The twins were very popular all of a sudden. Even the kids who hadn't gone on the ski trip noted the strange behavior of Claude Wellington and the other, normally bullying kids, and, to evade a beating, treated Alex and Alexandra with respect. Perhaps the fact that they seemed to have a retinue of muscular adults picking them up from school every day helped. Anyway, Alex and Alexandra Rider finally had a popular status.

Alex was doing algebra homework when the phone rang. Before he could get up, Alexandra was sliding down the stairs, calling over her shoulder, "I'll get it!"
There was a lot of mumbled garbling from the phone and a couple of incoherent, angry-sounding exclamations from Alexandra. There was the click of the phone coming down. Then Alexandra was thumping her way up the stairs. She knocked on Alex's door.
"Alex? It's from the bank. There's something important going on and they want us there. Where's Jack and Yassen?"

Jack scowled when she heard. "You shouldn't have to go, kids," she said. "Haven't Blunt and Jones put you through enough danger already?"
"Technically," objected Yassen. "Their last two…adventures weren't the work of MI6."
"But it does boil down to them."
"True."
"We have to go, Jack," sighed Alexandra. "I mean, they might come after you if we don't."
"They blackmailed me into missions," agreed Alex. "They can blackmail us into a meeting, as well.
"And anyway," said Alexandra. "We're just going to see Blunt, like we've done countless times. Our lives won't be in danger."
"Fine," sighed Jack reluctantly.

Which is why, ten minutes later, the twins found themselves whirring towards Liverpool Street on the motorbike. As they pulled up by the bank door and Yassen locked up the motorbike, Alex noticed Mrs. Jones's pale face in the window. It must be pretty important for her to look so worried, he thought.

It wasn't so much important as urgent. "We have received intelligence from SatInt that Scorpia is planning something again," said Blunt. "We've just gotten new technology that gives the satellites x-ray capabilities. Zeljan Kurst and the other board members of Scorpia are building a large metal structure in Malagosto. We're not sure to what it is, but it's obvious it's for you. You've humiliated them three times. You won't get away with a fourth."
"And there have been slightly more… unsettling images." Mrs. Jones put three satellite photographs on the desk. "These were taken with extremely powerful satellite cameras and are of the science base in Zagreb, where Julius Grief was killed. They're below ground. Look closely."
Alex and Alexandra leant over the pictures and saw rough rectangles, with vague human shapes in them. Then Alexandra let out a gasp. She'd looked closely at the pictures, and made out the faint shapes of human bones.
"How do you know that this isn't just a picture of some graveyard the lab was built over?" demanded Alex.
"Because it was joined to the original building by a staircase. The remains of the building were investigated and there was a type of trapdoor. No one could open it so we examined the satellite images and found this," answered Mrs. Jones.
A statement like that left no room for argument.

Hey! Sorry for ending Ski resorts can be dangerous so abruptly, but I just really couldn't muster up another chapter. Review this one and I'll try to get chapter 2 up tomorrow! KEY WORD: TRY. I'm goin' a little psycho over homework. HOMEWORK IS EVIL.