‘So speaking of Kyle,’ James said, as he gave Lauren a serious look. ‘Did you read the e-mail he sent you about Tan Abdullah?’
Lauren looked a little awkward. ‘I saw it quickly when I got back from the walk last night.’
‘But you got the gist?’ James asked, and Lauren nodded. ‘I’m going to see Ewart Asker about the mission after break. I think we should go together and tell him that we’re not doing it. I might speak to Kevin as well if I see him around.’
‘I think I’m doing the mission,’ Lauren said.
James gasped. ‘You what?’
‘You’re in a different position,’ Lauren explained. ‘You’re about to leave. If you quit, it makes no difference. But if I drop out of a mission less than a week before it’s due to start there’s going to be a black mark against me.’
James shook his head. ‘No there won’t. Your record on missions is one of the best on campus. If they need someone for an important mission and you fit the bill, they won’t not send you just because you withdrew from this half-arsed bodyguard detail.’
Rat put a hand up to his mouth and spoke in a whisper, pretending like Lauren wouldn’t be able to hear. ‘She wants to go shopping.’
‘What does shopping have to do with anything?’ James asked, as Lauren gave Rat a dig in the ribs.
‘She’s been going on about this for ages,’ Rat explained. ‘Tan Abdullah is a billionaire. His latest wife is a top model and they have a reputation for spending big in the shops.’
‘Ahh,’ James said, as the pieces clicked into place.
Lauren had never been a girlie girl when it came to make-up, dressing up and that sort of thing. But the stereotype that girls were obsessed with shopping fitted Lauren perfectly.
‘Tan Abdullah’s wife is called June Ling,’ Lauren explained, half excited, half apologetic. ‘I’ve read about her in magazines. She’s a shopping fiend. She goes into Harvey Nichols and spends sixty grand on dresses. I found this article that said when Tan’s kids were little she took them into Hamleys and spent eighteen grand on toys in one pop.’
As James shook his head, Rat’s best mate Andy Lagan came towards the table holding a tray with two bacon rolls and a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating in it. He nodded to James, then shook his head.
‘You’re not going on about that shopping trip again, are you?’ Andy sighed. ‘I got stuck on a table with Lauren, Bethany and Tiffany in maths yesterday. It was all they kept talking about.’
‘They’re so jealous,’ Lauren cooed.
James pounded his hand on the table top and pushed back in his seat. ‘I can’t believe you, Lauren,’ he blurted. ‘You’re usually the moral one. The one who’s a veggie. The one who wants me to shell out on some “adopt an endangered bunny” scheme for your birthday present. But apparently people getting tortured and thrown out of their homes doesn’t matter, as long as you get to hang around some posh shops with a Chinese model.’
‘James, me going shopping isn’t going to knock down any villages.’
‘Well do it for Kyle then,’ James suggested. ‘He put his whole CHERUB career on the line for you when Mr Large threatened you.’
‘I’m chumming up with a couple of kids, going shopping and staying overnight in a posh hotel,’ Lauren said. ‘If Kyle has a problem with that, I’ll find some other way to make it up to him.’
‘You’re never gonna persuade her, James,’ Rat explained. ‘She’s had her heart set on this for weeks.’
Lauren stood up from the table. ‘I’ve got to get over to the pool block for swim training,’ she announced, before looking accusingly at Rat. ‘And you should be more supportive.’
James shrugged at Rat while Lauren pulled on a big pack filled with her swimming kit and started walking towards the doors.
‘Sorry mate,’ James said. ‘I didn’t mean to cause trouble for you.’
‘Forget it,’ Rat said.
James noticed that Andy was picking at his bacon roll. ‘You gonna eat that?’ he asked.
‘Take it,’ Andy said, sounding like he had the weight of the whole world on his shoulders.
‘You OK?’ James asked.
Andy gave a nod, but Rat explained. ‘He’s been like this ever since Bethany came back from her mission with Bruce and dumped him. I think she’s at it with Bruce as well - I walked past Bethany’s room and you could hear them. We were talking about putting a surveillance camera in their room and posting the result on YouTube.’
