Chapter 7

And finally, I was home. The taxi pulled up at the familiar Chelsea house, and I quickly paid him before stepping out. The flight back to England had been... Nerve-recking... To say the least. I had just been involved in a serious plane crash trying to get away from London, and instead, I had decided to get another plane back. Cliche much?


I easily found the spare key under the loose wall tile, and opened up the door, slowly stepping in and locking it again behind me. The house was exactly the same as I remembered. All the furniture was still intact, since I only took a few pictures with me to America. It was like nothing had changed. Minus the fact it had an empty feeling. This was no longer my home. This was just my house. It would never be my home. Not again.


I walked along the hall, entering the kitchen and going over to the fridge, pulling it open. It was stocked with food. MI6 had been busy, hasn't they? They really had came and sorted out everything. It would explain the absence of the 'For Sale' sign as well I suppose. I was officially back. And I was officially working for the Secret Service. Again.


Half an hour later, the phone rang. Slowly, I walked over and picked it up, "... Hello?".

"Alex Rider. I heard you were alive".

I froze.

"Who is this?".

The man laughed, "Scorpia never forgives, Scorpia never forgets".

His voice was so... Familiar...

I ignored the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, I did my best to remain calm, "So your one of the new leaders then?".

"Correct" he replied.

"And you want revenge?".

"Exactly" he said.

"So your going to kill me?".

"Or die trying" he finished, and I could almost picture the smirk I just knew he was wearing, "Of course, since there's quite a lot of us, and only one of you... I think you'll be the one dying here".

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I really just don't feel like dying right now. There's a great movie on tonight that I seriously have to watch. Can we reschedule?" I asked and he laughed again, "I heard you had your fathers humour. But of course, I already knew. I did spent quite a lot of time with him. Spent a while with you too".


I froze, too shocked to move, my mouth dry and my vision blurry as I finally realise why the voice was so familiar.


"Ash?".


The line went dead.