Colour Coded: The Black Bullet

by Katy Jordan

  Bullet, for reasons best known to herself, let out a laugh. The tears openly started to flow again. She walked over to the bed and sat down beside him while she removed the broken device from her ear and placed it down next to Jack’s.

  Now, there would be no inevitable eavesdropping.

  “And now I need to ask you a favour,” he requested, “if you don’t want to, I’ll get it. It’s been a long night for everyone.”

  “Anything, Jack. Ask me.”

  “Will you… umm… will you sleep here tonight?” he stuttered. “I don’t want to wake up to no one. And if I got to choose, I’d pick you anyway. I feel safe when I know you’re around. I can’t explain it.” Jack looked away, incredibly embarrassed, kicking himself for speaking too soon.

  Bullet got up and walked around to the left-hand side of the bed. She climbed in next to him, leaning on his good shoulder and snuggled up to him. Bullet had never snuggled into anyone.

  She had never met anyone she wanted to snuggle.

  “For the record,” she mumbled, leaning comfortably on his chest, “I feel safe when I know you’re around too.”

  Both Jack and Bullet were smiling.

  They were safe. They were content.

  They fell asleep.

  Jack woke up to a sound. As Lab was checking his monitor and levels, she caught his eye.

  “I’m glad to see you two worked things out,” she whispered, gesturing to Bullet who was still sound asleep on Jack’s chest.

  He smiled as he watched her lay there peacefully, grazing his fingers along her arm.

  “There was nothing to work out. It was an accident.”

  “I know,” Lab replied, continuing to check that everything was in working order, “did you tell her that her earpiece was broken?”

  “Aye. She was mortified that everyone heard her cry,” Jack scoffed.

  Lab shook her head with a smile.

  “She’s one hell of a girl.”

  “Like no other,” Jack agreed, “so, when can I get out of here?”

  “Oh, you’re not out of the woods yet, Jack. As much as the bullet missed all the important stuff, it broke your collarbone. We need to make sure it didn’t hit nerves or tendons and that there’s no torn muscle or tissue, and I can’t check for any of that that until the wound has healed a little, which will only happen if you move your arm as little as possible,” Lab explained, “that plus the fact that the guards got a good few blows into you. There’s a lot of bruising on your back and down your legs, and I’m sorry to inform you, but you’ve got a beauty of a black eye forming.”

  “How long?”

  “A couple of days, and that’s just for me to check your movement and the sensation in your hand and up your arm. After that is dependent on how the former goes.”

  Jack was clearly displeased with her response.

  “Let me put it this way: I know you care about her. I can see it. Better than everyone else. I knew it the first time I met you, and I knew it the first time I spoke to Bullet after she met you,” Lab informed Jack, “I know you want out of here. I know you want to stop Neon; we all do, but unless you do what I tell you, you won’t make a full recovery. Don’t rush things and make it worse. Keep your arm in that sling. Take your time. For her. Not only will she want you fully recovered, she’ll need you fully recovered. Agreed?”

  Jack looked at Lab, impressed.

  He was surprised at her empathetic demeanour.

  But, more importantly, he was impressed at her tug on his heartstrings.

  Her stab at his kryptonite, if you will.

  “Don’t look at me like that. One, I’m a doctor. And two, that girl is like a daughter to me. As is Tide and Flare. Gecko, Sparrow, Rocket and Youth are like my sons.”

  “And The Spectrum?” Jack probed lightheartedly.

  “Don’t even go there, buddy boy,” she warned him, laughing.

  Bullet curled up a little before she woke up to Lab and Jack laughing amongst themselves.

  “Hey there, sleeping beauty,” Lab smiled at Bullet.

  “Ugh, I honestly don’t feel like any kind of beauty,” Bullet mumbled, positioning herself on her elbow and leaning her head on her palm.

  “Oh, don’t be silly. You’re always my beautiful girl,” Lab said, “now, mister. How do you feel? Do you need more morphine or are you good?”

