Joe Craig: Jimmy Coates: Blackout

“That’s just weird,” said Felix in a whisper, examining Jimmy’s fingers.

“Didn’t you notice it?” Eva asked, looking from Felix to Georgie and back. There was shock on all their faces. “I mean, you’ve been living with him for the last few months, haven’t you?”

Felix stretched his eyes in wonder and Georgie bit her bottom lip.

“Sorry, Jimmy,” Felix muttered. “I guess there’s been a lot going on. I did see that your fingers were blue once, but I just thought, I don’t know, you hadn’t washed your hands, or something.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jimmy reassured him. “I’ve been hiding everything. I didn’t want to tell you. I…” His voice faded from his throat. He wasn’t even sure why he’d been trying to keep his poisoning a secret. He told himself it was because he didn’t want to distract everybody from trying to win the election, but deep down he knew that it was something more. Telling people about his secret would have made it seem more real. Not telling made it easier to deny the danger spreading within him with every beat of his heart. It made it easier not to take notice when his condition got worse.

“I’m going to be fine,” Jimmy announced with force, pushing his fear away. “I just need to find out more about how my body works. That’s why I asked Eva to—”

“You can’t heal yourself, Jimmy,” Georgie cut in. “No matter how much you find out about yourself, you’re not going to be able to make yourself better.”

“But I told you,” Jimmy replied, anger rising in his chest, “even if I could find a doctor who knew how to cure radiation poisoning in a genetically modified freak, they’d be killed by NJ7 before I got close to them.”

Georgie immediately stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her brother.

“You’re not a freak,” she whispered into his ear. “I won’t let you say that.”

Jimmy felt himself crumbling.

“What about one of these doctors?” It was Felix’s voice, and it seemed to soothe the confusion in Jimmy’s head. Felix was picking through the piles of papers that Eva had brought from Dr Higgins’ office. He held up an old photograph.

The photo showed about a dozen people lined up in two rows, like a football team photo, except it was a mixture of men and women, who all looked at least fifty, and they were wearing white coats. They seemed to be standing in some kind of lab, and most of them were smiling awkwardly, as if they’d much rather be getting back to work.

“This lot look ugly enough to cure anything,” Felix quipped.

“How does this help?” Jimmy grunted. He knew he should be used to Felix’s humour. Maybe that’s his superpower, Jimmy thought to himself.

“This could help,” said Georgie. “Look.” She pointed to a tall man in the back row. “Isn’t that…?”

“You guys are so slow,” Felix sighed. “It’s Dr Higgins!” He shook the photo in exasperation. “This must be, like, some kind of NJ7 crazy scientist end-of-term photo.”

“I don’t think they have terms,” said Georgie. “But whatever – I think you’re right. He looks a bit younger, doesn’t he? But it’s definitely him.”

“So these other people…” The pieces were falling into place in Jimmy’s head.

“These must be some of the scientists who designed…” Eva paused, unsure how to put it. “…who worked on your genetics, Jimmy.”

Jimmy grabbed the photo and ran his finger across the faces. Dr Higgins was the only one he recognised.

“Have you seen any of these people at NJ7?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” replied Eva. “But there are hundreds of people working there. It’ll take me some time to find out who they all are and what’s happened to them since this photo was taken.” An idea flashed across her face and she dropped her voice, almost talking to herself. “I can scan it in and run it through the facial recognition programme, then the NJ7 database…”

“Is Dr Higgins still in America?” Felix asked. “He’d probably help you.”

“Maybe he would,” said Jimmy, “but he could be anywhere in the world right now. Eva…” He thrust the photo into her hand. “…if you can find one of these other scientists, that’s my best chance.”

“As long as they’re not still loyal to this Government,” said Georgie. “Otherwise they’ll turn you in and NJ7 will kill you.”

“I have to risk it,” Jimmy insisted. “I don’t have a choice.”

“OK,” announced Eva, “I’ll see what I can find out.” She started gathering all her documents together again, keeping the photograph on the top of her pile. “I’ll send you a message in the Sudoku.”

“The who-do-what?” Jimmy asked.

“You know,” said Felix. “The puzzle at the back of the paper.”

“Since when do you read the paper?” Jimmy asked.

“Since your mum started trying to get me to do school work.”

“Oh, right. Sorry about that.”

“It’s OK. I just do the puzzles and tell her its maths.”

“Don’t,” Eva cut in. “Don’t ever do the Sudoku.”

“What?” Felix looked hurt. “Why?”

“Or the crossword.” Eva looked genuinely scared at the thought. “The Government controls all those puzzles. Every day the numbers and words are arranged by a government computer to make you feel calm and happy. It’s like a drug. It’s one of the ways they make sure people will do whatever they say.”

Jimmy couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You mean the puzzles in every newspaper are designed by the Government to make everybody more obedient?”

“Every newspaper except the Daily Mail,” Eva explained. “They have too many puzzles and I think their readers are obedient anyway.”

“All this time they’ve been brainwashing me!” gasped Felix. He gripped his skull in his hands and his mouth dropped wide open. “I knew it!”

“I think your brain would take a special kind of washing, Felix,” said Georgie with a smile. Then she turned back to Eva and was serious again. “So if these puzzles are controlled by a government computer how are you going to use them to send us messages?”

“I have access to the computer programme,” beamed Eva. “So get The Times and hold the Sudoku up against the crossword clues. Whatever words it highlights, search for them online and go to the first message board that comes up. I’ll change which message board I’m on every day, and if I have an urgent message for you I’ll just put it straight into the clue words.”

“Thank you, Eva,” said Jimmy, but he wasn’t sure whether he sounded grateful enough. He knew Eva was risking her life for him. She just smiled and headed for the lifts until Felix stopped her.

“Eva, wait.” His voice was suddenly low and his eyes downcast. “When you look through all the stuff on NJ7 computers and in their documents and everything…”

“What is it?” Eva asked, but Jimmy knew straight away what was on Felix’s mind. He recognised the darkness in his friend’s eyes that had never been there before a certain day several months ago – the last time anybody had seen his parents.

“Do you ever see anything about my mum and dad?” Felix’s voice was level, but it was obvious how much effort it was taking. His parents had been seized in New York, and at first everybody had assumed it must have been NJ7 that had taken them. But Jimmy had found out the truth. The head of the CIA admitted that he’d taken them.

Jimmy would never forget how it had happened. He could still see the triumph in Colonel Keays’ eyes, the wrinkles on his face all seeming to point to his devilish smile. The man had used his power as head of the CIA to send Jimmy on a fake mission to an oil rig. The result had been Colonel Keays gaining even more power. In fact he was now on the verge of becoming President of the USA.