Skeleton Key is the third book in the Alex Rider series written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The book was released in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2002, and in the United States on April 28, 2003. Summary On the fictional island of Skeleton Key, off the coast of Cuba, three men meet and supply General Alexei Sarov with uranium. In the process they attempt to blackmail him into giving them a quarter of a million more dollars otherwise they will go to the American authorities. Believing this to be a threat, General Sarov switches off the runway lights when the plane is about to take off and turns on another set of lights that cause them to fall into crocodile-infested waters. Meanwhile, after the events of Point Blanc, it is revealed that the real Alex Rider survived the fight with his clone. MI6 Chief of Staff John Crawley approaches Alex at school and offers him tickets to Wimbledon where he goes undercover as a ball boy to investigate a break-in. While managing to foil the Chinese Triad gang Big Circle's attempt at match-fixing, Alex is targeted by the triad gang. After a second attempt on his life is made while surfing on vacation with Sabina Pleasure, whom he befriended at Wimbledon, both MI6 and the CIA arrange to send Alex away for his own safety. He is partnered with two CIA agents, Tom Turner (renamed "Glen Carver" in American versions of the novel) and Belinda Troy, who are sent with him to Skeleton Key to investigate Sarov. The CIA is concerned about the actions of Sarov and his meeting with Russian president Boris Kiriyenko (a childhood friend of Sarov's) in a few days' time. En route to Skeleton Key, the "family" of Alex, Turner, and Troy stop in Miami. Much to Alex's frustration, the two CIA agents are openly unhappy about bringing Alex and they attempt to withhold as much information from Alex as possible. Turner meets a criminal known as "the Salesman" on a classic motor yacht, the Mayfair Lady, (correctly) suspecting that the Salesman was involved in the sale of uranium to Sarov. The Salesman, however, is aware of Turner's true identity and plans to kill and dump him in the sea. Alex sneaks aboard the boat and causes a distraction by setting fire to it, before knocking out the Salesman by using a drugged dart