Chapter 1 – A Change To The Routine
Alex Rider walked his bike through the school gates of Brookland's School and made his way over to the bike racks; taking his bike lock out of his school he locked his bike up and then headed towards the school building.
'Hey Alex!'
Alex turned round and saw Tom Harris waving him over to a group of boys; Alex paused for a moment before sighing and made his way over to the group.
'Hey Tom' he said when he got there. The other boys gave him some odd looks; MI6 had managed to get Alex back to England in time for the new school term with about a week to spare. A week that Alex had used to get up to date with all of his work.
'Hey Alex. Where you been? You were away the end of last term' one of the boys asked, he was shorter than Alex with black hair. Alex shrugged.
'I was ill, so Jack took me away to see her parents in America when I was better as a recovery holiday' Alex replied, 'We only got back last week so I've been trying to get up to date on all my work.'
Marcus, who had just spoken, raised his eyebrows; 'Long holiday.'
Alex shrugged, 'I was really ill.'
'What was wrong with you?' another boy asked, he was a little taller than Alex and, like Marcus, had black hair, Karl was giving Alex a piercing look as if he didn't believe any of what Alex was saying.
'Bad case of food poisoning, had to go to hospital for it' Alex replied; he breathed a silent sigh of relief when the boys' attention was drawn by someone walking through the school gates.
'Whose that? New kid do you think?' Karl asked the others.
'Looks like it, wonder where she's moved from' Tom answered, looking at Alex with raised eyebrows; Alex shook his head, he wasn't going to tell Tom about his latest mission anytime soon. He looked over at the girl that the rest of the boys were looking at; she was about Alex's height with reddy brown hair, Alex could see two red streaks in it either side of her face. Just then the registration bell rang and everyone headed into the school building.
The rest of the morning passed fairly uneventfully until lunchtime; Alex and Tom got their lunch from the canteen and sat down at their usual table and started talking quietly.
'Alex what really happened over the holiday? You were gone for ages' Tom asked him; Alex shook his head.
'I can't tell you hear Tom. We can meet up some time at mine and I'll tell you then' Alex replied; Tom shrugged but he knew Alex would keep his word.
'So what do you think of that new girl then?' Tom asked him as Karl and Marcus came and sat with them with two of their friends. Paul was the same height as Alex with brown hair and brown eyes, Jake was similar to Paul in the fact that he was the same height and had brown eyes but he had blonde hair instead.
'Well Mrs Smith likes her anyway; she reads a lot of different types of books so she'll get along with that batty woman anyway' Paul answered, Mrs Smith was their English teacher and was always trying to get her students to read more. Some of the boys laughed.
'We got sports next and it looks like we're in the gym, maybe we can distract her on the bar and see what happens' Jake said, he was one of the boys in the school who liked to see others make fools of themselves. The boys continued to talk around Alex, while he just listened and kept glancing around the dining room, taking in where everyone was. It was a habit he had picked up from his missions with MI6; he noticed the new girl was sitting at the end of one of the tables by herself. For a few moments he watched her then turned back to the conversation at his own table.
About an hour later Alex, Tom and the rest of their year were in the gym waiting for their PE instructor, Mr Phelps, to come out of his office; after ten minutes of a lot of noise and laughter the teacher came out and the class quietened.
'Alright, today we're on the ropes, mats, and bench; we've also got the bags out so you can have a go on them as well. Split up into groups and make sure you have a go on everything' he said; the class stood up, some muttering darkly, and went to the different apparatus.
'What you going on, first?' Tom asked Alex as they stood up.
'Probably the ropes, then I'll go onto the bags. Haven't had a go on them in a while' he replied, 'You?'
Tom grinned, 'Same. Can't do anything on the bench or the mats so there's no point really.'
Alex grinned and the two friends made it over to the ropes. Alex and Tom grabbed two ropes, the new girl was on the other side of Alex, and started to climb up. About half way up Tom decided he'd had enough and started to make his way back down.
'See you at the bottom' Tom said to Alex, grinning. Alex nodded and concentrated on getting up to the top. Not many students and Brookland could make it to the top of the ropes, Alex was one of those that could and, it seemed, the new girl could as well. When he reached the top Alex realised his mistake, the bullet wound on his shoulder was starting to ache slightly and he still had to get back down. Cursing slightly Alex started to make his way back down as quickly as he could without doing anymore damage to his shoulder, unfortunately someone on the ground thought it would be funny to start spinning the ropes around. There was someone on each of the four ropes and each one of them was being spun around, Alex cursed their timing and looked down to see Jake and a few other boys at the bottom of the ropes; for a moment he thought of yelling at them to stop but quickly put it out of his mind when he realised they'd just laugh at him and spin it harder. Alex tried looking for the teacher but saw him leading someone into his office with a bloodied nose, or at least Alex thought that's what was wrong with them, he couldn't tell very well while he was being spun around almost at the top of a rope. The dull ache in his shoulder was getting worse and Alex realised that if he didn't get off the rope soon he was going to do some serious damage to his shoulder; weighing up the options he realised he could either continue down, stay where he was, or jump. Alex took his best option and, timing it carefully, let go of the rope. The boys standing underneath the ropes saw him let go and quickly got out of the way as Alex twisted in the air and landed, almost cat-like, on the mats below the ropes. There was a few moments of silence while Alex stood up and then everyone started talking again; Tom came up to him.
'That was great Alex!' he said excitedly; Alex grimaced slightly.