James laughed at this thought as he bit a chunk out of Andy’s bacon roll. But as much as he hated Bethany, Bruce was still one of his best friends. ‘You’re not serious though, are you? I mean, they’d both get expelled.’
‘Of course I’m not serious,’ Rat laughed. ‘Imagine if Bruce found out. Your life expectancy would be about four-point-seven milliseconds.’
*
James was determined to try and stop CHERUB getting involved with Tan Abdullah, even if it meant pissing off Lauren. The mission control building was one of the newest on campus, but the hi-tech steel and glass roof had also sprouted leaks over the winter, leaving stains and mildew patches on walls and a smell like a musty cellar clinging to the air.
Senior mission controller Ewart Asker looked frazzled as James stepped through the door of his office. He had paperwork mounded on his desk and was crawling around the back of his computer, jiggling a lead.
‘Nothing works,’ Ewart complained violently as he stood up. ‘What can I do for you, James?’
James looked up at a metal column streaked with rust. ‘They still haven’t fixed this place up?’ he asked.
‘Nightmare,’ Ewart explained. He slumped in his chair. ‘There are several companies that can fix this type of roof, but do you know how many of them have the security clearance required to work on CHERUB campus?’
‘None,’ James guessed.
‘Got it in one.’
‘What about the company that built the building?’ James asked.
‘Bankrupt,’ Ewart said. ‘And on top of that, my fellow senior mission controller, Dennis King, is in hospital having his prostate removed, my sodding computer isn’t working and I’ve been waiting for an IT engineer for thirty-five minutes.’
James thought about saying it wasn’t important and coming back later, but decided to start speaking. ‘This mission that you’ve set up for me,’ James said. ‘I looked up Tan Abdullah. He’s a scumbag, to put it mildly.’
‘You mean the arrests last summer?’ Ewart asked.
‘Arrests?’ James asked.
‘Opposition politicians, arrested by the army on terrorist charges? Isn’t that what you’re talking about?’
‘I only saw about tossing villagers out of their homes on Langkawi island,’ James said.
Ewart shrugged. ‘I hadn’t heard that one. But Tan Abdullah is a nasty little crook, no doubt about it.’
‘So why are we helping him?’ James demanded.
Ewart shrugged again. ‘Abdullah is coming to Britain to ink a five-billion-pound defence deal, for everything from sidearms to trainer jets to gas turbines for new Malaysian frigates.’
James sounded a little cross. ‘So we turn a blind eye to torture and violence, as long as there’s a bit of money coming our way?’
‘Oh, come off your high horse James,’ Ewart said, sounding slightly irritated. ‘You’ve been on too many missions to be that naive. Not many people get into high ranking positions in politics, business or most other fields without being ruthless. I’m not proud of the fact that we welcome someone like Tan Abdullah into our country, but if we didn’t pocket the five billion the Americans, French or Russians would.’
James appreciated Ewart’s argument, but still didn’t want to take part in the mission out of loyalty to Kyle.
‘I’d just rather not be involved in this one,’ James said.
James didn’t mention Kyle as a reason because he was no longer an active CHERUB agent and discussing the mission with hi
m was a serious breach of the rules.
Ewart looked put out and sighed. ‘Will I be getting a visit from Lauren too?’
‘No, she’s fine with it,’ James admitted. ‘She wants to go shopping with a billionaire’s wife. And I didn’t even speak to Kevin about it. He’s a sweet kid. I didn’t want to make his life complicated.’
‘OK,’ Ewart said, putting his hands together and nodding. ‘You’re off the mission, no problem. We can get away with two kids anyway.’
‘Oh,’ James said, disappointed that his moral stand had apparently made no difference whatsoever.
‘So am I right in thinking that your academic programmes have all finished?’ Ewart asked.
James nodded. ‘I’ll restart training in the dojo and lifting some weights once my legs have healed, but I think I’ve written my last essay on campus, thank god.’
‘I’m a bit short-handed and getting rather stressed out, as you might have noticed,’ Ewart said. ‘Is there any chance you’d be able to give us a hand over here for two or three hours a day?’
