“This is perfect,” said Georgie. “Let’s head there.” She stabbed her finger on to the paper, at the north end of Manhattan, in the heart of Harlem.
“That’s miles away,” said Felix.
“The further from the safehouse the better. Do you have any money on you?”
Felix slapped his pockets, then shook his head.
“Never mind,” said Georgie. “We’ll think of something.”
“Don’t worry,” Felix reassured her with a cheeky grin. “I always think of something.”
They set off at a jog again, weaving through the side streets and back alleys, constantly looking over their shoulders. Manhattan was quiet—it was still too early for anybody to be driving around except a few yellow cabs. But they both knew that within the next hour it would come alive with people and cars. If they were still out on the streets then, they wouldn’t be able to spot anybody coming for them until it was too late. They had to get somewhere safe fast.
They rounded another corner, Georgie still running slightly ahead of her friend. With every sound, they imagined the grip of an agent round their necks. In every cab that passed, the driver looked like he was watching them. At the end of their alleyway was a main road. Georgie grabbed the map as they stopped reluctantly. They slipped between a line of dumpsters to be out of sight. The smell was bitter and powerful, but it was the least of their worries.
“Where are we?” she asked, panting hard.
Felix slowly leaned out of the shadows, looking for a street sign.
“Doesn’t look like Chinatown any more,” he started. “But I’m never—”
Something grabbed him under the arm. He tried to shout, but a hand clamped down over his mouth. Georgie looked up in horror. The breath froze in her throat. Felix had disappeared into the blackness of a doorway opposite. Then a white arm reached out.
Georgie shrank back, but the dumpsters blocked her in. She was trapped. She wanted to scream, but when Georgie opened her mouth, nothing came out. The hand stretched closer, spreading its white fingers into a claw.
Then Georgie realised her breathing had steadied and her heart wasn’t pounding. She didn’t feel scared any more, but couldn’t work out why. Then her brain finally caught up with what her eyes had seen—a wedding ring. It sparkled in the light on the ring finger of the hand in front of her, and it was a ring she recognised.
“Get in here now!” insisted a woman’s voice from the doorway opposite.
“Mum!” Georgie whispered, bounding out from between the dumpsters.
“What’s going on?” asked Helen Coates, wrapping her arms round her daughter. “Are you OK? And where’s Jimmy?”
“He’s OK,” Felix started, almost breathless with excitement. “He must have planned this whole thing with the CIA without even telling us about it, and then we saw him being shot—but not really shot. And he fell backwards into the river and it really looked like he was dead—but we knew he wasn’t, I mean, he isn’t, because he left us a message before he did it and we worked it out. It was pretty cool the way he fooled them.”
“Wait, slow down,” said Helen. “He was shot?”
“Yeah,” Felix replied. “But it must have been with fake bullets or something.”
“So where is he now?”
“If we’re right,” said Georgie, “then he’s with the CIA.”
“Of course we’re right,” Felix insisted.
“So what are you two doing running away from the CIA?”
Georgie and Felix hesitated, and looked at each other. “Have you seen them?” Georgie asked. “Are they really after us?”
Helen wiped her face with her hands. Very slowly, she nodded. “I’ve been tracking you from the safehouse.”
Georgie knew her mother used to be an NJ7 agent herself years and years ago, but she was still impressed.
“You’ve had two agents on your tail as well,” Helen went on. “If they’re as good as I think they are, they’ll have accessed the satellite surveillance by now. They’ll be here any minute.”
“So what do we do?” Felix gasped.
“Quick,” Georgie whispered. “We should get moving.” She was about to dash back out into the alley, but her mother caught her by the arm.
“Wait,” said Helen firmly. “Why are you running? What do you know that I don’t?”
“The safehouse,” Georgie answered straightaway. “These men came and we had to escape. But they got Felix’s parents.”
“I know,” Helen replied. “I saw it all.”
“You were there?”
“I couldn’t find Chris at the airport, so I was going back to the safehouse. I’d reached the end of the street when I saw the men taking Neil and Olivia. I’m sorry, Felix.” She put a hand on his shoulder and crouched down to look in his eyes. “They’re going to be OK. We’ll find them and sort all of this out. It might take a little time, that’s all.”
Felix looked away. He didn’t like being forced to think about it.
“If the CIA is on our side,” he asked, a little break in his voice, “how come NJ7 knew where the safehouse was?”
“I don’t know,” said Helen. “It could be a million reasons. It might not even have been NJ7.”
“What?” Felix gasped.
“I watched those men. Their methods were…” She searched for the right word. “…different. But NJ7 can’t have a lot of agents posted in America. Most likely, they had to employ MI6 to do the work. Or…” She paused, as if she didn’t want to continue. “Or it could have been the French.”
“What?” Georgie exclaimed. “What are the French doing here?”
“Everything they can to stop America helping Britain.”
“What have my parents got to do with that?” Felix asked.
“Nothing,” Helen sighed. “But the French know about Jimmy. If they can make it look like the CIA failed to protect his friends, they might be hoping Jimmy will turn against America and go back to France.”
Felix’s face was scrunched up in confusion. “Why can’t anything ever be what it looks like?” he whispered.
“You’re right,” Helen agreed. “Look, what do we know for sure?” She counted off the items on her fingers as she went. “First, the safehouse isn’t safe. Second, the area is crawling with agents of all kinds, and third, the CIA is the only organisation likely to protect us.”
“OK,” Georgie muttered, thinking hard. “I suppose we should go with the CIA. I don’t trust them, but at least we’ll get more information that way. We can ask them about Jimmy. That’s the only way we’ll be certain.”
“We are certain,” Felix insisted. “There’s no way Jimmy would let himself be shot like that unless it was on purpose.”
“OK, Felix,” Helen reassured him. “I’m sure you’re right. But in any case, the best way to find out whether we can trust Colonel Keays and his agents is to keep them close. If we run, we’ll never know if they want to protect us or kill us.”
Georgie drew in a deep breath and took a long look at Felix.
“I suppose they were going to catch us soon anyway,” she said. “There’s no way two kids can hide from the CIA.”
“I