'I had to otherwise I was gonna do something to my shoulder' Alex said quietly; Tom frowned slightly and then realisation struck him.
'The bul-'
'Yeah' Alex said quickly, checking to make sure no one was listening, 'Come on let's get to the bags.'
The two boys were making their way over when Miss Bedfordshire walked into the gym.
'Alex! There's someone in the Headmaster's office who wants to see you!' she called through the gym doors; Alex sighed.
'Who do you think it is?' Tom asked him as he turned to walk out of the gym.
'Knowing my luck, someone I don't want to see' Alex replied and walked out of the gym, following Miss Bedfordshire to the Headmaster's office. When he stepped into the office he knew that what he'd said to Tom in the gym was correct.
'Hello Alex'
'Hello Mr Crawley' Alex said in a slight monotone, sitting in the chair next to Mr Crawley's.
'Alex, Mr Crawley is here to take you to your uncle's bank, apparently something of his has cropped up and they think you should see it for yourself' the Headmaster told him; Alex nodded knowing full well what it was the 'bank' wanted him to see, it was Alan Blunt and that meant a new mission.
'I'll go collect my stuff' Alex said.
'I'll meet you at the front of the school, Alex' Mr Crawley said.
Alex nodded and walked out of the office back to the gym and changed back into his school uniform before picking up his sport's kit and school bag and walking back to the front of the school. Once there he saw Mr Crawley standing outside a black BMW waiting for Alex, when he saw him come out of the school doors he waved him over and let Alex climb into the back seat before climbing into the seat next to him himself.
It took about 10 minutes to get to get to MI6 headquarters, through which time the occupants of the car were silent. When Alex was let out of the car at Liverpool Street he looked up at the building that, to the public was known as the Royal and General Bank, was the headquarters for MI6.
'So what do they want me to do this time?' Alex asked Mr Crawley as he was led inside the building.
'Can't say, seeing as I don't know; sorry, Alex' Mr Crawley answered; Alex had the impression he knew more than he was letting on. He was led into the lift and then to Alan Blunt's office, a place he had hoped he wouldn't be seeing in a long time; unfortunately it seemed whoever listened to all his wishes concerning MI6 turned a deaf ear to them. Mrs Jones was sat in a chair in front of the desk sucking a peppermint, as she always did whenever Alex saw her, and Alan Blunt was standing with his back to the window facing the door and Alex.
'Thank you Mr Crawley. Alex, come in; take a seat' Alan Blunt said as Mr Crawley left and Alex walked in, sitting in the chair next to Mrs Jones'.
'How are you, Alex?' Mrs Jones asked him, Alex shrugged.
'Getting there' he answered; Alan Blunt, as was his nature, went straight to the point.
'I won't mess around Alex; as you know we are very pleased with your success rate and your abilities. We need you to go on another mission for us as soon as we are able to arrange it' he said; Alex sighed.
'What if I say I won't do it?' he asked, knowing what would be coming next. Alan Blunt sighed.
'I'd hoped we were past that now, Alex' he said; Alex snorted. Blunt sighed irritably, 'Alex you know that your guardian is only in this country because we are arranging it; if you do not do these favours for us then I'm afraid our favour for you runs out as well.'
Alex smiled sourly, 'Why does that not surprise me?' he muttered to himself.
'What is it you're going to make me do this time?' Alex asked them; Mrs Jones shot Blunt a look, which he pointedly ignored.
'You see Alex there is another boarding school been set up, and it's not far from where the Point Blanc academy was set up; this time it's for both boys and girls but there's a difference to the Point Blanc academy-'
'It's not run by a psychopath?' Alex asked, Blunt looked annoyed.
'This time it's been set up for young people who are in arranged marriages and do not get along as well as for delinquents; the other difference is that it is targeted at anyone who can afford to send their children there not just for incredibly rich families. There is one similarity and that is that it has been started by Hugo Grief's half-brother. What we want you to do is-'
'Oh no' Alex said sitting up, 'No offence Mr Blunt but there is no way I can do this. Last time I went to a boarding school they tried to dissect me alive and I had to snowboard on an ironing board down an advanced black run and across a train line almost getting killed in the process whilst being chased by people with guns on snowmobiles-'
Blunt put up a hand, 'Alex we understand you would not want to do this but it is important. There is one difference for you as well, we have managed to obtain someone to go along with you. Think about it Alex and then come back here on Thursday after school with your answer and you can meet your partner for this mission.'
Alex had no choice but to nod and stand up ready to leave.
'See you on Thursday, Alex' Alan Blunt said as he sat behind his desk; Alex didn't even bother a wave he was so angry but he just walked straight out of the office and down the stairs, slamming the door shut as he went.
'Well that went fairly well' Alan Blunt commented. Mrs Jones looked at him sharply.
'This is a bad idea, Alan. If he's recognised then we could lose possibly our best agent as well as a 14 year old boy.'
'Mrs Jones I afraid we have little choice in the matter. Alex will come to us on Thursday with, I presume, a positive answer for us and he can meet his partner. Hopefully they'll get along well, otherwise we may have a problem.'
Mrs Jones sighed and shook her head, sometimes she couldn't believe the way Alan Blunt's mind worked.
A/N: So what did you think? Please R&R that way I can make any amendments if I need to. Thank you to anyone who's reading this. I've got some other stories up if anyone's reading those as well, can someone please review on my Pleasure and Partiality one. Pretty Please…
Ciao for now
Starsword