Yassen and Alex spent the rest of the day in Abu Dhabi. Yassen already had an envelope with their next assignment, and all they had to do now was prepare for it. Alex didn't talk much. Part of his mind was still back at Malagosto, still smelled gun smoke and blood, and the numbness still lingered. Yassen didn't make an issue of it.
Their destination was Zermatt. Alex hadn't really considered that people might go skiing in August, but apparently they did. Yassen and Alex spent the day buying enough supplies to look like real tourists, a father and son off on holiday. The actual winter gear would be bought in Switzerland. They were both light brunettes again, and Alex with contact lenses as well to match Yassen's blue eyes.
Alex wasn't told much. The target was a politician, a senator. She had good security, but not good enough to take everything into account, and Yassen Gregorovich was an exceptionally skilled sniper. There were easier way to get to her, but that was not the point. SCORPIA was paid to send a message – no one was untouchable and no amount of security would be good enough. They would do just that.
The file didn't specify the why or the who or anything else of the sort. It wasn't their business. Yassen didn't care. Alex shouldn't care.
They left the following morning. Travelling straight from Abu Dhabi in August to a ski resort in Switzerland was a bit of a shock, and Alex felt colder than he had in ages. It wasn't freezing, since Zermatt itself was still in the middle of summer and the actual snow was much further up the mountains, but he had grown used to hot climates. Sure, Santa Catarina had been a little humid sometimes but he had grown used to it. The searing heat of Dubai and Abu Dhabi could be a little much, but once he had the chance to adapt, a part of him actually liked it.
It felt a little odd to be just the two of them again. They had been alone that week in the villa, but that had been different, somehow. This was a job, and the last time it had been just the two of them for an assassination – for anything, really – had been … Singapore. That day in the marina. Alex had been mostly on his own in Miami, and Santa Catarina had been with Sagitta and a number of guards. Now it was just the two of them.
Zermatt was car-free. Yassen had a car waiting in Zurich airport, but they had to park it and take a taxi the last bit of the way. There were plenty of tourists and they didn't look the least bit out of place. Alex spotted a helicopter a bit ahead. It said a little about the sort of visitors they got that beyond the usual choices of train or taxi for the last stretch, helicopter and limousine were an option, too.
The hotel was much the same, five stars and obviously expensive. It was small and combined that artfully designed, cosy Alpine cottage feel with the luxuries of a modern hotel. They even had a view of Matterhorn from their room, tall and distinct in the distance.
Their identities were father and son, a familiar cover by now that SCORPIA seemed to like. Off for a delayed summer vacation, just the two of them. It was unnervingly easy to almost forget why they were there, to forget that they were supposed to kill someone. Alex felt like just another tourist. It was the sort of thing that made him wonder how often Yassen had been just another business man, tourist, whatever his cover had been. Alex had travelled a lot with Ian. How close had they come to Yassen by chance alone and never known?
They met one of SCORPIA's contacts at the hotel. A brief meeting, a bag that changed hands, and that was all. A minute later, the woman was gone again and Yassen had the necessary supplies. She hadn't even blinked at Alex's age. Two hours and a walk around Zermatt later, and they had the gear to go skiing, too. It wasn't bulletproof the way his ski suit had been at Point Blanc, but Alex really hoped he wouldn't have to go snowboarding on an ironing-board again, either.
It was the sort of assignment Yassen could have done alone. The sort of assignment he had probably done dozens of with no problem.
"I feel kind of useless," Alex said that evening, when everything was ready. He wasn't even sure why it bothered him. He didn't want to kill people. He should be grateful Yassen would handle this one.
"You will need another several years of training if you want any hope of taking a shot like that yourself," Yassen replied. He sounded a little amused to Alex's experienced ear, and Alex supposed he had the right to. Alex was good with a sniper rifle by now but Yassen was in a different league entirely. "You are still my student. Sometimes, your task will be to observe and provide backup, nothing more. I will need to focus on the target. I do not expect any issues, but your task will be to watch for any … interference."
