The Recruit

by Robert Muchamore

  ‘That was excellent,’ James said. ‘So fast. Where did you get them?’

  ‘Fire and World made them when they were teenagers.’ Clark said. ‘Only thing is they’re always going wrong and Fire never wants to fix them for us. He’s got about six more cars in his workshop.’

  ‘Can I see them?’

  ‘Won’t let us in there any more.’

  The workshop sounded interesting, but James didn’t want to seem pushy about finding more out.

  ‘What do they do there?’ he asked.

  ‘Dunno,’ Sebastian said. ‘Trying to take over the universe knowing those two.’

  ‘Anyway, I heard you got battered at school today,’ Clark said.

  ‘Yeah,’ James said.

  ‘Didn’t grass, did you?’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Me and Sebastian used to get beaten up all the time because we’re from Fort Harmony. It’s not so bad now, we’re two of the biggest in our school.’

  ‘We’re the kings,’ Sebastian said. ‘There’s a guy in my class so scared of us we click our fingers and he licks our trainers. Don’t have to hit him or nothing.’

  ‘You start at Gwen Morgan in September?’ James asked.

  ‘Both of us do,’ Clark said. ‘There’s only a ten-month age gap between us.’

  ‘At least you can back each other up.’

  ‘We’ve been suspended for fighting three times,’ Clark said. ‘Next time we get expelled, but I’d rather be expelled than let people dump on us.’

  ‘What do your mum and dad say?’

  ‘Never met our dad. Our mum knows the score. All the boys who live at Fort Harmony get bullied by the normal kids.’

  ‘What did you think of us at first?’ Sebastian asked.

  James laughed. ‘Not much. You weren’t exactly friendly.’

  ‘If you got treated like you were today, every single day since you were five years old, you wouldn’t be friendly either.’

  ‘What should I do?’ James asked.

  ‘You were right not to grass,’ Clark said ‘If you’re a snitch the whole school will be against you. Never give in. Never grovel or beg, it only encourages them. For a tough kid like you, Ross, best thing to do is get one of the leaders on his own and massacre him.’

  ‘They’ll kill me if I do that,’ James said.

  ‘There’s a big choice of targets,’ Clark said. ‘A gang will think twice before picking on a kid who can get them back when they’re on their own.’

  ‘I don’t want to get in trouble,’ James said. ‘I got expelled from my last school.’

  Sebastian laughed. ‘Better get used to having someone standing on your nuts then.’

  *

  After eating in the main hut James lay on his bed again. Amy was furious when she got out of work and saw the state he was in.

  ‘I’ll go down that school and kick their butts myself,’ Amy screamed. ‘Nobody does that to my baby brother.’

  ‘I can handle it,’ James said.

  ‘You can’t handle it. Why didn’t you tell the school who did it?’

  ‘I’m not a grass,’ James said. ‘Grasses are lower than kids who wet their pants.’

  ‘I think you should go to a hospital, you might have concussion,’ Amy said.

  ‘I can’t have concussion, I didn’t get kicked in the head,’ James lied. ‘Can we talk about something more important?’

  ‘What’s more important than you coming home looking like a bus ran over you?’

  ‘Have you seen Fire and World’s workshop?’ James asked.

  ‘I’ve seen their hut. You certainly couldn’t call it a workshop.’

  ‘Sebastian said they’ve got a workshop. Him and Clark aren’t allowed in it any more. Sounds like the sort of place we should be checking out.’

  ‘Did you ask where it was?’

  ‘No, I’ll try and find out.’

  ‘I’ll see if I can wangle something out of Scargill,’ Amy said. ‘I bet it’s one of those huts that looks like it’s been abandoned.’

  *

  James sat in the Land Cruiser and phoned his daily report to Ewart. He left out how much of a crush he had on Joanna.

  ‘Does it matter if I get in trouble at school?’ James asked.

  ‘Like how?’ Ewart asked.

  ‘If I get suspended. I figured it might even be good for the mission because I’d get to spend more time snooping around here.’

  Ewart laughed. ‘And by lucky coincidence you get out of school for a few days.’

  ‘That hadn’t even crossed my mind,’ James said, but gave himself away by laughing.

