Transcription
REVENGE.Alex came to a door and saw a yellow strip of light seeping out of the crack below. Gritting histeeth, he reached for the handle, half hoping it would be locked. The handle turned and the dooropened. Alex entered.The cabin was surprisingly large, a long rectangle with a white carpet and modern woodenfittings along two of the walls. The third wall was taken up by a low double bed with a table anda lamp on each side. There was a man stretched out on the white cover, his eyes closed, as still asa corpse. Alex stepped forward.Yassen Gregorovich made no movement as Alex approached, the gun held out in front ofhim. Alex reached the side of the bed. This was the closest he had ever been to the Russian, theman who had killed his uncle. He could see every detail of his face: the chiseled lips, the almostfeminine eyelashes. The gun was less than an inch from Yassen’s forehead. This was where itended. All he had to do was pull the trigger and it would be over.“Good evening, Alex.”
ALEX RIDER MISSIONS:StormbreakerPoint BlankSkeleton KeyEagle StrikeScorpiaArk AngelSnakeheadCrocodile TearsScorpia RisingRussian Roulette
ALSO BY ANTHONY HOROWITZTHE DIAMOND BROTHERS MYSTERIES:Public Enemy Number TwoThe Falcon’s MalteserThree of DiamondsSouth by SoutheastThe Greek Who Stole ChristmasThe Complete Horowitz HorrorBloody HorowitzThe Devil and His BoyGrannyGroosham GrangeReturn to Groosham Grange: The Unholy GrailThe Switch
EAGLE STRIKEAN ALEX RIDER ADVENTURE
ANTHONY HOROWITZ
SPEAKPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Group (USA) Inc., 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue, Suite 700,Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, EnglandPenguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland(a division of Penguin Books Ltd)Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road,Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,New Delhi-110 017, IndiaPenguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland,New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,Johannesburg 2196, South AfricaRegistered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, EnglandFirst published in the United States of America by Philomel Books,a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2004Published in Great Britain by Walker Books Ltd, LondonPublished by Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2006All rights reservedTHE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PHILOMEL EDITION AS FOLLOWS:Horowitz, Anthony, dateEagle Strike / Anthony Horowitz.—1st American ed.p. cm. (An Alex Rider adventure)Summary: After a chance encounter with assassin Yassen Gregorovich in the South of France,teenage spy Alex Rider investigates international pop star and philanthropist Damian Cray,whose new video game venture hides sinister motives involving Air Force One, nuclear missiles,and the international drug trade.[1. Spies—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.3. Orphans—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series.PZ7.H7875 Eag 2004 [Fic]—dc22 2003012523ISBN: 1-101-15800-XExcept in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the
publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is publishedand without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequentpurchaser.The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for authoror third-party Web sites or their content.Version 3
For my brilliant editor,MICHAEL GREEN
Table of ContentsTitle PageCopyright PageDedicationPROLOGUE1 - NOT MY BUSINESS2 - THE FINGER ON THE TRIGGER3 - MATADOR4 - TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCE5 - SAINT OR SINGER?6 - THE PLEASURE DOME7 - FEATHERED SERPENT8 - RUE BRITANNIA9 - BLOOD MONEY10 - PAIN SYNTHESIS11 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ALEX12 - PEDAL POWER13 - EMERGENCY MEASURES14 - UNFAIR EXCHANGE15 - INSANITY AND COOKIES16 - EAGLE STRIKE17 - “FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS”18 - RICHMOND BRIDGEExcerpt from ScorpiaExcerpt from Russian Roulette
EAGLE STRIKE
PROLOGUETHE AMAZON JUNGLE. Fifteen years ago.It had taken them five days to make the journey, cutting their way through the dense,suffocating undergrowth, fighting through the very air, which hung heavy, moist, and still. Treesas tall as cathedrals surrounded them, and a strange green light—almost holy—shimmeredthrough the vast canopy of leaves. The rain forest seemed to have an intelligence of its own. Itsvoice was the sudden screech of a parrot, the flicker of a monkey swinging through the branchesoverhead. It knew they were there.But so far they had been lucky. They had been attacked, of course, by leeches andmosquitoes and stinging ants. But the snakes and scorpions had left them alone. The rivers theyhad crossed had been free of piranhas. They had been allowed to survive.They were traveling light. They carried with them only their basic rations: map, compass,water bottles, iodine tablets, mosquito nets, and machetes. Their single heaviest item was the 88Winchester rifle with sniperscope that they were going to use to kill the man who lived here inthis impenetrable place, one hundred miles south of Iquitos in Peru.The two men knew each other’s name but never used them. It was part of their training. Theolder of the two called himself Hunter. He was English, although he spoke seven languages sofluently that he could