Crocodile Tears

Christianity?”
    “ So he claims—and to be fair, his charity, First Aid, has done some very good work. But after what Alex has told us …”
    “ Of course.” This time, Blunt was going to believe everything Alex had said. After all, as much as it embarrassed him to admit it, the boy had been right in the past and MI6 had been proved wrong. “Is there any link between McCain and this man Leonard Straik?” he asked.
    “ None that we’ve been able to find.”

    “ What do we know about McCain’s movements in the past five years?”
    “ I’m having a report prepared. It’ll be on your desk this afternoon.”
    Blunt broke the crust on his pie and examined the contents. The food at the Mandarin Club was not good, but the members liked it that way. It reminded them of school. “I have to say, I’m quite worried about all this,” he said. “I always had a feeling that the department would have to turn its attention to GM food one day. There are people out there doing things that half the world doesn’t even understand.”
    “ We are what we eat.” Mrs. Jones had lost her appetite. She put down her knife and fork.
    “ That was why I was interested in Mr. Straik. And if he’s working hand-in-hand with McCain, that’s certainly alarming. We need to know what the two of them are up to.”
    “ What about Alex?” Mrs. Jones asked.
    “ As usual, Alex has done an extremely good job. We really are going to have to make sure we recruit him full-time after he finishes college. He’s already shown himself to be more resourceful than a great many of our adult agents.” Blunt stuck his fork into the pie and pulled out a piece of rather fatty meat covered in thick brown gravy. “But as far as this business is concerned, he’s no longer involved. Maybe you should drop him a note, Mrs. Jones. We’ve treated him badly in the past, but perhaps we could send him a brief thank-you? And maybe we should enclose a bag of candy.”
    Alan Blunt began to eat his lunch. He was still puzzled about the mushroom soup, but his department would work on it. That was the important thing. In the meantime, Alex Rider was already out of his mind.

Chapter 16: SPECIAL DELIVERY

    ALEX COULD TELL JACK was in a bad mood. She had made the breakfast as she did every morning
    —boiled eggs for him, fruit and muesli for her. There had been a freshly ironed jacket waiting for him in his room. But she had stamped around the kitchen in silence, and when she had loaded the dishwasher, she had slid the plates in as if she had a personal grudge against them.
    He knew what had upset her. “Jack,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
    “ Are you?” She lifted up the toaster and wiped away imaginary crumbs.
    “ I am. Really.”
    Jack turned around and let out a sigh. She could never stay angry for long and they both knew it. “I just don’t understand you sometimes,” she said. “We both agreed that Greenfields wasn’t your business.
    You did what you were told and you were lucky to get out alive. So what on earth did you think you were up to?”
    “ I don’t know.” Alex thought for a moment. “I just felt angry after being told off by Mr. Bray. And I thought, if I could only find out what McCain was doing …”
    “ What exactly is he doing?” Jack sat down at the table. “You say there was a film set, an African village. But why? What’s the point?”
    “ I’ve been thinking about that. McCain runs a charity. First Aid. They have appeals all over the world.
    Maybe that’s his plan. He wants to raise money for something that hasn’t happened.”
    “ A fake charity appeal.”

    “ Exactly. He shows a film of some village that doesn’t exist. People send in money. He gets to keep it.”
    Jack thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head. “It wouldn’t work, Alex. These days, everything is on TV or in the newspapers. People would find out soon enough if it wasn’t true.”
    “ Can you think of anything else?”
    “ No. But I think we should go back to MI6 and leave it to them this time.” She glanced meaningfully at him. “Okay?”
    Alex smiled. “That’s what I’d already decided,” he said. “Do you mind going back?”
    “ Of course not,” Jack replied. “I’m beginning to wonder where this is all going to end. You go to a party in Scotland and you end up at the bottom of a lake. A school field trip almost lands you in the hospital. And now this!” She took one of Alex’s toast slices and bit it in