Skeleton Key (Alex Rider)

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Smithers • Ben Daniels • Sabina Pleasure • Bill Tanner • Anan Sukit • Hermann De Wynter • Marc Damon McCain mentions later on in the novel that he had killed Straik by shoving a poisonous Cone snail from the Poison Dome down his throat, as he did not want to share the money with anyone. On a coveted holiday destination just off the coast of Cuba, a mad general has intentions to undo history—and only Alex can stop him. The first is in Point Blanc, where he activates a distress signal but MI6 ignores him and he ends up escaping from the academy of his own accord. When John Rider, Alex's father, came to work for Scorpia, Julia fell in love with him, but after he was discovered to be a double agent, Julia plans to kill him. She assigned Ash to kill his friend to prove that he is ready to join Scorpia.

Alex's official year of birth is stated as being 1987, with Alex stating in Point Blanc that he was two years old in 1989. [18] However, in Snakehead Alex remembers the Boxing Day Tsunami (2004). [13] Then in the US version of Crocodile Tears, it mentions Obama as being the President of the United States. [24] Considering these events, his birth year would more reliably be February 13, 1996. Yu fought in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, serving four tours of duty and rising to the rank of major; however, he was soon diagnosed with brittle bone disease and forced to leave the Army. He then took up a desk job at MI6, but he was not satisfied with this job, and secretly sold information to Britain's enemies. When Scorpia was founded in Paris, Yu was one of the twelve founders. Scorpia - He went on his own volition to find out about the criminal organisation, as well as his father's motive for supposedly joining them.Eventually, The Salesman discovers Turner's real identity and attempts to kill him. However, Alex sneaks onto the boat and sets it on fire. This causes a distraction, allowing Alex to save Turner by shooting The Salesman with a stun-dart (commenting, "He got the wrong number."). After Alex and Turner jump overboard, the Salesman tries to ram them with his boat, but Sarov's assistant, Conrad, had set a bomb on the boat, which is detonated, killing the Salesman and his crew, as well as sinking the boat. ALEX RIDER SERIES SKELETON KEY circle tattooed on his arm? He hadn‟t wanted that to be seen. Alex was certain he had tried to cover it up. And there was something else. Maybe it was just coincidence, but the guard, just like the man who had broken into the All England Tennis Club to begin with, was Chinese.

Graham Adair • Smithers • Mark Kellner • George Adair • Tom Harris • Jerry Harris • Harold Liebermann Dr. Raymond Feng is the main antagonist of the short story Spy Trap. Nearly nothing is known about him. In Crocodile Tears, he was hospitalized after having fractured his ankle and receiving burns from an exploding fuel drum. [13] [24] [15] [18] [19] Sunthorn is a minor antagonist in Snakehead. He is employed by the snakehead as a Muay Thai fighter in an illegal betting operation in Thailand, where unwilling fighters are kidnapped and brought to 'Sunthorn', who, in effect, beats them to death in front of the crowd, who bet on how long the opponent will last. ALEX RIDER SERIES SKELETON KEY sudden stillness. Photographers hung, vulture-like, over huge telephoto lenses while beneath them, in green-covered bunkers, television cameras swung round to take in the first serve. The players faced each other: two men whose whole lives had led up to this moment and whose future in the game would be decided in the next few minutes. It was all so very English—the grass, the strawberries, the straw hats. And yet it was still bloody, a gladiatorial contest like no other. “Quiet please, ladies and gentlemen…” The umpire‟s voice rang out through the various speakers and then the first player served. Jacques Lefevre was French, twenty-two years old and new to the tournament. Nobody had expected him to get this far. He was playing a German, Jamie Blitz, one of the favourites in this year‟s competition. But it was Blitz who was losing—two sets down, five games to two. Alex watched him as he waited, balancing on the balls of his feet. Lefevre served. The ball thundered close to the centre line. An ace. “Fifteen love.” Alex was close enough to see defeat in the German‟s eyes. This was the cruelty of the game; the psychology of it. Lose your mental edge and you could lose everything. That was what had happened to Blitz now. Alex could almost smell it in his sweat. As he walked to the other side of the court to face the next serve, his whole body looked heavy, as if it was taking all his strength just to keep himself there. He lost the next point and the one after. Alex sprinted across the court, snatched up a ball and just had time to roll it up to the ballboy at left base one. Not that it would be needed. It looked as if there would be only one more serve in the game.Eva Stellenbosch is also portrayed as a smoker. At various points in the book, she is pictured smoking cigars. He's too good at what he does… too good at his job. And it's in his blood. It's rather odd. Most schoolboys dream of being spies. With Alex, we have a spy who dreams of being a schoolboy. After capturing Alex, Yu reveals that he will be sent to an illegal organ harvesting clinic in Kakadu, to pay for both his thwarting of Invisible Sword and his damage to Reef Encounter. However, Alex escapes, reunites with the Australian SAS, and storms Yu's Dragon Nine rig, where the bomb is due to be detonated. Although Yu falls down a maintenance tunnel, he survives, despite breaking his ankles, and escapes on his yacht. However, Alex (who had previously scanned his handprint into the control system) detonates the bomb prematurely, which causes a wave that hits Yu's yacht, and he dies when the wave hits, as every bone in his body shatters because of his illness. Drake is described as being in his mid-thirties, unshaven, with silver hair, a slim build and a handsome face. He also suffers from Mobius Syndrome, causing his face to be permanently smiling, something he despises, saying that "I've been smiling all my life even though I've never found very much to smile about". Leonard "Leo" Straik is a secondary antagonist in the novel Crocodile Tears. He runs the company Greenfields that Alex takes a school trip to. He is also a close friend of Desmond McCain, the chief antagonist of the novel, and is known to be the inventor of the gene gun that is demonstrated at Greenfields.

Derek Vosper is a minor antagonist in Never Say Die. He is the husband of Jane Vosper, and works as the curator of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxfordshire.

Sister" Jeanne. She has "the look of a matron at a private clinic," is well-built, with chestnut hair which always looks fake, and wears too much makeup to disguise her age. She has medical responsibility for the Numbers. Alex is fluent in several languages - as well as his native English, he speaks fluent French and Spanish, and some German. He also speaks basic Italian and Japanese. [12] [26] Although he does not physically appear in the novel due to his death in Scorpia Rising, Julius had a strong influence in Nightshade in which Alex goes undercover as him in the Gibraltar prison so he could get close to Freddy Grey and follow him to Nightshade. While there, Alex discovers that Julius had made enemies at the prison and created his own escape plan before being broken out by SCORPIA, which he uses to escape himself, along with Freddy. Alex later tries to "join" Nightshade to build trust, but has his cover blown by Dominic Royce. Nightshade then uses him to start a diversion away from their plan, claiming that he really is "Julius", and causing law enforcement to focus on finding him.