Watch his back. Handle any problems that might show up. Unlike Singapore, they would be out in the open. More exposed than they had been in that apartment overlooking the marina.
A thread of warmth unfurled deep inside him. It was more than just providing backup. It was trust. A second chance. Alex hadn't been sure where they stood after the island. After Alex had ruined the operation in one stupid, impulsive move. Yassen had every reason not to trust him anymore. And yet …
Alex shifted a little, uncomfortable with the sudden, heavy emotion.
"... Thank you," he said and knew Yassen would understand.
The plan was to spend the following day doing reconnaissance. The target had arrived two days before them and would stay for a full week. It was a rush job, but that didn't have to mean a bad one. Even for a day intended for recon, Yassen still brought all of their gear.
"It will give us a better idea of the actual conditions," Yassen told him. Alex supposed that made sense.
It was bright sunshine and really quite pleasant. It looked like a summer day, except there was pristine white snow near the top of the mountains and some people wore a weird combination of winter getup and summer clothes. Right there, the pleasantly warm sunlight was better suited for shorts and t-shirt. Only a bit further up, the temperature would drop past freezing. It felt a little weird, skiing in summer. It felt even weirder knowing the mountains would get snow in the afternoon. It was in the middle of August.
Alex did wonder what sort of 'business' Yassen had seen to while Alex had that week off. He certainly seemed to know exactly where they were going. Away from the pistes and into rougher, more dangerous terrain. Neither of them had a problem with that. They were cautious, well-equipped for the hike, and Yassen clearly knew what he was doing.
They caught a shuttle from the hotel to the summer skiing area but the rest was on foot. It was a hard hike, even with Yassen carrying the rifle, and Alex didn't doubt he would sleep like a rock come evening. He still enjoyed it. The snow was brightly white in the sunshine, bright enough to require sunglasses, and the crunching sound under his boots brought a lot more good memories than bad ones.
It reminded him of vacations of Ian and the safe-house in Russia. There was less of Point Blanc in the memories than he had expected.
It was noon by the time they reached a spot with an unimpeded view of several of the pistes, one of several spots Yassen had already scouted based on photos of the area. They were a good bit away from the pistes, a mile or so to Alex's estimate, but Yassen didn't seem bothered. From this distance, the skiers looked like miniatures that had escaped from a doll house somewhere. The location left them a little exposed, but with the camo gear that Alex carried, they would be effectively invisible unless someone knew they were there.
The spot seemed to pass Yassen's initial judgement. Alex crouched in the snow while Yassen did a test run of everything. The large, heavy rifle, then the camo to cover them, and Yassen settled down in the snow to observe the piste through the scope.
Alex settled down next to him. The snow crunched as he shifted and the sound of fabric against fabric sounded like thunder in his ears. He wasn't cold, not with the kind of clothes he wore, but this close he could see his breath melt the surface of the snow.
He let Yassen focus on the skiers and focused on the mountain behind them instead. Anywhere someone might approach from. Anywhere someone might be able to hide. If he was going to have Yassen's back, he had to keep track of all of it.
It took maybe half an hour before Yassen shifted again and began to pack up once more. That done, he glanced at Alex. "Your verdict?"
Alex shrugged. "I could keep an eye on all approaches." He assumed that was what Yassen referred to, anyway.
The man nodded. "We have found our spot, then."
Just like that. Alex supposed Yassen would have plenty of experience with that sort of thing. Alex would be fumbling around blind. Yassen knew exactly what he was looking for.
The hike back was a little easier, downhill most of the way. Above them, the sky had started to turn cloudy and grey. The approaching snow would cover any tracks they had left.
They had dinner at an Italian restaurant that evening. Alex wanted pizza and he had apparently done well enough that Yassen decided to indulge him.