pass himself off as a native of many of the countries he found himself in.He was about thirty, handsome, with the close-cut hair and watchful eyes of a trained soldier.The other man was slim, fair-haired, and twitching with nervous energy. He had chosen the nameof Cossack. He was just nineteen years old. This would be his first kill.Both men were dressed in khaki—standard jungle camouflage. Their faces were alsopainted green, with dark brown stripes across their cheeks. They had reached their destinationjust as the sun had begun to rise, and were standing there now, utterly still, ignoring the insectsthat buzzed around their faces, tasting their sweat.In front of them was a clearing, man-made, separated from the jungle by a thirty-foot-highfence. An elegant colonial house with wooden verandas and shutters, white curtains, and slowlyrotating fans stood at the heart of it, with two more low brick buildings about twenty yardsbehind. Accommodations for the guards. There must have been about a dozen of them patrollingthe perimeter and watching from rusting metal towers. Perhaps there were more inside. But theywere lazy. They were shuffling around, not concentrating on what they were supposed to bedoing. They were in the middle of the jungle. They thought they were safe.A four-seater helicopter stood waiting on a square of asphalt. It would take the owner of thehouse just twenty steps to walk from the front door to the helicopter. That was the only time hewould be visible. That was when he would have to die.The two men knew the name of the man they had come to kill, but they didn’t use thateither. Cossack had spoken it once, but Hunter had corrected him.“Never call a target by his real name. It personalizes him. It opens a door into his life and,
when the time comes, it may remind you what you are doing and make you hesitate.”Just one of the many lessons Cossack had learned from Hunter. They referred to the targetonly as the Commander. He was a military man—or he had been. He still liked to wear militarystyle clothes. With so many bodyguards, he was in command of a small army. The name suitedhim.The Commander was not a good man. He was a drug dealer, exporting cocaine on a massivescale. He also controlled one of the most vicious gangs in Peru, torturing and killing anyone whogot in his way. But all this meant nothing to Hunter and Cossack. They were here because theyhad been paid thirty thousand dollars apiece to take him out—and if the Commander had been adoctor or a priest, it would have made no difference to them.Hunter glanced at his watch. It was two minutes to eight in the morning and he had beentold the Commander would be leaving for Lima on the hour. He also knew that the Commanderwas a punctual man. He loaded a single .308 cartridge into the Winchester and adjusted thesniperscope. One shot was all he would need.Meanwhile, Cossack had taken out his field glasses and was scanning the compound for anysign of movement. The younger man was not afraid, but he was tense and excited. A trickle ofperspiration curved behind his ear and ran down his neck. His mouth was dry. Something tappedgently against his back and he wondered if Hunter had touched him, warning him to stay calm.But Hunter was a short distance away, concentrating on the gun.Something moved.Cossack only knew for certain it was there when it climbed over his shoulder and onto hisneck—and by then it was too late. Very slowly, he turned his head. And there it was, at the veryedge of his field of vision. A spider, clinging to the side of his neck, just underneath the line ofhis chin. He swallowed. From the weight of it he had thought it was a tarantula—but this wasworse, much worse. It was very black with a small head and an obscene, swollen body, like afruit about to burst. He knew that if he could have turned it over, he would have found a redhourglass marking on its abdomen.It was a black widow. Latrodectus curacaviensis. One of the deadliest spiders in the world.The spider moved, its front legs reaching out so that one was almost touching the corner ofCossack’s mouth. The other legs were still attached to his neck, with the main body of the spidernow hanging under his jaw. He wanted to swallow again but he didn’t dare. Any movementmight alarm the creature, which needed no excuse to attack. Cossack guessed that this was thefemale of the species: a thousand times worse than the male. If it decided to bite him, its hollowfangs would inject him with a neurotoxic venom that would paralyze his entire nervous system.He would feel nothing at first. There would just be two tiny red pricks on his skin. The pain—waves of it—would come in about an hour. His eyelids would swell. He would be unable tobreathe. He would go into convulsions. He would almost certainly die.Cossack considered raising a hand and trying to flick the hideous thing off. If it had beenanywhere else on his body, he might have taken the chance. But it had settled on his throat, asthough fascinated by the pulse it had found there. He wanted to call to Hunter, but he couldn’trisk moving the muscles in his neck. He was barely breathing. Hunter was still unaware of whatwas going on. What could he do?In the end he whistled. It was the only sound he dared make. He was horribly aware of thecreature hanging off him. He felt the prick of another leg, this time touching his lip. Was it aboutto climb onto his face?
