The next morning, he and Sabina went out for a walk and a picnic at Golden Gate Park. It was a bright Sunday with clear skies and a light breeze - perfect weather. The vibrant green leaves seemed to wave gently at the people while the strong tree trunks provided shade for the park goers to relax under. Surrounding them, the picnic tables were all full, there were children laughing, some couples taking a stroll, a man sketching the park landscape, and a few people reading. There were even people playing different instruments at various intervals.
But for Alex and Sabina, the atmosphere was tense and awkward. Neither knew what to say. Alex wanted to have an honest conversation for once but that was exactly what the Pleasures had been avoiding. After all, it can't be an honest conversation when the person you're talking to refuses to acknowledge a major part of your past, a part of who you are. Finally, Sabina had had enough of the silence. She started to chatter on about the latest gossip at school and poking fun at the recent theories of Alex their classmates had come up with, hoping to elicit more than the nod and smile he gave her at various points. When he had first come to live with the Pleasures, he had decided on the cover story that he had gone through several abusive foster homes before becoming friends with Sabina and her parents had been kind enough to adopt him. Most of the students just ignored him. However, because of his cover story, and the fact that he was a quiet foreigner with a haunted look to his eyes, some bullies had decided that he was the perfect target. They often blocked his way, taunting and spreading rumors about him. The latest rumour was that his parents hadn't wanted him so the Pleasures took pity on him but that he was actually just taking advantage of Sabina. There was a time when he might have retaliated but he didn't want to have a record of behavioral problems for the Pleasures to deal with. Besides, after Jack's death, he just didn't have it in him and he didn't want to draw even more attention to himself. Lately though, he found himself thinking more often about how easy it would be to put them in their place. He could easily knock them out and they wouldn't even see it coming. While he was lost in these thoughts and listening to Sabina's chatter, he had subconsciously been watching the people around them. A toddler waved at him, a group of teenagers had started a game of frisbee, and a lone man was slowly making his way towards the barbeque pits. Odd. Maybe he was waiting for some friends to join him for a barbecue.
"The football team is having a party tonight at 6. You should come join," Sabina suddenly said. It was only at this point that Alex realized she had stopped talking for awhile. Alex opened his mouth to refuse but Sabina plowed on. "And before you say no, I know you don't have anything else to do and you haven't been socializing. That can't be healthy for you."
"What are you talking about?" He held out his arm, like he was preparing for an arm wrestle, with an amused smirk. "Look at the muscles I have! Lean, strong body - I'm definitely healthy." He wanted to lighten the mood and it had worked, if only for a moment.
Sabina let out a surprised laugh and rolled her eyes. "That's not what I'm talking about and you know it." She sobered up and hesitated before continuing. "Maybe you should try going to a different psychologist. The two that Dad found for you might not have been what you needed but...maybe you should try again. Third time's the charm, right? You need to learn how to socialize with your peers again. And you need to learn how to trust again. You can't stay alone forever."
He sighed and turned towards her. "I'm trying, Sab. Really. I'm not going to another psychologist though." He shuddered, remembering his appointments with the two shrinks. The first one had been so condescending and arrogant, thinking he knew it all, that he actually tried to persuade him that he had a faulty memory! In all fairness, Alex had an unusual childhood. That was still no reason to dismiss his memories as false. It would have been less absurd if the guy had outright claimed he was lying. The second one had been no better. She had been constantly knocking over everything and startling at every sound. Maybe she had been afraid of him after hearing some of his past. He snorted. Whatever it was, she could cross off army psychologist as a career option. Hearing him snort, Sabina looked at him questioningly.
He chose to ignore her look and headed over to a large tree to set up the picnic. "Even if the psychologists were decent, what's the point when they don't have the clearance for me to talk about the things that matter? I can't go spilling highly classified information." Alex chuckled darkly. "Hell, I am highly classified."
