Alex Rider: Day of the Paketa

by JDebus

After living in peace all of his life, Alex Rider is about to have the ride of a lifetime when his parents are kidnapped by a mystery man. So with the help of Vladimir Kamarov, and Skip, the MI6 gadgets expert, Alex is about to set off into the great country of Russia in hopes of finding his parents, and what his kidnappers plan to do with them...

Day of the Pакета

Jack Debus

2-5-13

Stanley - 7

Word Count - 2,314

Chapter 1

Beep...Beep...Beep...BEEEEEEEPPP! "Wha-What?" Alex Rider rubbed his eyes drowsily, barely managing to look around. It was 6:00, Saturday morning. "Thank God" Alex breathed. "No more school..." It was June 1, 2013 and summer was just beginning to creep in. But something didn't seem right. It was quiet, a little too quiet for Alex's taste. His parents were usually up by now, making him their 'famous' breakfast. Alex could almost taste the juicy eggs, greasy bacon, and crisp toast. He raced downstairs into the kitchen, but there was something there that stood out to him: nothing. No food, no plates, spatulas, parents, anything... "Mom? Dad?" No answer. Alex strode over to his parents door and barged in, threw up the bedsheets and, no one. Where would my parents be on a Saturday morning at six o' clock? Alex thought. He called his parents and of course, again, no answer. It was when he was looking around the house for answers when he saw it. A small, yellow, sticky note stuck lopsided on the front door. Alex walked slowly over to it, picked it up, and this is what he read:

1622 Liverpool Street. We're sorry, we love you. Don-

The rest of the note is scribbled off as if written in a hurry...

What could this mean? Where were his parents? Alex looked at the note again. "Liverpool huh? That's not too far from here!" He ran out the front door, on a mission to find his parents. He was so intent on it, he left the front door swinging wide open. As Alex arrived at the address on the note, he realized that it was his dad's work! He never knew what his dad did for a living, but recognized the building where his dad went every day. He guessed that maybe he had to come into work for some reason, and that Alex just needed to come meet him there! Relief flooded Alex. He stepped in through the door, with the cool crisp air greeting him in the office building. Alex walked up to the front desk lady and introduced himself, saying that he was looking for his father. The lady called someone on her office phone, then told Alex to walk straight through the hall on the left of her, and go into the room on the right. Alex smiled, thanked her, and strolled on down through to the door. "Dad?!..."

Chapter 2

The person in the office was most certainly not Alex's dad, and nothing like him at all. He was a tall, Russian man with short hair and a small mustache, just on his upper lip. "Hello Alex. My name is Vladimir Kamarov," he said in a cold, deep voice. "You may be wondering what is going on, so let me explain. Your parents are not all who they seem to be. They are both international spies and they help keep this country safe each and every day. They recently left for a mission in search of the man in charge of the Soviet Space Station. They didn't want to involve the military, as it would become public knowledge, so Alex's parents went on their own to find him. Unfortunately, just as they entered the space station's base, their tracker's signal was lost and they disappeared clean off the map. That's why we are sending you in. They are your parents after all." Alex sat there taking it all in. His parents, spies?... It couldn't be! "So what you're telling me," Alex pointed out, "is that you're just going to send an innocent 13 year-old boy into a Russian Space Station with possibly armed guards?!"

"Well, let me introduce you to my friend, Skip," as Vladimir nodded his head towards the door. A young man, possibly in his late thirties, walked in with a box of everyday items. "This man right here will provide you with all your spy equipment to help you on your mission." As Vladimir headed for the door, he said, "I'll let you two get to know each other." Skip looked at Alex and smiled. "Nervous?" he asked. "Kind of" Alex responded softly. "Whatcha' got in that box of yours?" Alex asked. "Oh just some, really cool stuff I'm going to give you!" Skip pulled out the first item. "These are night vision glasses, just in case you come upon a dark room or whatever." Skip hands Alex the glasses and he tries them on. "ACK!" He screams and falls to the ground. "Oh yeah, sorry. Don't put them on in a bright rooms like this one." "Thanks for the info" Alex mutters. "Now here," Skip motions to a comb he pulled out, "Is your handy dandy razor blade comb! Perfect for cutting through metal!" Alex stows the comb away in his bag. "Now last but not least," Skip pulls out a watch," This watch will disable all electronic devices within a 3-mile radius with the push of a button. It was made especially by Vladimir, and he told me to tell you it was for when you found whoever kidnapped your parents." Alex slips the watch on and thanks Skip. "Later!" Alex shouts. "Yeah probably not..." Alex backtracks staring at Skip. "Kidding!"

Chapter 3

Alex arrived at the airport, thanked his taxi driver, and walked in. As soon as he got his plane ticket for 2 p.m, he went into the airport Chili's, and got a bite to eat. Everyone looked at him kind of funny though. "What?" He said with his mouth full of burger, "Never seen a kid fly on a plane to Russia alone before?" After he was finished, he took a brisk jog to his terminal, It was 1:50. Ten minutes before his flight left and it was all the way across the airport. Just as he reached the entrance, two burly men grabbed Alex and threw him into a bathroom. They blocked the door with a trashcan and tied Alex up. "Look here, kid," One of the men grumbled with a heavy Russian accent. "We know you're after our guy, and we need to make sure that you're not there to stop his plans." Alex screamed through the gag and one of the men hit him on the head to shut him up. Alex was knocked unconscious.