James wasn’t hugely keen on the idea, but he could see that Ewart was desperate and having experience working in mission control would put him at an advantage if he ever wanted to come back to campus for a summer job.
‘Why not?’ James said. ‘It might even be interesting to see how missions work from this end.’
27. EARLY
One week later
It was half-four in the morning and James’ mobile was blasting the theme tune from The Godfather. Kerry’s room was dark and James had been sleeping alongside her with his face almost touching the back of her neck. They rarely shared a bed because Kerry was a fidget and James hogged the duvet, but they’d snuggled up after watching a movie and fallen asleep.
James backed hurriedly out of bed. Kerry’s DVD player had gone into screensaver mode and the blue Sony logo drifting across the screen produced enough light for James to see his jeans strewn across the floor.
‘Who rings at this time?’ Kerry moaned, as she propped herself on her elbows and gave a long yawn.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ James said, but as he rolled over and reached to grab his mobile out of his jeans a plastic dish of corn chip crumbs and half eaten dips plummeted off the bed. ‘Balls!’
‘Aww, you tit!’ Kerry moaned.
As Kerry flipped on a bedside lamp and dived across her bed to rescue the carpet from salsa and guacamole, James slid his Nokia open.
‘Kyle, mate,’ James said quietly.
‘This is your early-morning alarm call!’ Kyle said cheerfully. ‘You fit? You ready to help us kick Tan Abdullah’s arse? You’re not gonna roll over and fall back to sleep?’
‘I’m good. But I fell asleep in Kerry’s room. I’ll call when I get to the car and let you know everything’s on track.’
‘Sweet,’ Kyle said. ‘Talk later.’
James ended the call and started stepping into his jeans, as Kerry squatted on her carpet using the clear plastic lid of the nacho tray to scoop green guck off her carpet.
‘Sorry about that,’ James said. ‘Phone startled me. I had no idea there was food lying on the bed.’
‘Accidents happen. What did Kyle want at this ungodly hour?’
This was an awkward moment. James had told Kerry and everyone else on campus that he was going to visit a couple of UK universities, to check them out in case he didn’t like Stanford when he flew to California a week later. He’d planned to be gone before everyone woke up and Kyle’s alarm call would have caused no problems if he’d been in his own bed.
‘I told you I was meeting up with him, didn’t I?’
Kerry looked up at James suspiciously. ‘No you didn’t. And Kyle lives in Cambridge, so why is he going to meet you at Birmingham University?’
‘I’ve gotta dash,’ James said weakly. ‘I asked Kyle to come along. He’s at university, so I thought he could help me out. Pass an expert eye over things, you know?’
Kerry shook her head in disbelief. ‘James, it’s half-four in the bloody morning. Birmingham isn’t that far away.’
‘Rush-hour traffic though,’ James explained. ‘Want to get an early start.’
Kerry sprung up from her crouching position and faced James off. ‘I don’t like being lied to,’ she said stiffly.
Kerry was only wearing a pair of tartan pyjama bottoms and James looked down at her chest and gave a smile. ‘You really turn me on when you’re angry.’
Kerry grabbed a fold of flesh around James’ stomach and gave it a hard twist. ‘Don’t try and talk me around,’ she warned, as James’ face contorted with pain. ‘Now speak.’
‘Owww,’ James protested. Kerry twisted harder. ‘Your nails are like razors! OK, I’ve got this thing that’s to do with Kyle and the babysitting mission that I pulled out of. I didn’t mention it to you because I didn’t want you to worry and I can’t live with that pissy look you give me when you don’t approve of something I’m doing.’
‘What pissy look?’ Kerry asked.
‘The one you’re giving me right now,’ James smiled. ‘Kerry, you’re beautiful, sexy and I love you, but you have to trust me. I’ll explain everything when I get home. Now will you please stop clawing me.’
Kerry pulled her nails out of James’ stomach and gave him a little two-handed push. ‘You’d better have a good explanation when you get back,’ she said. ‘And the next time you pull the wool over my eyes it won’t be your belly that gets twisted hard.’
