Broken | Lucas North - Spooks/MI5 Story [Featured]

Chapter 3

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Events in the following chapters occur between the episodes 2 and 3 of Season 7 of Spooks/MI5.

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As she emerged from Hammersmith station, Alexa wrapped her scarf around her neck, shoved her hands into her coat pockets and began her 20-minute walk towards Liam’s boarding school.  She could easily have taken her car, but since Liam’s admission into St. Barnabas School for Boys a year earlier, she preferred to take the Tube to Hammersmith and walk the rest of the way, except for the Fridays when she’d pick him up after school. 

The walk cleared her mind and except for bone-chilly mornings such as this, the walk served as a reminder that long after her six months spent in Moscow as a prisoner, she still felt like one. 

Before succumbing to cancer almost seven years ago, Alexa’s father had made arrangements for Liam’s future without consulting her, considering her too traumatized and too immature to even be told of his plans.  He had assigned his close friend, Harry Pearce, to oversee the arrangements he had made for his grandson, and for years Alexa had assumed that the arrangements could easily be changed according to her own wishes.  After all, she was Liam’s mother.

But Alexa could only remember with bitterness the day she realized that Nathaniel George’s missives were to be followed to the letter, that his grandson be admitted to St. Barnabas School for Boys, a prestigious boarding school that had existed since the 1600’s.  There were other directives, too, but she would only know them when the time came. 

Nathaniel George had plotted his grandson’s life to perfection.

Alexa could still remember the day Harry visited her and Liam at the house they shared together on Trevor Square, to talk to her about Liam’s new school path.   It had been an August day, and London was sweltering from a heat wave.

Harry hardly ever came by to see them except once or twice a year, always during Nathaniel’s death anniversary, and a few times during the Christmas holidays.  There were times she would meet Harry for tea at a local coffee shop, but it always felt as if he were simply making sure that she was alright, for his friend’s sake, a promise he had kept long after his friend’s death.  And one thing that Alexa knew about Harry - he always kept his promises.

“You have no choice in this matter, Alexa,” Harry had told her as Liam made his way upstairs to his room to read a book Harry had brought with him as a present:  The Wind in the Willows.  You’ll need that for your entrance tests, he had told the boy.

“What if he doesn’t pass the tests?” Alexa asked.  “What if he fails them all?”  A part of her wished Liam wasn’t such a voracious reader, a boy who enjoyed reading as much as he enjoyed playing rugby or playing video games with the other children in their Chelsea neighborhood.  At seven years old, he was a bright boy with mischievous eyes and an impish grin, his mop of dark hair in dire need of a trim.

Harry pursed his lips, a habit she’d noticed for some time now.  He often did it when he was deep in thought, and  usually they were serious thoughts.  Her father had the same mannerism, and together, the “old fogies” - as her father used to call themselves - would sit by the fire talking about politics and history during their many meetings.  During those times, usually after the dinners her mother would make for them all, the men would retire to her father’s study while Alexa and her mother watched the latest soap on television. 

“He will pass those tests, Alexa.  Besides, the tests are mere formalities.  His admission has been pre-arranged since he was four years old.”  Harry walked towards the fireplace and leaned his hand against the mantelpiece.  “St. Barnabas is a good school, an excellent institution that’s been around for centuries.  It is far better than the public school system and you know it.”