by Katy Jordan
“Bullet shot him,” Gecko chimed in again, “was there a blood trail?”
“Yeah, and it was quite extensive. He’ll be seeking out medical attention as soon as he can,” Tide confirmed.
Silence ensued, wrapping itself uncomfortably around everyone as the news sunk in. Everyone other than Youth who was swiping frantically at his tablet.
Neon was alive.
And nobody knew where he was.
“So… what do we do now?” Rocket asked.
“We wait,” The Spectrum said. “In this dangerous game of chess that we’ve been playing for the last five years, we have just taken our turn. We just moved our bishop. Now, it’s Neon’s turn to make a move.”
“But, what move is he going to make?” Flare asked.
“Well… that’s anyone’s guess,” The Spectrum replied in a stupidly calm tone.
“I’ve just thought of something. Something that could either be an asset to us or a threat,” Gecko blurted out.
“Well? Out with it, boy,” The Spectrum coaxed.
Gecko went over to Rocket who was still pacing.
“Remember Kevin’s reaction when we said ‘your rivals set Prismatic HQ on fire’?”
The gang near enough saw the light bulb over Rocket’s head.
“Yeah… he was horrified. Scared, even.”
“What if that was his plan with the drug scam? What if it wasn’t The Lion’s Den we were to be wary of, but this rival gang that we know nothing about?”
“Youth?” Rocket pleaded.
“Holding off on the tunnel exit and looking them up now,” he said with no hesitation as he tapped incessantly on his tablet screen.
“So… is this a move he’s made then?” Tide asked, confused at the brainstorm Gecko and Rocket just had.
“Or he’s already made his move and now it’s our turn,” Youth chimed in.
His face was pale, as though he had seen a ghost.
“Youth?” Sparrow called over to him. “What is it?”
Without any mutter of a sound, Youth lay his tablet out flat on his hand and hit a button. A hologram of what he was reviewing morphed into the air above the screen.
“I literally just stumbled across this. It’s made the headlines everywhere. And it’s going viral.”
A news report with subtitles.
Youth hit another button to allow sound to be heard over and above a picture of David Watt sitting side by side with a picture of Bullet in the top left-hand corner, while a middle-aged woman spoke directly to the camera.
“…and claims have been made that, in the anonymous phone call, the gentleman is said to have told the attendant: ‘Miss Wells admitted to me that she killed Watt after she had tried to enlist my help. I refused, and we never spoke of it again. I never thought in a million years that this would happen.’ I’m here now with the attendee that took the phone call, Angela Mitchell. Angela, did the man seem calm on the phone?”
“He seemed pretty anxious and maybe nervous, but it’s hard to tell someone’s demeanour over the phone.”
“So, he accused Georgina Wells of killing David Watt. He accused her of asking him to help her do it. Did he say anything about how Mr Watt ended up on top of the monument?”
“Only that she had a friend who had a pilot’s license, so he considered the possibility of him being involved. When I asked for details about this man, he said he couldn’t remember his full name, but, his surname was definitely Marks. He gave a description of tall, medium build, dark brown hair that was usually well groomed… and, randomly, his favourite colour is silver…”
Youth shut down the report.
Slowly, all heads started turning to face Sparrow, who looked sick to his stomach. And completely mortified.
“Oh, my God…” Lab trailed off.
“Is this true?” Tide snapped, floating towards him threateningly.
“At this point, that doesn’t matter,” The Spectrum stepped in front of her, “he’s most definitely just made his move. And now, we have to make plans.”
“He’s just flung her right in the shit!” Gecko howled with anguish. “Pasts… pasts are forbidden here. Now, we know her name and everything.”
“And he’s prodding slightly at Sparrow. That was a sly move… ‘his favourite colour is silver’. Smooth… real smooth,” Rocket said, anxiety getting the better of him.
“We need to make a plan. We defend our own, and we don’t ask questions when we do. That’s the one absolute rule of this organisation,” The Spectrum announced, his authoritative tones returning quickly. “Youth, I want that report on a constant feed into every room, stat. Sparrow, my office, now.”
He stormed out of the infirmary.
Terrified, Sparrow followed him a few seconds later.
Everyone was stunned.
That was one hell of a hand to play.
Neon was the only one that knew about the pasts of Flare, Rocket, Sparrow and Bullet.
No one ever really thought that he would have something he could use.
No one apart from Bullet, who lay awake and had tuned into the conversation they just had. Her breathing was sticky and she couldn’t move, but her hearing and her sight were a lot more clear today.
While it was unknown to everyone else, she had been awake for a while.
The whole time, she had been staring at Sparrow who was blatantly holding her gaze, both of them with nothing but fear and anger between them.
Neon just handed her over.
When once Police Scotland were on their side, now they would be against them. Neon was a stone’s throw away from starting a civil war between criminals and law enforcement; Colour Coded being at the forefront of it all.
