and now he's on the tube, he's following me.
-So how much longer is it gonna take? -It will be very soon.
-[Alex] So what's your dad's book about? -[Sabina] Damian Cray.
The Feathered Serpent guy.
[Tom] Everyone in the world's obsessed with Feathered Serpent apart from you.
Dad.
[PC Elsom] Alex, No more stories about bombs or men with scars.
His name is Yassen Gregorovich.
You need to find him.
As long as he's around, none of us are safe.
[Brixham] It's a cyberattack! Shut it down!
It's the work of one particular hacker. Smoking Mirror.
[male agent] Proceeding to basement.
Hey. You!
Hey! Stop, stop!
[grunting]
Smoking Mirror.
There's been a misunderstanding.
Everyone get away from the machines, right now!
[beeps]
[ominous music playing]
[Cray] In eight days...
the world is going to change.
You fought the Dead Gods, you defeated the Sun King.
But nothing can prepare you for what is coming.
The world's best-selling game reforged in flame.
Will you cower in the darkness...
or stand and face the wrath of the Feathered Serpent?
[hisses]
You have eight days to decide.
-[Charlie] And we're clear. -Fantastic.
That was good, right? I mean, it felt great.
Metrics are excellent.
Live broadcast was definitely the way to go.
-I'm gonna leave the mic here, okay? -Thank you.
Thanks, everyone! Great work.
-Thank you. -[woman] Thank you, Mr. Cray.
Hey, when are we in London?
We leave 0900 tomorrow.
You've got lunchtime interviews for the UK news stations.
I think we should follow this up when we're there,
a little something extra.
-[Charlie] A little something extra? -[Cray] Yeah, something special.
You know, just a few key online voices, top players, that kind of thing.
Get that kid, what's his name? Um...
-Yeah, the one with the gaming channel. -Jonas.
Jonas. Yeah, get him.
And, uh, who's top of the leaderboard?
-It's still K7. -Yeah, get them too.
We'll livestream it, get a little buzz going.
A face-to-face with the fans?
We'd need more than 48 hours to set that up.
We'd need a venue, security, publicity--
Come on. You can do it, Charlie. That's what you're for.
-We'll host it at the London office. -There'd still be a lot to set up.
Come on, get excited about this.
Behind the scenes, peek behind the curtain.
It'll be fantastic.
We'll make sure the whole world's watching.
Hey, Charlie.
There's a research station at the South Pole
where they don't see another human being for six months at a time.
There are indigenous peoples on islands in the South Pacific
where they have no contact at all with the outside world.
There are hermits living in the bottom of caves in utter darkness.
By next week...
let's make sure that all those people
have pre-ordered their copy of Feathered Serpent 2.
In eight days' time...
we're gonna change the world.
[theme music playing]
[ominous music playing]
[Byrne] In a week from now, the president arrives in London.
What the hell do you suggest I tell her about Smoking Mirror?
That sometimes there are unforeseen variables in a tactical situation.
In other words, you screwed up.
You spent six months over this and never found your man.
-We found him in a week. -And lost him in a minute.
Well, we'll just have to find him again, won't we?
That guy's place was full of computer gear.
That's not someone who's giving up. That's someone who's active and planning.
If there is another attack coming, we need to know about it,
we need to stop it.
Smoking Mirror was untraceable because we didn't know who he really was.
That's changed. He has a name now. Simon Mariat.
Footprints we can track. We're on this.
Okay.
One other thing.
That kid.
You knew him.
Who is he?
Don't worry about him. He's nobody.
[door opens, closes]
[Alex] They lied to me.
Yassen Gregorovich isn't in Myanmar. I saw him in Cornwall.
-Alex. -They used me, Jack.
They nearly got me killed.
And now that they don't need me anymore...
You should have heard him. "You're not an agent. Go home."
He has a point.
-You're on his side? -I wish you never met Alan Blunt.
I could never be on his side. But you are not an agent.
Ed was nearly killed because of me.
What if I'd said something, warned him?
I could have stopped it.
You have school. You have a life.
I have a job.
We are not a part of this. We should leave this alone.
I'm sorry, but people are in danger and I can help them.
That's the truth of it, and that's all that matters.
And if that means me having to do the Department's job for them,
then that's what I have to do.
Oh, my God.
-Okay, thanks. I'll call you later. -Yes, ma'am.
-Is there anything recoverable? -Nothing.
[sighs]
Smoking Mirror triggered the self-destruct button
the moment he was clear.
All the drives are dead.
-It's all gone. -Well, he must have left something behind.
Shopping receipts. Rubbish. Something physical.
He lives off the grid.
There's no driving license, no passport, no bank account.
