"Of course." Rahim gestured at his backpack. "McCain flies a four-seater 172 Skyhawk."

Alex nodded grimly. "I know. That's what brought me here."

"I will blow it up in midair. In a way, that is the better option. It is part of my brief that RAW should not be seen to have been involved. A bomb, I think, will be more anonymous than a bullet casing."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to think again, Rahim." Alex went over to the Indian agent and sat down next to him. His thoughts had already raced ahead. "I have to contact MI6," he said.

"You want to let them know you are safe."

"More than that. Do you have a radio?"

"I have a laptop equipped with a demodulator. It will produce a baseband output that can be picked up by satellite. Do you have an address?"

"No." It only occurred to Alex now. Even after all the missions he had undertaken for MI6, they had never given him an e-mail address or a telephone number. On the other hand, he'd been supplied with gadgets. What had happened to the pocket calculator with the built-in communications system? It was a shame it hadn't been in his pocket when he was s.n.a.t.c.hed.

"It's not a problem," Rahim said. "We can contact the Intelligence Bureau in New Delhi. They will pa.s.s on any message to Liverpool Street. What is it you want to say?"

Quickly, Alex told Rahim everything that he had learned from Desmond McCain the night before . . . the genetically modified wheat crop, the spores, the plan to poison half the continent. "We have less time than you thought," he said. "And killing McCain right now isn't going to do anyone any good. We have to go up to the Simba Valley. It's only two miles from here."

Rahim shook his head. "I'm sorry, Alex. I don't have enough explosive to blow up an entire wheat field."

"That's not my idea." Alex was remembering what McCain had told him, and what he had seen for himself when he was flown in. "There's a place called the Simba Dam," he explained. "It's on the edge of a big lake. If we could blow it up, we could flood the valley. We could put the whole crop underwater before it has a chance to do any harm. But we have to do it today. Right now. McCain said that the spores would start working at sunset. It must be about midday now."

"Alex, I know this dam," Rahim said. "I studied the whole area before I parachuted. It is what is known as a double curvature arch dam . . . which is to say that it curves against the side of the valley and also against the valley floor, making it doubly strong. I have just one kilogram of plastic explosive. That would not be nearly enough even to make a crack in the wall."

"There must be some sort of pipe or valve-"

"There will be a whole series of pipes carrying the water down the hill. Simba Dam is used for irrigation purposes, but there are also two hydroelectric turbines." Alex was impressed. Rahim had clearly done his homework. "It might be possible to attack the bottom outlet valve or the scour valve that is next to it. Either of them would release enormous amounts of water." He shook his head. "But it cannot be done."

"Why not?"

"Because I cannot do it. My leg is infected. I was barely able to limp to the river. The Simba Dam is three miles from here."

"I could go on my own."

"That I will not allow."

Alex thought for a minute. "You parachuted in," he said. "How were you planning to leave?"

"McCain has a crop duster as well as the Skyhawk. I imagine he used it to spread this spore of his that you described? I can fly. I was intending to steal it."

"Then you could fly me to the dam?"

"There is nowhere to land. I might be able to slow the plane to as little as thirty-five miles per hour and fly low over the water to allow you to jump, but even so, the chances are high that you would be killed."

For a moment, Alex lost his temper. "We can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"No, Alex. We can contact the Intelligence Bureau as I have already suggested. They will, in turn, speak to the British authorities. Together they will know what to do." Rahim went on quickly, before Alex could interrupt him. "I have my instructions. I am here to kill McCain. I was acting improperly when I decided to rescue you, and I can a.s.sure you my superiors will not be amused when I make my report." He broke off. He was sweating again and his eyes were unfocused. Alex could almost see the disease attacking his system. "My laptop . . ." Rahim pointed at the backpack. He was too weak to go over himself.

Alex stood up. He went over to the backpack and opened. Everything was packed very neatly inside. There was a laptop computer, maps, a compa.s.s, ammunition for the Dragunov, medical supplies, spare clothes, and food. Much of the s.p.a.ce was taken up by a silver box about the size of a car battery with two switches and a clock set behind gla.s.s. Alex knew at once what it was. Rahim must have been planning to conceal it in the Skyhawk's hold.

"Bring it to me," Rahim said.

