Alex Rider wakes up when the doorbell rings before dawn. Two policemen ask the housekeeper, a woman named Jack Starbright, if this is Ian Rider’s house. Alex knows that Ian is dead by their tones. The policemen tell him that Ian died in a car accident and was not wearing a seatbelt. Ian raised Alex after his parents died in a plane crash when he was a baby. He was close to his uncle, and he feels grief as he realizes that he will never see him again. Alex realizes that he did not know Ian well. Though Ian was a banker and traveled frequently, he had no social life, which puzzles Alex. Alex expresses concerns about the future to Jack, an American who became Alex’s babysitter and Ian’s housekeeper while studying in England. He worries that Jack will return to America soon and that he will have to move. Alex also finds it hard to believe that Ian was not wearing a seatbelt since he was always careful. A man named Crawley from Ian’s bank, Royal & General, assures Alex that he will take care of Ian’s affairs.

At Ian’s funeral a few days later, the bank’s chairman, Mr.