"You're to be briefed on the situation, Rider," Porter said. "Don't force me to make you listen."
"Porter – ," Alex began.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Porter," said a familiar voice in a tired tone.
Alex turned brusquely to see who had interrupted him and his jaw dropped.
Chapter SixA New Mission
"Hello there, Rider," Mandy said. Her tone was playful as opposed to scathing as she said this. She looked different out of her Brookland uniform, although she was still dressed rather formally. She was wearing a black blazer over a lavender button up blouse and a matching black skirt. On her feet were sensible shoes and her hair was pulled up in a loose bun. She looked like a miniature secretary. "You know, it isn't very polite to stare," she said to Alex as he took this all in.
Alex closed his mouth, but still gazed at Mandy in bewilderment.
Mandy turned to Porter. "Has he been briefed yet?"
"I was hoping you could do that, as I am only aware of the general situation. You know all the particulars."
"Consider it done."
"Now I have some business I need to attend to. I trust that you will do a thorough job. Byrne does speak so highly of you. I trust his judgment, even if he's a bloody yank."
"How nice," Mandy replied with pleasant sarcasm. Porter nodded and left, and Mandy sat behind his desk.
There was an awkward silence as Mandy gazed at Alex expectantly. What was he supposed to say? Maybe he was supposed to say something witty like how much she looked like a strict little schoolteacher, but at the moment, he couldn't. Alex felt much too disoriented. "What – how – did – huh?" he stuttered incoherently.
"I suppose that's code for why am I here?" Mandy said calmly.
Alex said nothing. He did glare, however.
Sighing, the girl continued. "Well, I guess we'll have to start at the beginning of that one. Do you recall, during the early days of your stay at the safe haven hospital in Scotland, that you were asked to accept a mission concerning a rather gifted engineer designing a sensitive mechanism and a plot to kidnap and hold hostage his child?"
Alex nodded.
"That's where my career as a spy began," Mandy said. "And yes, I am a spy. Be patient, as this does pertain to you as well.
"Silver Crown, the organization that took the engineer Mr. Oliver Richardson, moved their operation from their United Kingdom roots to U.S. ground when they found out that the British MI6 was onto them. The British didn't catch on to this move until a month or so later, but there were others watching the moves of the Silver Crown. The CIA decided to follow the British plan (when, of course, the CIA and MI6 finally got their communications across) and sent in a kid."
Alex scoffed.
"Yes?" Mandy asked, a hint of the old familiar maliciousness in her voice.
"Let me guess," Alex said. "That kid was you?"
"No," Mandy said patiently. "They sent in, oddly enough, another 14 year old boy. Apparently, they were experimenting with the idea of training a kid spy; after Byrne saw what success you had here for England. Unfortunately, an unknown informant compromised him and it was necessary that he be extracted, before he had found out exactly what was going on. The plan was to get both Banks and Richardson out.
"I was part of the extraction team solely because I was a native to the town and knew my way around the compound. My father worked there before he disappeared four months ago."
Alex thought over this. "What happened to Richardson and that kid?"
"Banks is in his hometown awaiting further orders," Mandy said. She took a deep breath before saying, "Richardson was shot as he was getting into the helicopter. He died almost immediately."
"Obviously you didn't do your job correctly," Alex said, and immediately regretted it. Her expression didn't change much; she didn't turn pale, and she didn't raise her voice. But Alex saw subtle changes in her demeanor, like how her right hand clenched slowly into a fist, and her left hand, which had been twirling a pen idly as she told her story, clamped its fingers around the pen, which then became ominously still. For a moment, Alex was sure she was going to stab him with that pen. She did not seem angry, yet, in everything that she did not do, she emanated fury.
And why shouldn't she be angry? Alex thought to himself. I just told her it was her fault that Richardson was killed.
Still, Alex didn't apologize. Instead he said, "Do you know why Richardson was abducted?"
Unclenching her fist slowly, Mandy said, "Our preliminary investigation led us to believe that the Silver Crown was after a GPS guided mechanism that would allow one to control any form of transportation from a computer, which was the project that Richardson was working on at the time of his abduction. Banks, the CIA agent, informed us that if the Silver Crown wanted to control transportation, than there would be no reason for them to spend so much time and money on neurology. His mission was compromised before he was able to gather further information."
"So," Alex said, "Richardson was also a specialist on the brain?"
"Among other things," Mandy said primly. "Richardson was designing a sort of machine for the CIA some 10 years ago that involved the study of the brain. The project was abandoned when it neared completeion. The CIA refuses to disclose further details to MI6. Obviously, it must have been something shady. Even too much for its own agents, like Banks and myself, to have their delicate ears exposed to."
"Wait, the CIA?" Alex asked. "I thought Richardson was British."