At least not in the name of Simon Marriat anyway.
He must have gone somewhere. We busted his home address.
Where is he?
He may have somewhere else, or he could be using a hackerspace.
A survival shelter, if you will.
He could stay there for weeks, maybe months.
We don't have weeks or months.
We need him now.
Come on, the clock's ticking.
[suspenseful music playing]
[door buzzes]
[Maisie] Well, well, well.
Mr. Mirror, I was wondering if you were gonna show up.
You got people looking for you all over London.
You're lucky to be alive.
Have any of them been here?
They'd have to find here first.
How long you planning on staying?
I've booked a flight to Montenegro a week from now.
Good luck with that one, honey. They put out an all-ports warning.
High-priority alert.
-Well, then a while. -Okay.
You know the rates. Payment via the blockchain.
I'll get my bots to talk to your bots.
Room four.
If anyone calls, I don't exist.
[door beeps]
[dramatic music playing]
[beeps]
[keyboard clacking]
[indistinct chatter over computers]
Question.
Go on.
Alex Rider.
That's not a question.
He's your agent.
No. Not anymore. You heard Blunt.
He came to us for help.
You don't think we owe him a duty of care?
Yes. Actually, I do.
But what if Blunt is right?
What if Alex has been psychologically damaged
because of how we used him?
What we did to him?
I think the best thing we can do for Alex right now is keep him away from us.
[Tom] Alex.
Alex.
You have got to see this.
-What am I looking at? -No, no, no. Wait for it, wait for it.
-Ooh, it caught the whole fight! -Yeah, I've seen it.
I was there.
Um, look, Tom, I need your help.
Yeah, okay, cool. We going after the exploding computer guy?
-Uh, Smoking Mirror? -The one that got away.
Yeah, but it's not that.
Um, I need to bail after registration. Can you cover for me?
Mate, I thought you meant like actually help, like do something.
-Not just, "Alex is at the dentist." -I'm meeting Sabina.
She's all on her own.
It's just a couple of hours. I'll be back before lunch.
Promise.
Yeah. Cool. Whatever, man. I got you covered.
[beeps]
[copy machine whirring]
We're wanted. JM.
What did we do?
My goodness. Look at the two of you.
Nobody's being fired, you know.
You can unclench.
All right, listen.
You're doing well on the indefinite right to remain cases.
Despite the time off in Cornwall.
You'll need to stay on top of those, but I have something else for you as well.
It's a little bigger, but I'm sure you can cope.
The East London Drug Rehabilitation Center.
It's a small charity helping young people with substance abuse.
Last year, they approached The Damian Cray Foundation for funding.
-He's making a donation? -Better than that.
He wants to bring them in, make them part of the foundation.
So where do we come in?
He wants us to prepare the deal.
Really? I thought we were about helping the underdogs.
Cray is in charge of a global empire, he must already have lawyers.
The biggest, the best.
Very impressive, very intimidating.
But this is a small London charity.
Oh, we're the local guys with a friendly face.
Or rather, two friendly faces.
I want you to work on this... together.
Dad moved in here after he and Mom... you know.
Nice.
It's better with Dad in it.
[alarm beeping]
[keypad beeping]
[alarm stops]
[door closes]
Someone's been here.
-Are you sure? -Yeah.
I mean, it's always a mess. But this isn't his mess.
I just know.
-We should call the police. -No.
The door was locked. The alarm was on. They won't believe us.
-Like they didn't believe you in Cornwall. -Exactly.
[ominous music playing]
If someone's been here...
we need to find out what they were looking for.
[indistinct chatter]
[video game chiming]
-Where are you up to? -Temple of the Dead Gods.
This group I'm in is just crap.
You should join.
What, 'cause I'd up your game, or 'cause I'd fit right in?
-I'll leave you to decide. -Yeah. Just a sec.
-What you doing? -Nothing. Just...
-We could really use your help here. -Yeah, sure, just a sec.
-Damn. We're wiped. -Sorry. Um...
Do you think that's an 8 or a B?
This is what was so important? Motorbikes?
[scoffs]
It's a B.
-Well, look at it properly. -I don't need to. It's a B.
How can you tell?
Because British format licenses never start with a number,
they start with the DVLA memory tag,
which is two letters indicating where your plate was registered,
so that can't be an 8, it's a B,
which is for Birmingham, which is where your number plate was registered.
It's actually pretty much common knowledge.
-Well, I didn't know that. -Yeah, but you're pretty.
[chuckles] See you.
[Sabina] Nothing about Cray in any of these.
[Alex] Hmm.
Did your dad ever mention someone called Mirror?
[ominous music playing]
Smoking Mirror?
What sort of name is that?
-Does it ring any bells? -No.
