything." Gabriel said, leading the way to his dining room.

"And what if I want to stretch my legs?" James asked.

"Feel free to roam the house." Gabriel said.

The two of them sat down for breakfast. They talked about business. James kept trying to wheedle information out of Gabriel but nothing seemed to work. All he knew was that another invest would be coming by the end of the week and they would get a big reveal of the mad man's plans.

"Is the weather normally like this?" James asked.

"The weather here is about as predictable as back home. We get rain for five minutes, sun for ten and hail storms happen before the end of the day." Gabriel joked. "The only difference is that it gets very hot here a lot more than England. We have our own micro-climate because of conflicting tides."

"So there's a beach nearby?" James asked, trying to act like he didn't already know.

"Oh yes, there are beaches circling the entire island, when the weather picks up, I suggest you go down there. Be careful of sharks though. Those nasty bastards chew at anything." Gabriel said. James detected a threat in the undertone of the man's voice.

"I thought sharks only ate when their hungry." James said.

"Ah, depends on your shark. Great whites aren't all they're cracked up to be. They're big but you're more likely to survive swimming next to one of those than a tiger shark or a bull shark. They eat you for fun." Gabriel insisted. "Sometimes they don't even eat you, just tear at you then leave you for dead."

James knew for a fact that he didn't want to swim with any of those sharks but he kept that fact to himself.

"Oh, and do not go to the beach on the opposite side of the island." Gabriel added.

"Why?" James asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Let's just say that the sharks get fed over there." Gabriel brushed off. James didn't like what the man was hinting but he dropped the subject.

Soon, Oscar stumbled into the room, looking just as awake as he had the previous morning.

He didn't acknowledge them until his father forcefully greeted him. Even then they only got grunts.

James got up and said his good byes. He insisted that he would get Alex up and maybe he and Oscar could hang out again.

Alex woke up at some point around eight. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept in so late. It was wonderful! Alex got up and saw James's bedroom door open ajar but their living room was empty. Alex thought he probably went to join Gabriel and Oscar for breakfast but Alex, after living alone for so long, preferred his own company and ate in silence. It was then that James walked back in. Alex could see he was in workout clothes but considering he was dry and rain was smashing on the windows, he hadn't been very successful in going out.

"Decided to be Alex-no-mates?" James smirked.

"Decided to look like you wanted to work out just for the look?" Alex quipped. He had to admit, it was terrible, especially by his standards.

James made sure the door to their area was shut before speaking again.

"I was going to go out for a run." James said.

"A little rain put you off?" Alex asked innocently.

"No, Gabriel did." James said. Alex sat up straighter as James sat next to him. He told Alex how they were told not to leave the house and about the beach. He also told him about the sharks and the beach on the other side of the island.

"So, we go to the other side of the island?" Alex asked.

James just nodded thoughtfully. If that was where they were 'recommended' not to go, that was where they knew they should check out.

"But not yet." James said. "We've been told to stay in the house and I'm sure they would be able to tell if we have left-"

"Yeah," Alex smirked. "The rain's a bit of a giveaway."

"We're also trusted." James added. "We have free reign to wander the house. For the next few days, that's what we'll do. Just wander, 'get lost', ask questions but try and make it seem innocent."

"I know, I know." Alex grumbled. James wanted to laugh. Alex actually sounded like an ordinary teenager for once."

Alex went and met up with Oscar that day. They spent a lot of it in the game room again. James, on the other hand, started wandering the house. He made sure he kept within the camera's eye as much as possible, acting innocent. He did avoid anyone passing by though.

He snooped around, looking into open doors, testing locked ones and adjusting the readings on his watch. Q had given him a manual on how to activate the radioactive sensors on his watch. It was actually very simple, just a button here, a button there and beep, the watch was ready. James only found one room that created a vibration out of his watch.

James thought the watch was ingenious. It didn't beep and alert everyone he was about and it didn't flash which could catch someone's eye, no, it vibrated silently on his wrist!