"He was," Mandy said, a hint of sadness in her voice for some reason. "He moved to America at the age of ten, became a citizen, and married an American neurologist when he was getting his career started in scientific engineering about 20 years ago. The CIA recruited his wife and shortly after Richardson became an NSA agent. A few years after that they began the project. Mrs. Richardson disappeared at about the same time the CIA pulled the plug on the machine, no pun intended. Shortly after, Richardson shipped himself off to Britain."
"So I'd be dealing with people who would be happy to mess with my brain?" Alex said.
"Potentially, yes," Mandy said.
"And who caused you to move across the second largest ocean in the world to gain a new identity?"
"It wasn't as big a move as you make it out to be," Mandy said coldly. "It is a small world."
Ignoring her, Alex said, "Well, now, more than ever, I'm out."
"Excuse me?" Mandy asked, her voice sounding dangerously like it could turn into a growl any given second.
Alex stood his ground. "I am not putting myself in danger of having to start a new life," he said. "Sorry, but mine's screwed up enough as it is. So thanks, but no thanks."
Mandy stood and moved swiftly to block his way.
"Let me go," Alex said. "We both would rather spend the least amount of time possible in each other's company, so let me pass." Alex tried to go around her, but she was watchful to his every move and amazingly quick. "Let me go!" he repeated.
"No," Mandy said calmly.
"Why not?"
"You have to do this mission," Mandy said. "You will do this mission."
"And why should I?" Alex found himself yelling. "I never asked for this! Why me? Why, in God's name, did I ever have to be mixed up in this business? Because of my uncle? My father? I never wanted to be a spy! Why should it be me?"
"Why should it be anyone, Alex?" Mandy yelled back. "Don't ask me why we have to do this, because you already know. It's our duty to our countries, our obligation to the world. This is our job."
"Well it shouldn't be!" Alex shouted.
"No, it shouldn't!" Mandy yelled, but stopped short. It seemed like she wanted to continue, but had just realized what she had just said.
They both became quiet. Alex was breathing heavily, but Mandy was trembling.
"Somebody has to do this job," Mandy said quietly.
"Yeah, but why us?" Alex said, calmer than he had been.
Mandy shrugged. "Because we can. There are people out there whose lives depend on us. Pressure, I know," she said when she saw the look on Alex's face. "Pressure we don't need. But could you honestly live with yourself if you did nothing? If you did nothing, and you knew that you could have? You were thrown into this world of covert actions and evil plots to take over the world. I know that, I understand how you feel, but deal with it. One of these days, you'll realize that the things you want aren't as important as what they are asking you to fight for."
Anger bubbled up once more and Alex found himself indignant. "My life isn't important? Does my own happiness not matter? Yes! I know that's selfish of me – but I don't want to spend my life living for other people. I can't do it! It hurts too much, I suffer too much, and I don't even get credit for anything I do. I don't get any 'thank you's' or even medals – I don't get anything but a report that says I saved the world. Big deal. I am still responsible for the deaths of I don't know how many people – even if they were criminals. I miss out on sections of my life that I am never going to get back. Then they call me out to do it again, in appreciation for what I've done before. If they wanted to thank me they would leave me alone. But they don't. I'm having serious doubts as to if they ever will. I lose every way."
Mandy shook her head. "Of course being a spy is a thankless job. But many other careers are the same. As for a reward, you can take satisfaction in knowing that people are still alive because of you. You can find solace in compassion for the world. You can take comfort in knowing that you did the right thing.
"You say you lose every way, but that's because you choose to lose. You choose not to see all the ways in which you've won the game of life. In all your adventures, you've always done the right thing. Why is that? It's because you are a good person and that deep down, you believe in the cause that you fight for – even if you say that it is unwillingly. You believe in the potential of the world to be good, otherwise you wouldn't try so hard and succeed so much.
"Believe it or not Alex, you like what you do. You may not like why you do it, according to you – blackmail, or what it does to your life, but doing the right thing and giving into whatever altruism you possess . . . you like it. All of your anger isn't directed at MI6 for what they've done to your life. You're angry with yourself because you care and because it's ultimately you who makes the choice to decide your destiny. And you're angry that your destiny seems to be living for other people, and fighting unseen battles of glory.
"Don't give me crap about wanting your life back the way it was. You know very well that even if you could, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself because of the possibility that someone somewhere needed for you to be there. You've got quite the hero complex, you know."
"Excuse me?"
"Come on, I've read your file," Mandy said. "You beat up three boys who were older than you and in a whole different weight class just to protect a stranger, or a boy who was a stranger then. You dump a couple of drug dealers in the middle of a police station building because they were dealing to some of your friends. You spend weeks chasing after Damian Cray because he tried to kill Sabina Pleasure's father. You're a natural hero. Don't tell me you'd like to give that part of yourself up."
Alex couldn't think of a reply. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He may feel unwilling to risk his life because MI6 asked him to, but he didn't regret anything he accomplished while his life was in danger. He did have a choice. Maybe it wasn't whether or not he went on these impossibly dangerous ventures, but he could choose how he felt about them. His bitterness and anger were justified, but he took no enjoyment in feeling that way. Perhaps … perhaps …
Suddenly Alex remembered something someone had said to him. "A job worth doing." It was a job worth doing. But did he have any courage left to do it? Alex remained quiet, stalling for time. He wasn't actually going to accept this girl's offer? Was he?
