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Yassen Gregorovich had always had a low opinion of Nile but this disappointed him even further than he had thought possible. It was just so predictable. Invisible Sword was destroyed. Scorpia’s secrets were in the hands of MI6. Rothman was dead. Anyone with any sense would be pulling out their fake identities and heading under as deep cover as they could find. But not Nile. Not when he had a chance for revenge and some cruelty. Nile would take that option every time.
One of the first things that Hunter had taught the young Cossack was that being predictable made you vulnerable. And here was the much more experienced assassin proving that point in defence of Hunter’s son. Well, Yassen supposed that he’d got Alex Rider into this mess and it was his job to get him out of it.
Yassen crouched by access to the roof and watched Nile set up his sniper point. Where was the man’s supposed expertise? Where was his ability to detect people hiding from their breathing? Was it all just hype and Rothman’s infatuation with the younger man’s ability to be cruel? In the end, Yassen thought that Nile was just another bully, better trained than most but still just someone who liked hurting those weaker than himself.
When Nile was completely concentrated on his target, Yassen moved silently towards him. There wasn’t the slightest flicker of awareness that Nile knew he was there. A single bullet was all it took. Really, Yassen was doing the assassins’ world a favour by taking out such a substandard operative.
Alex would have heard the shot, silencer or no. Yassen risked standing on the edge of the roof so Alex would know he was safe.
When he knew he was seen, Yassen stood back from the skyline. He put the gun beside Nile. The fake fingerprints he was using would confuse things a little for MI6 but not for long. No matter. There was a cruise ship leaving Tilbury port that afternoon for an overnight stay in Amsterdam. By the time the crew realised that Mr Stephen Cuthbertson was not rejoining the cruise, Yassen would be long gone.
Yassen didn’t think that he would end up leaving the world of assassination any more than he thought this was the last time we would see Alex Rider. He and the Riders had a future as well as a past but this was enough for now.