STORMBREAKER by Anthony Horowitz

Alex lowered himself on to the ledge outside Crawley’s office. His

hands were behind him, clutching on to the window-sill. He took a
deep breath. And jumped.

A camera located in an office across the road caught Alex as he

launched himself into space. Two floors above, Alan Blunt was still
sitting in front of the screen. He chuckled. It was a humourless
sound. “I told you,” he said. “The boy’s extraordinary.”

“The boy’s quite mad,” the woman retorted.

“Well, maybe that’s what we need.”

“You’re just going to sit here and watch him kill himself?”

“I’m going to sit here and hope he survives.”

Alex had miscalculated the jump. He had missed the flagpole by a

centimetre and would have plunged down to the pavement if his
hands hadn’t caught hold of the Union Jack itself. He was hanging
now with his feet in mid-air. Slowly, with huge effort, he pulled
himself up, his fingers hooking into the material. Somehow he
managed to climb back up on to the pole. He still didn’t look down.
He just hoped that no passer-by would look up.

It was easier after that. He squatted on the pole, then threw

himself across to the ledge outside Ian Rider’s office. He had to be
careful. Too far to the left and he would crash into the side of the
building, but too far the other way and he would fall. In fact he
landed perfectly, grabbing hold of the ledge with both hands and
then pulling himself up until he was level with the window.