‘We’re in here, Andy,’ his dad called from the living room.

Andy was surprised to see that there was someone else with his parents – someone he recognised. The man smiled. His familiar face had a neat white beard, bushy white eyebrows and glowing bright-red cheeks. It was Mr Blundle – the man who used to work in his parents’ bakery!

‘Andy, you’ll remember the General,’ said Andy’s mum. ‘But you probably didn’t know that he’s our boss.’

Andy was shocked, but the General’s face lit up. ‘Andy!’ he said, leaning forward to shake Andy’s hand.

If Santa ever needed a replacement, Mr Blundle would win hands down, thought Andy, but I would never have picked him as an undercover General.

‘Mind boggling, am I right?’ The General patted Andy on the back. ‘One minute I’m selling donuts for your folks, the next I’m an agent for the government whose sole purpose is to protect them and you from Baffi and his men.’

‘Yeah, I didn’t see that coming,’ Andy muttered.

‘But I hear you’re settling in okay,’ the General said. ‘It’s nice to see you’ve made some good friends in Reggie and Judd. We’ve checked them out and they seem to be completely above board.’

‘What do you mean “checked them out”?’ Andy asked.

‘Intelligence – the government. We’re keeping an eye on everything.’

‘Oh,’ sighed Andy. He didn’t like the idea that he was under surveillance – even if it was for his own protection.

‘But we’re not watching all the time,’ said the General. ‘We still want you to lead a normal life and have some privacy. I’ve called you in now because we have some news on Sylvester Baffi and his team. One of them is in town snooping about.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ said Andy. He told his parents and the General about the stranger he had seen speaking to Judd. ‘He didn’t ask Judd about me. And I was wearing a full-face helmet, so I don’t think he could have recognised me even if he knows what I look like,’ said Andy.

‘A helmet?’ asked his dad.

‘Long story,’ said Andy.

‘The bad news is that man is Viktor Zloy – he’s a notorious bounty hunter, obviously hired by one of Sylvester Baffi’s henchmen,’ said the General. ‘There’s a call out to find you, and they don’t get more evil or brutal than that guy.’

Both Andy’s parents looked extremely worried.

‘Do you want us to pack?’ asked Andy’s dad. ‘Do we need to leave?’

‘No, not again,’ begged Andy. ‘I’m just getting used to it here.’

‘It’s all right, Andy,’ said the General. ‘We think it’s safer if you all stay put, for now at least. I understand you’re on camp tomorrow. It’s a logical reason for you to be out of town, while my team tracks Zloy’s movements.’

‘Is it safe?’ asked Andy’s mum. ‘Shouldn’t he stay with us?’

‘It’s all right, Rebecca.’ The General sounded reassuring. ‘I’m going undercover again. I’ll keep an eye on the situation – in the guise of taking a fishing trip right near the camp. I wouldn’t trust anyone else for this job. Although, our team has reported that Zloy is travelling solo and Baffi’s men seem to be on the west coast investigating the zoo incident so I hope I won’t be needed. Oh, that reminds me. This is for you, Andy.’

The General pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to him. The address on the letter was in Molly’s handwriting. ‘It was sent to your old address. It’s all above board.’

‘You read it?’ said Andy, annoyed.

‘We had to,’ said the General in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘But I’m only giving it to you, Andy, because you’ve been so co-operative and you know how important it is not to get in touch with Molly. I know how much you want to, but you’d be putting yourself – and her – in great danger. Got it?’

Andy nodded.

‘And this is by way of apology,’ said the General, reaching into a box at his feet and handing Andy a small cage. Inside was a white rat with brown mask-like markings on its face.

‘Oh, it’s Brad!’ cried Andy’s mum.

Andy remembered his parents telling him that before they put him back together, they had experimented with using bionic parts on their lab rats, Brad and Angelina. They were part machine, part robot – totally awesome rodents. They each had the strength of a bulldog. They could leap two metres high and break out of any ordinary cage.

‘After Angelina’s spinning-wheel accident she’s just too erratic and dangerous to give to you,’ added the General. ‘But Brad here will make a lovely pet. It’s still best that you keep him mainly in his cage – there’s no way he’ll be able to break out of that.’

‘He’s mine to keep?’ asked Andy, taking a closer look.

The General nodded.

‘Awesome. And thanks!’

Andy raced to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. He sat on his bed, placed the cage beside him, and hurriedly opened Molly’s letter.

Dear Andy,

I’m not sure if you’ll get this letter, but if you do I hope you’re okay, wherever you are.

