Disclaimer: I don't own any characters blah blah blah owned by Anthony Horowitz blah blah blah don't sue me. It might be a good idea if you have a passing knowledge about the Alex Rider season 1 plot, even if it's just enough to get the references in the text conversation.
Summary: Everyone needs to save for retirement. Some people need a lot of money to afford a lavish lifestyle, while others only want the bare necessities. A select few need enough money to afford an extensive security system.
Slight AU (Alternative Universe), characters acting slightly OOC (Out Of Character). Everyone's ages are changed to meet the setting.
This is posted on the two-week anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's death since. I hoped people's grief would have diminished since.
Warning: If you're still grieving Queen Elizabeth's death, are a royalist, are particularly fond of your country's head of state, or are a weapons nerd (any weapon stuff mentioned are the results of a Google session), I wouldn't recommend reading this. If you ignore this warning, read this fic, and still leave a nasty review/comment about those parts of the fic… *shrugs*
Sorry, not sorry.
Saving for Retirement
He slipped past the "Closed For Maintenance" sign in front of the entrance to Big Ben (there was maintenance due to begin on Friday, but the sign was erected too early. Government inefficiency at its best), jogging lightly up the 334 steps and arriving at the top without shortness of breath. He opened the duffle bag he'd arranged to be left there and saw the gun he'd requested, with his preferred modifications. The Barrett M82's effective distance was 1800 metres, but he was less than 1000 from his target.
Yassen had been contemplating retirement for a while now. He had a bolthole underground in Russia built to his specifications (upon completion, everyone who'd worked on the project died within a month in various accidents, ranging from breaking their necks after falling down a flight of stairs to choking on their dinner. Habits can lead to your death), he had a new identity to fall back on, and he had enough money to live comfortably.
However, if he disappeared for too long, people would forget his reputation. They'd see him as "just another assassin"; they'd think they were better than him; they'd come after him looking to add another notch to their reputation.
If he wanted a quiet retirement, Yassen would need to cement his reputation as Someone Not To Be Messed With.
The money he'd earn from bounties would be a nice retirement bonus.
From his current elevation, he had a clear view into Westminster Abbey (a day after his source in the palace had told him they were concerned for the Queen's health, the stained glass windows had simultaneously shattered with no visible cause. Unfortunately, all English stained glass makers weren't available to take the commission, so they had to resort to clear glass) and the coffin containing the former Queen Elizabeth II. Idly musing that she had outlived many of her subjects, he looked through the Leupold Mark 4 telescopic sight, checking that everyone was sitting where they were supposed to, per the seating plan his source had got for him.
He'd need to be selective (most of the heads of state present had a bounty on them) - once Yassen took his first shot, they would be on alert. The glass would shatter, the security contingents would swarm, and he'd lose his chance. He needed to weigh up the ease of the shot, the bounty he'd collect, how many people would be in their security contingent, their escape routes, how fast they'd locate and try to shoot him, and how long it would take him to get away. No point going to all this trouble to collect bounties, only to not live long enough to collect them.
He put the camera over his scope, which would live stream the video (without affecting the clarity of his view) to forums on the dark web where the bounties were posted as proof of completion. The forums were set up so that, once the person who posted the reward agreed on their completion, funds were automatically transferred to the correct bank account. Yassen would filter the money through multiple accounts to hide the trail before it would end up in his retirement account.
After aiming at his first target, Yassen pressed the record button on the camera and pulled the trigger.
=
Kyra PB is online
Spy Boy
Hi Kyra
That shooting at the Queen's funeral
I wasn't there
Is your lot looking for the person who
did it?
No
Why?
Do you know who did it?
Someone on one of the dark web forums
They live streamed it
Collected a lot of money from bounties
Can you send it to me?
Why?
Curiosity
…
…
Fine
Click here
How do I know this is what
you say it is?
Don't you trust me?
Do you want an honest answer?
I'm hurt
You'll survive
Link
This one works
That makes it sound like the
previous one didn't
They both worked
Bye
Thanks
Kyra PB is offline
Alex had read the newspaper article. Everyone shot by the perpetrator died before they had time to reach the nearest hospital. Trying to guess who was responsible wasn't working out - they all had enemies who'd have been quite happy to see them dead (not that anyone was admitting that). Everybody was pointing fingers at everyone else.
Thankfully, the "bright sparks" at MI6 had realised he wouldn't be the best person to try and dig around. All active agents who hadn't been on an assignment had found themselves ordered to find employment within the heads of state's staff, hoping to find out who was responsible.