Back to why it vibrated, it picked something up, a strong something, enough to alert the watch. It was about a ten minute walk away from Alex and James's living quarters. There were three cameras pointing to one door and the door looked out of place. All of the other doors here were wooden. Some had no locks on them, some had many. This door was large and metal. It had a scanner to get into and a large bolt locked in place.

James knew he couldn't linger or it might look suspicious in the cameras. He wished he had remembered to take his phone and use Q's City Mapper app but the thought hadn't crossed his mind. Instead, he visibly wandered around, checking for where he would sneak to later.

By pure coincidence, James came across an office room. He knew it was an office from the golden slab on the door saying OFFICE. He mentally added this room to his mental list of rooms he had to break into.

Alex and James saw each other at lunch but just in passing, nothing too much was said between them but Oscar gladly filled the silence. He talked about how he would beat Alex in their next game and talk about how they would play actual football when the weather was alright.

The two of them then met up again at dinner. Apparently Oscar had to do work for his tutor but Gabriel ordered the kitchen staff to cook up something for Alex and James. In the end they sat at their table in their living quarters eating burgers and chips with salad on the side.

James told Alex everything he had found, in return, Alex told James what he had learnt from Oscar. Apparently it seemed that the boy did know something but he didn't like it. He didn't like his dad much either but they both knew that.

"So how are we going to inspect the office and the room with radiation?" James asked, throwing the question out into the open.

Alex just smirked. James quirked an eyebrow.

"Have you already thought about this?" James asked at Alex scheming look.

Alex brought up his left wrist for James to see, James had no idea where he was going with this.

"I left my watch in the games room." Alex grinned.

"Clever," James congratulated. He then added in a less congratulatory tone, "but you know how to get to and from there without getting lost. They know that from the cameras."

Alex just rolled his eyes, acting as if James was an idiot.

"I'm not going now. I'm a teenager, I have bad timing and also like sleep. The corridors will be dark. If I go at, say, midnight, act all sleepy and droopy then me getting lost won't be as suspicious."

This time, James really did look impressed.

"But wait, what about the sign on the door?"

"Look, mister, I'm sorry. I thought this was the games room!" Alex complained in a pathetic voice. He then turned serious. "The games room has one too. It's seriously hard to read when you're half asleep."

James and Alex grinned at each other.

"You'll need my phone." James said, already thinking of a plan. "Connect it to a laptop or computer in there and use the kindle app. Pressing download will download all of the files so the others can read them."

Alex groaned dramatically.

"And I thought I got away without all the drama of sneaking around offices." He muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't hog all the fun." James said in a deadpanned voice, but Alex could see a playful gleam in the older man's eyes.

They still had four hours until midnight so Alex and James decided to use their overpriced, over sized TV.

Apparently, James hadn't played any game consoles before, he had just never thought to use them. Alex had argued that that was not right! He had tried to convince James to play something with him but that just lead to an argument and snarky comments, just like when they had first met.

In the end, they watched two different films. One was an action film; Parker starring Jason Statham and the other was a comedy. They picked apart the action film once they had stopped bickering. Debate how realistic that kick was or complaining on how they made an error.

The comedy was pretty boring, they couldn't pick it apart like the last one, they just focused on how badly people acted or looked out for continuity errors.

It was almost midnight when the film ended so to pass the time they went over the plan. It was agreed that they would leave the room surrounded by radiation to a later date. James hoped that he would get to go in there on Friday when that other investor came by.

"I leave, use the EMP app to stop people seeing me and find the office. Plug in your phone, use the kindle app and get out." Alex deadpanned. James had told him to go through the plan again.

"And if you encounter anyone?"

"Fake being tired and make up some crap to get out of it." Alex rolled his eyes.

James just nodded.

"And if you're not back in an hour I'm going to get you." James said seriously.

Alex rolled his eyes again.

"I know what I'm doing." Alex said in a business like tone. "I won't take an hour."

With that, Alex grabbed James's phone and connector, activated the EMP and walked out. James just sat down, looked at his watch and waited.

Alex wandered the corridor for five minutes, trying to keep out of sight of anyone passing by. At one time, someone had walked down the corridor he was in, Alex just hoped that no one was paying attention to the security cameras or he was screwed.

