Joe Craig: Jimmy Coates: Power

The country is under attack, but the people don’t know the truth. Is Jimmy too late to save even himself?

To Mary-Ann Ochota, always.

Cover Page

Title Page Jimmy Coates: Power Joe Craig

Excerpt The country is under attack, but the people don’t know the truth. Is Jimmy too late to save even himself?

Dedication To Mary-Ann Ochota, always.

01 THE MESSAGE

02 TUNNEL VISION

03 THE WALNUT TREE PROJECT

04 CRATE EXPECTATIONS

05 TURNING UP THE HEAT

06 NELSON’S SHADOW

07 LUCK OF THE EGYPTIAN

08 DOCTOR’S ORDERS

09 THE OTHER WING

10 THE HOLLINGDALE INCIDENT

11 RATE OF DILAPIDATION

12 THE CORPORATION

13 WHAT’S UP. DOC?

14 POWER AND LOYALTY

15 ERT IT

16 POWER AND CONTROL

17 PUPPET SHOW

18 VISITING HOUR

19 MESSING ABOUT ON THE RIVER

20 THE MAKING OF A MONSTER

21 TIME TO SHOOT

22 POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY

23 BURYING A HATCHET

24 THE LAIR OF THE RIVER SPIDER

25 MESSAGES SENT

Acknowledgment

About The Author

Other Books By

Copyright

About the Publisher

“This is Jimmy Coates…”

The boy paused and stared harder into the lens of the tiny camera attached to the top of the computer monitor. His eyes didn’t flicker. “I mean, I am Jimmy Coates.” He could hear his voice trembling, but he knew he had to go on. He had to get his message out—tell his story. Tell people the truth.

“This is going to sound like the craziest—” He cut himself short, startled by a noise behind him. He looked round. The glow from the lamp-post outside filtered through the slats of the Venetian blinds and the rain on the windows, lighting the small second-floor office in disfigured orange lines, like diseased skin. Nothing had changed.

He glanced again at the infrared detector in the corner of the ceiling. He knew it wouldn’t be flashing. Only minutes earlier he’d disabled the office’s alarm system. But if anybody passed by the building they might notice the gleam from the computer screen. If they investigated any further and saw Jimmy’s makeshift rewiring of the entry system at the door, they’d certainly call the police. There wasn’t meant to be anybody in the office of the Hailsham Gazette this late at night.

“I know I look like a normal boy,” Jimmy went on, trying to steady his breathing so he could get the words out. “I’m twelve. But…” Again he stopped himself. His mouth wouldn’t form the words. They raced through his head, but he couldn’t force them out. He wanted to scream everything at once: I’m the perfect assassin. They made me that way. They designed my DNA in a test tube…

At the same time he knew that some parts of the truth were better left out. Nobody would believe him, and if they did, they’d be terrified instead of listening to what he had to say.

Jimmy forced himself to concentrate and adjusted the direction of the webcam, making sure his face was clear on the monitor. It was so strange seeing himself like this. His features didn’t look like his own. His cheeks were thinner and his eyes looked grey.

But in front of him on the desk was something that strengthened his resolve. It was the latest edition of the Gazette . The headline leapt out: BRAVE BRITAIN TO HIT BACK AFTER FRENCH ATTACK OUR OIL RIG.

“The Government is lying,” continued Jimmy. “The French didn’t attack the oil rig. They’re just telling everybody that, and like always they’re controlling the newspapers and TV and the Internet…” Jimmy half-scrunched the newspaper in frustration. “But now they should know it isn’t true. I’m the proof. I blew it up—by accident.” His words rushed out in a torrent. “Everybody has to know. If the Government carries on with plans for war, everyone needs to know their reasons for it are a lie. People will die for nothing.”

He stopped and took a deep breath. It felt like there was so much more to say, but before he could go on, he saw a reflection in the screen. A blue flash. He’d stayed too long. The police were coming.

“Spread this message,” he insisted into the webcam. “And protest every way you can. I know you can’t vote, but…” Again he tailed off. The Government had abolished voting when they created Neo-democracy, so Jimmy wondered what possible way there could be to protest about anything. The sound of a siren cut through his thoughts.

“Just spread this message,” Jimmy pleaded. “Tell everyone.”

He shut off the webcam. It took him less than a minute to post the clip of himself on as many video-sharing websites as he could think of. He knew Government censors would remove it as soon as they found it. They might even shut down the websites completely. He just had to hope that enough people would see it first, and that they’d even spread it themselves on to other sites.

Next Jimmy found the newspaper’s publishing software and quickly set up some new headlines for the Gazette :

FRENCH DIDN’T ATTACK.

NO REASON FOR WAR WITH

FRANCE. GOVERNMENT LYING.

He knew they would never dare to publish anything like that, but Jimmy thought that if the staff saw them, maybe they could also spread the message.

The wail of sirens was louder now and the whole office was filled with the flashing blue light. Jimmy jumped up from the computer and dashed towards the door, taking the half-scrunched newspaper with him. He could feel his brain counting off the seconds before the police came charging in. Every muscle urged him to race away to safety, but as his hand settled on the door handle one thought held him back: maybe somewhere in this news office would be information about what had happened to his family. Maybe he could even track them down and rebuild his life. A normal life.

Jimmy could sense tiny vibrations in the floor. Somebody else had breached the building. He could feel the muscles in his thighs tightening to force him to run. Stay , he pleaded with himself. But Jimmy was fighting his own mind and body. Inside his skin were two beings interwoven. Only one was human.

38 per cent of Jimmy’s DNA was identical to that of any other human being in the world. The rest was the template for something entirely new. An organic assassin. Not robot or machine, but even more deadly. A custom-designed being meant to kill for the British Government. His future had been programmed into his blood. It was his human side that constantly resisted that future. And that’s what had turned him from the Government’s finest weapon into their number one target.

The assassin instincts in Jimmy were growing stronger by the day. He was designed to be fully operational at the age of eighteen, when his human feelings would be completely controlled by his assassin DNA. But extreme danger had kick-started his development early. He had no idea how long it would be before the assassin in him would take over completely, or what that would feel like. All he knew was that time was running out.

Every second of his life he felt that tension inside him. Now it was as painful as ever. The assassin in him was efficiently marshalling his body as if he were on a mission. Escape. Survival. And rationally, Jimmy knew he should trust that instinct. Yet at the same time he could see the faces of his mother Helen, his sister Georgie and his best friend Felix. Were they still together? Were they still alive? He longed to comb the office, to study every memo, article and report. Somebody must have news of what had happened to them.