Scorpia
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| Scorpia | |
 Scorpia Cover |
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| Author | Anthony Horowitz |
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| Original title | action |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Alex Rider series |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Spy novel |
| Publisher | Walker Books (UK) |
| Publication date | 1 April 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 312 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7445-8323-3 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Eagle Strike |
| Followed by | Ark Angel |
Scorpia is the fifth book in the Alex Rider series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2004 and in the United States on March 17, 2005. It takes place several weeks after the events of fourth book, Eagle Strike, and up to nine days before the sixth, Ark Angel.
Contents |
[edit] Official summary
Walker Books plot synopsis:[1]
| “ | Still reeling from the terrible discovery he has made about his father, teenage MI6 spy, Alex Rider, is determined to find out more. Traveling to Venice, he manages to infiltrate the glamorous world of Julia Rothman, beautiful society hostess and member of the international criminal organization, Scorpia. Rothman reveals that Alex’s father was murdered by MI6, in an operation masterminded by Head of Special Operations, Mrs Jones. Shocked and mad, Alex faces a choice: to continue to work with the British security services, or to become an agent for Scorpia and get revenge, | ” |
[edit] Plot Summary
The novel opens in a secret meeting room of SCORPIA, a criminal organization. SCORPIA stands for Sabotage, CORruPtion, Intelligence and Assassination. Julia Rothman, one of the heads of Scorpia, is giving a briefing of the progress of SCORPIA's latest project, codenamed "Invisible Sword", to the other heads. SCORPIA has devised a plan to kill all schoolchildren aged 12 and 14 in Great Britain; however, their means and motive have not been disclosed other than the fact that they are being contracted by a Middle Eastern client worth an estimated $5.34 billion. 73-year-old Max Grendel, the oldest founding member of SCORPIA, whose grandchildren will be the same age as the targets, announces his retirement, and Rothman presents him with an executive briefcase as a retirement present. However, when Grendel opens the briefcase (monogrammed with his initials, M.U.G.), he find it is filled with venomous scorpions of the Parabuthus species who sting him repeatedly, killing him. Meanwhile, Alex Rider is on a trip with his friend Tom Harris in Venice, still struggling to comprehend the massive revelation that Yassen Gregorovich told him, shortly before his death. Alex now knows his father was an assassin for SCORPIA, one of the finest agents in the world and also saved Yassen's life. With the help of Tom, Alex manages to sneak into Rothman's party, infiltrating her office. He overhears a conversation between Rothman and Dr. Harold Liebermann, the executive of a pharmaceutical called Consanto. He finds a brochure for Consanto but before he can read more, a tiger, which appeared to have been a rug, comes to life and attacks. Nile, a handsome SCORPIA assassin, enters and puts the tiger to sleep with a remote control. He asks Alex why he is there but Alex only discloses his name. Alex is ready to escape, but Nile warns him that if he takes one more step, he will kill him. Alex tries to get out anyway, but Nile, a martial arts master and ninja expert, overpowers Alex, placing him in a position to break Alex's neck. Nile instead knocks him out and places him in a water chamber, leaving him to drown. Alex manages to swim out and the next day, he tells Tom his entire story on a train trip to visit Tom's brother Jerry.
Jerry Harris, an experienced BASE jumper, agrees to help Alex infiltrate Consanto Enterprises. Alex BASE jumps from a cliff onto the roof and enters the building via a fire exit. However, he is spotted by Dr. Liebermann, who is about to call security when Nile shows up. Nile tells Dr. Liebermann he will handle Alex. Nile takes out a samurai sword and throws it across the hall, and to Alex's surprise, the sword goes straight through Dr. Liebermann's neck, killing him instantly. Nile sets a bomb to go off and takes Alex away to see Rothman.
Rothman meets Alex for dinner in a suite hotel, and she offers to have him join SCORPIA. She tells Alex she was falling in love with his father, John Rider, when he was with SCORPIA. Alex tells her he does not want to join SCORPIA, but would like to know the truth about his father (he was told both his parents died in a plane crash). Rothman shows him the video of his father's death.
She tells Alex that his father was an esteemed officer in the Parachute Regiment until he killed a man in a bar. He served a year in prison for manslaughter and was dishonourably discharged from the army. SCORPIA became interested in John's services and hired him as an assassin and teacher at their training school on the island of Malagosto. Rider killed several men, and taught countless other assassins. However, Rothman tells him he was captured by MI6 as part of a trap in Malta.
MI6, however, offered John back in exchange for a normal citezen's son who SCORPIA had held ransom and was intending to murder brutally. SCORPIA accepted, and an exchange was arranged at the Albert Bridge in London. But MI6 double-crossed SCORPIA and a sniper shot John in the back as he was crossing the bridge. Rothman shows Alex that Mrs. Jones, deputy head of MI6 Covert Operations and the woman who sent Alex on three of his missions, issued the order for the assassination of John. Upon hearing this, Alex decides he wants to join SCORPIA.
