Scorpia Rising

intolerable. I shall make an official complaint, Alex. They had no right to do that to you.”
    “It’s okay, Mr. Smithers. I’m all right now.” Alex shrugged. “Anyway, maybe Gunter really is going to take a shot at the secretary of state when she comes to Cairo. But as far as I can see, there’s nothing going on at Cairo College. I don’t have any need to be there. So I’m going home.”
    He took out his iPhone and laid it on the table.
    “I’m afraid this got completely ruined when it went into the Nile. But you might be able to get something out of it. I took pictures of all the stuff in Gunter’s desk. I still don’t know why he had a picture of a coat hook there. And there was also a brochure about a place called Siwa.” Alex stopped—then remembered. There was one other thing. “I managed to leave the bug behind.”
    “I know, Alex. I’ve been listening in to Mr. Gunter’s office all day, but so far he hasn’t said a single thing of any interest. In fact, he barely says anything at all.”
    “I’m sorry,” Alex said. “I haven’t really been very helpful to you this time.”
    “You shouldn’t apologize.” Smithers’s voice had changed. He was suddenly very serious, talking in a way that Alex had never heard before. And he got the strange feeling that this new voice didn’t belong to the man he had known for more than a year. It was as if he was seeing the real Smithers for the first time. “And what you just said now—about walking out on us—it’s complete stuff and nonsense. I’m glad you’re going. If you want the truth, I was always opposed to your getting involved in our business in the first place.”
    He paused, then continued more slowly.
    “I never spoke my mind because it’s not my job. I do what I’m told, like everyone else. But it was wrong . . . quite wrong, getting you involved. People think that being a spy is fun and exciting. Your uncle was a bit like that. It was all a big adventure as far as he was concerned . . . and look what happened to him. The truth is that spying is dirty, dangerous work and it’s quite unfit for a child who’s still at school. I won’t deny that you’ve been useful to us, Alex. But at what cost? You were very nearly killed at Liverpool Street—that was unforgivable—and you’ve spent a whole year surrounded by death and deception. Nobody should have asked you to do that.
    “So you’re absolutely right to be getting out now. I don’t know what’s happening here in Cairo, but I’ll tell you this. It’s got a very nasty smell. Leave it. Go home. And the next time Mr. Blunt or Mrs. Jones calls you, don’t pick up the phone. You should forget about us all.”
    Smithers stood up. Alex knew that in his own way he had just said good-bye. Permanently. Alex got up too and the two of them shook hands.
    And then the doorbell rang.
    “That’s very strange,” Smithers said. “I’m not expecting any visitors.”
    Alex followed him back out to the hall. Smithers snatched up the remote control that Alex had noticed earlier and pressed a button. At once, the royal family disappeared. Each gold frame contained instead a television screen with several views of the house, taken from different angles. The garden was empty but there was a man outside wearing a FedEx uniform, carrying a small parcel.
    Smithers moved over to the wall and spoke into a microphone close to the door. “What do you want?” he asked.
    “I’ve got a parcel for a Mr. Derek Smithers,” the man said.
    “I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment. Can you leave it outside?”
    “I’m sorry, sir. You have to sign for it.”
    “Just give me a minute.” He clicked the microphone off and turned to Alex. “I think we may be in trouble,” he said. “This is an MI6 safe house. I designed it myself. But nobody knows I’m here, certainly not any parcel delivery companies.”
    “Who do you think . . . ?” Alex looked at the screen, at the man waiting outside.
    “Let’s take a closer look.”
    The buttons on the remote control were almost too small for his pudgy fingers, but he chose another one and pointed the device at the TV screen. The image flickered and changed. Now the man in the FedEx uniform had become a gray-and-white ghost of himself. Alex remembered the mirrored panels he had seen. That must be where the X-ray cameras were hidden. And they revealed two things. The box that the man was delivering was empty. And he was carrying a gun. The