Never heard of him.
[sighs]
Only one week to wait until the launch of Feathered Serpent 2,
and anticipation is, to put it mildly, running a little high.
I know. I made the damn thing
and even I can't wait for it to come out so I can play it.
[laughs]
It's good to have you back in London, Mr. Cray.
Damian, please.
Uh, well, it's great to be back.
I was born here, grew up here, lived half my life here.
I mean, London's still my home, which is why, in seven days' time,
I wanna be right here in Britain's capital city
when Feathered Serpent 2 launches and we change the world.
Isn't changing the world a lot to ask of a video game?
I know, right? But here's how we're gonna start.
Every penny from every copy sold
is gonna go straight to help the war on drugs.
We're not gonna make any profit on this. In fact, we're gonna run it at a loss.
This is personal for you, isn't it?
Yeah. It is. Um...
My brother was a drug addict.
His name was Joe and drug addiction killed him.
Just like it kills hundreds of thousands of people every year
and enslaves millions more in ways that you or I can only imagine.
But we're gonna end all that.
You're really going to end drug addiction?
You're gonna have to trust me on this.
But, yes, it's true.
[Alex] Anything on Cray you can find.
There's a ton of stuff in here, but it's all...
-Wait. Here it is. -There.
[beeps]
[Sabina] It's empty.
[beeps]
[keyboard clacking]
So everything your dad wrote about Damian Cray is either burned...
or stolen.
Or deleted.
And he found something big enough, dangerous enough...
that someone tried to kill him to hide it.
[keyboard clacking]
[ominous music playing]
[Alex] Tom!
There you are.
What are you doing out here? Didn't you cover for me?
I did my best. You were meant to be back before lunch.
Listen, do you still think this Smoking Mirror dude's important?
Yeah, he's important.
He's the link.
The hospital. The Department.
I think Sabina's dad even met him before he was hurt.
-He's right in the middle of everything. -Okay. Then you're gonna wanna see this.
That's his bike. It's a 1200 cc twin-engine Triumph.
That's him doing his big getaway.
And that, that's his number plate.
[chuckles] Nice.
Nice one, Tom.
Seriously. Nice one.
Yeah, well, I wanted to get you a name as well,
but the police wouldn't really wanna help on that.
No, they wouldn't.
I know someone who might.
[Matthew Goodman's "Feeling Lucky" playing]
A flat white, please. Skinny.
And what'll you have, Alex?
How'd you see me?
Your surveillance techniques could use a little brushing up.
-I'll work on it. -Yeah.
You better.
I need to know who owns this bike.
-May I ask why? -You can ask.
Someone's learning.
Should be easy enough.
[beeping]
Where did you get this?
Outside the house.
-The raid. -Yeah.
Well...
look at you.
The bike is registered to a man called Simon Mariat.
Smoking Mirror's real name.
So? Who is he?
-Why do you need to know? -I got beaten up because of this guy.
The least you could do is tell me who he is.
He's a computer hacker.
One of the best in the world. He's also a wanted man.
So where is he now?
We don't know.
[sighs]
But this...
This is very helpful.
Hey, everyone. How's it going? Everything set for launch day?
We have a problem with the packet structure.
[sighs] We're having a good day, Evelyn, a really good day.
Charlie says so, and we shouldn't mess with that.
-What's the problem? -It's a synchronization issue.
It's simple. We're fixing it.
When will it be fixed?
I have Amsterdam on it.
All teams. Two hours. Maybe three.
Two hours. Maybe three. Well, that's okay then.
That's fine. What are we worried about? We still have seven days.
Just make sure it's fixed. Make sure it's rock solid.
We don't get any second chances with this.
There's something else you need to see.
Okay. Show me.
[keyboard clacking]
-Wait. Isn't this the guy who...? -[Evelyn] He's writing a book about you.
[Cray] It says he's in a critical condition.
But not dead.
That's terrible. Poor guy.
-Charlie, had you seen this? -No.
No idea.
[Cray] You know, we should send something.
Find out what hospital he's in and send some flowers.
A big bunch.
Simon Mariat has a motorcycle.
-How did we miss that? -[Smithers] We didn't.
He spelled his name differently on the registration.
One R instead of two. It's very clever.
This is good. This is how we find him.
[Smithers] I've already set up the systems.
The moment that license plate hits the CCTV grid,
the information will be passed straight to us.
There'll be a slight lag,
but wherever he goes, we'll be right behind.
Very good.
How did you work out he had a motorbike?
Hmm?
Ah. Um...
One of the items that turned up during the house search was thermal underwear.
In the bathroom.
Who wears thermal underwear? Skiers, bikers.
I took a chance.
