Alex opened the door, and walked into an office. To the normal eye, the office would have looked quite ordinary. But Alex knew better. The potted plant and lamp on the desk, the picture on the wall and the two-seater sofa all contained hidden secrets, not to mention the filing cabinet.
Smithers wasn't there when Alex arrived. Alex sat down on a chair in front of the desk, and waited. Then yelled as the chair glowed bright blue. Alex backed away, and at the same moment, the picture of an island on the wall suddenly flickered into life. The island vanished, and in its place was an extremely fat man. He smiled at Alex.
"Alex, old bean! Wonderful to see you, please come on down!" he said. The two-seater sofa in the corner moved. The two cushions slid aside and a third piece popped up. Alex stared at it suspiciously, before climbing reluctantly onto the third piece. There was a shudder, and the third piece started to descend.
The journey didn't take long. Alex stepped off of a sofa identical to the one directly above it. He was in a large room, much bigger than any of the offices he'd been in. Around him, about five people in white coats were working at long benches, building equipment, experimenting with chemicals and writing things down. At the back working on the only desk was an enormous man in a huge white coat. He smiled and beckoned Alex over.
"Hello, old chap! You're back again, for another round!"
"Hello, Mr Smithers," Alex said, but he couldn't help a small smile. "What have you got this time?"
"Well, I'm afraid its still the same, no weapons," Smithers said. "But I've bent a few rules in the past and I don't see why we can't do it this time," Smithers said leading Alex over to one of the many benches. This was the only one that didn't have equipment thrown over it. Smithers placed a large silver briefcase on it and flicked the locks. As he lifted the lid, Alex saw a glint of silver. It was a RM Laptop. Smithers took it out and flipped the lid.
"Now, primarily this is a contact device. It gives you direct contact with an agent on duty. It uses radio waves, and I've had to place a satellite in orbit around to earth for you to use it, which is why you couldn't have it before now. I would be grateful to have it back, it cost an absolute fortune!" He smiled. "To access it, all you have to do is click the Internet icon. You don't even need Internet connection!
"Now, of course if the worse should happen I've programmed a stun grenade that can be detonated from a distance." He took out a data stick from the suitcase. "There is a button on the back. Anyone within a five-meter radius will be severely stunned for at least ten minutes." Alex smiled.
"That seems familiar," he said.
"Yes, we used much the same principle for the Striker device in your mission to Skeleton Key. But we updated it with a radio device. Very useful." He put the laptop on the desk.
"What else? Ah yes." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a battered old suitcase. Spotting Alex's bewildered look, he said
"We've adapted this for you as well." He placed it on the desk.
"It may look battered but it is actually lined with steel. There are two combination locks, each with numbers going up to twenty. The combination is 15 for the first and 6 for the second. Then just flick the locks up. If they're done in the wrong order, a five-second countdown begins, and another stun device goes off. It also blows open the suitcase so you can fetch anything valuable from there before anyone else recovers."
"Is that all?" Alex asked.
"Just one more thing!" Smithers smiled. He took out a CD in a small box. Alex glanced down and took in the title: Key Stage 4 Maths.
"This'll come in handy," he said.
"Not in the way that you think," Smithers smiled. He flipped open the box and took out the CD. He pulled down on it with a pudgy finger and part of it slid out revealing a small tool.
"We call this the SNAG tool. One of my agents came up with it and you just extend the tool and place it in the lock. It snags all the tumblers and you can open the door. I understand you'll need it to get into Brace's flat."
"Thanks, Mr Smithers," Alex said. Smithers smiled.
"Look after yourself, dear boy!" he said. He strolled over to a cupboard and pushed a button on the side. The door opened and the back slid back to reveal a small staircase. Alex descended the stairs. He felt better already.