to be a war?” Felix asked. “That’s rubbish. Nobody’s loony enough to start a war.”
Jimmy wished his friend was right, but he was far from sure. He walked over to the window. It was still open from when Zafi had sneaked in. For a second, he hesitated. Perhaps something in his head was suggesting he could escape into the night and disappear forever. It only lasted a second. He slid the window shut. It closed as silently as it had opened for Zafi, but to Jimmy it felt like the portcullis on a castle coming down to trap him inside.
Did she expect him to give an answer straight away? He had already put everybody he loved in mortal danger to avoid working as an assassin for one government. Surely it was madness of the French to think he would kill for them.
So why was he still thinking about it? And why was his hand shaking?
“I came to you before,” he began eventually. “To the DGSE, I mean. When we needed your help. I offered to co-operate then.”
“To co-operate?” Zafi questioned. “Or to join us?”
“I offered information. But Uno Stovorsky said he didn’t need it. And he never suggested that I work for you.”
“The DGSE didn’t need you then, did we.” Zafi explained haughtily. “We had me.” At that she gave a sly chuckle. “But yesterday changed things. France needs you now.”
Jimmy couldn’t order any of his thoughts. “I don’t understand,” he started quietly. “I thought there were only two of us. Me and Mitchell. We’re both English. How come you’re also… like us, except that you’re French?”
“I suppose you want a history lesson,” Zafi sighed. “Well, the team of scientists that designed us fell out with each other twelve years ago. One of them was French and he escaped back to Paris when he realised there was going to be trouble.”
“And he took you with him?” Felix gasped. His mouth was hanging open.
“Sort of.” Zafi smiled at him fondly. “I wasn’t born yet, was I. But he took with him all the files and the chip he needed to make me.”
“So nobody at NJ7 knows about you?” Jimmy asked.
Zafi shook her head. “They’ve been looking for something called ZAF-1.”
Jimmy recognised that name. He’d heard it inside NJ7 Headquarters, but he didn’t know what it meant.
“You’re… ZAF-1?” he suggested.
“You should pay attention more closely, Jimmy Coates.” Zafi looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes. “I said they’re looking for ZAF-1. They think it’s a Secret Service agency. But there’s no such thing. There’s only…”
“…Zafi.” Jimmy completed the sentence for her.
“That’s right – me!”
“They don’t know anything about you,” Jimmy exclaimed, the words tumbling out in his excitement. “I was there, in NJ7.” He looked at Georgie, Felix and Zafi in turn. “I heard them talking about ZAF-1, trying to work out what it meant. They were scared of it, but didn’t know what it meant…”
“Not yet,” Zafi cut him off. “They will soon. They’ll work it out from Dr Higgins’ papers.”
Dr Higgins – the scientist behind the original organic assassin project. The name still gave Jimmy an odd feeling. He wanted to hate the old man, but wasn’t physically able to. The result was like being seasick, but enjoying it. Jimmy wondered where the doctor was these days. Higgins had gone on the run after doing some assassinating of his own. He could have been anywhere in the world. For all Jimmy knew, NJ7 had already found him and taken their revenge.
“I don’t have any more time, Jimmy,” Zafi said softly. She stood up and placed a hand on his wrist. “And nor do you.” Jimmy tensed up. So did Georgie and Felix. “I did what I could tonight to help you,” Zafi continued.
“What do you mean?” Georgie asked suspiciously.
“I created a diversion so they couldn’t follow you out of London so easily.” Zafi thought for a moment and smiled to herself. Jimmy couldn’t stand the way everything seemed to amuse her. “I need you to come with me now.”
Jimmy looked at his friend and his sister. He could see on their faces what they thought. The last thing they wanted was for him to leave them. But everything inside him was drawing him to go with Zafi. Surely he couldn’t – up to now, he had done everything he could to avoid causing harm to anybody. The DGSE would almost certainly send him to kill. But who?
He closed his eyes and pictured Paduk, the huge Secret Service agent who ran the Prime Minister’s ‘Special Security’. He pictured Miss Bennett, who had pretended to be protecting Jimmy for so long as a fake form teacher at school. Then she had emerged as his most venomous enemy – Head of NJ7. They had stolen his life. They had tortured and tried to kill the people he loved. Was this the chance that he had wanted so badly? Was this the opportunity to get his own back and be working for a good cause at the same time?
Then Jimmy pictured Ian Coates.
“I’ll do it,” he rasped. His voice seemed reluctant to leave his throat. “I’ll do it.”
“Jimmy you can’t!” Georgie shouted.
Jimmy was already moving towards the window. It was Zafi who stopped him.
“I presume we can leave by the front door, no?” she chuckled.
Jimmy felt himself laugh too, but it came out like a grunt. It didn’t even sound like him. He turned to the door.
“Jimmy, stop,” Felix ordered, grabbing his friend by the arm. Jimmy didn’t look at him.
“Get off me,” he growled.
“No way.”
“Get off me, Felix,” Jimmy said again. “You know I could snap you in two, don’t you?”
“Jimmy, what are you saying?” Georgie yelled. She stepped between her brother and the door. Her face had gone white. “What’s happening to you?”
“Let him come,” Zafi insisted. “He wants to, can’t you see?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Georgie countered. “It’s not him.” She seized Jimmy’s face in her hands. “Come on, Jimmy, pull yourself together!”
Suddenly, Jimmy exploded with rage. “Get off me!” he boomed. He shook off his sister’s hands and pushed Felix away. They both staggered back a step or two.
“It doesn’t matter what you say,” Zafi muttered. “He doesn’t have any choice about it anyway. It’s his destiny.”
Jimmy felt the dark power inside him. It was the force that he thought he had learned to control. But it was always there and
