Ark Angel

for you if there had been no mistake. Perhaps the loss of one finger might have been the easier way.”
    Silver Tooth was grinning. Spectacles nodded gravely.
    “Take him back to his room,” Kaspar commanded. “I will make the necessary enquiries. And then we’ll meet again.”

FIRE ESCAPE

    It was late afternoon when the door opened and Combat Jacket came in. Alex guessed that he had been in the room for eight hours. He had been allowed out once to use a chemical toilet, and at around midday he had been given a sandwich and a drink by an unsmiling Spectacles. The sandwich had been two days past its sell-by date and still in the plastic wrapping, bought from a garage. But Alex wolfed it down hungrily.
    Combat Jacket had been sent to fetch him. He led Alex back down the corridor to the flat where the interrogation had taken place, his face with its ugly, broken nose giving nothing away. There was something about the whole set-up that Alex didn’t understand. Kaspar had told him they were freedom fighters—eco-warriors or whatever. They were certainly fanatics. The tattoos were ample proof of that. But the way they were treating him, the threats, the demands for money, seemed to belong to a different world.
    They talked about pollution and the ozone layer; but they acted like thugs and common criminals. They had killed the night receptionist for no good reason. They seemed to have no regard at all for human life.
    By now, Alex guessed, they must know the truth. So what were they going to do with him? He remembered what Kaspar had said and clamped down on his imagination. Instead, he searched for a way to break out of here. It wasn’t going to be easy. The four men had already tested him once. They knew what he was capable of. They weren’t going to give him a second chance.
    Kaspar was waiting for him. There was a newspaper on the table in front of him but no sign of the knife.
    Spectacles and Silver Tooth were standing behind him. As Alex sat down, Kaspar turned the newspaper round. It was the Evening Standard and the front-page headline told the whole story in just three words. Wrong boy kidnapped. Nobody was talking, so Alex quickly read the article. There was a photograph of St Dominic’s Hospital but no picture of him or Paul Drevin. That didn’t surprise him. He remembered reading somewhere that Paul’s father—Nikolei Drevin—had managed to get an embargo on any photos of his family being published, claiming it was too much of a security risk. And, of course, MI6
    would have prevented any picture of Alex being used. He didn’t even get a mention by name.
    A security guard was murdered in the small hours of the morning during a ruthless attack on a north London hospital. It seems almost certain that the intended target of the gang was fourteen-year-old Paul Drevin, son of one of the world’s richest men, Russian businessman Nikolei Drevin. Drevin made the headlines earlier this year when he bought Stratford East Football Club. He is also the guiding light behind the hundred billion pound Ark Angel project—the first hotel in space.
    In an astonishing development, police have confirmed that the gang managed to kidnap the wrong boy.
    This other boy, who has not been named, was discovered to be missing from his room following major surgery. Speaking from the hospital, Dr Roger Hayward made an urgent plea for the boy’s fast return. His condition is said to be stable but serious.
    Alex looked up. Kaspar seemed to be waiting for him to speak. “I told you,” he said. “So why don’t you let me go? I’ve got nothing to do with this. I was just next door.”
    “You got involved on purpose,” Kaspar said.
    “No.” Alex denied it but his mouth was dry.
    “You switched room numbers. You answered to the name of Paul Drevin. You crippled one of my men and injured the others.”
    Alex said nothing, waiting for the axe to fall.
    “I don’t understand why you chose to become involved,” Kaspar went on. “I don’t know who you are. But you made your decision. You chose to become an enemy of Force Three and so you must pay.”
    “I didn’t choose anything.”

    “I’m not going to argue with you. I am fighting a war and in any war there are casualties—innocent victims who just happen to get in the way. If it makes it any easier, think of yourself as one of them.” Kaspar sighed but there was no sadness in the map of his face. “Goodbye, Alex Rider. It was a pity that we had to meet. It has