Target (14 page)

“Sorry,” mumbled Jimmy. “I had to make sure. Thanks for meeting me.”

“It’s OK,” Eva said eventually.

“Don’t look at me. They might be watching.”

Eva nodded by dropping her head to her chest.

Jimmy continued: “Tell Viggo and the others that Felix’s parents are safe.”

Eva couldn’t help herself. “That’s brilliant!” she beamed. “How did you do it? Did you find Fort Einsmoor?”

“Turn away,” Jimmy snapped. Eva did so. “I can’t tell you everything now, but thank you – I couldn’t have done it without knowing where they were being held.” Eva held her joy in check. She forced herself not to look at Jimmy.

“I need to know about the prisoners,” he went on. “Are they still alive?”

“Yes, they’re alive,” Eva quickly replied. Jimmy sighed with relief. “They’re fine. But, Jimmy—”

“And my mum?” Jimmy butted in, not allowing any emotion to sneak into his voice.

“She’s fine. They’re all fine, Jimmy – but we have to get them out of there.”

“I know,” Jimmy snapped back. “That’s why I’m here.”

“You don’t understand. They’re going to be shot in less than an hour and a half.”

“What?” Jimmy gasped.

“If they don’t reveal where you are, they’re going to be shot, one by one.”

“When?” Jimmy was almost shouting. “How much time do I have – exactly?”

“I don’t know.” Eva was crying now, but holding herself together – just. “No time at all.”

“OK,” Jimmy panted, desperately telling himself not to panic. “I need information. Anything you think could help. I’m going to get them out of there.”

Jimmy immediately felt terrible for being so harsh with Eva. It was clear to him now that she was acting like a hero and in extreme danger. But the days of being alone had eaten into him. He felt less human every minute and only humans had time for courtesy.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m just tense.” Eva looked away, but placed her hand on Jimmy’s. The touch seemed to warm his whole body.

“They’re in the basement,” Eva mumbled, her other hand hiding her mouth. “As far as I know, the only way down is the special lift in the lobby. The doors are reinforced. You need a key to open them.”

“Just a key?” Jimmy interrupted. “Nothing fancy or electronic?”

“H don’t think so,” Eva stuttered. “It’s an old building. The only fancy security I’ve seen isn’t until you reach the basement.”

“OK. I’ll need that key. Can you get it?”

“I’ll try.”

“Good. On your way back buy some chewing gum. Use it to stick the key right in the middle of the road outside the Embassy.”

“OK.” Eva sniffed and stared frantically in every direction except at Jimmy. “I thought things would be better,” she sobbed. “But when your dad took over, he—”

“Wait,” Jimmy interjected. “Took over? What do you mean?”

Eva was thrown for a moment. The surprise held her tears in check. “You know, when he became Prime Minister.” The words sent a shudder through Jimmy’s whole body. He couldn’t speak.

“Didn’t you know?” Eva asked. “Hollingdale died early this morning. Murdered.” Jimmy looked around him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I thought you knew.” Eva squeaked, still forcing herself not to look directly at Jimmy. She couldn’t tell the effect of what she was saying on him of course, so she rattled on. “He came to the Embassy. He’s going to address the nation on TV any minute. He was with Miss Bennett. He said…Oh, it was terrible. Two hours, Jimmy! And how can I get that key?”

Only now did she look down, but too late – the face in the water was gone.

J
IMMY PULLED HIMSELF
out of the lake at a secluded part of the bank. He picked up his coat and pulled it over his dripping clothes. His disguise had disintegrated in the water. There was so much racing through his head. Had he really just heard Eva say that his father was Prime Minister of Great Britain?
I must be more tired than I thought,
Jimmy said to himself. He set off at a jog, too dazed to know where he was heading.

Piece by piece, snippets of information floated back to him, as if in a dream. Ares Hollingdale was dead. Could it be true or had he imagined the whole thing?

He stumbled out of the park and stopped to look around. The world seemed to carry on as normal. How could that be if what he heard from Eva was true? Shouldn’t the whole world stop? Shouldn’t everybody be screaming in the streets? He peered at people as they passed. He couldn’t help himself. It was as if something in their faces would tell him whether Ian Coates was
Prime Minister, and what that meant.

Then, despite the mist inside his head, something seeped through to him. The people in the street were rushing with an unusual urgency. They were scurrying back to their cars or into the Underground, bustling past Jimmy. A crowd formed round an electrical store, the window filled with television screens of all different sizes.

Jimmy bent over and barged his way through to the front. People let him through, pulling away from the stench of the Serpentine that still doused his clothes. The televisions were all showing the same thing, but it meant nothing to Jimmy as there was no sound to go with the pictures.

