were watching the same sunset. Some of them were on their way home from work. Some were tucking children into bed. In pubs, in cars, on the beaches, wherever . . .
they were simply edging toward the end of another day.
And none of them knew that inch by inch, the bomb known as Royal Blue was already making its way down the pipe that would carry it to the seabed and below. That the sun and the moon were moving, inexorably, into an alignment that wouldn’t happen again for another century. And that a madman was waiting to press the button that would unleash chaos on the world.
Five hours until midnight.
And in an army camp south of Darwin, Alex Rider gave his answer and the final preparations began.
22
D R A G O N N I N E
E T H A N B R O O K E H A D H A N D P I C K E D ten soldiers from the Australian SAS for his assault team, and at least some of them needed no introduction. As Alex joined them in the hanger that was going to be used as a briefing room, he saw Scooter, Texas, X-Ray, and Sparks waiting for him, and suddenly he was back where this had all begun, on the beach near Swanbourne. He wasn’t sure if he should be glad or annoyed to meet up with them again.
Scooter was equally uncomfortable. “I’m really sorry about that trick we pulled on you, Alex,” he said. “We all felt bad about it. But we had our orders . . .”
“Colonel Abbott asked us to pass on a message,” Texas added. “No hard feelings. And if you ever come back to Swanbourne, we’ll throw a proper Aussie barbecue.”
“With no hand grenades,” Alex muttered.
“You got it.”
Alex looked at the other soldiers. None of them seemed to be older than twenty-four or twenty-five, meaning there was an age gap of just ten years between him and them. Maybe that was why all of them had accepted him. Like Alex, they had changed into night combat gear. A couple of them carried balaclavas. The rest had painted their hands and faces black.
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S N A K E H E A D
The hanger was vast and empty. A blackboard had been placed in the middle with a row of metal benches.
Alex sat down next to Ben. The others took their places with Scooter facing them in front of the board. Once again, he seemed to be in charge. Scooter was looking tired. He seemed to have grown a lot older since Swanbourne—or maybe it was just that he knew how much was at stake. “We haven’t got a lot of time,” he began. “Nor do we have much of a plan . . . so this won’t take long.
“We’re parachuting in from about eight thousand feet.
I know a boat would have been easier and less conspicu-ous, but by the time we got there it would all be over. Anyway, it’s always possible our friend Major Yu has radar.” He turned to the blackboard. Someone had taped up what could have been an engineer’s drawing of two oil rigs—one square, the other triangular, joined by a narrow bridge. Each of the rigs had three cranes and one of them had a helicopter pad, represented by a square in a circle. Scooter picked up a stick, which he used as a pointer.
“All right—listen up!” He tapped the picture. “This is what we
351
In case you’re wondering, each one of them is about a mile long.”
“What happens if they break?” someone asked.
“Nothing much. The whole thing will float away, like a ship without an anchor. At least that’s something we don’t have to worry about.” He pointed again. “The processing platform is on the left. Dragon Nine isn’t in production, so the whole area will be quiet—and that’s where we’re going to start. We’ll land on the helicopter pad. You’ll recognize it because it’s got this big letter H . . .” Scooter turned his attention to the square-shaped rig.
“This is the drilling platform,” he continued. “Once we’ve assembled and checked everyone’s there, we’ll make our way across the bridge, heading for the main derrick . . . that’s the metal tower over the well hole. And that’s where we’re going to find Royal Blue. Our friend Major Yu will be using some sort of system—maybe guide wires— to lower it down to the seabed.”
“So let’s blow it up,” X-Ray growled.
“It’s our first target,” Scooter agreed. “The power unit will be our second. But we can’t take anything for granted. Yu could just as easily be using a submarine to take the bomb down. That’s why Alex is here. Our job is to find the control room and get him there. He can deactivate Royal Blue—but no one else can, so if he gets shot we might as well pack up and go home. You hear what I’m saying? I want you to watch his back. And his front and his sides.”
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S N A K E H E A D
Alex glanced down. He understood what Scooter was saying and why he had to say it, but he still didn’t like being picked out in this way.
“I’m afraid this mission isn’t as easy as it seems,” Scooter continued, although Alex wouldn’t have said it looked simple to begin with. “We’ve got no idea where the control room is. There are five different levels, two separate platforms. Yu could be on either. You’ve got to think of Dragon Nine as two metal cities. They’ve got their own storage depots, dormitories, mess halls, and recreation rooms as well as fuel tanks, desalination units, pump rooms, engineering blocks, and all the rest of it. Somehow we have to find our way through all that until we find what we’re looking for. Then we have to deal with Royal Blue. And when we start, it’s possible that we’re going to be spread out all over the place. We’re lucky that there’s not too much breeze, but there’s no moon. Just try not to fall into the sea.”
