Skeleton Key
Chapter One
The Cribber
It had taken the engineer just a few minutes to take the water dispenser apart. Now he reached
inside and carefully disengaged a slim glass vial from a tangle of wires and circuit boards.
"Built into the filter," he said. "There's a valve system. Very ingenious."
He passed the vial to a stern-looking woman who held it up to the light, examining its contents. It
was half filled with a transparent liquid. She swirled it around, smelled it, finally applied a little to
her index finger and tasted it. Her eyes narrowed.
"Librium," she announced. She had a clipped, matter-of-fact way of speaking. "Nasty little drug. A
spoonful will put you out cold. A couple of drops, though ... they'll just confuse you. Basically
knock you off-balance."
The restaurant, and indeed the entire Millennium Building, had been closed for the night. There
were three other men there. John Crawley was one. Next to him stood a uniformed policeman,
obviously senior. The third man was gray-haired and elderly, wearing a Wimbledon tie with dark
green stripes. Alex was sitting to one side, feeling suddenly ... read full excerpt from Skeleton Key (Alex Rider Adventure) ebook