It seemed that, as usual, Alex's luck (and connections to a friendly hacker) would cause the answer to fall into his lap.
He clicked the link, hoping nothing bad would happen to his phone (he may be due an upgrade, but that wasn't an excuse to ruin his current one). It brought him to a video showing an old-fashioned website with two lists of names and numbers. After a second glance, Alex realised the numbers and words on the left side were cash amounts and probably people who someone wanted dead. The numbers on the right side also seemed to be cash amounts, but the names could be usernames.
The video had been streamed by an account whose username was Y and lasted less than five minutes. He plugged in his earphones, turned up the volume and pressed play.
The video pointed at Prince Andrew (who'd been one of the people shot) for three seconds, and a short pop was heard before the man seemed to fall to the ground before it panned away to the former Spanish King Juan Carlos I (another victim). The former king was rising to his feet before there was another pop, and it seemed his knees gave out on him as people were converging around him.
Alex paused the video, having just noticed a change in the lists of names and numbers. On the left side, the names P. Andrew, England and f. K. Juan Carlos, Spain had disappeared, and the cash amounts beside their names had transferred across the screen, added to the quantity beside Y. They had been ranked first on the right-side list (by a margin of 5 million), but the new change increased the lead by an extra 10 million.
He replayed the video from the start and noticed how, before Prince Andrew had been shot, the crowd of mourners had been calmly looking forward, presumably listening to a speech. After the man was shot, the group froze in apparent shock, allowing the shooter to get his second shot quickly despite the security detail's efforts. From then on, the security details surrounded the heads of state. The exit bottleneck allowed the shooter (with a series of pops) to kill P. Joe Biden, USA (15 million), P. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey (7 million), V. P. Wang Qishan, China (2 million), and P. Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea (1 million). The video watched the heads of state as they rushed with their security details to vehicles but didn't seem to take shots at any of them.
Alex whistled out loud. And they say crime doesn't pay, he mused. If the shooter managed to evade authorities, they had earned themselves 35 million (there wasn't a currency listed) in less than five minutes, bringing their balance to a total of 230 million.
The last minute of the video had a different purpose. The camera was taken off of its former perch (presumably on the end of a gun scope) and was pointed at the ground before it zoomed in on a piece of paper.
I'm retiring
The camera was swung around, and, before being pointed down a flight of stairs (up which the sound of footsteps was echoing), Alex could see enough to realise the shooter was in the Elizabeth Tower, which he found ironic. The people coming up the stairs were close enough that the camera could pick up their shouts of, "Hands up! Drop your weapon! Come down the steps!"
The shooter replied, but Alex wasn't concentrating on the words. The shooter was a man and had a slight accent. He had to replay the section of the video to register what the man had said, and felt a sense of deja vu when he heard, "Another time, maybe", before the video stopped.
Alex gaped at his phone for a solid minute before he burst out laughing, startling himself. He opened up his contact list, scrolled down to "Heartless Bastard", and paused, thumb hovering over the call option. When the screen went dark due to lack of interaction, he snorted before putting the phone in his pocket.
Yassen may have saved his life due to a perceived debt to John Rider, but doing so meant Alex owed him a debt. He decided that not informing Blunt who the shooter was would help pay back some of that debt.
=
In the modern era, most public buildings have CCTV. Most public transport, shops, embassies: all connected to the elusive Big Brother, watching tracking.
Yassen managed to avoid most forms of scrutiny by eschewing modern conveniences. He alternated between walking and jogging to the beach in Dover before he swam across the Strait of Dover. He was lucky enough to find a car with the keys still in the ignition in Calais, and he drove the vehicle (avoiding major roads since they were more highly policed and monitored) until it ran out of fuel in Vilnius, Lithuania. He hitchhiked his way southeast until he got close to his bolthole before he walked the last forty kilometres.
As he opened the trapdoor to his underground bolthole, Yassen reflected that he'd earned the right to a peaceful retirement. Everything belonging to Yassen Gregorovich would be given to Alex Rider due to his will. "Yassen Gregorovich" would die, and "Leo Tretyakov" would try for a peaceful retirement.
Not that he'd stop practising his shooting or martial arts.
He'd never know who might find him or what they'd want with him.
Críochnaithe
(A.N: I've never visited the dark web/net/whatever it's called. I have no idea what the etiquette is, nor do I know anyone who knows, so it's a lot of guesswork.)