She reveals that Alex's father was murdered by MI6, in an operation masterminded by Head of Special Operations, Mrs Jones. He encounters former Soviet general Alexei Sarov, who tries to adopt Alex and expresses ideas of a nuclear holocaust and world domination under communist rule. After Alex's cover is blown, Drevin learns that the CIA is gathering evidence against him and plans to retaliate by attacking the Pentagon. Lucas tells Alex and Edward that the accident involving White's son wasn't the only one and that Real Time is keeping the accidents secret. Alex is rescued by a man whose identity is later revealed as Rahim, an Indian RAW agent sent to kill McCain.

Jones and Alan Blunt tell Alex the truth about his father; he was an MI6 agent working as a double agent in Scorpia attempting to take down the organization. After he escapes, Alan Blunt, the head of MI6, informs him that Scorpia has a plan to kill every British child in England. MI6 falls for the trap and Alex is sent to Cairo, where he is dismayed to find that Scorpia has been pulling the strings all along. Yassen is put to work for many years, often enduring the teasing of Sharksvosky's son Ivan, and being taught by his helicopter pilot.

Yasha is a teenager with a best friend named Leo and parents working at a laboratory, living near Moscow. Unable to get the right information, when Alex becomes friends with Frederick, he decides to escape with Frederick and then infiltrate Nightshade's base of operations, an abandoned military base in Crete. Once Invisible Sword has been used in London, Scorpia will threaten the Americans with the same weapon while making more lenient demands, intending to expose them as unwilling to help their allies and turn them into an international pariah. They both manage to reach the top, where Nile's fear of heights becomes apparent, allowing Alex to cut one of the gas pipes feeding the burner, causing an explosion on the platform, and Nile falling to his death.

After foiling a Triad plot to fix the 2001 Wimbledon tennis tournament and befriending Sabina, Alex is in grave danger of assassination. The White Carnation was later included in the short story collection Alex Rider: Undercover, which was published exclusively for World Book Day 2020. From Cornwall to Cuba, Venice to France, Alex Rider has travelled far and wide as a spy for MI6, facing danger and death at every turn.Since then, he rejoins Scorpia, kills many others, and then fails to kill Alex Rider after the young agent foils Stormbreaker, and in the end sacrifices himself for Alex, remembering how John saved his life once.