  “Nah, I think I’m good, thanks. You’re my favourite doctor,” Jack winked at Lab.

  “Yeah, on second thought, I think you’re okay for the morphine as well,” she said, rolling her eyes at Bullet before leaving them alone.

  Jack turned to look at Bullet, who held his gaze.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi,” Bullet smiled.

  “How’d you sleep?”

  “Like a baby. You?”

  “Like a… junkie.”

  Bullet laughed.

  It had been so long since she had felt as content as she did then. She was happy.

  It was a welcome stranger to her life.

  “That’s actually the first time I’ve slept since… since I became the Black Bullet… and not had a nightmare.”

  “What do you have nightmares about?”

  Bullet considered telling him.

  He was high on morphine, there was a chance he’d maybe forget. Then again, there was a chance he would remember, and that was a lot to bombard someone with about a person’s past.

  Especially someone who had just been shot.

  Especially someone who had just been shot by the person who was opening the can of worms.

  “Just about my past, it’s a long story.”

  “Well, the doc just said I’m going to be here for a while, so you know, I have time,” Jack offered.

  Bullet got up off the bed and turned round to look at him. Those deep hazel brown eyes looked back at her, patient, willing, ready to listen.

  “Maybe, one day. But, not today.”

  Jack nodded with understanding.

  She smiled and took his hand before leaning down and giving him a peck on his forehead.

  Bullet left the hospital wing and walked along to the conservatory.

  For the first time in a long time, she felt awake.

  Not awake, muddling along until she got to go to bed again, awake.

  Awake, awake.

  Like she could run a marathon and then complete a military level obstacle course, awake.

  It felt wonderful. That feeling too was a welcome stranger.

  She sat herself down in her black chair in the upper foyer, looking out at the sun up high in the sky.

  It sparked curiosity in her. Bullet pulled out her phone, which showed the time as 2:15 in the afternoon. She and Jack had slept for over thirteen hours.

  “Afternoon, sleepy head,” Sparrow greeted her.

  He came over and joined her, sitting in his silver chair.

  “Hey, Sparrow, how’d you sleep?”

  “Great, to be honest. You?”

  Bullet nodded, smiling uncontrollably.

  “Yeah. Really great.”

  “Good! I take it you talked to Jack?”

  “Yeah, I did. We worked everything out.”

  “Bullet, there was nothing to work out. We all heard you with The Spectrum last night. Tide, Lab, Flare and Gecko burst into tears just listening to you!” he informed her, and then a smile crossed his face. “Youth did too, but he begged us all to keep our trap shut.”

  Bullet laughed happily.

  “Yeah, I took my earpiece out before I went to sleep last night,” she said as she went back to looking out the window, and her smile began to fade.

  “What’s up?” Sparrow probed.

  “He’s still out there somewhere. He’s still planning something. He’s still looking for me. And he’s still expecting to hear from Jack.”

  “Well, let’s get planning then,” he announced as he pushed his finger into his ear.

  “This is the Silver Sparrow. We need everyone in the conservatory. The
re’s a situation that needs Colour Coded.”

  It was weird for Bullet that she couldn’t hear anything electronically, that she couldn’t hear Sparrow in her ear as well as right next to her.

  One by one, everyone arrived. The Spectrum walked in at the back of everybody.

  “Good afternoon, all. I know everyone had a rough night last night, I trust we slept well?”

  Everyone nodded in confirmation.

  “Excellent,” he exclaimed, “Sparrow, you called a meeting?”

  “Yeah,” he began, “I did. We all know Jack’s in the hospital wing, and Lab doesn’t think he’s going to get out within a week, which was how long Neon had given him before he was to find a way back, so we need to come up with a story for him to feed Neon that keeps him here.”

  “Why don’t we have him keeping Neon on his toes?” Gecko asked. “I mean, the guy is ruthless but, he’s also obsessed with Colour Coded, especially Bullet. If we get him to say something like: ‘I’m on to something, I think she’s alive, but I need more time to confirm it’, then it buys Jack time but, it’ll also have Neon reeling. There’ll be more of a chance he’ll make a mistake then.”

