On the fictional island of Skeleton Key, off the coast of Cuba, three men supply General Alexei Sarov with uranium.

[N 1] MI6 Chief of Staff John Crawley offers Alex tickets to Wimbledon, where he goes undercover as a ball boy to investigate a break-in.

Turner meets a criminal known as "the Salesman" on a yacht, the Mayfair Lady, correctly suspecting that the latter was involved in the sale of uranium to Sarov.

In Skeleton Key, Alex notices a Geiger counter in a Game Boy Advance[N 3] console he was given by his "parents", deducing that Turner and Troy were sent to the island to search for a nuclear bomb.

Turner and Troy reluctantly reveal their suspicions and their plan to infiltrate Sarov's residence – the Casa de Oro - by scuba diving into a cave underneath that features a ladder formerly used by smugglers that leads to the grounds.

Alex reluctantly tells the truth when interrogated by Conrad, who decides to kill him by feeding him into two grindstones in a sugar mill.

Alex wakes up in the Casa de Oro and meets with Sarov, who reveals that Conrad planted an explosive on the "Mayfair Lady" to prevent the Salesman alerting the authorities.

When the plane makes a fuel stop in Edinburgh, Alex uses a stun grenade disguised as a keyring[N 4] to escape, temporarily incapacitating Sarov and Conrad.

Despite outmatching Alex, Conrad (who has numerous pieces of metal inside his body following a failed bombing years earlier) is caught by a crane's electromagnet, pulling him with extreme force.

Alex takes control of the crane, dropping Conrad's body into the sea and removing the nuclear bomb from the submarine.

[2] The print version of Skeleton Key was named as one of ALA's Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers for 2004.

[3] The School Library Journal has given praise for both editions of the story, calling the print version "rip-roaring" while recommending the graphic novel as a pick for "reluctant readers".