James grabbed his polo shirt and a denim jacket off Kerry’s sofa, then gave her a quick kiss. ‘You’ll understand, I promise.’
The lights in the hallway were dimmed at night as part of a campus-wide scheme to save water and energy. James pulled his shirt over his head as he strode through the gloom and entered his room. He opened the drawer in his desk and pulled out a Micro SD memory card in a clear plastic case.
After sliding his bare feet into the nearest pair of trainers, James grabbed a mud-stiffened gym sock from his laundry basket, then hurried back out into the corridor and raced stealthily up four flights of stairs to Lauren’s room on the eighth floor.
There was no way for James to ensure that Lauren was asleep when he entered her room. If she wasn’t he’d pretend that he was planning a prank by sticking the crusty sock over her face while she slept.
But he needn’t have worried. Lauren hadn’t locked her door and her snore sent James down memory lane: he hadn’t shared a room with his sister for years, but she was making the exact whistling sound that she’d made since she was about three years old.
Because James was leaving CHERUB soon he hadn’t been upgraded to the latest handset, but Lauren’s state-of-the-art smart phone stood in a charging dock on her desk. The handset bleeped as he picked up, but luckily not loud enough to disturb Lauren.
James slid the Micro SD card out of the plastic case and slotted it into the side of Lauren’s phone. He then slid the handset open, and shuddered as he saw that Lauren had set her wallpaper to a picture of herself and Bethany draped in tinsel and poking their tongues out at a Christmas party.
The memory card contained a small hacking program designed by the intelligence service. It used the smart phone’s built-in GPS receiver, logging the exact coordinates of the handset and sending them as a text message at regular intervals without the phone’s owner knowing anything about it.
The software took an agonising minute and a half to install, before presenting James with a list of options. He set the interval at which Lauren’s phone would send the text message containing its location to five minutes, then had to enter the number to which the regular text messages would be sent. Rather than risk his own phone being tracked, James had borrowed a battered handset from the campus storeroom.
As James typed in the number, Lauren missed a snore. He backed up towards the window and stood like a statue as Lauren’s duvet shifted in the dark. Her arm moved out from under her duvet and she rubbed the back of her hand against her
forehead, as if she had some kind of itch. But she settled without fully waking up, and James was relieved as the familiar snore whistled through the darkness again.
He finished entering the number, and selected OK. All trace of the hack program disappeared and the screen went back to the picture of Lauren and Bethany with their tongues out. The phone made a final bleep as James replaced it in the charging dock. He then crept out of the room.
James now had an hour to spare. He’d only asked Kyle to call at four-thirty because Lauren was most likely to be asleep at this time, but he did want to leave campus before lots of people got up and started asking questions about his business and in particular before there was a member of staff on the front desk keeping an eye on anyone checking out the pool cars.
The dining-room downstairs wouldn’t open until six, but there was a storeroom on the sixth floor opposite the handler’s office which contained hot and cold drinks machines, dry snacks like fruit and chocolate bars, as well as a fridge with sandwiches and microwave meals so that cherubs could feed themselves when they had to leave early, or arrived home from a mission at two in the morning.
James put a pod into the coffee machine and smiled as he noticed a hand drawn sign that had been stuck on the wall above the chocolate bars: Eat Healthy! A chocolate bar and a can of fizz contain up to six hundred calories. That’s more than an average thirteen-year-old burns in two hours running on a treadmill. For a healthier alternative, try carrot sticks dipped in cottage cheese or a low fat sandwich filling!
He opened the fridge and was pleased to see a fresh supply of microwavable pancakes, which he could zap in his room. He put the pancakes on a plastic tray, then grabbed three small oranges and two sachets of Nutella, plus cutlery and a plate. As he turned around to take his coffee, Bruce Norris strolled in, dressed in shorts and trainers, with damp T-shirt and a whiff of sweat about him.
James did a double-take. ‘Have you been out running?’
‘Couldn’t bloody sleep,’ Bruce explained breathlessly. ‘Tossing and turning, walls closing in on me. Thought I’d run a few Ks and try to knacker myself.’
CHERUB: Shadow Wave Page 17
