Disclaimer: My name is Anthony Horowitz and I own the rights to Alex Rider. Yeah...right...sure

Prologue

Frost twisted and veined it's way up the glass in vague and distorted patterns of silver and white. Outside the icy wind swept up pieces of litter and blew them across the tarmac among the usual bustling crowds who were zipped up in heavy winter coats, their breath streaming from open mouths in a string of frosted clouds.

Alan Blunt stood by his office window, surveying the early morning street, his eyes sweeping up over the line of the tall glass and stone buildings and up across the creamy pale horizon, chased with pink and watery golden sun rays. A few stray flakes of snow spiralled down to kiss the concrete, reflected in his gun-metal rimmed glasses.

Behind him, a women stood in an immaculate grey silk suit, her pale face slightly haunted, her black eyes rimmed with tired. Her mouth worked silently as she sucked at an ever-present peppermint. She stood with one hand draped over the stained wooden desk, her long white fingers trailing over the polished surface.

She allowed the silence to continue for a few long moments and then she cleared her throat and Blunt slowly turned round to look at her.

"What are we going to do Alan? This sighting... We have to warn him. We should never have lied in the first place! He could be in danger!" Her voice was hoarse and scratchy with worry. Blunt remained silent, his grey eyes traveling over her features.

Eventually he opened his mouth and spoke, slowly and thoughtfully. "This sighting could be in our favour. If he is trying to get close to Alex, then this could be the chance we have been praying for. And Alex needn't be any the wiser."

"You can't risk his safety like that! Alex never deserved to be caught up in all this and if he were killed, how could you ever forgive yourself?" Miss Jones demanded, her eyes blazing with emotion.

Blunt raised his head slightly, his cold gaze drilling into her dark eyes with a penetrating intensity.

"Whether or not Alex deserved to be mixed up in all this is beyond the point. He is mixed up in this, whether he deserved it or not and it would be better for him - for all of us - if he never knew that this has happened. As far as he is concerned MI6 is behind him and there is no reason to drag him into it all again because of something that isn't necessarily anything to do with him." He said finally, his voice emotionless but carrying the tinge of finality.

"Of course it is to do with him! It is everything to do with him! And if you are planning on using him as bait then I insist that he at least knows what he might come up against!" Miss Jones was glaring at Blunt with a fierce indignation that Blunt could not remember hearing before.

"If you think that I am suggesting to put Alex's life in danger, then you are mistaken. He is far to valuable to put at risk like that. What I suggest is that we bring Alex in and tell him that we suspect he might be at risk, he does not need to know why. I shall assign him a bodyguard and have his house put under surveillance as a precaution. If he does turn up anywhere near Alex then he will be apprehended. Alex will be one hundred per cent safe whatever happens." Blunt's tone with smooth but Miss Jones knew that he had made up his mind and there would be no dissuading him.

She closed her eyes briefly and sucked in a breath and then nodded. "That seems like the best course of action to take. Do you want me to make the necessary arrangements?"

Blunt stared at her with a blank unreadable expression. "No," he said finally. "No, I'll see to it."

Miss Jones nodded and then turned and left, glancing back as she shut the door behind her at the file lying open on the desk, a number of blurred surveillance photos spilling out and across the desk, under the burnished orange light of the fitted lighting in the ceiling.

And then she was gone and Alan Blunt turned back to the winter swept streets.

Hope you enjoyed this prolouge. The actual chapters should be a lot longer. This is just a sort of formal introduction to the story. Thanks for reading and please leave a review! MUAMU xx