Sorry for the delay, but I finally got chapter seven up and running. In this chapter, poor Alex is sent into Inkheart's base, where he will have a few nasty suprises waiting for him. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Saynt Jimmy, who has reviewed every chapter. Keep em coming!

Dartemis

The Boeing Lion Air 737 transported Tamara and Alex across the ocean towards France. Alex remembered now, with his teeth chattering with the vibration, what Mrs Jones had said:

"Inkheart is split into many branches. Each branch handles different operations. It's the height of organized crime. Each operation can be in any country, but it can't take place at in the same country as the branch that is performing it. The Chimera branch is in France, which is where you're going now. You have to infiltrate it, and sabotage the Chimera software. All of it.

"It will be dangerous, so I'm sending in a crack team of agents to help. The CIA, SAS, FBI and Special Operations have put together twenty-four of our best agents. If you need a distraction or just some extra men, push the alert button on your suit. It'll send out a signal. The agents will enter and help."

MI6 had given Alex a jet-black suit. On the front, there was a small button on the breast pocket. If he pressed it, a team of agents would come sailing in. Tamara had an American one. She loaded her gun, and slipped it into a holster. Alex sighed. MI6 still hadn't given him a gun, and Smithers hadn't given him any harmful gadgets. Apart from the data stick. Smithers had said it was a stun grenade. Alex had slipped it into the breast pocket of his suit. He and Tamara were going down in a unique way.

"T minus one minute," said the pilot. Alex looked around the plane as he got up. He observed the twenty-four agents cramped around him, checking their guns, making sure everything was ready. Alex walked over to the wall, and took a large sheet of metal off the rack. It was shaped a bit like a board, though decidedly more rectangular. Tamara took her one off and followed Alex over to the hatch. One of the soldiers opened it for them. The howl of the wind trampled round the small room. Alex checked his parachute was on his back, and waited for the all clear. A red light turned green. The soldier signaled Tamara. She nodded, looking sick, and seized her board firmly. She shuffled to the hatch and jumped out. Alex looked at the soldier. He nodded, and Alex walked to the edge, holding his board. He swayed, then launched himself forward.

The boards were small gliders, used recently by the SAS to get into unknown locations from the air. Alex descended, trying not to hold his breath. He had pulled his oxygen mask over his face, but he was still finding it difficult to breathe. He fell through the clouds, and after a second of complete confusion, was in the clear sky. He could see France. It was about eleven o'clock and the sky was heavy with rain. Alex pulled a lever on the glider and two wings shot out, sapping into place. They slowed his decent slightly, but he was still falling very fast. There was about five hundred feet to go. Alex pushed the cable release on the cable that attached him to the glider and pulled the parachute tag. The glider fell away, splashing into the sea. Alex's parachute blossomed above him. He took a moment to get his bearings. Tamara's parachute was right beneath him, drifting over the abandoned warehouse that Mrs Jones had insisted was Inkheart's base of operations. Alex pulled the toggles until he was right over it. He watched Tamara land. He followed carefully, landing right next to her. The top of the warehouse thudded into his legs, and the shock traveled up his body. Tamara was gasping next to him. Alex cut loose his parachute, and collapsed onto the floor.

After a moment, Alex regained his breath and sat up. Rain dripped down his face. Tamara was bent double, breathing heavily. Slowly, she sat up.

"Never, ever again," she spat, lifting her parachute into the middle of the building so that it didn't hang down the side and give away their position.

"Come on," Alex said standing up. He still felt a bit faint. Something was thundering around his brain, desperate to get out.

The warehouse was about ten floors, a wide gray building with a tall fence surrounding it. Signs were fixed along the fence:

DANGER

KEEP OUT

All of the windows were blacked out, and the gate was locked with a heavy chain. Alex and Tamara crept to the edge of the roof and peeked over the edge. They had to find a way in. Cars could be heard zooming along the motorway a hundred meters away. The streets around the warehouse were deserted, but Mrs Jone's information had paid off.

An hour after their landing, Tamara and Alex observed a white van. The van trundled along the side of the warehouse and turned right along the road behind the building. It stopped, the driver appearing to speak to someone on his mobile phone. Then, something impossible happened. The pavement on either side of the van started to move upwards. Alex blinked, to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. Then he understood. The pavement wasn't moving. The road was. Part of the middle of the road was carrying the van down, under the warehouse. It reached the bottom, the van drove off of the piece of road and the lift began to ascend again. In no time at all, the road was back where it should be. And all without a sound. Alex smiled. It reminded him of his mission Eagle Strike. He had infiltrated a secure compound by clinging to a van with magnets. This would probably be easier. It would work. He was sure of it.