javelin. The butler’s hand flicked out and caught it. “Let’s eat,” Sayle said.
The two of them sat at opposite ends of a long glass table in the room next door while Mr. Grin served smoked salmon, then some sort of stew. Alex drank water. Sayle, who had cheered up once again, had a glass of expensive red wine.
“You spent some time with the Stormbreaker today?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And…?”
“It’s great,” Alex said, and meant it. He still found it hard to believe that this ridiculous man could have created anything so sleek and powerful.
“So what programs did you use?”
“History. Science. Math. It’s hard to believe, but I actually enjoyed them.”
“Do you have any criticisms?”
Alex thought for a moment. “I was surprised it didn’t have three-D acceleration.”
“It’s not intended for games.”
“Did you consider a headset and integrated microphone?”
“Of course.” Sayle nodded. “They’ll be available as accessories. I’m sorry you’ve only come here for such a short time, Alex. Tomorrow we’ll have to get you onto the Internet. The Stormbreakers are all connected to a master network. That’s controlled from here. It means they have twenty-four-hour free access.”
“That’s cool.”
“It’s more than cool.” Sayle’s eyes were far away, the gray pupils small, dancing. “Tomorrow we start shipping the computers out,” he said. “They’ll go by plane, by truck, and by boat. It will take just one day for them to reach every point of the country. And the day after, at twelve o’clock noon exactly, the prime minister honors me by pressing the start button that will bring every one of my Stormbreakers on-line. At that moment all the schools will be united. Think of it, Alex! Thousands of schoolchildren—hundreds of thousands—sitting in front of the screens, suddenly together. North, south, east, and west. One school. One family. And then they will know me for what I am!”
He picked up his glass and emptied it. “How is the goat?” he asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“The stew. The meat is goat. It was a recipe of my mother’s.”
“She must have been an unusual woman.”
Herod Sayle held out his glass and Mr. Grin refilled it. He was gazing at Alex curiously. “You know,” he aid. “I have a strange feeling that you and I have met before.”
“I don’t think so.”
“But, yes. Your face is familiar to me. Mr. Grin? What do you think?”
The butler stood back with the wine. His dead white wad twisted around to look at Alex. “Eeeg Raargh!” he ;aid.
“Yes, of course. You’re right!”
“Eeeg Raargh?” Alex asked.
“Ian Rider. The security man I mentioned. You look lot like him. Quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. I never met him.” Alex could feel the danger getting closer. “You told me he left suddenly.”
“Yes. He was sent here to keep an eye on things, but if you ask me he was never any
“I got a bit lost.” Alex shrugged, trying to make light of it.
“Well, I hope you don’t go wandering again tonight. Security is very tight at the moment, and as you may have noticed, my men are all armed.”
“I didn’t think that was legal in England.”
“We have a special license. At any rate, Alex, I would advise you to go straight to your room after dinner. And stay there. I would be inconsolable if you were accidentally shot and killed in the darkness. Although, of course, it would save me four thousand pounds.”
“Actually, I think you’ve forgotten the check—”
“You’ll have it tomorrow. Maybe we can have lunch together. Mr. Grin will be serving up one of my grandmother’s recipes.”
“More goat?”
“Dog.”
“You obviously had a family that loved animals.”
“Only the edible ones.” Sayle smiled. “And now I must wish you good night.”
At one- thirty in the morning, Alex’s eyes blinked open and he was instantly awake.
He slipped out of bed and dressed quickly in his darkest clothes, then left the room. He was half surprised that