  “Yeah, but the thing is, Neon never changes his plans unless something physically happens,” Bullet replied, “so, if Jack tells him he may be on to something, it won’t be enough for him to budge.”

  “He’d have to say he’s found her,” Youth clarified.

  “But, then Neon would want to see him with me right away, so it still doesn’t buy him time.”

  “How about he just ignores him?” Tide suggested. “I mean, for all Neon knows, we killed Jack when he came back to us, and maybe he doesn’t know us as well as he thinks he does.”

  “Or he does know us, but he doesn’t know Jack as well as he thinks he does because he’s changed sides,” Sparrow interjected, “which he has, really. I second that, I think we should just have Jack ignore him.”

  “He should call him tonight though, and then as of tomorrow, ignore him,” Youth added.

  “Third that,” Rocket said.

  “Fourth,” said Gecko.

  “Fifth,” Lab joined in.

  “Are we all in agreement?” Bullet asked.

  The answer was unanimous. Jack was going to ignore Neon if and when he called after tonight.

  “Okay,” she said, “the next thing we have to worry about is where we go from here. We know Neon is bringing in cocaine dressed up as C4, taking out the cocaine and repackaging it with salt, while maintaining the C4 aesthetic. We know that the cases have weird initials on them, that his signature has changed, and that he’s built a bunker that fits him and potentially a couple of other people. We know he has a lot more staff now, and he also now has security. The only thing we don’t know is…”

  “Why?” Jack cut in, hobbling over to the crowd.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you not remember our conversation earlier?” Lab snapped at him.

  She looked him up and down. He looked terrible. Blood trickled down to his hands from the bottom of his upper arms.

  “Did you just yank those tubes out!”

  “I remember, and I still agree. I’m not planning on doing anything stupid, I just want to try and help,” Jack explained as Lab let him have her seat, and she stood instead, “and no, I didn’t yank them out, I was careful. Are you impressed?”

  “No, I think you’re an idiot, and if you ever do that again, forget Bullet, I’ll shoot you,” Lab pierced.

  “Guys,” Sparrow cut in, impatiently, “we’ve cleared up the fact that we know a couple of things about him here and there, but we don’t know why. With all that in mind, what are we going to do?”

  “I think this is one of those times that I’m het,” Youth suggested.

  “What do you mean, Youth?” asked The Spectrum.

  “I think I should investigate the things that we know about him. Like the cocaine. That amount of cocaine must be gang related. He may be talking to dealers,” Youth explained, “why, again, is unknown. But, that, to me, seems like a better place to start.”

  “Yeah, but we need to find out why so that we know what to do next,” Flare defended.

  “The ‘why’ part is something we don’t know though,” Youth debated, “but, the changes that he’s made is something we do know. We need to work with what we’ve got. That alone could give us an answer to the ‘why’ question.”

  “I have to say, Flare, as much as your argument is one hundred per cent correct, I do agree with Youth,” said The Spectrum, “and, furthermore, if we’re working behind the scenes, keeping ourselves to ourselves, remaining quiet, it backs up the implication that Jack is, for whatever reason, indisposed to be able to call Neon at nine p.m. every night.”

  Flare backed down instantaneously, understanding his point.

  Everyone seemed to be on the same page.

  “So, that’s the plan? Research what we have so far and see if we can connect the dots and learn something?” Bullet clarified.

  “I would highly recommend that path above all other possible routes, yes,” The Spectrum confirmed, as he walked by everyone to make his way back to his office, “and I’m sure you can all decide amongst yourselves who takes what task, because I can assure you that everything isn’t getting left to the Yellow Youth. I also think it goes without saying that Jack, Flare and Gecko can participate in this, since it isn’t strenuous work, yes?”

