Agent 21: Codebreaker: Book 3 Read Online Free Page B

asked to speak to his psychiatrist. In all the time he has been in the institution he hasn’t spoken once to an adult. Yesterday morning, he told his psychiatrist that there would be a terrorist attack at Pimlico Station very soon. Given Malcolm’s rather curious history, the psychiatrist immediately reported it. It was, as you’ve seen, ignored by the powers that be.’
    In his mind, Zak saw an image of a burning, mangled tube train and its burning, mangled passengers . . .
    ‘Why did they ignore it?’ he asked.
    Michael shrugged. ‘The authorities receive tip-offs galore, most of them from cranks and time-wasters. It’s normally the case that genuine tip-offs can be confirmed by more than one source. That’s the way intelligence gathering works. There was no real reason to believe that young Michael was doing anything other than trying to get attention.’
    ‘How did the kid know about the bomb?’ Raf asked.
    ‘We don’t know,’ Michael replied. ‘He won’t tell us. Like I say, he refuses to speak to adults. He believes he’s been poorly treated by them.’
    ‘He’s right,’ Zak muttered.
    ‘Possibly,’ Michael said.
    ‘Has he broken into the Americans’ systems again?’ Raf cut in. ‘Is that where he got the intel?’
    ‘It’s a possibility we should keep in mind. All he will say is this: that he will reveal his source when he’s released from the hospital. This is what the government intend to do. I disagree with the decision. Our security services are not as secure as they think they are. That’s one of the reasons we exist as an organization. If Malcolm Mann is released, I believe he will be in danger of assassination by the Americans or abduction by just about any other foreign power you care to name. And there are better ways of extracting information from people.’
    ‘You don’t mean torture?’ The words burst out of Zak.
    ‘Please, Zak. I’m not a barbarian. I would only condone that in the most extreme circumstances. No, it is the duty of our agency to do something a little cleverer, even if we are doing so behind the back of a blundering government. Which is where you come in.’
    Zak looked at Raf and Gabs; they were already staring directly at him.
    ‘You’re going to break him out of the hospital,’ Michael said. ‘We’ll plant the idea in the government’s head that the Americans did it, and in the Americans’ heads that the Chinese did it. While they’re all shouting at each other, we can concentrate on the important business of finding out exactly how he came by this information.’
    ‘Why me?’
    ‘It strikes me, Zak, that you’ve asked that question before.’ There was a pause. ‘It has to be you because Malcolm doesn’t respond to adults. We’re gambling that he’ll follow someone his own age, so long as you play it right. And, of course, can avoid any . . . compromising situations with any agents from other countries who may be watching our young Malcolm.’
    ‘By play it right, you mean . . .’ Zak knew Michael well enough by now to realize that he would most likely already have a strategy.
    ‘I suggest lying to him,’ his handler said bluntly. ‘I want you to tell him that you’re his only way out of there. That you work for a government agency that makes use of young people like him, and that you’re the living proof. Be very persuasive, Zak. We need every last bit of information he can give you. Lives could depend on it.’
    ‘And when he’s told me everything? What then?’
    ‘Then we’ll inform the government that we’ve managed to locate him, extracted what information from him that we need, and put him straight back where he came from.’
    ‘For his own good?’
    ‘For his own good.’
    Zak sat very still. He didn’t know why, but he had an urge not to let any emotion show on his face. Not that he didn’t feel it. Half of him was shocked at Michael’s callousness, that he would let this boy rot in an institution and not