A Sickle In A Haystack

Chapter 10

6am, Alex was the first to wake up. He had a shower and got dressed in some jeans and a thick navy blue jumper.

He stayed in the room and played quietly on his Nintendo DS, it wasn't the one he'd used on missions, it was his own. A gift from Sabina.

It wasn't until 7:30 that Sam stirred, yawned and sat up, stretching. "Morning." Alex said.

Sam twisted round and gave a tired nod before showering himself, he was stuck wearing the shirt again, much to his bemusement. "They have my stuff." He said aloud in frustration.

Alex turned round and sat beside Sam. "I know, but hey, I can always buy you something you need, I have money."

"Yeah I'm sure you do, I just..." He stopped and stood up, languidly limping to a mirror that lay on the wall to observe himself.

"What?" Alex asked, going through his backpack.

"What do we do, I mean, we failed didn't we?"

"No." Alex said as he threw something to Sam. "Here," he passed Sam a small white card, with a number on.
"Whose number is this?"

"Mine, stupid!" Alex chuckled. "I have to go see MI6 again today." There was no mistaking the bitterness in his voice. "And they don't want you there."

"Well alright, are you off then?"

Alex nodded. "Yep, see you later Fake Bond." With that, he left Sam there, taking a taxi to the Bank.

Alex took the lift to MI6's secret headquarters once he had arrived, and was quickly called into Blunt's office.

"Alex, are you up for a trip to London?" Blunt asked.

"Get to the point." Alex sighed, he had no more time for their games.

"We believe, Charinov will be hosting an auction, private of course. If the weapons room and bear are anything to go by, we do not believe things will be strictly...legal."

Alex nodded. "So you want me to go to Paris, and stop the auction from happening?"

"Not exactly," Blunt replied. "After doing some background research into Charinov, we learned he served on the atomic bomb project in the seventies, before moving here."

Alex frowned. "Why didn't you tell me this before I left? I could-"

Blunt held up a hand to silence Alex. "That was another test. We won't always be able to brief you on your missions, and will be left in the dark. We needed to know you could handle it, and you can, good."

"Right." Alex replied stiffly.

Blunt cleared his throat and continued speaking. "Gregori Charinov was born in 54' the year Stalin died, and grew up in the town of Polotsk, before his family migrated to Moscow for work. They were poor, struggled to survive at the time, however they made enough money to send their son to school.

He studied hard and was particularly fond of science, so much so that the army hired him to work on Research and Development. Records suggest he had a key in the largest atomic bomb ever tested, the Tsar Bomba. He served as a physicist for the army until the Union collapsed in 99'.

Alex paused. "So how did he get involved with illegal arms dealing then?" Alex questioned.

"Well, he was fired from his position after causing an argument with his superiors and left penniless. His father died in 2001 and left him a small fortune, with it he moved to London and began buying stocks. He became proficient, but the money wasn't enough and he wanted more. By 2005 he began using his acquired millions to purchase illegal weapons and began exporting to the highest bidder. His profits sky-rocketed. Now he works entirely in an illegal manner, but is untouchable due to the fact he either has people killed or paid off that investigate him. Not to mention the army he owns."