[video game sounds]
Hey, Tom. When did you move in?
-Ah, food's better here. -[Alex] I'm making dinner.
I take that back.
-How was your day? -[Jack] It was fine.
I kind of got a promotion.
-They made you partner? -[Jack] Not quite.
But I got my own thing. With Dan. We're working with Damian Cray.
Cray.
What is it?
Nothing.
[doorbell rings]
Oh, I'll go.
[sniffles]
Alex Rider?
Um...
Yeah.
Cheers.
Did you order pizza?
-[Alex] No. -Well, there's ten of them.
-[Alex] What? -Yeah.
Anchovies. I hate anchovies.
[cell phone ringing]
[Jack] Hello?
Hello? Who is this?
[cell phone ringing]
Can you hear me? Is anyone there?
[cell phone ringing]
[Alex] Hello?
[cell phone ringing]
Hello?
[phone ringing]
-Wait. -There's no one there.
What the hell is going on?
[Andy James' "Blackened Heart" playing over speakers]
[Jack] Alex! What is this?
[music stops]
[static hissing]
Who's doing this?
Smoking Mirror.
We're being hacked.
[ominous music playing]
[keyboard clacking]
[sighs]
I can help you.
Yes, you do.
They know who you are. So do I.
Simon Mariat.
I know about Damian Cray.
Alex...
What's this got to do with Damian Cray?
I don't know.
Smoking Mirror does.
He knows where you live, man.
-That's kind of freaky. -I know.
But the thing is, if this guy doesn't wanna be found, then what can we do?
[cell phone buzzing]
Maybe he's changed his mind.
[Simon] There's a disused industrial hangar on North Crescent Avenue.
Leave your phone and come now. Come alone.
You've got one hour.
[phone beeps]
Oh...
Was that him?
Yeah.
Um...
Here.
-Dentist? -Yeah. Dentist.
[suspenseful music playing]
[door beeps]
-Where you going? -I got a meeting.
An actual meeting?
I hope you know what you're doing.
[computer beeping]
And there you are. We've got him. Positive lock on the plates.
-Where? -Angel, heading east.
There's a slight delay, but wherever he goes, we'll be right behind him.
[ominous music playing]
I'm looking for a friend.
[dramatic music playing]
[beeps]
[engine starts]
Nothing from Collier Street, Easton Street, Wynford Street,
Marlborough Gardens and Wakefield Road.
-Have we lost him? -[Smithers] No.
This is the placement of the traffic cameras in the area
he was last seen entering.
If he hasn't passed through any of them, it means he's stopped in this circle.
Right. Get everyone in that zone. We know what he looks like. Find him.
How far is it from here?
If you're lucky with traffic, 20 minutes.
Let's go.
[suspenseful music playing]
[beeping]
Smoking Mirror.
Simon Mariat.
Alex Rider.
Alex Friend.
Unit Two, Control. Do you have anything?
[man] Negative. No contact.
He's here somewhere.
Who's he meeting?
-Have you got a phone? -No.
Nothing electronic?
Do you have any idea how dangerous he is?
Do you have any idea how much I've risked coming here?
But you came.
Nobody knows the truth except me.
I know.
I've seen what Cray's capable of.
Ed was just a journalist.
But you, you're some kind of asset.
I was thinking, you could bring me in to your government friends.
Get them to, I don't know, cut a deal in exchange for what I know.
If you've been telling me the truth.
So prove it.
Tell me what you know about Damian Cray.
I was with Ed in Cornwall the day he was nearly killed.
He was writing a book about Cray.
I know that.
-You helped him? -Yes. Go on.
I went to his house. It's been searched.
All his notes, everything in the cloud, it's all gone.
Yes? And?
[sighs]
Is that it?
Is that all you've got?!
Oh, my God.
[metal clanging]
Shh.
What?
[beeps]
[watch beeping]
What? What is it?
They're here.
-Run. -What?
Run!
[Yassen] I've been looking for you.
You're a very hard man to find, Simon. What are you doing here?
[Simon] Listen, please. You don't have to do this, you know.
I can be useful. To you, you know.
I know things. All sorts of things.
Well, that's the problem.
[metal clanging]
[dramatic music playing]
[panting]
[grunts]
[suspenseful music playing]
[panting]
[elevator engaging]
[suspenseful music playing]
[panting]
[grunting]
[grunts]
Whoa!
[grunting]
[panting]
[grunts]
[panting]
Alex...
[dramatic music playing]
[grunts]
[vehicles approaching]
[tires screech]
[indistinct radio transmission]
We seem to be making a habit out of this.
Arriving too late.
It won't happen again.
[ominous music playing]
[beeping]
[dramatic music playing]
[beeping]