They talked about nothing and everything, safe topics to suit their cover, but it still felt real somehow. Like Alex was travelling with Ian again, those odd times when the man was suddenly home for a while and decided they should go somewhere. It had been disguised training, Alex knew now. Languages, cultures, the ability to adapt and become someone else, but he had still enjoyed it. Even now, looking back, he'd had fun as a kid.
Something had changed, and Alex could feel it. A slight shift in dynamics. Alex had made a complete mess of their assignment with the Graffs, but he had also stayed with SCORPIA. With Yassen. He had been given the chance to escape, and he had stayed. He had seen Yassen as Cossack, not as the patient mentor but as the ruthless assassin, and he had still returned from his week of downtime like he had been instructed to.
That meant something. Loyalty, stubbornness, or obedience; whatever the reason, that mattered to Yassen, and something had changed for it.
Alex slept like the dead that night. They were up well before dawn and in position by the time the first skiers had started to arrive. There was a new layer of snow but the sky was mostly clear again and the weather pleasant.
They both wore heavy duty ear protection. It was no easy shot to take, and the sniper rifle was large, heavy, and loud.
The distance to where Yassen expected the target to be the most vulnerable and stationary, right by the ski lift, was around fifteen hundred yards to Alex's estimate. Yassen probably knew the exact distance, not that Alex asked. SCORPIA didn't have many who could take a shot like that, and no one who could do it as reliably as Yassen Gregorovich.
Yassen would be the one to take the shot, but Alex still felt the anxiety and anticipation settle when the first people arrived on the pistes right when they opened for the day.
They were unnervingly exposed. Partially sheltered by an outcrop, but without much else in the way of protection or shelter. There were easier ways to kill their target but few that carried that strong of a message.
The over-clothes that Alex carried in his bag were white and patterned to blend in completely. Normal ski clothes would make them stand out like a sore thumb, but camo gear would draw unwanted attention in the town, especially right after an assassination. An extra layer for camouflage, then. Something that could easily be put on and removed again. They would need to be able to get in and out again fast. Alex would have to be able to pack away the camo in the precious few seconds it would take Yassen to disassemble and pack away the rifle.
He had done a dry run in their hotel room the evening before, a dozen times or more until he was sure he had it right. Yassen hadn't said anything, but Alex knew he approved. There would be no room for mistakes.
The message from their contact at the target's hotel arrived shortly after the pistes opened. Alex carried the phone. They couldn't afford to have Yassen distracted by anything once he had his finger on the trigger.
En route, six people, red and black ski suit.
There was a picture as well. Alex passed everything on to Yassen and replied with an affirmative after the man nodded.
They knew what the target looked like now, hiding somewhere in a group of six people. The target, her husband, and four security people. Both of their kids were in college by now, which cut down on the number of complications.
It took almost an hour before the group appeared. They had both spent the time unmoving, hidden between snow and exposed mountain. It had grown cloudy above them but at least the weather still held dry.
Yassen shifted at the appearance of the group. There had been several false alarms, groups that could have been it but hadn't been, but they both knew this was the right one. There was something about the way some of the figures moved, something that wasn't entirely just tourists out for a day of skiing.
Yassen settled down proper, his full attention on the group. When he shifted the rifle to get the aim right, it was in the tiniest of increments. This far away, even the slightest shift of the rifle could mean a huge change in trajectory.
Alex didn't watch. He focused on the landscape around them, watching for any sort of complications. Anyone who approached them, anyone who might have spotted them, any kind of danger at all.
This far away, the sound of people and the lift was faded and mostly swallowed by the snow. With his ear protection on, it was completely gone.
For endless seconds, all Alex heard was silence and the sound of his own pulse. He was completely still, just like Yassen. No distractions. No movements. Nothing.
Alex didn't see Yassen pull the trigger but he heard the sound of the shot even through the ear protection, and while he didn't feel the sharp recoil himself, he did see the way Yassen's stillness was broken. Even he couldn't stay completely unmoving under that much force.