What could this be that was so important? Jimmy felt as if every muscle was urging him to find out what it was. He pushed against the door, but the shop was so packed that people had to shuffle out of the way for it to open. Eventually, Jimmy made it through. As he did, he heard a voice that froze his insides.

“Good afternoon, people of Britain,” it announced.

It was his father. Ian Coates was repeated dozens of times around the shop. He appeared on every television screen – completely surrounding Jimmy. He was sitting behind a grand desk in an old-fashioned study. He waited a couple of seconds, breathed deeply then continued.

“As I am sure you have heard by now,” he said, his voice deeper than Jimmy remembered, “in the early hours of this morning, our Prime Minister, Ares
Hollingdale, was the victim of a savage terrorist attack.” Jimmy steadied himself and wiped his face with his hands. There was no time for him to absorb the information as his father carried on:

“The Prime Minister died despite the best efforts of our medical emergency teams. I, Ian Coates, was his deputy and as such I have now taken over as Prime Minister of Great Britain.”

So it was true.

There was a low chatter spreading through the crowd. Jimmy picked up a smattering of broken comments. Next to him, a woman muttered to her baby, “That man’s a true patriot.”

Jimmy let out a sharp laugh, then clamped his hands over his mouth. His father was the Prime Minister – surely that meant all Jimmy’s troubles were over.
He’ll order NJ7 to leave me alone,
thought Jimmy,
then he’ll let my friends go free.
But Jimmy’s joy was muted. His father had already put his loyalty to Hollingdale over the happiness of his family. If his political beliefs were that strong…

Even as the terrible thought ran through Jimmy’s head, Ian Coates confirmed it. “I promise,” he declared, “to continue the good work that Ares Hollingdale began with his Neo-democratic project. At this time of crisis, I assure you that no ordinary member of the public will be called upon to make decisions regarding Government business. None of you will have to vote for the foreseeable future.”

“I should think not,” nodded the woman next to Jimmy. He stared at the image of his father in disbelief. Every second that passed, the slight nervousness in Ian Coates’s eye dissipated. To Jimmy’s shock, his father looked more and more like the leader of a nation.

“What’s more,” he went on, “I pledge to you now that no effort will be spared to bring to justice the cruel murderer of Ares Hollingdale. I am working closely with the police and Secret Services to that end. We have one suspect.”

A picture filled the screen. It was the school photograph of an eleven-year-old boy. Jimmy’s face filled every screen in the shop. As each of them showed the camera zooming in on his eyes, he felt the world cave in around him.

“He may look like a child,” Ian Coates continued, “but he is a threat to the security of the nation. If you see him, do not approach him. Alert the police at once.”

Jimmy’s father reappeared on the screen. He curled the corners of his lips upwards and clasped his hands on the desk. “Otherwise, here at Westminster, it’s business as usual.”

Jimmy was unaware of anything happening around him. The rest of the world faded to black and his father’s eyes seared into his face. ‘A threat to the security of the nation.’ The words pounded through Jimmy’s head, over and over. Surely his own father didn’t want him dead. Jimmy felt that if only he could speak to him and explain
that he didn’t want to do any harm to the nation or anybody in it, surely his father would understand.

Jimmy wanted to cry out at the television screens, but he knew it was useless. Then he was jarred out of his thoughts by the growing murmur of the people around him. Everybody backed away from him. The woman with the baby was pointing at him, her mouth stretched wide in a silent scream.

Jimmy spun round. The clerk behind the desk edged his hand towards the phone. Jimmy didn’t wait to find out who he was calling. He bolted out of the shop, bouncing off the strangers that still stood round the door. They pointed and shouted after him as he ran.

Jimmy’s mind was racing as fast as his feet. Everybody in the country would now assume that he had killed Ares Hollingdale. Everybody would be out to get him. Surely his father didn’t really believe that, though. Jimmy made a huge effort to keep his thoughts calm while his body strained to move him through the streets as quickly as possible.

It was enough of a shock that his father had just become Prime Minister and then announced that he wasn’t going to let the country go back to being a proper democracy. On top of that, why had he proclaimed to the whole country that his own son was a murderer and needed to be arrested? Slowly, Jimmy began to suspect he knew the answer: his father wanted control. He already had control of the country, but he needed control of Jimmy.

Jimmy’s legs thrust him forwards. But something in his head prickled for his attention. It felt like there were daggers stabbing his eyes from the inside. His friends. His mother. Time was running out.

Ian Coates’s steps echoed through the lobby as he approached the lift. His eyes were downcast, betraying the concerns that weighed on his mind. Miss Bennett strode next to him and Eva scurried along behind, chewing gum. When they reached the lift, the guard tipped his cap and slotted his key into the panel on the wall. Eva’s teeth crunched together furiously. Just then, an NJ7 agent dashed up to Miss Bennett and handed her a note.

