Jimmy Coates: Blackout

“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.

“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.

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“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…”