"So are you in or out?" Mandy asked.
Alex took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. After another moment or so of silence, he looked her in the eyes and said, "I'm in."
"Good," Mandy said. "The investigation is going to take place in a city in the states. You're to be the British agent on the job, because MI6 didn't trust the CIA to get the job done alone after … after our failure to retrieve useful information.
"I understand you're a black belt in karate?" Mandy said.
"Yes, I am."
"That's fortunate because you're registered as a fighter," Mandy said.
"Excuse me?"
"You're enrolled in a school funded by the Silver Crown, which is nearby the facility that we believe is where they are finishing up what Richardson started. The school is one made for young prodigies, all of them orphans. The CIA has reason to believe that there's more to the training of these kids than just guitar playing and impressionist painting."
"How do they figure?"
"Who knows?" Mandy said. "Brainwashing. Messing with memories. Psychiatric means of torture. Manipulation of the brain. It could be anything – they did have Richardson for three months (he went missing for a month before MI6 bothered to ask you whether or not you wanted to go get him), and three months for Richardson was plenty of time for him to design something new. And with the threat that his child was in Silver Crown custody would have spurred him to greater heights."
"Okay," Alex said, nodding. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"I'll be there."
After Alex left the building to inform Jack of his departure the next morning, Porter reentered his office to find Mandy scowling.
Porter saw the look on her face as she came in and smiled sadly. "For a moment there, I actually thought you had some sympathy for the boy." She gave him the evil eye but he was unfazed. "That's too bad, since you're going to have to play nice for at least another week. But I'm wondering; how can you have given such an impassioned speech without meaning just a little of it?"
She smiled sarcastically. "I guess I'm just a wonderful actress. What's this bull about playing nice?"
Porter raised an eyebrow at her language, but he shrugged it off. He understood the reasons for the attitude. "Would you like him asking me questions about why you're being hostile towards him? Would you like him to request to go on this mission alone? I also notice you didn't tell him that you were going with him to California."
Mandy crossed her arms. "First of all, you can't answer his questions for confidentiality purposes."
"You're not in America anymore, Meg. I have all authority on that area. It is only by my good grace that Alex doesn't already know."
"Whatever," Mandy shrugged indifferently. "Secondly, I would actually like for him to go on this mission alone. If he's so good that he has to come with me, he could very well do it himself."
Porter raised both his eyebrows at this. "I'm sorry," he said with mock astonishment. "I was under the impression that you personally wanted justice. I guess I was wrong. And if I was wrong about that, I suppose I was wrong about your desire to seek complete justice. I thought you wanted the job done, and the job done right. I thought you wanted to finish what was started. Was I wrong?"
Mandy was silent.
She sighed. "No, you weren't wrong," she said.
Porter felt a little relieved. It was bad enough he had to send kids at all to do this. They weren't chaperoned, but at least they weren't all alone. They had each other. What was better, they hated each other. Porter could barely believe it himself, but in this day and age, that was a definite positive.
"But I'm not going to pretend to be nice," Mandy continued. "I won't compromise the mission, but to force me to be pleasant with Alex Rider would just be cruel and unusual punishment. You know that."
Porter felt his mouth go dry. He nodded curtly.
Mandy was about to leave when he said, "I'm sorry you had to be involved at all."
She turned to face him and shrugged. "It's not your fault. At least, not most of it."
"Fortunately for me," Porter said with a small smile.
"Yes, very fortunate," Mandy said, grinning back.
A/N: Oooh, intrigue! Haha. So, how did you like their conversation? Did it give you a little more insight into just who Mandy is? Oh yeah, do you get now why Mandy mattered? Don't worry – she's not the useless character she seems in this chapter. She's vital to the plot in more ways than one. And pay close attention to that last scene between Mandy and Porter. That whole thing about complete justice ties into the mission, as well as her loathing for Alex. So here is another set of questions you should be asking:
How/why did Mandy's father disappear?
Who are the kids in this school? Why are they there?
Who is this "Banks" character and what order is he waiting for?
Where is Richardson's real child?
Why should being nice to Alex be cruel and unusual punishment for Mandy?
Is Mandy being completely honest with Alex?
Who is the fourth Rider? This was hinted at in the first chapter
Oh, and Banks is actually Agent Cody Banks. I only put that in because I knew about the movie Agent Cody Banks before I knew about the Alex Rider books. That's the trouble about living in America. The Alex Rider books showed up in my local Border's about a year and a half after the second Agent Cody Banks movie came out, so yeah, kind of retarded. My Cody Banks, however, isn't the exact character from the movies, though. He does kind of look like Frankie Muniz, but perhaps taller. My Cody Banks has a whole different back-story. I just liked the name, so I used it.