  “It shouldn’t be a problem. Although, if you’re struggling at any point, you let someone know and stop, agreed?” Lab instructed, dotting her gaze between all three of them, but paying particular attention to Jack.

  They nodded in agreement.

  “I have the footage from all the cameras stored on my hard drive. I’ll screen grab as much as I can for us to work from,” Youth announced, and got up to leave.

  In dribs and drabs, everyone followed him out.

  The only ones left were Jack and Bullet.

  He sat there smiling at her, but Bullet did not return the gesture.

  “I can’t believe, after everything, you got up and walked out of the hospital wing,” she glared at him, “it isn’t a real hospital, Jack, you can’t just discharge yourself because you don’t want to be there.”

  Bullet stood up and leaned on the railing to look outside.

  “You need to recover sooner. And that’ll only happen if you do what Lab tells you.”

  “Lab told me to take things steady, keep my arm in my sling, and not overdo it,” Jack explained smugly, “I walked down a corridor. My arm is still in its sling. When I needed to stop, I stopped. I’m following the doctor’s orders.”

  Bullet wasn’t amused with his smug attitude and whipped around to face him.

  “I need you well, Jack.”

  “And I just need you, Bullet.”

  Without giving her a second to argue, Jack kissed her.

  It took her by surprise, and at first she didn’t know what to do.

  But, he didn’t pull back.

  Neither did she.

  For a man so well-built, and with such a tough nature, his lips were incredibly soft. It was like the world was swept away from her.

  Nobody else existed other than her and Jack.

  The thought of pulling away crossed her mind, but in all honesty, she really didn’t want to. She wanted more.

  Her heart was racing. Sparks flew. The butterflies felt very real to her. Her legs felt like jelly, and she staggered back against the railing. Jack didn’t waver; his body followed hers like a magnet.

  Quickly, their kiss became very intense.

  Bullet held the sides of his face and ran her fingers through his hair as she pressed herself into him. Jack’s hand gripped on to her hip and slowly, he slid it around behind her. She could feel his bicep against her ribs as his hand made its way up her back.

  After a while, Bullet tried to slow everything down, and they both pulled away. His brown eyes were mesmerising to her.


  Both of them felt the struggle to get their breathing under control.

  “Please tell me you left your earpiece out, too?” Bullet whispered.

  Jack chuckled, still holding her close to him.

  “I did, yeah.”

  “Good.”

  They hovered around each other delicately, their lips brushing again.

  Every cell in Bullet’s body was springing to life like fireworks.

  Jack pulled his head away, beaming at her like he was the happiest man on the planet at that moment.

  “Come on, then,” he said suddenly, taking her hand and pulling her across the seating area, “we’ve got work to do.”

  Bullet did everything she could to get to grips with herself again as she let Jack lead her along the corridor to the spiral staircase. He was right.

  They had a lot to figure out.

  It was time to put all the emotions to one side and get one step ahead of Neon.

  Chapter Eleven

  It was extremely quiet in the Yellow Youth’s lair as everyone was looking at photos, rewatching camera footage, updating the warehouse floor plan, or researching the C4 packaging scheme. Hours had gone by since Jack and Bullet had spent their moment alone in the upper foyer, and for a moment, it was like it had never happened.

  The concentration had taken over.

  Bullet watched him looking at photos; he was clenching his eyes shut and opening them wide, trying to focus. Bruises were starting to appear on his face from his fight with the guards at Neon’s warehouse. He grabbed the back of his neck and rocked his head from side to side. He was stiff. Sore.

  Exhausted.

  “Jack,” she said, inviting him to make eye contact, “go to bed.”

  “No, I’m fine,” he claimed, looking back at the stack of photos Youth had printed off for him.

  “You’ve been struggling for a while. I’ve been watching you.”

  “Oh, really?”

  Bullet blushed and looked away.

  “I’ll keep going for another half hour, and then I’ll stop. I promise,” he stated.

  Bullet nodded with approval and went back to looking at the screen grabs of Sparrow’s perimeter footage.