Not only was he trying to scare them all, Neon was, moreover, trying to show just how much power he had over everything he wanted.
And he wanted the Black Bullet.
Chapter Thirty-Three
It was as though the world had tipped upside-down when Jack awoke from his deep and much-needed slumber.
He felt a lot more alert in amongst his aching limbs and nipping wounds, and he panicked when the infirmary was empty. He attempted to get up, but the tubes from the machines held him back, and he slumped back on to the mattress, agitated.
Bullet was as still as ever.
Jack rested his eyes on her, a wave of calmness flushing through him as he heard the sound of her heart monitor beeping at a regular pace. She was still okay.
Maybe not okay, but alive at least.
Lab entering the hospital wing encouraged him to perk up again as he attempted to sit up.
“Right, wriggler, take it easy.”
She leaned across him and adjusted the pillows behind the back of his neck and shoulders, helping him to shuffle further upwards.
“Where is everybody?”
“They’re in Youth’s room. Try and relax.”
Jack had spent enough time with Lab to learn what her tell was.
Her short responses and lack of light-heartedness was her way of trying to act normal when circumstances were anything but.
“What happened?”
Lab glanced at him.
She was going to tell him. But, changed her mind.
“How are you feeling? Hungry? Thirsty?”
“As a matter of fact, agitated. What’s going on?”
“You need to relax, Jack.”
“I will when you tell me what’s going on.”
“Believe me, you won’t.”
Jack tried to read her as she pulled away from him to check on Bullet. He watched her as she removed a syringe from a packet and penetrated the needle into a vial from a tray by Bullet’s bedside. After sucking some of the solution from the bottle, she inserted the syringe into the valve in Bullet’s arm and projected the substance through the needle.
As she finished, The Spectrum walked in to join them. He stood at the foot of Bullet’s bed, eyeing her with concern as he acknowledged her condition beginning to visibly lo
ok a lot worse. Lab approached him and the pair mumbled in hushed tones.
Jack began to feel frustrated.
He was furious.
“Will someone just talk to me already?”
Both The Spectrum and the Lavender Lab spun to face him, stunned at his outburst. They shared a look between them.
Instantly, The Spectrum now knew that Jack hadn’t been updated.
“What would you like to discuss, boy?”
“How about telling me what the hell is going on?”
Without saying a word, The Spectrum pulled a chair over to him and placed himself down on to it.
“Neon made his move.”
Jack knew it.
And even though nothing specific had been mentioned, Jack knew it wasn’t anything minuscular.
“How bad?”
“Bullet’s face and birth name have been plastered all over the national news with the accusation that she murdered David Watt. The anonymous caller said that she asked him to help, but he refused.”
“We both know that’s not true. We know what really happened.”
The Spectrum looked at Jack with much surprise in his expression.
“Well, clearly you know what really happened. I don’t. No pasts. That’s the rule.”
“I think you’re going to have to come around to the fact that pasts might need to be exposed to keep everyone safe.”
“Over my dead body,” The Spectrum stood with stubbornness and frustration as he turned to leave.
But, Jack wasn’t done with him yet.
“It will be over your dead body if you don’t think this through properly.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You will be.”
“Speak frankly, Jack. I don’t have all day.”
“If you keep trying to keep everyone’s pasts hidden, they will eventually come out. And it will be over your dead body, as well as however many other people’s.”
“We have rules here!”
“And sometimes rules need to be changed! Neon’s power over you guys is exposing the truth… take that power away from him! Expose it yourselves! On your own terms!”
Silence engulfed the room violently.
The Lavender Lab shuffled uncomfortably, her fidgetiness becoming increasingly unbearable.
“Maybe this is something that should be Colour Coded, sir?”
“We have too much to be Colour Coded already without throwing this ridiculousness into the furnace and causing an unnecessary inferno!”
“Well, it’s a good thing the Fuschia Flare and the Teal Tide are here then, isn’t it?” Jack stabbed.
The Spectrum yanked his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes.
Stress was beginning to consume him.
There was a good chance everything Jack was saying was right, but he wasn’t prepared to give in to it just yet.
“I would be asking a lot of my team if I declared that pasts were now going to be known. I ask a lot of them as it is; the fact that they don’t have to reveal things about themselves that they’re trying to get away from is a huge part of how I earned their respect. I don’t want that to change.”
“Sir, their respect for you wouldn’t waver,” Jack stated.
“And you know this for a fact?”
“I know them,” Jack proclaimed as he shuffled his stiff body further up the pillows behind him, “and I know that they don’t just respect you; they adore you.”
“Which is wonderful. It is news to me, and it is news that I welcome with open arms as I, too, adore them like my own children…” He trailed off.
Something else was bothering this man. Jack could see it in his face.
The Spectrum was worried.
“What’re you so scared of?”
“Jack, don’t,” Lab cut in.