Alex had his ear protection off a second later. They both moved down the outcrop, now sheltered from view, and Alex moved fast. He had his own and Yassen's camo gear off in less than ten seconds; had it packed away in another fifteen. Next to him, Yassen moved just as fast. The rifle was disassembled and packed away in the time it took Alex to finish.
The outcrop kept them hidden from view as they began the hike back at a brisk pace. They wouldn't see the piste behind them and no one could see them. Alex wondered briefly what was going on back there. Panic, probably. Yassen Gregorovich didn't miss and he certainly wouldn't have packed away the rifle if he had. He would have taken a second shot. They'd had the time for that.
Then they hit the rougher terrain and Alex turned his full focus to keeping up with Yassen's pace without slipping and breaking something in the process.
Even skiing part of the way, it still took two full hours and several long detours to get back to Zermatt. They met the SCORPIA contact that had brought them the rifle on the way. Just like that, the incriminating evidence was gone. The rifle and the camo and the ear protection and Alex's gun, even Yassen's jacket and gloves. He had new, identical clothes on but without the gunshot residue. Even if someone stopped them, there would be nothing to link them to the assassination.
The town was already full of police by the time they reached it. They didn't head straight for the hotel, either. Yassen quite deliberately settled the two of them down in an outdoor café for a cup of coffee for himself and a coke for Alex, their jackets draped over a chair and the skis next to them as they soaked up the sunlight.
It let Yassen get an idea of the response and made them look like just another couple of tourists.
The news had spread fast – Alex heard a group at a neighbouring table talk about the shooting – and a number of people watched the police move around with something between worry and morbid curiosity. Alex didn't blame them. Someone had been shot, assassinated, and the killer was still out there somewhere.
Alex drank his coke and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Logically he knew they were probably the least likely suspects, a father and his teenage son, but the icy chill still lingered whenever one of the officers moved a little too close to them.
No one looked twice at them. They returned to the hotel, just two more guests. They had a late lunch. They talked about the weather and the snow and Alex's progress in school; perfectly normal subjects.
Yassen kept up to date on any development in the situation, but the press had very little to share that Yassen and Alex didn't already know. If the police had any leads, no one had said anything.
Job done, they left for Zurich that evening. The taxi driver talked about the shooting with the morbid fascination of someone who probably watched live car chases, too. There was police by the road but the taxi was waved straight through. No one ever approached them. No one even looked at them twice.
Yassen paid the driver. Checked in at a hotel close to the airport. Turned on the TV to a local news station when they were settled in their room. Just like that, Yassen could add another successful assignment to his tally.
Alex supposed he could as well. He hadn't pulled the trigger, but he had been there every step of the way.
There were two plane tickets waiting for them when Yassen contacted SCORPIA with conformation of a job well done. Alex had expected that. He hadn't expected the destinations to be different.
Yassen departed straight from Zurich the following morning for 'other business'. He didn't mention the destination or whether it was an assignment or not, and Alex didn't ask.
Alex himself was sent to Australia. He departed in the early afternoon from Zurich as well on a business class seat to Melbourne. Major Winston Yu was in need of additional security for a few weeks and had specifically sent for Alex. Yassen hadn't looked particularly pleased about that but there was little either of them could do.
"He has an obsession with England," Yassen told him. "He likely requested you for that reason alone. SCORPIA does not have that many Malagosto graduates of your nationality. He is frail and ill. This matters nothing. Remember his file and treat him like the threat that he is. Those that cross him have a tendency to vanish. Yu runs a quite profitable organ trade. Few of the donors are paid, and even fewer survive the process." He hesitated just slightly. "He is also your godfather's direct superior. Be alert."
Well, that sounded just charming all around. It would be the fourth board member Alex would meet, too. He wondered how long it would take him to get to the full set. And the possibility of running into the world's worst godfather along the way? That was great. Just great.
