MEDICINE | alex rider

twenty three

Zarah had figured out that Alex Rider was cruel. How could he not be? Nothing that seemed so pure could leave such a taunting burn.

It had been a week since Alex had escaped. It had been a week since Alex had kissed her. She didn't know what it meant, or even why he did it.  Was it as a goodbye? Was it a promise? Was it revenge?

She couldn't help it, she missed him, she missed him more than freedom. But she didn't regret it, at least he was free. She was just glad he wouldn't know what it was like to not have a choice.

She had spent most of her week in her room, the commander told her she was giving her a break. She would almost rather be training because then she wouldn't be left alone with her mind. Today she was supposed to be her first day back so she had her suit on waiting for someone to come and get her.

She was almost sure she remembered every crack in the wall and could draw it from memory. She didn't bother to talk to any of the guards, they would just report everything she said back to the commander.

After burning and cleaning everything in her apartment, she may have kept a certain picture, she couldn't stand to burn it, or even rip it. So it was stuffed in her pocket.

She wasn't sure why the man over the phone agreed to help her, it was more danger than it was worth but once she had said the boy's name he had agreed right away.

No one suspected her of helping Alex escape somehow. The council kept putting the blame on one another and tension had been getting thicker for the last couple of days. She had been doing her best to avoiding being with the general alone.

There was a knock at the door and Zarah sprang out of bed, when the door opened, the guard who had dropped her off in London popped his head in "The Commander called a mandatory meeting."

She furrowed her eyebrows "Why?" she asked and he shrugged in return.

She grabbed her knives just in case they stop by the training rooms. No one except the guards was allowed to have guns unless they were in the shooting range. She followed the guard out of her room and down the hall.

In all her years at the agency, she had never been to a meeting with other assassins. She had only actually been around a number of assassins that weren't retired or one of her teachers. She couldn't tell if she was nervous or just had a bad feeling, but as she got closer to the room, her stomach got tighter and tighter.

The guard pushed open the door to a huge open room, there was a stage where the council sat and other assassins and guards stood on the floor waiting for them to start. The council was who ruled the agency along with the commander.

The Commander sat in the middle of the stage and she didn't look happy, there was a low chatter amongst the crowd, and everyone else seemed as confused as she was. She went toward the back of the room, not wanting to be too close to the crowd.

The meeting didn't start for several more minutes, waiting for a few more people to come. Finally, the Commander stood up and walked into the middle of the stage "Personnel of SCORPIA thank you for meeting here on such short notice. As you know Alex Rider has escaped from our grasps, unfortunately, but the good news is that we know where to find him."

A bunch of whispers broke out, and the crowd was restless but the commander continued "We have a bunch of locations of MI6 agents and even a few identities of agents. Not to worry we have a few of our agents looking for Rider as of this moment."

"What if MI6 currently knows our location." Someone called out in the crowd. Several people agreed with them.

"We have a 24-hour surveillance so if an unauthorized personnel comes onto our property we'll have plenty of warning." The Commander replied.