Alex left the bomb and carried the computer over. Rahim opened it, booted it up, and then handed it across. "It will be easier if you do it," he said. "But I suggest you don't take too long. We will have to move from this place before the Kikuyu come looking for us, and I need to break into the Cessna and prepare it for its last flight."

Alex crouched down. It felt weird to be tapping away at a keyboard, sitting in the dust in the middle of the African bush. He also wondered what the British or the Indian authorities would be able to do. Another six hours and it might be too late. He briefly outlined the location of the valley, the crop that McCain was growing there, his plan to bring famine and disease to Kenya. Finally, he added a PS.

Please let Jack Starbright know where I am and tell her I'm all right.

If there was one good thing to come out of all this, at least Jack would know that he hadn't been hurt. He quickly read the page over and pressed Send.

He looked up. Rahim had slumped forward. Alex went over and examined him. The RAW agent wasn't exactly asleep. He was unconscious, breathing heavily. He had been knocked out-either by the fever or by the medicine he had been taking to fight it. Alex eased him gently to the ground, then looked back in the direction of the lodge. Everything was silent in the bush as even the animals slept in the midday sun. It was very hot, but at least Rahim was tucked away in the shade of the sausage tree.

What would MI6 do when they received the news?

Alex had visions of Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones conferring with the appropriate ministers at Downing Street. A new government had recently been voted in. They probably wouldn't even know he existed, so they would have to be persuaded he was reliable, that his information was accurate. And then they would have to make a decision . . . but what exactly were their options? They could send in troops with flamethrowers, but that might take days. In fact, Alex couldn't even be certain that the Indian secret service would pa.s.s the message on in time. After all, they had their own agenda. They simply wanted McCain dead.

He didn't like it, but he knew what he had to do. He took the map out of Rahim's backpack and studied it. Simba River Camp was clearly marked-and there was the track that he had seen from the air. It led all the way to the dam, rising up the side of the valley. He could follow the river for the first mile and then cut across the countryside using the compa.s.s. It wouldn't be too difficult to pick up the track. There was electricity up there. He had seen one of the pylons. If he could find it again, it would lead him to the dam.

Finally, Alex examined the bomb. It wasn't very complicated either. All he would have to do is set the timer, which operated like an ordinary alarm clock, then activate it by throwing a single switch. What was it that Rahim had told him? He had to locate one of the two main valves. That was where he would place the bomb.

Alex took out the medicine, then put on the backpack and tightened the straps. He felt bad just walking out on Rahim, particularly after the agent had just saved his life. But at least he could make sure that he wasn't found by the Kikuyu tribemen. He would follow the path back to the river where he had first been taken. He would do his best to cover his tracks, and then he would set off in another direction, making sure that he disturbed the vegetation as much as possible. If McCain did realize that Beckett was missing and sent his men after him, they would follow the new path. Rahim would be left alone and Alex had no doubt that, once he woke up, he would be able to look after himself.

The decision was made. Alex looked up at the sky. The sun was directly overhead, beating down on him. It was midday. Before long it would begin its journey down.

Alex took a swig out of the water bottle and set off. Two miles in this unfamiliar countryside would take him as many hours. He just hoped he wasn't already too late.

22.

MARGIN OF ERROR.

ONE O 'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, London time.

The navy blue Jaguar XJ6 drove around Trafalgar Square and then headed down Whitehall, in the direction of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. The weather forecasters had been predicting snow, but so far it had held back. Even so, it was a hard, cold day, with the wind skittering along the sidewalks. Inside the car, the heat had been turned up and the windows were tinted. Both of these helped keep the winter at bay.

The Jaguar pa.s.sed the famous Banqueting House, where the first King Charles had lost his head, and turned onto Downing Street. The black steel gates opened automatically to admit it. It stopped outside Number Ten and two people, a man and a woman, got out. As always, there was a handful of news reporters in the street, making their broadcasts against the backdrop of the most famous door in the world, but none of them noticed the two new arrivals, and if they had, it would have been extremely unlikely that they would have recognized them. Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones had never been photographed. Their names didn't appear on any government profiles.