“Prime Minister,” she said immediately, pulling him back. Then she stopped herself and looked around. Everyone’s eyes were on her. “We’d better talk in here.” The chrome doors slid open and the pair of them stepped in. “Eva, wait here,” she barked, without even looking at her.

Once they were alone, sealed into the lift, Miss Bennett began again. “Prime Minister—”

“Please, Miss Bennett, you can still call me Ian,” Jimmy’s father interjected. He tried to soften his expression. “And I hope I may call you—”

“You can call me Miss Bennett.”

Ian Coates tensed up at the frosty response. Miss
Bennett talked on: “We’ve just identified two passengers who entered the country on Eurostar late last night.”

“Don’t beat about the bush, Miss Bennett, who are they?” He glared intensely into Miss Bennett’s eyes. She was equal to him and didn’t shirk.

“One is Felix Muzbeke and the other is your daughter.” Her tone was bold – almost challenging.

Ian Coates was thrown for only a second. “So they’re in England?” he mused. “Do the prisoners know this?”

“No, the news only just reached me.”

“They must be with Jimmy. Tell your agents that if we find them, we find Jimmy. But I don’t want them harmed. And I don’t want them brought here.” His voice was hoarse, as if the words were reluctant to come out. “Have every agent looking for those three kids.”

“Consider it done,” Miss Bennett replied. “And shall I call off the aerial strike on the farm?”

“Not yet.” Coates was deep in thought.

“But the place is empty now – it’s only Yannick Ertegun and his mother left there. Satellite surveillance shows that even they have gone into the local village. What’s the point of bombing an empty farm?”

Coates held up his hand with a commanding silence. “Tell the pilot to hold off, but to be ready for my order,” he said. “Let’s give my wife something to think about.”

Eva tapped her foot on the marble floor of the lobby. She threw an awkward smile at the security guard standing at his post by the lift. He was a middle-aged man who had probably worked at the Embassy when it was still an Embassy – before NJ7 took over. His slightly bulging middle didn’t look like the physique of an NJ7 agent or even an ex-agent. The lobby was secured by two real NJ7 agents at the reception desk and, of course, the armed guards outside the door. This man was an extra precaution – but also a weakness.

He smiled back tentatively. The creases in the corner of his eyes stretched to the greying temples beneath his cap. His keys hung tantalisingly from a chain on his belt.
This is my only chance,
Eva told herself.
Miss Bennett could be back at any moment.
Fortunately, Eva was prepared.

In the corner of her eye she picked out her target: a cleaner’s bucket full of soapy water. It rested by the wall next to her – exactly where she had placed it on her return from Hyde Park.
Time to perform,
she thought with a deep breath. Then she spun round on her heels, kicking the bucket over. There was a crash of metal and marble. Soapy water poured out across the length of the lobby. Eva threw herself headlong into the ever expanding pool. It was the finest fake trip she could have hoped for.

“Agh!” she yelped as she hit the marble. Soap splashed into her face. The whole of her front was
soaked. “Help me!” She reached out in the direction of the lift. Sure enough, the guard stumbled forwards, being careful not to slip, and held out his hand. Eva grabbed his wrist.

“Oh, thank you,” she squealed. She pulled the guard sharply downwards. He wasn’t expecting it. He lurched forwards and tumbled. The splat as he hit the floor resounded throughout the lobby and splashed droplets of water a metre into the air. “Oh no!” Eva cried. “I’m so sorry!” She leapt to her feet. “Did it hurt?”

The guard groaned and began pushing himself up. Eva pretended to slip again and landed with a thud right across the man’s torso.

“Oh no! Did I injure you?” she flustered, pulling herself to her knees. “Does it hurt when I do this?” She dropped her elbow into the small of the man’s back. He let out a cry of agony. Eva fumbled for his key chain. One of the agents from behind the reception desk stood up and moved towards her.

Eva found the key that she needed. She threw herself to one side, pretending to slip, so that her back shielded her hands from view. She tore at the key chain. The key wouldn’t come off.

“Are you OK?” asked the guard from behind the desk. The guard on the floor groaned again. Eva jabbed his thigh with her knee.

“You’d better call first aid,” she babbled. “And don’t come too close or you’ll slip too!” Her nails dug into the
metal chain, but the soap from the floor made it slippery. Her hands shook violently.

At last the guard on the floor rolled himself over. Eva couldn’t keep him there any longer. He heaved himself up.

“Sorry about that,” Eva whimpered, jumping to her feet. Behind her back she clutched a small golden key.