THE CRASH
The accident was so sudden, so unexpected, that none of them even realized it had happened until it was almost over. There was Edward Pleasure changing gear as the car picked up speed. How fast were they going? No more than twenty-five miles per hour. Sabina said something and he half turned around to answer her. The headlights were shooting out, two separate columns, distinct from each other.
And then there was a cracking sound. It seemed to come from a long way away, but that wasn’t possible. It had to be something in the engine. The car shuddered and lurched crazily to one side. Sabina cried out. There was nothing anyone could do. It was as if a giant hand had seized the back of the car and swung it around like a toy. Alex felt the tires slide helplessly across the road. Edward wrenched the steering wheel the other way, but it was useless. They were spinning out of control with the night sky rushing toward them. And then came the moment when the tires left the icy surface altogether, and with a surge of terror Alex knew that they had come off the edge of the rock face, that they were in the air with the black, frozen waters of Loch Arkaig far below.
For half a second the car hung in the air.
Then it pitched forward and plunged down.
ALEX RIDER MISSIONS:
Stormbreaker
Point Blank
Skeleton Key
Eagle Strike
Scorpia
Ark Angel
Snakehead
Crocodile Tears
Scorpia Rising
Russian Roulette
ALSO BY ANTHONY HOROWITZ
T
HE
D
IAMOND
B
ROTHERS
M
YSTERIES
Public Enemy Number Two
The Falcon’s Malteser
Three of Diamonds
South by Southeast
The Greek Who Stole Christmas
The Complete Horowitz Horror
Bloody Horowitz
The Devil and His Boy
Granny
Groosham Grange
Return to Groosham Grange: The Unholy Grail
The Switch
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