Chapter 14, betrayal confirmed
Mrs. Jones felt very tire. The day had been normal until Alex, Yassen and Ivana had blown up half an apartment complex. Wearily, she looked around, taking stock of her surroundings. Blinking, she sat still and listened to the men before her. Wolf and Smithers. Together, they vaguely reminded her of a comedy double act. Wolf, fit and militarily mannered. Smithers, enormously fat and cheerful. Not today though. Today, no one was smiling. Wolf did his best to soften the tense atmosphere.
"I see no reason to worry; my men understood their instructions perfectly. Bring all three of them in."
Smithers joined in.
"Exactly! With the equipment I gave them, it should be easy. I even worked on their cars myself."
Unwilling to believe it, Mrs. Jones let herself fall into a pessimistic mood. As if to prove her right, a nervous man entered the room.
"Yes George, what is it?" She asked, dreading what news the messenger carried.
"Mr. Blunt told me to give you this." He laid a CD on her desk and left hastily.
"Shall I?" Wolf asked, picking the disc up. Mrs. Jones nodded and turned to watch the screen behind her. She was watching a chase shot from a dashboard camera. Even without seeing the occupants, Mrs. Jones knew that Alex and the other two were in the silver Mercedes. With a growing sense of horror, she watched as any doubt of Alex's betrayal was swept away. He and Ivana destroyed her retrieval team in less then five minutes. Finally, the tape blacked out as the car it was being shot from crashed into a wall. Mrs. Jones let out a mental groan. Alex had just made himself that much more of an enemy to MI6. She saw her own misery mirrored on the faces of the two men. Whilst Smithers looked distraught, Wolf looked angry.
"Gentlemen, I believe we all agree that something has to be done about this."
Smithers didn't answer, thinking of the countless gadgets he'd made for the boy. Wolf spoke though.
"I can hardly believe this of Cub, even during the Venice incident he could never turn completely."
Mrs. Jones shook her head slowly, remembering Alex in her apartment with a gun.
"To be honest, Blunt and I think that ever since Scorpia Alex's been going crooked, a little bit at a time."
Smithers surprised them all by speaking unexpectedly.
"I understand Alex being in all this, but how did Ivana get involved?"
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Mrs. Jones answered.
"Alan and I think that after Deadpoint, she realized what we'd done. A few months later some of the hardcopy files in the vaults were stolen."
Wolf looked annoyed.
"I don't know why we risk hardcopy files, we barely use them anyway."
Mrs. Jones nodded and continued her speech.
"We all know Ivana and what she must have felt once Deadpoint was over. She's joined up with Yassen because she knows she can get revenge that way."
Smithers cocked an eyebrow,
"She joined up with him only because of that? Ivana doesn't know any more about Yassen then that?"
Mrs. Jones nodded.
"Yes, she has no clue. I think we're the only ones who really know about those two."
Wolf's mood darkened at the mention of the Russian girl.
"I don't know why we ever brought her into MI6 in the first place."
Mrs. Jones glanced at him sharply.
"The same reason we brought Alex Rider in, they're both trained and useful."
Grunting sourly, the man asked the obvious question.
"What do we do now?"
Smiling wanly, Mrs. Jones answered hollowly.
"What we can, wait for an opportunity."
Smithers frowned.
"Knowing Alex, that 'opportunity' will be hard come by."