Neither of them needed to knock. The door swung open as they approached and they pa.s.sed into the brightly colored entrance hall with a surprisingly long corridor stretching out in front of them. They made no sound at all as they walked along the plush carpets, beneath the chandeliers, toward the far staircase. As usual, the walls were lined with paintings that had been borrowed from a central government reserve. They were by British artists, most of them modern and rather bland.

Blunt examined them as he continued forward, not because he was interested in art-he wasn't-but because they might give him some insight into the mind of the man who had chosen them. There was a new prime minister in Downing Street. He had been voted in just a month before, And what did the paintings say about him? He liked the countryside, fox hunting, and windmills. His favorite color was blue.

Of course, Blunt already knew everything about the new man-from the state of his marriage (happy) to the last payment he had made on his credit card (97.60 for a meal at The Ivy). There wasn't a single prime minister in England who hadn't been thoroughly checked by MI6: their families, their friends and a.s.sociates, what websites they liked to visit, where they took their vacations, how much money they spent every week. There was always a chance that the information might reveal a security risk or something that the prime minister didn't want anyone to know.

The two of them reached the staircase and began to climb up to the first floor, pa.s.sing the painted portraits and photographs of past prime ministers, s.p.a.ced out at regular intervals. There was a man in a suit waiting at the top, gesturing toward an office. The building was full of young men in suits, some of them working for Blunt, although they probably didn't know it. Blunt and Mrs. Jones went into the office and there was the prime minister, waiting with two advisers, sitting behind a desk.

"Mr. Blunt . . . please, take a seat."

The prime minister wasn't happy, and it showed. Like all politicians, he didn't entirely trust his spy masters and he certainly didn't want one sitting opposite him now. It wasn't fair. He hadn't been in power very long. It was certainly too soon for his first international crisis. There were two men sitting with him, one on each side. They were trying to look relaxed, as if they just happened to be pa.s.sing and had decided to pop in for the meeting.

"I don't think you've met Simon Ellis," the prime minister said, nodding at the fair-haired, rather plump man on his left. "And this is Charles Blackmore." The other man was also young, though with prematurely gray hair. "I thought it might be helpful if they joined us."

Blunt hadn't met either of them, but of course he knew everything about them. They had both been at Winchester College with the prime minister. Ellis was now a junior civil servant in the Treasury. Blackmore had left a career in television to become director of strategy and communications. The two men loathed each other. The prime minister didn't know this. They were also loathed by almost everyone else.

"Well . . . ," the prime minister began. He licked his lips. "I've read your report on the situation in Kenya and it does seem to be very alarming. But the first question I really do have to ask you is-why did your agent feel it necessary to send his information via the Indian secret service?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Blunt replied. "We only know what you know, Prime Minister. It's all in the file. Our agent was kidnapped and smuggled out of the country against his will. Somehow he must have managed to break free and fell in with an agent from RAW."

"Research and a.n.a.lysis Wing," Blackmore muttered helpfully.

"We have no idea what RAW was doing in Kenya, and so far they've refused to tell us. I'm afraid foreign intelligence agencies are always overcautious when it comes to protecting their own. But if I may say so, Prime Minister, it's completely irrelevant. What matters is the report itself and the very serious threat it contains."

The prime minister picked up a sheet of paper that had been lying in front of him. "This was sent by e-mail," he said.

"Yes."

"And it suggests that this man, Desmond McCain, is engaged in a plot to poison the wheat crop in Kenya for his own financial gain."

Blunt blinked heavily. "I'm glad you had time to read it," he muttered.

The prime minister ignored the rudeness. He put the paper down. "What makes you believe this information is reliable?" he asked.

"We have absolutely no reason to doubt it."

"And yet I understand that this agent of yours, the one who sent the report-which, incidentally, has no fewer than three spelling mistakes-is only fourteen years old."

There was a long pause. The two advisers glanced at the prime minister, urging him on.

"Alex Rider. Is that his name?" the prime minister asked.

"He's never let us down in the past," Mrs. Jones cut in. She was carrying a slim leather case, which she opened. She took out a thin file marked TOP SECRET in red letters and handed it across. "These are the details of just four of the a.s.signments he's undertaken on our behalf," she continued. "The most recent of them was in Australia."

"Shouldn't he be in school?"

"He called in sick."