Andy smiled. He kept reading:

I can’t believe that you left without saying goodbye to anyone. I called you during the holidays, but your phone was disconnected. Then when school started you weren’t there. I asked the principal if he knew where you were and he said you’d moved, but didn’t know where to. So I’m writing this letter, hoping that it will be forwarded to you at your new home. Are you still in our city? Are you even in the country? There are rumours going around that you were the masked boy at the zoo who saved me from the gorilla. And, well, I just want to say that

Andy turned over the page, searching for the follow-on sentence. But there was nothing. Molly’s letter had skipped to the last page.

‘Huh?’ he said. ‘There’s a whole chunk missing.’

Andy read the last section of the letter.

and I’m not sure if you know this, but I really like you and I hope one day we will see each other again. If you get the chance, please write back. Even just to say you’re okay.

Your friend,
Molly xx

Andy frantically flipped through the pages again. He looked in the envelope, but there was no sign of the missing page.

‘Mr Blundle!’ he said, rushing out of his room, but the General’s car was already pulling out of the drive.

‘It’s obviously something he didn’t want you to read,’ said Andy’s mum. ‘He only wants to protect us, Andy.’

‘I don’t care,’ Andy snapped, now really upset. ‘This totally sucks.’

‘Andy! That’s no way to speak to your mother,’ Andy’s dad said. ‘Apologise, please.’

‘No way!’ Andy snapped. ‘I don’t care if Mr Blundle is the General. I don’t care if he’s your boss. He shouldn’t go through my personal stuff.’

Andy stormed out of the kitchen and stomped back up to his bedroom.

It was moments like this that Andy really wished that life could be the way it used to be, before his parents turned him into Andy Roid.

‘Protect me. Yeah, right,’ he muttered as he dropped onto his bed. ‘I’m a biorobotic freak with superpowers. I can look after myself.’

Andy took Brad out of his cage. The rat scampered up his arm and took a running jump off his shoulder. The rodent soared metres across the bedroom, and landed on top of the wardrobe. Whoa, thought Andy. You really are a super rat!

Andy reached up to take Brad down, but his new pet just tried to nip his fingers. Andy laughed. ‘Chomping on my wired fingers will hurt you more than it will hurt me,’ he said.

He left Brad alone and his thoughts went back to Molly. ‘Seriously, what harm would it do if I called her? Okay, they could probably bug her phone…’ A huge grin lit up Andy’s face as he looked at the palm of his left hand and then slapped the back of his neck. ‘But what if I didn’t use a phone? I wonder what my software can come up with?’

Andy tapped the blue circular palm screen twice and a thin red line appeared. He slid his right forefinger across it. Andy usually connected with his parents via a video call, but on the top right corner of the screen there was a small image of a key. When Andy tapped on it, it revealed more application icons – one of them was the image of a green bell. Andy touched it and a keyboard appeared. He entered Molly’s name and address in the search box. Three entries came up for Molly’s address, including a video-chat caller ID: MollyR13.

‘Face-to-face chat,’ he said, as he double-tapped on MollyR13.

His heart raced as he heard the video call ring. Suddenly Molly’s face appeared on screen, right there in the palm of Andy’s hand. Andy couldn’t believe it. ‘Hi,’ he gulped.

‘Andy?’ she cried. ‘Is that you? Where are you calling from? I wasn’t going to answer because your caller name is GOVERNMENT-AR1 – totally weird sign in! Are you okay?’

‘Y-yeah, I am,’ stammered Andy. But just then he heard someone coming up the stairs. ‘Molly…I can’t talk now, but I just wanted to say I got your letter and I’ll try to contact you when I can.’

Andy quickly slapped the back of his neck as his bedroom door swung open. His mother popped her head into the room.

‘Who were you talking to?’

‘What? Um, just Brad. We’re getting to know each other. Aren’t we, boy?’

Brad squeaked and made gnawing sounds from the top of the wardrobe. For a moment, Andy wondered if his half-rodent, half-machine pet could actually understand English. What exactly was Brad capable of?

Andy’s mother sighed. She sat on the edge of his bed. ‘Look, Andy, I just wanted to say how very proud I am of you. You’ve endured so much, and sometimes I forget you’re only twelve –’

‘Almost thirteen,’ interjected Andy.

‘Yes, but still so young and still my boy,’ Andy’s mum replied. ‘I’m sorry we’ve put you through all this. I can’t tell you how many nights I lie awake worrying. I’m sorry you can’t speak to your friend Molly, now, I really am. But one day, when all this is over, I will make sure you can, okay? For now we have to play it smart, Andy. We can’t risk putting people in danger – especially those we care about.’

Andy’s mother gently kissed Andy on the forehead and left the room.

Andy sighed and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. His mum was right – he knew he couldn’t call Molly back. He knew he should never have called her at all.