"What just happened?" Alex looked around, realizing he was still in the bathroom, but the men were gone. He slipped his razor blade comb out of his back pack and cut himself free. Alex looked at his watch. It was 2:00! His flight was going to leave without him. He sprinted out the door and as he looked to his left, he saw the two men standing guard outside of the door. "Hey!" they yelled. "Stop!" Alex ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He could see his terminal at the end of the hall. Luckily, the two Russian men had been stopped by security. The pilot for Alex's flight was talking through a microphone. "Last call for flight 9B! Flight 9B!" "WAIIIITTTT!" Alex yelled as he ran to the entrance of the boarding ramp. "You know I heard you, kid?" The pilot asked. "Yeah..huff puff... thanks for the info." Alex boarded the plane and it took off, leaving the whole experience behind.

As Alex landed in Moscow, he realized he had no idea where he was going!

Chapter 3

After asking dozens and dozens of local residents, Alex finally found some luck with an English translator at a small souvenir shop. He told Alex he knew the Soviet Space station was secluded about a mile away, but it wouldn't take long to find it. "Well, Vladimir wasn't wrong," Alex said, as he walked up to the gates of the massive complex. "Doesn't look like I could get in this way," Alex thought. "I'm sure I'll find something if I keep looking. After debating what to do for half an hour, Alex decided to try the sewer drain just underneath the road. Alex squeezed into the tight space, but there was a drop down into a cylindrical tunnel big enough for at least three people. It was pitch black. "Now what?" he asked himself. That's when he remembered the night-vision glasses Skip gave him. Alex slipped them on with a sigh with relief as they flooded the tunnel with light. He kept moving. Alex's streak of luck was short lived when he came upon a metal grate in his way. He still had his razor blade comb, but cutting through the rope back at the airport tore it up pretty bad. "It has to work," Alex muttered. He sawed at the metal for what seemed like a century and just as the comb was about to snap, the metal broke free and Alex climbed through. "Hope I don't come upon another one of those," he gasped, out of breath. After climbing through various tunnels and tight squeezes, Alex saw light up ahead. It was a grate into another room! He had made it into the heart of the Space Station! As Alex shimmied his way up to the opening, he saw and heard grunts and muffled screams. He looked into the room and saw his parents, trapped in chairs gagged, tied to what looked like A BOMB!

Chapter 4

"Mom! Dad!" Alex cried. He flew through the grate into their arms and quickly started to untie them. "What happened to you two?" He questioned. "MFFFFF!" "Oh right, sorry." He took the cloths out of their mouths. "Run!" they both screamed, motioning behind him. He turned and saw the two men from the airport, along with several other giant Russian men. Alex scrambled out of the room, into a brightly lit hallway. The guards gave chase. This was Alex's chance to use the karate skills he'd learned in class. After he was far enough ahead of the bigger group of guards, Alex jumped onto one of the guard's back and knocked him out with a hit to the head. He took the guard's pistol and smoke grenades. "Time to have a little fun," Alex smirked. He threw all three smoke grenades into the hall way and let the confusion begin. The guards ran in and were immediately dazed. They shot at everything-each other, the walls, the ceiling. That's when Alex turned the corner and was shot in the upper part of his shoulder. Alex fell to the ground and a couple of the men carried him back into the room with his parents.

Chapter 5

"Oh Alex!" Mrs. Rider cried, as they carried Alex in, bandaged, and sat him in a chair next to his parents. And believe it or not, Vladimir Kamarov walked out of the room in front of them. "Vladim-!" "Save it kid. I've gotta explain what's going on." Alex relaxed. "See, because your parents work for me at my "job," they would have caught on to my plan, and stopped me. Which is why I kidnapped them and sent you on a wild goose chase to the airport where you were supposed to be stopped." He glared at the two men that confronted Alex at the airport. "My plan, is to send this bomb I have your parents tied to into space, where it will detonate on the moon and send meteorites hurdling towards Earth. Alex gasped. "This will cause the human race to go extinct!" That's when Alex remembers the watch Skip gave him. He presses it, and a beep goes off on the bomb. "Oh, and it looks like you just started the timer for the detonation! Thank you Alex!" Alex remembered that it was specially made by Vladimir. Vladimir smiles and leaves the room with the guards. "If you need me," he yelled sarcastically, "I'll just be in my fallout shelter!" The door closed, and the Riders said their goodbyes and talked about their favorite memories. "Remember that time," Mrs. Rider said through tears, "When we went on our own little family vacation in Alabama?" Alex smiled. "Yes, Mom, I do." Gunshots are heard echoing throughout the building. "What was that?" asks Mr. Rider. All of a sudden, Skip bursts in through a door dodging bullets with an AR-15 in one arm, and a strange looking device in another. "Skip!" they all cry. Skip blocks the door with multiple items, then runs over to the bomb. Skip starts hacking into the software, trying to deactivate it. In runs Vladimir, his face filled with rage. "STOP SKIP!" He runs to Skip with a knife in his hand. "One more number..." Skip presses the screen and jumps to one side, roundhouse kicking Vlad in the face, while the bomb is dis-engaged.

Epilouge

"Thanks again," Skip says to the Russian police man. "No, thank you for stopping this maniac!" He motions to a knocked out Vladimir on the floor. "The force could really use someone like you!" Alex walks up to Skip smiling. "You really saved the day, Skip." "Aw, it was nothing, really." "How'd you know to come down to Russia and when did you?" Alex asks. "Well," starts Skip, "Vladimir had been acting weird for about a month. He had been going on long vacations and just didn't act like himself. So, I tagged along with you to make sure." "Well it paid off!" Alex said. And so, after the whole traumatic experience, Alex and his family went back to their suburban home in Texas, and Skip quit his job at MI6 to join the local police force. And Alex went back to schoolwork, girls, and video games, and everything went back to the way it used to be. Well, sort of.