"And Alex ..." Alex looked up, torn from his thoughts. There was something in Yassen's expression – thoughtful. Calculating. Considering. "Take the time to practice your observation skills. Remember your training. Think like an assassin. Look for weaknesses in his security. There was an attempt on his life last year. Most of those weaknesses will have been eradicated. Find the remaining ones."
It could have been taken as a way to improve Yu's security, to spot the potential risks before they could become a problem. Anyone listening would probably have interpreted it like that … not that anyone were, not with Yassen's usual security checks. They would have heard it as instructions for an operative expected to be security and bodyguard for a member of the executive board.
Something in Yassen's mannerism told Alex otherwise. A sudden stillness in the room; the sense that his answer would reach far, far beyond their conversation.
Look for weaknesses. Think like an assassin. Alex's mind deliberately didn't follow those thoughts to their logical conclusion. Not now. Not when it was too risky, when any wrong move could get him killed. Not when he had already come a hairsbreadth from death just weeks ago. The words could be interpreted as perfectly innocent. Alex knew better.
Instead he nodded once, the seriousness and sudden tension in his body letting Yassen know with perfect clarity that he understood the implications of the order just fine.
"... Yes, sir," Alex agreed a heartbeat later.
Yassen smiled thinly. If Alex had any doubts about the meaning behind the words, he didn't anymore. The topic was changed immediate after, but the conversation lingered in the back of Alex's mind. There was little he could do about it for now, nothing but trust that Yassen knew what he was doing because Alex didn't have a clue.
With a brief layover in Bangkok included, it took close to a full day to arrive in Melbourne. Even with the entertainment system and lots of room, Alex was still thoroughly bored and somewhat stir-crazy by the time they landed in the early evening. Lonely, too, with no company and no one to talk to, but he had learned to expect that.
From Melbourne, it was another long stretch, this time by a helicopter that had been waiting for him in the airport. When they finally landed, it was on the immense lawn of a very British looking house by the sea, like someone had transplanted an entire country house from merry old England and to the middle of Victoria. The entire place was lit up in the darkness, one of the few signs of human habitation Alex had seen in quite a while on the helicopter.
It was weird and a little unnerving.
Alex only had the suitcase from Zurich with him, though he had made sure to buy a few sets of warmer clothes that weren't actual winter clothes before he left. Everything else had been destroyed as possible evidence. It wasn't cold in Victoria in the Australian winter, but it could be chilly enough to be annoying. He had no weapons on him but he doubted it would be a problem to get whatever weaponry he wanted in the home of a member of SCORPIA's executive board.
He was greeted by a large, stony-faced man in a suit. If there was ever a more obvious security guard, Alex hadn't met him yet.
"Mr Rider?" the man asked. The answer should have been obvious. How many fifteen-year-old kids arrived alone at the house in a private helicopter? Alex answered, anyway.
"Yes."
The man nodded. He looked vaguely pleased. "Major Yu is expecting you."
Alex moved to get his luggage but the guard shook his head. Alex left it in the helicopter. It would be taken care of, then, or maybe Yu wanted him in SCORPIA uniform instead. He supposed he would find out soon enough.
He followed the guard across the lawn and inside the large home. It was even weirder inside. The interior was English. Everything Alex saw was English, from artworks by several artists with names that even he recognised and to the more old-fashioned decorations – the massive fireplaces and several suits of armour. The maid he caught a glimpse of looked Indonesian but her uniform looked distinctly English, too. Even the security guard spoke with a decent approximation of an Auntie Beeb accent.
If Alex ignored the fact that he knew they were in Australia, he could imagine he was back in England. The house didn't just have the look of it, it had the atmosphere.
The guard guided Alex inside what looked like a large study and closed the door behind him, staying outside himself. The windows were tall and overlooked the perfectly groomed lawn and one of the paths that had been lit by old-fashioned lampposts. There were floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The few book titles that Alex could make out were all English classics.
