Dragana Novak

Dragana Novak is a key character and antagonist in the eleventh Alex Rider novel, Never Say Die, by Anthony Horowitz. She is a Serbian hitwoman and assassin working with the final two members of SCORPIA, Eduardo and Giovanni Grimaldi.

Introduction
Dragana is first introduced in the very first chapter, breaking into the Suffolk Air Show, killing two American soldiers with her neurotoxin-filled gun, and then abruptly stealing a first-class, luxury-built military helicopter right in front of the security's noses. This clearly shows her formidable daring nature and reckless ambition to do anything for money.

Her assignment
Dragana's assignment goes so well she is able to cunningly hide the gigantic helicopter in plain sight in an English field in Sussex and no one will notice, simply because they assume it to be a windmill. Anyway, MI6 are made a laughing stock and this is what SCORPIA want. For her successful mission Dragana is paid by the Grimaldi twins and she spends it all on luxury clothes and chocolates, then retires with her possessions to the luxury cruiser she is staying at.

Downfall
On board the ship, Dragana eats some chocolates, drinks wine and goes to bed pondering her future tasks which involve Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon. But unbeknown to her, Alex Rider broke in and almost shakes her awake before she stumbles awake and lunges at Alex, firing her poison bullet at him, but his passport blocks the bullet from reaching his heart (He had cunningly said "Have a heart" before she complied and shot him, thus prompting her to aim at that particular organ) but Alex survived and knocked her out. She soon stirred awake, and a standoff ensued, with Dragana attempting to strangle Alex to death mercilessly. But Alex knocked her aside last minute, and, asking if the Grimaldis owned the ship, but Dragana basically told him they did and they'd enjoy beating him to death. However, her henchmen came running and Alex gagged the woman and fled.

Alex evaded the henchmen by setting up basic traps which fooled the dimwitted men. But Dragana was not fooled for long - she escaped ALex's gag and roared into the room like a cyclone from Hell. She was about to strangle Alex again but her companion shot her in the shoulder and dislocated her arm.

Alex survived and fled the scene but Dragana ended up in hospital with a broken arm - totally useless to fly the helicopter and carry out phase 2.

Death
Dragana was recovering in hospital. She received a surprise visit from the Grimaldi twins, and unbeknown to them both, Alex himself was in the reception room, hidden behind a newspaper, eavesdropping, because he wanted to know if the Grimaldis visited Dragana. He had now found them.

But Dragana received a visit from the twins anyway, and they pretended to feel empathy for her and "wished" her a speedy recovery. However, Dragana was not prepared to feel useless and she said her cousin was as good a pilot as she was and he would happily fill in for her. The twins complied, then gave Dragana a rose from their garden. Dragana, of course, leaned in to sniff it. But a hidden wire the twins had enclosed in the flower burrowed into her nose, and snuffed her life out.

Personality and traits
Of all the Seven Deadly Sins, Dragana was pride, greed, gluttony, and envy, she was obese, and had short red hair. She was Slavic, and a very professional hitwoman. She never failed in any assignment she had been given until, that is, she met Alex Rider.

She is described as being a hideous old hag with stumpy legs that would've suited an elderly man. However, she believes she is beautiful, and dresses in luxury pink gowns when in bed, and any disguise she thinks of when in action - for instance she wore a Red Cross charity uniform when assassinating the two agents in Suffolk.

She liked fine things - such as grilled beef in leaves for dinner; wine; and expensive chocolates. Under all this though; she looked extremely unattractive, and was prepared to kill many people or maim them to get paid. She was not a woman one would hope to be friends with and the Grimaldi twins believed murdering her was hilarious, as they did with almost any "job."