“No, I think we deserve to know. It’s not just the hand that Neon has played. There’s something about people’s pasts coming out that he’s scared of. What is it? Do you know something about one of them that you don’t think others will receive well?”
“In a sense, yes.”
“Well, whose? I know about my own and Bullet’s; hers is devastating to the point where I don’t even know how she functions as well as she does. But, to be honest, I can’t imagine how much worse anyone else’s could possibly be. So, whose past are you worried about people finding out?”
“MY OWN!”
Jack stopped dead at The Spectrum’s emotional response.
Him having a past, especially one that would be looked down upon, hadn’t even occurred to him.
The Spectrum was worried about his own life coming out into the light.
“Well, then, keep yours off limits.”
“That would hardly be fair, would it?”
“Can we just take a breath for a second?” Lab interjected once again. “I really don’t think this is a conversation we should be having without everyone else here to hear it and wade in, so, let’s just quit while we’re ahead.”
“Agreed,” said The Spectrum, respectfully. “Jack, I had another purpose in visiting the infirmary. It was never to fight with you.”
“No, it was to check up on Bullet.”
“Yes, that was also one of the reasons, but the main one being to speak with you.”
“What about?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“What about me?”
“Well, since much time has been wasted, I will just rip off the band-aid, shall I? I’d like for you to join Colour Coded.”
Any words that Jack could even think to say wouldn’t form no matter how much he tried. He already felt like a member anyway.
But, this was making it official.
It also meant he would need to give up everything about himself to do so.
“So, I’d no longer be called Jack?”
“Correct.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s my name. And as much as my past is full of many hiccups and many mistakes, I’m proud of it. It’s made me who I am.”
“Which is definitely something to be proud of, boy. I wholeheartedly agree. But, we need you with us to take down Neon.”
“You have me,” Jack assured him, “just not officially.”
The Spectrum merely ushered a slight nod in his direction before abruptly leaving the infirmary, leaving a very stunned Jack and Lab staring after him.
“Well, I didn’t expect that,” Jack admitted.
“Neither did I,” Lab followed, “I thought you’d say yes.”
“What? You knew he was going to ask me?”
“Of course, I did. As soon as he said he respected you because you had values I knew he was going to ask.”
“Oh… well, thanks for the heads up!”
“Well, another heads up I can give you is: in reporting Bullet to the police, Neon also dropped some hints that Sparrow is next.”
“His next target?”
“No. His next revelation.”
“Shit.”
“Yep,” Lab stopped all of a sudden, bracing herself as she listened to the room.
Jack couldn’t hear a thing.
“Lab to Tide, I’m on my way,” she announced as she stuck her finger into her ear. “I have to go. Don’t do anything stupid before I get back.”
“So, I’ve to do something stupid when you get here?”
“Yeah, that way I have an excuse to slap you,” Lab left the infirmary chuckling to herself as Jack smiled at her.
He settled back into the big puffy pillows that supported him and shut his eyes. They wanted him to stay.
For good.
A big part of Jack felt exceedingly happy about that.
Another felt incredibly nervous.
Scared, even.
They wanted him so badly that he would have to give everything up.
He’d never find his sister if he did that.
Lik
e his thoughts were heard, a voice surprised him.
“If you join Colour Coded, we could help you find Abby,” Bullet croaked.
Jack’s head snapped to the left.
Bullet hadn’t moved.
Her eyes were still closed.
Was he hearing things?
“If they don’t, I will.”
Bullet’s eyes fluttered open while her head dropped to the right so that she could look at him.
“You remember?”
“We made our way back together. How could I forget that?”
“How do you feel?”
“Like an overcooked turkey.”
Jack laughed to the point he hurt himself in the process as he clutched at his broken ribs in frustration.
“How do you feel?” she breathed.
“A lot better now that you’re here.”
“I was always here.”
“But, you were sleeping.”
“Well, I’m tired.”
“Yeah, no wonder.”
They held each other’s gaze.
A pin drop could have been heard in the infirmary, but neither of them cared. They were content with peace.
And each other’s company.
“Join the team. We find your sister. We love you no matter what.”
“You mean: no matter what my past is like?”
“Precisely.”
Out of nowhere, noise flooded the infirmary.
It was coming from the corridor.
Footsteps. Lots of them.
The pair of them turned their attention to the door as the rest of the Colour Coded entered.
Seeing them both awake struck a much-awaited smile on each of their faces.
Flare ran to Bullet’s bedside and hugged her; Bullet tried to reciprocate, but lifting her lower arm up to touch Flare’s shoulder was all she could manage.
“Bullet, it’s wonderful to see you smiling, child,” The Spectrum said to her with a grin. “So, I brought you all down to the infirmary, but I didn’t explain why, and that’s because there was a heated discussion between Jack and myself earlier that Lab quite rightfully suggested should be broached to all of you.”
Suddenly, Jack felt embarrassed.