There was only one other person in the room, a man that Alex recognised from Yassen's SCORPIA files. The photo there had been of someone a lot younger but it was clearly the same person.
Alex knew why Yassen had warned him not to underestimate the man. Major Winston Yu looked very small and fragile in the immense, high-backed chair he was seated in. His head looked waxy and shrunken somehow, and he sat unusually still. A walking stick rested within easy reach of his gloved hands, and there was a cup of tea on the small table by his side.
He was also one of the founding members of SCORPIA and ruled the largest snakehead in the region with an iron fist. Physically fragile or not, the man was every bit as dangerous as the rest of the board in his own way.
Alex stopped a respectful distance away and stood at ease.
"Sir."
Yu smiled. It looked genuine. "Alex. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Do sit," he said pleasantly. It sounded genuine, too. Then Alex remembered Yassen's stories of organ trade and he wanted to shudder. "You've been on a bit of a long flight. Would you like a cup of tea? From Cornwall. Proper British grown. It's really quite good."
Alex knew an order when he heard one and settled down in the chair across from Yu. "Tea would be nice, thank you."
The door opened. The maid Alex had seen slipped inside with a tray and placed a delicate cup in front of him. It was silent as she worked to prepare the tea, neither speaking until she had left the room again.
"I'm certain you wonder why I summoned you for merely a small issue of security," Yu began.
Alex shrugged slightly. "You're a member of the board, sir." That seemed like a safe response.
"It is not your place to wonder, merely to follow orders?" Yu asked. "Our esteemed Doctor Three praised Cossack's training. Remarkably obedient, he said. I'm delighted to see he was right."
Obedient. Alex wondered how long he would have survived if Yassen hadn't deliberately cultivated that impression. It seemed to work in his favour a lot more often than he was really comfortable with.
"I've wanted to meet you for quite a while, you see. As you may have noticed, I hold a sincere admiration for England and you – you, Alex, are already shaping up to be one of the best operatives SCORPIA has had. Dreadful business with Graff, of course, but you showed a remarkable loyalty and sense of duty when you took full responsibility for it. Not too many other operatives would have done the same."
"Yes, sir." Alex wasn't sure what else to say to that. Instead he focused on the delicate cup and took a sip of tea. It didn't taste quite as strong as the tea he was used to – it lacked a bit of depth, somehow – but it was surprisingly decent.
"I am in the process of negotiating a business deal that will gain SCORPIA a significant new market. I don't expect trouble, of course," Yu said. "We are all civilized men. You will be visible intimidation, though I expect you to live up to your already-remarkable reputation if anything should happen."
That one was easier. "Yes, sir."
Yu nodded slightly. "Mr Warren, one of our potential new business associates, has a son your age," he said. Something about the voice, urbane and pleasant, made the words sound vaguely ominous. "I want you to look like him. Not a complete disguise, certainly, you are taller and significantly better trained, but I want enough of a resemblance to unnerve him. When he looks at you, I want him to imagine his son in your place. There will be a file and supplies in your room."
Mind games again. SCORPIA had a fondness for those. Alex could imagine Yu would make full use of the resemblance. "Yes, sir."
Alex's contributions to the conversation weren't exactly amazing but Yu didn't seem to mind. He smiled again – pleasantly. It was a little unnerving to someone who had read as detailed of a file about the man as Alex had. Yassen had been thorough in his lectures. Right now Alex's training and usefulness kept him reasonably safe. He had absolutely no intention of doing something that might change that. He was quite abruptly reminded of the fact that he was very much on his own now.
"We will talk further tomorrow. I suspect you could use the sleep."
"Yes, sir." Alex had done his best to hide his tiredness but he doubted he had been able to manage entirely.
Yu nodded. Alex took the dismissal for what it was and left the undisputed boss of the snakehead alone in his study. The guard was still waiting outside the door and led Alex through the large house and up a grand staircase to what Alex figured was the guest wing and the room that would be home for the next few weeks.