They fell silent at this and sat down to eat their sandwiches, salads, and cookies that Liz had packed for them. It was a while before Sabina spoke again. "Alright, so maybe a psychologist doesn't work. You can still go to a party though. Try to have some fun and talk to people." Her bright blue eyes took on a mischievous glint. "Who knows? You might even meet the girl, or guy, of your dreams! Although personally, I think you can do much better than the people at school. The highest I'd rate any of them is a 7 out of 20."
Alex laughed lightly, remembering the time Sabina spent rating every guy that passed by during one of their outings when they were vacationing in the South of France. "Harsh. Would you still rate me a 12 and a half?"
Sabina pretended to think for a minute. "No, you're a 13. But you'll be perfect in 5 years," her words slightly echoing those she had spoken on their vacation. She flipped her dark hair and carried on. "So, what do you say to attending the party with me?"
He gave her a long look before finally answering in the negative, holding up a hand to stop her protests. "I know you're worried but we both know I don't fit in."
She was just about to protest again but it didn't matter. Suddenly, Alex felt a cold, prickling feeling all over his body. The very air around them had gone still, as if sensing the danger, even if the people around them were oblivious and carried on with their day. He scanned their surroundings and spotted the lone man from before that he had thought odd. He was a short Asian with scars and tattoos. He couldn't have been more than 25 years old. It could have been nothing but Alex's instincts were tingling when he saw the man placing something in the barbeque pit. Then, underneath the sleeve of his black t-shirt, Alex caught a glimpse of a red circle tattooed on his arm before it was quickly covered up as the man straightened from his position. Alex froze. He knew that tattoo. And it could only mean trouble.
"Alex?" Sabina called out in concern, a deep frown marring her features. After that, everything seemed to happen slowly, and yet, all at once. In the blink of an eye, the man was already gone, having hurried away. Alex had already speed-dialed Byrne's number and started walking towards the barbeque pit, before he even knew what he was doing, taking care to keep out of the Asian's sight. At the same time, it seemed like Byrne was taking forever to answer his phone. He reached the barbeque pit and stared in horror at what he found when he pulled off the garbage bag covering it. Looking at the people enjoying their day at the park, he made sure no one had seen his expression. It wouldn't do to alert them to the danger too soon. Sabina had started to make her way towards him, wondering what was going on, so he motioned for her to stay put.
"Byrne," a voice finally answered on the phone.
"Mr. Byrne, this is Alex Rider. I'm - "
"Alex! I was just about to call you!" Byrne exclaimed, evidently relieved.
"What?! Why would you...", he trailed off. His eyes narrowed. "Something's happened, hasn't it? Never mind. I'm at Golden Gate Park and I just saw a Big Circle member place a bomb in a barbeque pit." Byrne tried to ask him a question but Alex talked over him. "It's set to go off in 15 minutes and I don't know if any other bombs have been placed. I'm going after him." Alex had already set off in the direction the man had gone, halfway to the edge of the park.
"Alex, no! You are not to go after him, you hear me? I'm notifying the SFPD and sending some agents in to conduct an evacuation. I'll be landing in San Francisco shortly anyways. I need you to stay where you are so we can find you. You'll be more use to everyone where you are right now, not going after the man yourself." Byrne paused. "Don't leave the park unless you're attacked. In that case, contact me as soon as it's safe. If you're not at the park when my agents arrive and I don't hear from you in half an hour from now, I'm sending out an alert and a search party."
"Fine." He hung up and it wasn't long before he heard the sirens. Afterwards, everything was a blur. An agent he had worked with before, Ed Shulsky, greeted him before having him recount everything he remembered about the situation while the authorities evacuated everyone in an orderly fashion, even if the civilians were in a state of mild panic. The area was cordoned off and there were teams sent out all over the park to do the same if any other bombs were found. A few bomb squads were on standby while a team worked on disabling the one Alex had found. Meanwhile, he and Sabina were ushered into a black armored vehicle and brought to a grey building in the middle of an industrial district. A sign indicated that it was the business place of the Collective Investment Association.
