Free Agent 21 by Chris Ryan Page B

the piece of paper Gabs and Raf gave him looked very complicated. ‘Morse code is more than a hundred years old,’ Raf explained, ‘but you’d be surprised how useful it can be. You probably know how to send an SOS.’
    ‘Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot?’
    ‘Right. But once you’re proficient, you can use it to transmit any message. Most pilots and air-traffic controllers are fluent, and so are special forces signallers. Morse code uses rhythm to transmit messages – sequences of short and long elements to represent different letters, using sound or light. That piece of paper shows you the Morse code alphabet.’
    Zak studied it.
    ‘Each dash is three times the length of a dot,’ Raf explained. ‘With practice, you should be able to deliver Morse code messages very quickly.’
    ‘Let me guess,’ Zak said. ‘The practice starts now.’
    Gabs smiled at Raf. ‘He’s getting the hang of it, isn’t he?’
    Morse Code Alphabet
The international morse code characters

    A .-
    B -...
    C -.-.
    D -..
    E .
    F ..-.
    G --.
    H ...
    I ..
    J .---
    K -.-
    L .-..
    M --
    N -.
    O ---
    P .--.
    Q --.-
    R .-.
    S ...
    T -
    U ..-
    V ...-
    W .--
    X -..-
    Y -.--
    Z --..
    0 -----
    1 .----
    2 ..---
    3 ...--
    4 ....-
    5 .....
    6 -...
    7 --...
    8 ---..
    9 ----.
    Fullstop .-.-.-
    Comma --..--
    Query ..-..

    They spent the remainder of the afternoon learning and practising Morse code. After two hours, Zak had memorized it. After another two, he could send and decipher simple messages. More than once he saw Gabs and Raf glancing at each other, clearly impressed by the speed with which he picked it up. By the time the lesson was over, though, his brain was exhausted. He excused himself and went straight up to bed.
    Zak lay in his room for a little while, thinking. In his first couple of weeks here, he’d been angry. Angrywith Michael and, by extension, with Gabs and Raf. Things had changed. Somehow the knowledge that his guardian angels understood what he was going through made him feel better. They’d been working him hard, sure, but he found he didn’t mind that. He enjoyed it. The stuff he was learning on this craggy outpost of the British Isles was a load more interesting than being back at Camden High School, having to deal with idiots like Marcus Varley and Jason Ford. If it wasn’t for the fact that he missed Ellie, and that every time he thought about what might happen to him in the future he wanted to be sick, things would be absolutely fine . . .
    A knock on the door roused him from his thoughts. At least, he thought it was a knock at first, but soon realized it was more than that. A pattern.

    Zak smiled. ‘Goodnight, Agent 17,’ he called, and he switched out his light. He might be uncertain about the future, but one thing was sure: tomorrow would be just as busy as today, and he needed a good night’s sleep.

9
BREAK-IN

    The funny thing about being busy, Zak began to realize, is that you don’t notice how quickly time passes. Christmas came and went without any special celebration; then his birthday raced past – a day filled, as any other, with training.
    But some days have more meaning than others. He had been on the island for six months when one morning he woke up at 5.30 a.m. – half an hour earlier than normal. He felt unusual as he climbed out of bed and into his bathroom. The lights – which were stark and white – flicked on automatically as he entered and he looked at himself in the mirror. The reflection that stared back at him looked different somehow. Older. The muscles in his arms were stronger, his face was lean and fit. His hair was still unruly, but his skin was a little more weathered from all the time he’d spent outside; there was a tightness around his eyes. Zak realized that he looked a bit likehis dad – it was the first time he had ever noticed that.
    His dad. The thought made him feel empty and he realized why he felt weird. He went back into the bedroom and tapped the computer