Snakehead

organization—even a snakehead—needs a change of personnel from time to time. It keeps people on their toes. There were plenty of young lieutenants who deserved promotion. Yu would make a choice in due course.
    Much less welcome was the man sitting opposite him. It was very rare for two members of Scorpia to be seen together in public, but Zeljan Kurst had telephoned him and insisted on a meeting. Major Yu had suggested the Ritz, but now he felt it had been a mistake. The big Yugoslavian, with his bald head and wrestler’s shoulders, couldn’t have looked more out of place. And he was drinking mineral water! Who drank mineral water at four o’clock in the afternoon?
    “Why didn’t you report to us about the boy?” Kurst asked.
    “I didn’t think it was relevant,” Yu replied.
    “Not relevant?”
    “This is my operation. I have everything under control.”
    “That’s not what I’ve heard.”
    It didn’t surprise Yu that the executive board had learned about the destruction of the Chada Trading Agency and the death of Sukit. They were always watching each other’s backs, doubtless working out where to place the knives. It was sad that criminals weren’t the same anymore. No one trusted anyone.
    “We’re still not sure what happened last night,” Yu said. It might be teatime in England but it was midnight in Bangkok. “It’s not even clear the boy was responsible.”
    “This is Alex Rider,” Kurst snapped. “We underestimated him once before and it was an expensive mistake. Why haven’t you killed him already?”
    “For obvious reasons.” Yu’s hand hovered over another sandwich, but he changed his mind. He had rather lost his appetite. “I was aware of Alex Rider’s presence in Bangkok the moment he arrived,” he continued. “I knew they were coming—a boy and a man—even before they left.”
    “Who told you?”
    “That’s my secret, and I intend to keep it that way. I could have arranged to have had the Rider child gunned down at Suvarnabhumi airport. It would have been simple. But that would have told ASIS that I was aware of their plans. They already suspect I have inside information. This would have confirmed it.”
    “So what do you intend to do?”
    “I want to play with him. The fight at the arena was just the beginning, and there’s no real harm done. The place was falling down anyway. But if you ask me, the situation is quite amusing. Here’s the famous Alex Rider, dressed up as an Afghan refugee. He thinks he’s so clever. But I have him in the palm of my hand and I can crush him at any time.”
    “That was what Julia Rothman thought.”
    “He’s a child, Mr. Kurst. A very clever child, but a child all the same. I think you’re overreacting.”
    Something deadly flickered in Kurst’s eyes, and Yu made a mental note not to eat anything more. He wouldn’t put it past Scorpia to slip a radioactive pellet into an egg-and-cress sandwich. They had done it before.
    “We will be monitoring the situation,” Kurst said at length. “And I’m warning you, Major Yu, if we feel that things are getting out of hand, you will be replaced.”
    He got up and left.
    Yu stayed where he was, thinking about what had just been said. He suspected that Levi Kroll was behind this. The Israeli had been maneuvering to take over control of Scorpia ever since Max Grendel had retired. He had also volunteered for the Reef Island business. He would be itching to move in if Yu failed.
    He was not going to fail. Royal Blue had been thoroughly tested by Yu’s operatives in Bangkok. The detonation system had been adapted. And in just two days’ time it would set off on the next leg of its journey. All according to plan. But at the same time, Yu had decided to take out a little insurance. He and he alone would set off the bomb. He was the one who would take the credit for the worldwide devastation that would follow.
    But how to stop Kroll from seizing control?
    It was very simple. A little technological tinkering and nobody would be able to replace him. Yu smiled to himself and called for the bill.

    “I should never have let you go,” Ash exclaimed. “I can’t believe I let them do that to you.”
    It was one o’clock in the morning in Bangkok, and Alex and Ash were back in their room on the third floor.
    Alex had abandoned the ferry downriver on the other side of an ugly modern bridge. From there, he’d had to find his way across the city on foot, dripping wet, without money and