"CIA building," he supplied in response to Sabina's questioning glance. She nodded in understanding as they were led through a reception area and into an elevator which took them to the 5th floor. He guessed that the elevator would have similar cameras and detectors doing security scans as the Royal and General, MI6's headquarters, did. They followed Shulsky to an office where Byrne tiredly greeted them and offered a drink before they sat down in some of the chairs facing the deputy director. Alex was not surprised to see that his earlier theory of Byrne having similar offices in every major American city was confirmed. In Miami and New York, the offices both had the same ordinary furniture, blank walls, and air conditioning. The office here in San Francisco was no different. What was surprising was the presence of Edward and Liz Pleasure standing next to a couple of agents who had expressionless faces.
"Mom! Dad! What are you doing here? What's going on?" Sabina asked anxiously. Liz went over to hug her daughter while Edward went over to Alex slowly, limping with his brass-handled walking stick.
"Someone broke into our house and left a message while we were all out," Edward explained to Sabina. "Are you alright, Alex? Mr. Byrne says you ran into some trouble as well."
"I'm fine. It's being taken care of."
"Alright everyone!" Byrne interrupted, calling the room to order. "We have two situations here. The first is the bomb that Alex found at Golden Gate Park." Liz gasped at this news but Byrne ignored her. "We'll be updated on that situation shortly so we'll turn our attention to the second situation for now." He turned to address Alex. "Earlier today, one of the agents I had keeping an eye on your house was shot in the forehead. We were alerted to this because he missed a check in that was supposed to take place shortly afterwards. When the others went to investigate, they found the agent's body hidden in some bushes, your bedroom had been broken into, and a note with a silver scorpion was left on your bed."
Alex closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly before looking at Byrne calmly. "It's been 6 weeks. Why now?"
"We don't know. There hasn't even been a whisper of Scorpia activity since Cairo," Byrne answered with a hint of frustration. "Considering the amount of time between then and this incident, I'd guess that it's a low level operative who wasn't sanctioned by Scorpia for the attack."
"But why today?" Alex mused. A moment later, he swore. The rest of the room's occupants stared at him, confusedly, some amused and others worried. Luck of the devil indeed. How likely was it that the day someone attempted to assassinate him was the same day that a park was supposed to be bombed? Once, he might've chalked it up to coincidence. But ever since Blunt had introduced him to espionage, he had slowly started to learn that there was no such thing as coincidence. I've been getting careless, he thought. How many times had Ian told him that routine gets you killed? And routine was exactly what he'd been doing the whole time he was in America, with the exception of today. Every Sunday, the Pleasures would go out and he'd have the house to himself but he'd only stay in his room. That must've been why the assassin had only broken into his room at first. "There's no such thing as coincidence," Alex offered drily as an explanation.
"...True, but you're not supposed to worry about things like that anymore," Byrne replied with a hint of sadness while Alex shrugged in response. The other agents in the room exchanged surprised looks. It was rare to see one of the heads of the intelligence agencies show such blatant emotion towards other people. Just who was this kid to have assassins after him? To be able to draw out concern from their usually stoic boss? From the lack of secrecy displayed, it was also evident to the agents that Byrne trusted Alex implicitly which only added to their confusion.
"So what happens now?" Edward asked, voicing his family's concerns. Liz and Sabina were still shocked into silence at the information being revealed and its implications.
Byrne turned towards the Pleasures. "Since the Scorpia agent broke into your house, we're going to operate on the assumption that Alex isn't the only one in danger. We're moving you to a safehouse and you are not to communicate with anyone except the agents staying with you." Unsure of what was best for them in this situation, the Pleasures nodded their acceptance as they trusted the authorities on the matter. Too trusting, Alex thought. The intelligence agencies always played their cards in their own favor, manipulating everything around them. That was something else he had gradually learned after meeting Blunt. "As for Alex, a safehouse might not be enough for him, especially after the incident at the park today." The Pleasures exchanged worried and fearful glances with each other at this news. The last thing they wanted was for Alex to be pulled back into the espionage world, especially without support from people who cared for him.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Byrne called. A dozen grim-faced agents filed into the room but looked quizzically at Alex and the Pleasures as they stood in a line in front of Byrne. "Gates, take the Pleasures to sign the Espionage Act, will you?" A short, dark haired agent, who had been in the room before Alex and Sabina had arrived, gestured for the overwhelmed family to follow him. Once the door had closed again, Byrne turned towards the agents that had filed in. "Martin, report on the situation."
