Joe Craig - Jimmy Coates - Blackout

“The CIA has definitely got them,” Jimmy went on. “Not NJ7. Colonel Keays had no reason to lie about that. It’s going to take time, but we will get them back.”

“I just thought it was worth checking,” mumbled Felix. “In case NJ7 knew something. That’s all.” He shrugged slowly and Jimmy felt a shot of intense sadness shoot through him. It was like an injection of pure darkness. At least my programming still lets me feel sympathy, Jimmy thought to himself.

“Sorry, Felix,” whispered Eva. “If I find anything about your parents I’ll definitely send you a message straight away. But I think Jimmy’s right.”

She hurried away towards the lift, the beat of her footsteps echoing through the car park.

“We should wait until she’s gone,” Jimmy whispered to Felix and Georgie. “Then we’ll go down the other way together.”

“Oh,” Eva called out, swivelling round as she waited for the lift. “I saw William Lee. He said something about trying to fix the satellite surveillance system. It wasn’t working properly or something.”

“Across the whole of London?” Jimmy asked hopefully.

“That’s what it sounded like,” said Eva. “And it didn’t seem like he was doing a good job of fixing it.” The lift arrived and Eva stepped in. “So they might not have such good coverage of the streets as usual. I’ll send you a message if that changes. Don’t forget – the puzzles in the paper!”

“Thanks again, Eva,” whispered Jimmy.

“Good luck.” Eva’s words were lost in the shadow of the lift doors.

“We’re going to have some explaining to do,” said Felix with dread. Georgie and Jimmy nodded, silently, as the three of them looked up at Christopher Viggo’s campaign headquarters.

There were more lights on inside than when they’d left. They could make out the silhouettes of Viggo’s staff throughout the building. Most importantly the lights were on on the top floor, where Jimmy, Felix and Georgie were meant to be fast asleep.

“Looks like Mum’s up,” said Georgie. “Probably waiting for us.”

“This is when being invisible would come in handy,” said Jimmy.

“Yeah, right,” Georgie replied. “So you could sneak in and leave us to get into trouble!”

“What happens to your clothes when you become invisible?” asked Felix, sounding genuinely confused. “You know, if that was actually something you could do.”

“I don’t know.” Jimmy shrugged. “They go invisible too, I guess.”

“That’s ridiculous,” said Georgie. “What would be the point of invisible clothes?”

“That’s obvious,” said Felix. “To stop other invisible people seeing you naked.”

“OK,” sighed Jimmy. “Do you want me to take you through all the reasons why that makes no sense at all?”

They grinned sheepishly at the guards, who opened the gate without question, even though they looked like they would happily have murdered all three of them. Inside, they hurried to the lifts. Members of Viggo’s campaign staff were bustling about, taking calls and having heated discussions while two TV screens showed the rolling news station. Jimmy kept his head down and his hood up. Since the campaign started, he’d been nervous about NJ7 having a mole in Viggo’s camp. There’d been no sign of it, but he still preferred to remain anonymous. If NJ7 found out he was there it would only lead to trouble for everybody.

Felix and Georgie didn’t bother to hide. In fact, Felix beamed at everybody, especially the women. He was used to joking around with Viggo’s staff whenever he got the chance.

“I told you we should have gone through the service entrance,” Jimmy muttered.

“What’s the point?” Felix replied. “Your mum obviously knows we’re not there.”

“This lot don’t talk to Mum anyway,” added Georgie while they waited for a lift. “Chris has kept it all so… separate.”

Jimmy knew Felix and Georgie were right, but he still felt awkward. He glanced at the faces of all the people working with Viggo to overthrow the Government. At the moment the Government usually ran the country without interference from ordinary people. There was normally no voting. The system was called ‘Neo-democracy’, which really meant no democracy at all. The Government had only agreed to hold this election because of the pressure from Jimmy and Viggo.

Jimmy looked again at the people busily going about their work. They believed strongly enough in democracy and freedom to risk their lives. They would all be marked out as enemies of the state if Viggo lost the election the next day. But he won’t lose, Jimmy thought with a smile. We’ll overthrow NJ7 at last.

As the lift took them up to the top floor, Jimmy felt his mind humming, but not with thoughts about the election.

“We’ll get off at the floor below,” he announced quietly. “Then take the stairs. We can be back in our rooms before Mum stops us.”

“How does that help?” asked Felix, stifling a yawn. “She’ll still go mental with us in the morning.”

“No, she won’t,” said Jimmy. “The election starts in a few hours. She’ll be too busy helping with that. Then by the time it’s over and she gets the chance to talk to us about tonight, she’ll be a lot calmer. And hopefully she’ll be so happy because Chris will have won…”

They did as he said, stepping into the darkness of the corridors on the floor below the apartment. They crept up the stairs with Jimmy leading the way.

“This is genius, Jimmy,” whispered Felix. “Maybe we can pretend we never even left.”

Jimmy held up a hand to tell him to be quiet and peered round the corner at the top of the stairs. The corridor was dark, but he could see the light from the door of the living room, where he reasoned his mum would be waiting, listening for the lift. He was about to signal for his friends to creep back to their rooms, but the sound of voices stopped him.

He moved quickly and silently into the corridor, the carpet cushioning his steps. But instead of turning left towards where he was meant to be asleep, he dashed to the right and pushed his back up against the wall outside the living room. The door was slightly ajar, and from his position Jimmy had a perfect view through the crack at the hinges.

“What are we doing?” Felix whispered, his hot breath exploding into Jimmy’s ear.

Jimmy whipped round and planted a hand over his friend’s mouth. He held it there until he felt Felix’s body relax and signalled that he was listening. In turn, Felix turned to Georgie behind him and pressed a finger to his lips. Georgie rolled her eyes and mouthed a sarcastic, ‘Oh really!?’

Jimmy’s eyes adjusted quickly to the bright light coming through the crack in the door. He could see the back of his mum’s head. She was sitting on the sofa in her dressing gown. But she wasn’t alone. To Jimmy’s surprise, Christopher Viggo was in the corner of the room, gripping the neck of an open champagne bottle in his fist.

“I told you,” said Jimmy’s mum, the frustration in her voice obvious, “you don’t need to wait with me.”

“I saw the light was on and I was worried,” Viggo replied. “That’s all.” His voice was deep, but slightly hoarse.

“You’ve been making too many speeches,” replied Helen Coates. She shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, and Jimmy could see her head subtly following the movement of the champagne bottle. “You should rest your voice.”

“Don’t worry. It’s nearly over.” Viggo ran a hand across his stubbled chin and pushed some stray strands of hair behind his ear. “Or it’s just beginning, depending on how you look at it.” There was a glint in his eye, a brown twinkle in the soft lighting. He stood fully upright, a tall man dominating the small space. The lack of any furniture apart from the sofa made him seem even more imposing. His lips were set in a flat smile.