Jaguar

London survived the end of the world. Jaguar may not survive what comes after.

By 2042, the capital has been rebranded Neo-London: a rain-soaked ruin where banks glow above empty streets, hospitals are guarded by mercenaries, and human life is measured in medicine, credit and outstanding balances.

Jaguar is fifty-five, held together by old injuries, painkillers and discipline. Once a Parachute Regiment soldier, then a covert government assassin, he now kills for a hidden Organisation that prepared for collapse long before everyone else knew it was coming.

Inside his coat, he carries a small brown teddy that belonged to his six-year-old son.

Every contract pays towards the medical debt that continued after the boy's death. Every target brings Jaguar closer to clearing the account, preserving his son's dignity and proving that he was still a father-even when he could only watch his family from a distance.

But Jaguar's memories are strangely complete. His wife's laugh always arrives at the perfect moment. His son is always six. The same rain falls through every version of the past. And the Organisation understands that a man with nothing left can be unpredictable, while a man who believes he owes the dead can be invoiced forever.

When a final contract offers enough money to settle the debt or escape Neo-London, Jaguar boards a train he believes is travelling north.

The destination display is blank.

Told through assassination reports, medical invoices, surveillance records and fractured memories, Jaguar is a darkly funny dystopian verse novella about fatherhood, grief, class, violence and the machinery that turns love into obedience.

Contains strong language, explicit sexual content, violence, terminal childhood illness and bereavement.