Alex's suitcase was already waiting for him by his bed. The room itself was closer to a small apartment. A living room, a bedroom, a fairly large bathroom, and tall windows that offered a view of the dark sea beyond the property.
Alex's reasonably thorough check of the place revealed that there were already clothes in the wardrobe, all of it made by English designers and all of it in Alex's size. Most of it would be appropriate for a normal fifteen-year-old boy, though the workout clothes were familiar as part of SCORPIA's standard uniform. There were even two pairs of shoes, workout and formal. Not only was the size just right, a quick check revealed that they fit decently well, too. Alex decided not to think too much about that. It wasn't like SCORPIA didn't own him for the next four and a half year. Of course they would know his size in shoes. And clothes. And underwear.
Creeps, the lot of them.
There was a selection of weapons as well and holsters to go with them. Those, at least, seemed to have been picked based on Alex's usual preference and not on their country of origin. Next to them was a light ballistic vest. Nothing that could stop the heavy-duty stuff but perfectly useful and it would fit underneath his usual clothes without being visible.
All of that could wait until the morning, though. Someone had delivered a tray with a light meal, a bowl of cut fruit, and a selection of teas. There was also a note to contact the kitchen with any requests he had.
Alex snacked while he read through the short file and took the time to really look at the photos in it. Warren's son was fifteen and, like Yu had said, a bit shorter than Alex. He looked to be in perfectly good shape but there was a world of difference between good shape and Yassen's standards. He had blue eyes and hair just slightly longer than Alex's that was a sun-bleached brown. Their facial features were clearly different, but with contacts and hair dye … it could work.
A quick shower later and Alex collapsed in bed, trusting Yu's security not to let anything go hideously wrong overnight.
Alex was up at five to work out and shower before breakfast. He didn't know when Yu would actually be up and he wanted to play it safe. There was no gym anywhere, but there had been no gyms in the safe-house in Russia, either, so Alex made do. He felt surprisingly rested, too. He had been exhausted and had slept like the dead. No nightmares, no dreams, nothing. He had needed that.
The run helped get rid of the last stiffness from the flight and gave him a good look at the house and the grounds that came with it. He had orders from Yassen as well, and he would slowly start to gather information over the days to come.
Two hours later and back from his daily run, he dragged the hair dye and contacts into the bathroom with him and set to work.
The Alex Rider that arrived at breakfast at eight on the dot was blue-eyed and dressed in some of the more formal clothes that had been left for him. Hair dye couldn't quite copy the sun-bleached brown of Isaac Warren's hair colour but it was close enough to work. He was visibly armed as well, which ruined the illusion a bit, but since Yu had supplied the weapons and holsters, Alex had to assume the man didn't mind.
Without recordings, he had no idea of the boy's body language and mannerism but that was just as well. The physical similarities would work just fine, and Alex would have felt a little unnerved mimicking someone for that kind of purpose.
The dining room the maid led him to was large and obscenely British. Expensive modern art and classical furniture, a long table, and an expansive view of the sea. Alex wasn't even surprised anymore, just approached the sole figure by the end of the table and settled for a casual at-ease a decently respectful distance away. The table was set for two but for now it was only Yu there.
The windows were bulletproof if he had any sense, and the doors armoured as well. Another few notes for Yassen.
It felt weird to be on his own. Weird and vulnerable, used to Yassen's presence as he was, and he didn't like it one bit. Usually he had at least Yassen at his back to help keep the lions at bay. Now he was on his own. Meeting Kurst alone had been bad enough, but at least that had been brief. This was more or less a week-long meeting with another person who held Alex's life in his hands and he couldn't afford to slip up. Not even once.
Yu was dressed in reasonably casual clothes, though Alex could tell without even knowing the brands that all of it was probably expensive designer stuff. His walking stick rested against his chair and he had a small breakfast in front of him. The careful, deliberate way he cut his food – calm and efficient – reminded Alex of the way Dr Three wielded his tools, and that comparison did nothing for Alex's appetite.