Considering there were no blaring alarms and no one seemed to be rushing down corridors, Alex thought he was safe enough.

Alex finally made it to the office. By this point, he really wished he had brought his ipod Smithers had given him. Using that drawing app to see who was about would be amazingly useful. Maybe listening to whoever is coming by.

But would it work with the other devices EMP on? Alex asked himself. That thought was too technical so he just shook it from his head. He didn't have the time or effort to think into this!

Alex was about to test the door when there came a shout from inside.

"You bloody stupid computer! Work!" There was a loud thwak sound. "Not now! Not now!"

Alex jumped back and hid in an alcove conveniently placed near the room when he heard footsteps charging to the door.

Alex tried to blend in with the wall when a furious Gabriel streaked past. Alex quickly checked that Gabriel was gone before going back to the office and finding the door wide open.

Smirking, Alex went in and saw a large office. The desk at the far end had three large computers joined together and a laptop that was on its side on the floor. Alex guessed that was what Gabriel hit in frustration.

Knowing that whatever annoyed Gabriel would not keep the man out of the room for long, Alex ran over to the computer. All of the screens had frozen!

It took Alex a moment to realise his idiotic mistake. EMP equals no working technology including computers!

Alex turned around and looked for any bugs. He knew that he would have to disable the EMP to use the computers but that would mean cameras would be able to see him! There was one stationary camera inside the room and it could see everything... except anything on the other side of the desk where Gabriel's legs were supposed to be.

Alex crouched down behind the desk and plugged in the phone. He then sat more comfortably and disabled the City Mapper app knowing full well that he had allowed all cameras to work again.

Alex found the Kindle app easily and clicked download. He hoped whatever was found was at least vaguely useful.

Alex watched as a line appeared on the screen and started filling up, slowly but surely. It took almost ten minutes for the line to reach ninety nine percent. Obviously, that was all the time Gabriel needed to find someone.

Alex clung to the little screen in his hands, praying to all that was holy or unholy that the little number turned to one hundred. It did!

Alex found the EMP app, activated it and ran to the door. The footsteps were so close, Alex knew he couldn't make it to the alcove again. Instead, Alex walked out of the room and stopped the EMP app running, slowing his walk and stumbling a bit.

"Alex?" a voice called in utter confusion.

Alex turned around with a groggy look on his face and bleary eyes.

"Hey," he said acting like he was trying to stifle a yawn. "have you seen the games room?"

Gabriel looked at him incredibly confused.

"Why would you want to go there at this time of night?" he asked.

"I left my watch in the room and I just feel so naked without it, I couldn't sleep." Lied Alex.

Gabriel looked into his office then at Alex.

"Right, well, if you listen close I'll tell you how to get there." Gabriel said, deciding he wanted to stay by his office.

Alex hummed and walked over to the man who gave him instructions on how to get there. Alex then stumbled off giving an exaggerated yawn.

James had been alone for twenty minutes. He was bored and concerned. Although he knew Alex could hold his own in a fight, he wasn't sure that Alex could take on a whole island of men. And if Alex died, he was pretty sure Q would be pissed off. He really didn't want to piss of the man who made life saving gadgets for him.

So James waited impatiently. He wandered around the room until he found the alcoholic drinks. They had a nice looking scotch that James decided might be nice to try. So he did. He sat drinking his second glass when Alex came in. The boy's face broke into a smug grin when he saw James.

"Piece of piss." He said, chucking James's phone at him. James caught it automatically.

Alex then proceeded to put on the watch he retrieved as well.

"Night." Alex said before walking off into his room.

James just raised an eyebrow. James then just chugged down his drink and went to his own bedroom, he would look over whatever notes he got sent, in the morning.

Sorry this took a little longer than hoped. I wrote most of it three days ago and then just forgot to finish it!

FOR FUN:

I will try and ask a question each chapter for fun and write the answer at the beginning of the next one. Let's see if any of you can guess it:

If a man's mother-in-law can marry his son, and a woman's father can marry her sister-in-law, can a man marry his widow's sister?