The Bard of the Bodleian (an Alex Rider fanfiction)

Chapter 5: The Tempest

Disclaimer: all characters and references to Alex Rider, Mission Impossible, James Bond, Narnia, Marvel and any William Shakespeare play are not our own (we're just big nerds).

"Alex, I think we should call the police," Tom shouted as they ran.

"And say what?" They had reached the bottom of the spiral staircase now and Alex pushed open the fake bookshelf. "We found a mysterious hidden doorway that led to a room with some random people talking about stealing a manuscript. We don't even know what one they want."

"Yeah good point, it's about as believable as going through a wardrobe to Narnia." Tom managed a grin. "What are we going to do then?"

"Stop them."

"Yeah but what are we going to do?"

"Well, I never really have a plan in these situations, I usually just end up improvising."

"Great. So what are we going to do?"

"Tom, repeating a question doesn't mean I'll magically have an answer. Let me think..."

Alex cast his mind back to the newspaper article he'd had the opportunity to look at briefly, before Caliban had come back into the room and discovered him. There was something important, but what was it? Wait, that was it! It was the code names they had been going by. Prospero. Caliban. Ariel. He knew those names, they were characters in The Tempest. That was the Shakespeare play they had been studying at school. He remembered the article; the curator had been interviewed about a number of the items in the exhibition, one of them being a new-found manuscript of The Tempest. Now he remembered. They had discussed it at school, this new manuscript was one of the reasons his class were coming to see the exhibition. It was special because it was the only copy of the Tempest that had been found with an extra scene at the end. Normally the play had five Acts, the last of which had only one scene, but this manuscript had an extra scene included at the end, the existence of which was fascinating scholars. That must be what Prospero and his companions were after.

Alex was relatively sure that these guys were not Scorpia. They seemed too careless, too reckless. But that didn't mean they weren't still a force to be reckoned with. Prospero had a gun and was heading to a place filled with his class. He didn't want anyone to get hurt. But he had to be careful. Alex had already made one mistake, getting caught. He was lucky Tom had been with him. Tom was no spy, but he was someone he could rely on, and had been the reason Alex had got out of there. If he slipped up again... well making another mistake was not a good idea now.

But Alex still had no idea how they were going to steal it, or even where in the exhibition the book was.

"They're going to steal a book."

"Well, this is a library, couldn't they just borrow one?"

Alex smiled at his friend's attempt at humour despite the urgency of the situation. "Not this book," and as briefly as he could he told Tom about The Tempest. "We're going to have to separate. You look for a museum employee, to warn them. I'm not sure what they're planning to do but people could get hurt."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find the book."

"Divide and conquer," Tom said. "I like it."

"Tom, just be careful, ok? These guys mean business."

"I'm always careful. My middle name is 'careful'. I think you're the one who has to watch out. Your middle name is 'idiot-who-doesn't-think-things-through'."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna go now."

They had crossed the library, run down the corridor and reached the entrance to the exhibition. Leaving Tom, Alex turned left. Briefly he passed Mrs Bedfordshire, who tried to call out to him but Alex ignored her. Quickly he scanned the room he was in, but this was filled with costumes and paintings, lit by spotlights so you could see every detail. There was, however, no books, so he continued to the next. This room, once again lacked books, but did have a museum attendant standing boredly in the corner. Hurriedly, Alex ran up to her.

"Someone's trying to steal The Tempest," he told her.

"Very funny. Please move along."

"But, I'm serious?!"

"Of course you are," she regarded his school uniform. "And I'm seriously going to tell your teachers if you don't stop this joke."

"But, I'm not jok-"

And then the fire alarms went off.