Alex begins training at SCORPIA's "school" but tells its principal, Oliver D'Arc, he does not have the instinct to kill and he will be unable to be an assassin. This is proven in his tests. To fix the problem, Rothman and D'Arc send Alex on a mission to murder Mrs. Jones.
SCORPIA adds that they have arranged for the murder of all 18 members of the English reserve soccer team as a demonstration and there is nothing the government can do. The Invisible Sword is used and sure enough, Alan Blunt and top civil servant Sir Graham Adair witness all 18 members, including the coach and manager, drop dead inexplicably upon arrival from Lagos at London Heathrow Airport, despite the heavy security measures put in place. SCORPIA takes advantage of the resulting panic in order to sneak Alex back into England.
As the government investigates, Alex infiltrates Mrs. Jones' heavily-guarded apartment, disguised as a pizza delivery boy. He fools the guards into thinking he is going to a different floor with a reprogrammer disguised as a promotions card, and then knocks out another guard with a blowgun disguised as a straw. Using the "olives" on the pizza, which are actually thermite charges, he silently blows up the locks and enters her apartment with a pistol that was hidden in a bottle of Coca-Cola. But when he sees Mrs. Jones, he hesitates, and Mrs. Jones attempts to talk him out of it. He finally fires at her head, however the bullet hits a large pane of bulletproof glass which divides the room into two parts. Alex is arrested and taken to see Alan Blunt. Later on it is discovered (based on the trajectory of the bullet) that at the last moment Alex moved the gun, misfiring. Even if the glass had not been there, Mrs. Jones would not have been killed.
Alan Blunt is furious, and takes Alex to a meeting into aCabinet Office to tell him of Invisible Sword. Alex is horrified to read Scorpia's letter. It is determined during the meeting that Scorpia had embedded nanoshells into the bloodstream of the soccer players while they were in Nigeria. The nanoshells were hidden in vaccination for yellow fever, and, although coated with gold, contained a small(but lethal) amount of cyanide which would be activated by satellite dishes. COBRA determines Scorpia will use the same method to kill schoolchildren, who had received vaccinations earlier. They begin a search for unlicensed satellite dishes and quickly find some atop a hill, but MI6 is skeptical of such an obvious plan.
Knowing the satellite dishes were a decoy, MI6 sends Alex back to SCORPIA, knowing he is the only possible method of infiltration. He is given a retainer that will transmit a signal to MI6. Alex was given an alibi of a massive car crash to present to Julia Rothman when he returns. However, Alex realizes he himself was injected with the nanoshells during an inspection by a SCORPIA doctor.
Mrs. Rothman thinks Alex should witness the conclusion of Invisible Sword, and takes him to an abandoned church called The Church of Forgotten Saints. Alex sees the satellites are in fact concealed in a balloon, and must be activated at a height of 1000 feet in order to work. Alex, however, is horrified, and accidentally lets slip "You can't kill children just to get rich!" Mrs. Rothman grows suspicious, as she never mentioned children, and finds the retainer, smashing it. However, she refrains from killing him, letting the nanoshells do their work instead.
The SAS arrives, and Alex makes his escape, beginning to climb up the rope of the balloon. Mrs. Rothman orders Nile to follow him, but Nile hesitates. Alex and Nile reach the top of the balloon as it reaches 100 metres. Alex psyches out Nile, and tears into a cable connected to the burner with the first samurai sword just before Nile throws the second. A ball of fire is released, knocking Nile off the balloon and causing the assassin to fall to his death. At the same time, the satellites are damaged by the fire and the balloon plummets, saving the schoolchildren. The satellites fall and hit Mrs. Rothman just as she is escaping from the SAS in disguise as a bag lady, killing her instantly. It says in the novel: "She was crushed, driven into the pavement, flattened like a creature in some hideous cartoon". Because of how close they came to a disaster in London, Mark Kellner, the PM's head of communications, who was also in charge of the satellite dishes operation, resigns.
Alex is debriefed by MI6 one week later, and he learns that his father was not an assassin, but was actually working deep cover for MI6. Some of the assassinations were faked, and he was secretly tipping MI6 off for years. The bar fight was also staged, as well as his imprisonment. MI6 decided to pull him out after Mrs. Rothman fell in love with him, staging a massive firefight on Malta and letting Yassen Gregorovich escape. Mrs. Jones tells him John came up with the idea of staging his own assassination. There was a squib in his jacket, and the Scorpia agents were distracted while they tried to kill George Adair (Graham Adair's son who was warned by John of the upcoming firefight). MI6 gave John and Helen a vacation to France shortly afterwards, but Alex had an ear infection at the last second. However, Mrs. Rothman somehow found out John was with MI6 and was still alive, and arranged for a bomb to be placed on the plane.
Meanwhile, as Alex learns the truth, a Scorpia assassin waits across the street on a rooftop, ready to shoot Alex in the heart with a Ruger 10/22 sniper rifle. As Alex steps out onto the street, he is shot, and sees his parents in a near-death experience. The novel ends with Alex appearing to be dead.
The deadly struggle within Alex takes the reader into Alex's world as he desperately tries to acquire the truth.
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