Joe Craig - Jimmy Coates - Revenge

Jimmy pounced, holding him down. Except, he gradually realised – it wasn’t a him. There was a tickling sensation on Jimmy’s lips. Stray hairs fluttered around his face. He spat them away, conscious of not loosening his hold. There was a strange smell in the air. Was that coconut shampoo?

Finally, Georgie found the light switch – but it didn’t work. She clicked it on and off frantically. The room remained dark. Instead, she went for the door handle. In a burst of strength, the intruder performed a back flip so powerful it took Jimmy along too. She landed on him, knocking the wind out of him, and immediately launched herself at Georgie.

As Georgie pulled the door open a centimetre, the intruder slammed into the small of her back. The door banged shut, with Georgie’s face pressed against the wood. She tried to scream for help, but before the breath even reached her lungs, she was pulled away and flung back on to her bed. The mysterious figure wrapped the duvet across Georgie’s face and spun her over like a log down a hill. Georgie tried shouting again, but the bedclothes completely muffled the noise. She was rolled up so tight she couldn’t move her arms from her side.

Jimmy was slightly dazed, but he shook it off and hurled himself at the base of Georgie’s bed. It knocked into his attacker, throwing her off-balance. Immediately, Jimmy rolled under the bed, out the other side and slammed into her ankles. He tried to pin her to the floorboards again, but she spun like a break-dancer, planting a foot in Jimmy’s face with each revolution.

Felix was out of his bed now, tentatively shuffling across the room with his arms outstretched. When he reached the wall, his hands felt about for the light switch, not knowing Georgie had already tried that. From inside her duvet-cocoon, she hollered and squirmed, gradually wriggling her way out.

“Don’t worry, Jimmy,” Felix announced. “I’m coming.” Then, at the top of his voice, he yelled, “Help!”

“Quiet, Felix,” Jimmy snapped, crawling backwards to avoid another kicking. The last thing he wanted was the neighbours arriving. That would give away their hideout to NJ7 in no time. “Get out and get my mum.”

Felix went for the door, but the intruder turned to stop him. That was the distraction Jimmy needed. He flipped on his front and hooked his legs underneath the empty bed behind him. Then, with a thrill flooding his muscles, he bent his knees and heaved the bed off the floor. He lifted it right over his head with just his legs. It scraped the ceiling, then came crashing down in front of him. One leg snapped clean off and the frame smashed into splinters. The bed had landed upside-down – right on top of Jimmy’s opponent.

Finally, Jimmy dragged her out. He dug his knee into her spine and his elbow into the back of her neck. She wasn’t getting out from his hold this time.

“I’m on your side!” came her muffled shout. The tension in Jimmy’s gut eased slightly, but he was far from relaxed.

“It’s a trick,” Georgie urged. She had made it out of the duvet at last.

“Who are you?” Jimmy demanded. It was becoming clearer by the second that this person was not part of an NJ7 assault team. She dipped her hand in her pocket. Jimmy clenched his muscles again, ready for anything, but his opponent pulled out nothing more than a small round piece of black plastic. It looked like the remote locking device on a car key. She clicked the button and on came every light in the room.

Jimmy felt her muscles relax. It was as if she was deflating slightly. The fight was over. She was giving up – for now. Jimmy stood up and slowly backed away.

For the first time, the intruder’s face was revealed. Jimmy, Georgie and Felix let out a gasp. The person on the floor in front of them was a girl about their age. A flurry of auburn hair tumbled around her face. Jimmy was astounded. Felix was mesmerised.

“I’ve come to have a conversation with you,” the girl said. Her voice was soft, with a very faint accent that made her sound slightly exotic.

Jimmy remained deadpan. “If that’s what you call a conversation,” he replied, “I can’t wait for us to argue.”

“Was I too rough for you?” the girl pouted. “I’m sorry. I was playing. I wanted to see what you could do.” She stood up, moving with a strange elegance that didn’t seem to fit someone so young.

“If I’d wanted you dead, Jimmy Coates,” she continued, “you would never have even known I existed. I could have killed you quietly, quickly and from a distance.” She moved towards him, almost gliding across the floor, her eyes never wavering from Jimmy’s. “I think I would have done it painlessly though. You seem nice.” Then she winked. Jimmy lost all feeling in his cheeks for a second. He was a picture of astonishment.

“My name is Zafi Sauvage.” The girl held out her hand, which was covered in a black leather glove. In a daze, Jimmy shook it. The whole thing felt so bizarre. He wouldn’t normally shake hands with anybody – especially not some strange girl, and especially not one who, only seconds before, had been trying to break his neck.

Felix brushed the others aside and shoved his hand in Zafi’s direction. “Yeah, hi,” he started. “I’m, like, delighted to meet you.” Jimmy grimaced at the unusually posh accent Felix was trying on. “Frightfully delighted. My name is Felix. And may I welcome you by saying that, frightfully and awfully, you’re, like, a knockout.”

“If you’re not here to try to kill me…” Jimmy interrupted. He didn’t finish his sentence. There were too many questions all bursting to get out at the same time. Who did this girl work for? What did she want? How had she found out where Jimmy and the others were hiding? Above all the others was one question that repeated in his head like a siren. Is this girl a programmed assassin like me?

“I can’t believe it,” Georgie whispered, echoing his thoughts. “Another one. A third assassin.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me to sit down?” Zafi said, raising one eyebrow. Felix immediately ushered her to the end of his bed.

“Don’t mind them,” he blathered. “They’ve forgotten their manners. Hey, look what I can do.” He pulled out his top lip and, with his thumbs, shoved it into his nostrils. He glared at Zafi like this until she let out a high giggle.

“My, how attractive,” Zafi laughed. “Look what I can do.” She pulled off her glove and pressed her palm flat against her eye. She twisted her hand, which made a weird sucking noise. Then she pulled her palm away and her eyeball popped out. It bounced around on the end of her optic nerve halfway down her cheek. She beamed with glee.

“Wow.” Felix was so impressed that his voice quivered. Zafi calmly popped her eye back into its socket and flicked her hair behind her ear.

“Jimmy, look at this,” Felix insisted. “It’s so cool.”

But Jimmy wasn’t paying attention. He was examining the window to confirm what he suspected: the frame had been lubricated with some kind of grease. Zafi had opened the window expertly and with less noise than a shadow. But Jimmy didn’t stop to admire her work.

He looked back at Zafi. Why did she look like she was about to smile, Jimmy wondered. Didn’t she take any of this seriously? It was as if the corners of her mouth couldn’t help curling upwards.

With the lights on, it was obvious that there was no green stripe on her chest. Instead, three vertical stripes formed an emblem just as powerful and just as proud. In his night-vision, Jimmy had assumed they were green, but one was blue, one white and one red. It was the Tricolore – the French flag. That seemed to answer the question of who she worked for.