Hunter looked over and saw at once that something was wrong. Cossack was standingunnaturally still, his head contorted, his face, underneath the paint, completely white. Huntertook a step so that Cossack now stood between him and the compound. He had lowered the rifle,the muzzle pointing toward the ground.And then he saw the spider.At the same moment, the door of the house opened and the Commander came out: a short,plump man dressed in a dark tunic hanging open at the collar. Unshaven, he was carrying abriefcase and smoking a cigarette.Twenty steps to the helicopter—and he was already moving briskly, talking to the twobodyguards who accompanied him. Cossack’s eyes flickered over to Hunter. He knew theorganization that had employed them would not forgive failure, and this was the only chancethey would get. The spider moved again and, looking down, Cossack saw its head: a cluster oftiny, gleaming eyes—half a dozen of them—gazing up at him, uglier than anything in the world.His skin itched. The whole side of his face wanted to peel itself away. But he knew that therewas nothing Hunter could do. He had to fire now. The Commander was only ten steps away fromthe helicopter. The blades were already turning. Cossack wanted to scream at him. Do it! Thesound of the gunshot would frighten the spider and it would bite. But that wasn’t important. Themission had to succeed.Hunter quickly considered his options. He could use the tip of the gun to brush away theblack widow. He might succeed in getting rid of it before it bit Cossack. But by then theCommander would be in his helicopter, behind bulletproof glass. Or he could shoot theCommander. But once he had fired the gun, he would have to turn and run immediately,disappearing into the jungle. There would be no time to help Cossack; there would be nothing hecould do.He made his decision. He swept up the gun, aimed, and fired.The bullet, white-hot, flashed past, cutting a line in Cossack’s neck. The black widowdisintegrated instantly, blown apart by the force of the shot. The bullet continued across theclearing and through the fence and—still carrying tiny fragments of the black widow with it—buried itself in the Commander’s chest.The Commander had been about to climb into the helicopter. He stopped as thoughsurprised, put a hand to his heart, and crumpled. The bodyguards twisted around, shouting,staring into the jungle, trying to see the enemy.But Hunter and Cossack had already gone. The jungle swallowed them in seconds, althoughit was more than an hour before they stopped to catch their breath.Cossack was bleeding. There was a red line that could have been drawn with a ruler acrossthe side of his neck, and the blood had seeped down, soaking into his shirt. But the black widowhadn’t bitten him. He held out a hand, accepting a water bottle
ALEX RIDER MISSIONS: Stormbreaker Point Blank Skeleton Key Eagle Strike Scorpia Ark Angel Snakehead Crocodile Tears Scorpia Rising Russian Roulette. ALSO BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ THE DIAMOND BROTHERS MYSTERIES: Public Enemy Number Two The Falcon’s Malteser Three of Diamonds South by Southeast The Greek Who Stole Christmas The Complete Horowitz Horror