Yu put aside the cutlery at Alex's approach. He looked frail, true, but his eyes behind the wire-frame glasses were sharp and calculating in daylight in a way that hadn't been nearly as obvious in the gentle, artificial lights of the study the night before. Those eyes watched him closely now and took in every change that had happened since the night before.
Finally Yu's expression eased a little and he smiled.
"Alex," he greeted, still in that unnervingly pleasant voice. "Quite a good job. That will do just fine. I hear you were up early."
Alex had met several of Yu's security people during his workout and morning run. They had politely ignored each other but for a brief nod in greeting. They were on duty and so was Alex, in his own way. They had probably let Yu know.
"Cossack is very clear on the standards he expects me to live up to, sir."
Yu's smile looked approving. "He was never one to consider Malagosto's standards acceptable. It wasn't a surprise you thrived there. It must have felt like a bit of a vacation in comparison. There aren't too many students that Oliver has to find additional classes for to keep them properly challenged."
Properly challenged. Vacation. Right. Alex remembered fourteen-hour workdays and surprise night-time exercises and kept back the snort that wanted to get out. He had liked it at Malagosto and looking back, it had been a lot more relaxed than actual assignments were, but even with Yassen's harsh training for comparison, it had still been three months of hard work.
That wasn't the answer he suspected Yu wanted, though.
"Yes, sir. I liked it there," Alex answered, and at least that wasn't a flat-out lie.
"I believe Cossack has fond memories of the place as well. There is really nothing else like it in the world. Do sit, Alex. You're a growing boy, I'm sure you're hungry."
Alex sat. Yu's manner of speaking made it sound like they were old friends, but Alex was left with the distinct impression of sharing a breakfast table with a cobra. A reasonably affable cobra that could strike at any moment.
The maid arrived with a large breakfast tray. To Alex, it felt a little like he had just passed a test of some sort.
Yu did most of the talking over breakfast. About the house, and his experiences in England, and a string of questions aimed at Alex. Alex answered to the best of his abilities, though most of them were pretty odd. His upbringing and schooling, his brief time in SAS selection, his experiences with MI6. Most of it was already in the comprehensive file that SCORPIA kept on him, but Alex answered, anyway.
"Take today to become familiar with the house," Yu said when breakfast was done and the maid had cleaned up without a word. "Our esteemed visitors arrive tomorrow. It really is quite a remarkable building. It was a significant investment to bring it here but I think you'll agree it was well worth it."
Instead of building a home to look like an English country house, Yu had bought one and had it shipped to Australia brick by brick. Of course he had. Alex couldn't even find it in him to be surprised.
He also knew the answer Yu expected to that particular inquiry. "Yes, sir."
Yu glanced at the door. The very obvious security guard Alex had met the evening before stepped inside a second later. "Your guide for the day. I look quite forward to working with you, Alex."
Alex took the dismissal for what it was and got up. "Yes, sir."
As he followed the guard out of the room, he suspected he would be repeating that answer quite often in the weeks to come.
A/N: As far as I can make out, we never get a definitive location for Yu's home. Just some hints – by the sea, and within roughly an hour of flight over flat, rocky terrain with no roads or houses to get to the chunk of rainforest Alex ended up in. And mountains reasonably nearby. Rainforest puts it on the east coast, and I didn't think Yu would be quite that delighted to set off a tsunami that might destroy his own home, so I ruled out the northern coastline. Ben Daniels was in Darwin at the time Alex sent the signal, but the climate up north seemed a little too tropical for someone as fond of England as Yu is. Then I stared at a map of Australia, decided accuracy could go take a hike, and put Yu's home in Victoria, where it's somewhat more temperate. That entire section of Snakehead up to Alex's reunion with Ben creeps me out like whoa, so I wasn't about to reread it too thoroughly.
Next: If there's an award for worst godfather in the world, Alex has a nominee.