Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. Or the rest of them. So there.
It was a twelve hour flight to Colombia from London. First was a nine hour flight from Heathrow to Miami, where they'd switch planes and continue for three hours to El Dorodo in Bogota.
In terms of seating, they had three seats together in he middle, and then two seats together on the side. Without even discussing it, Wolf, Eagle, and Snake took the three middles. Alex took the window seat, and Fox too, the seat next to him.
Alex sat down, buckled in his seat belt according the flight attendant's instructions, and was asleep before the plane took off.
When he woke up five hours later, Snake was sitting next to him, and Fox had taken his spot.
He gave the soldier a sleepy hello, pulled out his ipod, and spent the next two hours spacing out, watching the ocean.
At that point, the operatives shuffled seats again. Alex suddenly realized that they'd been taking shifts, and that every three hours they all changed seats. Alex didn't bother wondering why he wasn't moving. Anyway, this time Eagle sat next to him.
Eagle talked a lot.
He started out babbling for forty-five minutes about some friend who had met a movie star on a plane once and they hooked up in the bathroom and when they came out the poperazzi were all over them and then she paid him ten thousand dollars to not go the tabloids but then the tabloids offered him fifty thousand dollars for his story...
He just went on and on and on.
But, eventually, the story ended, and Eagle found something else to talk about.
He pulled out a catalogue that Smithers had given him, for a knife company. Smithers had kindly circled the knives that he had hid in the gun box for the guys. Eagle went through all five, then asked Alex which knife he thought should go to which person.
Now that was actually fun. At least it was Eagle treating him like a "big kid" without the celebrity sex stories.
In the end, this was what they decided:
Snake would get the Cold Steel ODA CS38DAC, described in the catalogue as "Black epoxy powder coated high performance Carbon V steel blade with integral guard and handle Overall 11 7/8 in. Blade 7 in."
Wolf would get the AKC Combat MC3723, described as "Meyerco military knife model A. 440 stainless blade with a black non-glare finish. Black rubberized handle with black composition guard and pommel. Black molded composition sheath. 13 3/8 overall. 8 1/8 blade"
Eagle would get the Jungle Fighter CN210517, described as "Flat ground, textured finish, stainless steel blade. Black hard rubber handle with black finish steel guard. Lanyard hole. Black cordura belt sheath. Overall 13 7/8 in. , blade 8 ¾"
Fox would get the Rescue Tanto MT-113, described in the catalogue as "Lightweight, military style tanto knife. Phosphate coated, hollow ground 440 stainless steel blade. Semi-hard, grooved, hard polymer, rubber handle. Double stitched, nylon sheath. Overall 10 1/2 in. Blade 6 in"
And Cub would get the Bodyguard Special, described as "Black carbon steel single edge, spear point blade. Features textured Kraton Polymer rubber, non-slip handle. Comes with heavy canvas sheath and leg tie down strap. Round plastic pommel. Overall length 11 in. Blade 6 in. Handle 5 in "
Of course then Snake leaned across the aisle to start some sort of "my blade is bigger than yours" argument, and Alex pulled out the ipod again.
It was good to stretch his legs in Miami. Wolf looked around the terminal, trying to find something to do other than sit (again) during their forty-five minute layover.
He watched Fox and Eagle trying to get some girl's attention, and Alex watching them from the side, his ipod still on. Snake had settle down an opened up a book. Looked like one of his usual murder thrillers.
Wolf sighed and plopped down next to Snake.
The girl Fox and Eagle were flirting with (though without talking, it was very complicated) had long blonde hair, though whether it was natural or died was hard to tell. She was wearing a little red dress with yellow heels. She had started to drift off towards one of those airport bars.
Fox and Eagle glanced at each other, and followed her.
Snake closed his book and turned to Wolf.
"How're you doing?" Snake asked him.
"…Fine. Shouldn't I be?" Wolf asked, innocently.
"Oh, please. I heard your promise to the housekeeper, and don't think for a second that you're going to convince me that your particular word choice was coincidental. You don't fool me, Wolf"
Wolf sighed in defeat. He never could fool Snake, although it would have been nice if he had pretended that Wolf hadn't said those exact words.
It was times like these that he almost regretted telling Snake his story in the first place. .
"Would you believe me if I said it wasn't premeditated?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes, actually. I'd like to think that you aren't stupid enough to choose those words on purpose."
"It's just this mission. Sure, Colombia's a long way from Nicaragua, but it's the same continent. The same language. The same people…"
"Well, if we're lucky, we won't be seeing many people. This being a stealth mission and all." Snake drawled.
"Gee thanks, Snake." Wolf said dryly.
Snake got serious again. "Seriously, though. You gonna be okay?"
Wolf sighed. "Yeah. I've made the promise. Now I just have to make sure I don't make the same mistake.
A few chairs away, Alex wondered what the heck Wolf and Snake were talking about. He'd have asked, except that they thought his ipod was on.
Oh well.
Suddenly, Wolf stood up and looked around.
"Where's Fox and Eagle?"
Alex looked over to the bar.
Fox, Eagle, and the girl where gone.