The first agent in the line stepped forward. He was tall with black hair, heavyset brows, and green eyes which flicked towards Alex in confusion before focusing on his boss again. "Our sweep of the park revealed more bombs placed at the soccer and polo fields, the golf clubhouse, the Japanese tea garden, and the tennis courts. They were all set to go off at different times and we were lucky that the first one that was found turned out to be the first one that was supposed to go off so we were able to disable all of them without any casualties. We've examined the CCTV footage surrounding the edges of the park and found a man near 30th Avenue, who matched the description given to us. Tracking him through the footage, an SFPD team managed to catch him by surprise and apprehend him. He's in our custody now, being interrogated as we speak."
Byrne nodded and then asked, "Alex, do you think you could identify the man for us?"
He shrugged. "Most likely." He knew he could because he never forgot a face. It was why he could recognize the guard from Sayle's compound after the Point Blanc mission, Skoda on his school trip after the events on Skeleton Key, and Spectacles when he was on his way to the movies.
They went down to the basement, where the interrogation rooms were, to confirm that they had the right person. As soon as Alex saw the man they had in custody, he stiffened. It was the right man, and he confidently told them so, but that was not what had caught his attention. Above the waist, the man was dripping wet. He had been waterboarded. The sight had brought back Alex's own memories of a CIA agent, Blake Lewinsky, waterboarding him in Cairo. He could still remember the feeling of drowning, his lungs on fire. If Byrne hadn't stopped his agents when he did, he didn't think that he'd have survived. At least, that was what it had felt like at the time. Even though he was uncomfortable with the torture being displayed, he knew he couldn't interfere so he turned his face away to examine the two agents who had come down with them while Byrne listened to a report on what the interrogators had learned from the man so far. One of the agents, Martin, was looking at him suspiciously and the way he held himself reminded Alex of Wolf, his unit leader when he briefly trained with the SAS. The other agent had brown hair and brown eyes, nothing remarkable about him. Except his posture. It was too relaxed for an agent. Certainly too relaxed for the situation they were dealing with at the moment.
Finally, Byrne came back and they headed up to his office once more. The deputy director had been deep in thought the whole way but when the office door closed, he turned to Alex and the two agents again. The other agents who were there for Martin's report had left the office awhile ago to follow up on procedures. "The man claims that there were 4 other Big Circle members on this team that was put together to carry out a large scale operation they were hired for. The park bombing was only a test run. The others are likely already on a plane to get out of the country. The man also said that he had seen Alex discover the bomb he had placed but was too far away to do anything about it without drawing attention. Instead, he has identified Alex to the rest of the Big Circle. We're certain that this is all the information he knows. He seems to be a low ranking member." Byrne paused, as if trying to figure out how he was going to word the next part. "By now, they will know that their operation failed and attribute its failure to you, Alex. From what I've heard, you have already had a run-in with the Chinese triads in the past so it should come as no surprise that they will be seeking revenge on you after today's events. I'm sure you're familiar with the consequences." He gave Alex a long, calculative look and Alex stared back. "You have a few choices, Alex. You could go to the safehouse with the Pleasures. You could participate in this investigation. Or you can go back to England, where MI6 can do more than we can for your protection due to your citizenship status and previous status as their operative."
Alex returned Byrne's calculative gaze from earlier. He supposed he wasn't really surprised that Byrne was offering him a choice. The deputy director had always been as honest as he could with Alex, never blackmailing him. He was also much more human than the heads of MI6. Alex's role as a civilian in America, but an operative in England, probably factored into the proposition as well.
"So, Alex, what is it going to be?"