"Let me have a look . . ." The prime minister opened the file and read it in silence. "You certainly seem to have a very high opinion of him," he remarked. "And let's say for the sake of argument that it's justified. Let's a.s.sume that everything that he has told you is true-"

"Then by four o'clock this evening, the wheat field will have been activated," Blunt said. In fact, Alex's e-mail had crossed two time zones. He had sent it at midday. It had arrived in New Delhi at half past two, Indian time. They had kept it for three hours before they had sent it to MI6 where it arrived at noon, UK time. Four o'clock in England would be seven o'clock in Kenya, and sunset. They had less than three hours in which to act. "The wheat will have been turned into a million doses of ricin," Blunt went on. "At the same time, the spores that McCain sprayed onto the field will take off and begin to spread across the rest of Kenya. It will settle on the next field and then the one after that. It's impossible to say how many millions of seeds Greenfields has supplied over the past five years. All we know for sure is that within three months, the entire country will be poisoned."

"We can let McCain know we're onto him," Ellis said. "There's not going to be any charity appeal. Once he knows that, there'll be no point in going ahead."

"I agree." Blackmore nodded his head, secretly annoyed that he hadn't spoken first.

"We don't have any way to contact McCain, short of parachuting into Simba River Camp," Blunt replied. "And anyway, we're too late. There's a biological clock that's already ticking. The damage has been done."

"So what do you suggest?"

"We need to speak to the Kenyan government and send in troops. The field has to be neutralized, probably with flamethrowers. And we also have to find Alex Rider. We've heard nothing more from him. I want to know he's safe."

Although she didn't show it, Mrs. Jones was surprised. It was the first time she had ever heard Blunt show any concern for Alex. Even when he had been shot, Blunt's main concern had been keeping the story out of the newspapers.

"I'm not sure that's possible, Mr. Blunt." The prime minister shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It might be a bit awkward explaining to the Kenyan authorities that a British citizen has just launched a biochemical attack on their country . . . and let's not forget that Greenfields actually receives government funding! Of course, it wasn't my government that agreed to it, but even so, the political fallout could be appalling. Frankly, the less said the better. And I definitely think we ought to handle the situation ourselves."

"I have an SAS task force on standby," Blunt said.

"It would still take too long to fly them to Africa," Blackmore said. He glanced at the prime minister, waiting for permission to continue. The prime minister nodded. "But in my view, we can do better than that," he said. "We have an RAF Phantom squadron in Akrotiri, Cyprus. They're already fueling. They can be in the air in half an hour."

"And what do you intend to do with them?" Blunt asked.

"It's very simple, Mr. Blunt. We're going to bomb the entire wheat field. After all, thanks to your agent, we know exactly where it is."

"But won't the bombs do McCain's work for him? You'll actually blow the spores into the air. You'll spread them all over Africa."

"We don't believe so. The Phantoms will be carrying AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface tactical missiles with infrared tracking. They'll be able to pinpoint the target exactly. Each plane has six missiles. Each missile contains eighty-six pounds of high explosive. The advice we've been given is that there's a 99.5 percent probability that every single one of the spores will be destroyed in the firestorm."

"That still leaves room for error," Blunt said.

"And what about Alex?" Mrs. Jones added. "For all we know, he could still be in the area. Are we going to launch a missile strike against him too?"

"I don't think we have any choice," Ellis said. He reached down and picked a speck of dust off his tie. "There's no reason to believe he's anywhere near the target area."

"And if he is?"

"I'm sure you'd agree that we can't allow one life to get in the way. Not when we're trying to save thousands."

There was a brief silence. The prime minister was looking more uncomfortable than ever. But then he spoke again. "I think we've come to a unanimous decision, Mr. Blunt."

"You certainly have," Blunt muttered.

"And before you leave, there is one thing I do have to ask you. Exactly how many agents do you have who are underage . . . which is to say, sixteen years old or younger?"

"We have only one," Blunt replied. "There is only one Alex Rider."

"I'm very glad to hear it." The prime minister looked apologetic. "To be honest, I was rather horrified to discover that the British secret service would even consider employing a minor. I can see from his file that he's been tremendously useful to you and he certainly deserves our grat.i.tude. But putting children into danger, no matter how compelling the reason . . . well, I'm not sure the public would stand for it. In my view, recruiting him in the first place was a serious error of judgment."