  ‘I suppose it wouldn’t be much of a problem. But you’re not above the law just because you’re on a mission, so don’t go burning down the school or anything.’

  *

  7 a.m. Tuesday, James’ travel alarm went off for school. He turned it off and pulled the covers over his head.

  ‘You’ll miss the bus if you don’t get a move on,’ Amy said.

  ‘Not going,’ James said. ‘My back’s stiff. I can hardly move.’

  ‘You were shooting stuff with Sebastian and Clark until nearly midnight. You seemed all right then.’

  ‘Must have tightened up in the night,’ James said.

  Amy laughed. ‘Pull the other one. It’s got bells on.’

  James lay in until ten, deliberately staying under the covers until after Amy got up for work. Cathy was in a good mood. She sent James out to collect eggs from the chicken coop and made omelettes with mushrooms and bacon.

  James read the first few chapters of No Logo, in case Bungle asked him any questions about it, then went for a walk. Joshua Dunn was in the main hut preparing a mountain of vegetables. Gladys Dunn was there as well, reading the morning paper.

  ‘Can I look at the sports?’ James asked.

  She handed him the paper.

  ‘Rough time at school, I hear,’ Gladys said.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Not a good place for young boys here,’ Gladys said. ‘All my grandsons are a funny lot. Get bullied at school. Take it out on the local wildlife or hide inside books.’

  James smiled. ‘They’re not so bad.’

  ‘You’ve brought it home to me, Ross. One day and you’re beaten up. You don’t even look or dress like the other kids here. Boys are so cruel.’

  ‘What can you do?’ James asked.

  ‘We had a school here once. Parents took it in turns to teach the kids. All turned into squabbling about who taught the lessons.’

  ‘Everyone here has been really nice to me,’ James said. ‘But I don’t understand why people want to live here.’

  Gladys wagged her finger, ‘You put your finger on a question I’ve been asking myself lately. At first Fort Harmony was about freedom and some young people having fun. When the police tried to destroy us, we sent out a signal that a bunch of nobodies could stand up against the government and win. But what are we now? A trendy campsite for backpackers. Half the people who live here clean and cook for rich businessmen in that bloody conference centre.’

  James was a bit stunned. ‘So why stay?’

  ‘Can you keep a secret, Ross?’ Gladys asked.

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘My second book comes out in September. It should earn me enough to buy a house somewhere warm. I’ll take Joshua. The others can fight over Fort Harmony.’

  ‘I read your first book,’ James said. ‘It was interesting.’

  Gladys looked surprised. ‘I didn’t have you pegged for a bookworm, Ross.’

  James kicked himself for revealing that he’d read the book. Twenty-year-old memoirs of life on a commune aren’t exactly standard reading for twelve-year-old boys.

  ‘Cathy had a copy,’ James stuttered, wondering if she actually did. ‘And there’s no TV here.’

  ‘Thank goodness,’ Gladys smiled.

  ‘I liked the bit where you were all hiding from police in the tunnels and you were trying to keep the kids quiet. M
ust have been scary.’

  ‘I should never have taken my boys underground. Joshua was the brightest one, now he’s happy spending four hours a day peeling vegetables.’

  ‘I suppose the tunnels are all gone,’ James said.

  ‘There’s bits and pieces left. I wouldn’t try playing in them, Ross, not very safe.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I wouldn’t go into them. It’s just that I’ve not seen any sign of them.’

  ‘That’s because the camp has moved. We started off at the bottom of the hill down by the road. The main hut was under a metre of water sometimes, so we moved up here where the water drains away.’

  *

  James stuck his head round the door of Bungle’s hut. He was sitting around drinking coffee with Fire, World and Scargill. Gregory was racing Matchbox cars over his parents’ bed.

  ‘I just came to say hello,’ James said. ‘I’ll go away if you’re busy.’

  Bungle laughed. ‘You’re too polite, Ross. Sit down, you want coffee or tea?’

  ‘Tea,’ James said.

  James sat on the floor. He assumed Bungle and the Dunns would be having some deep political conversation, but they were debating who was sexier out of Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez. Gregory got a picture book and sat on James’ leg.

  ‘Trains,’ Gregory said.

  James opened the book on Gregory’s lap. Gregory told him what colour all the trains in the book were and James pretended to be impressed. Bungle passed out jam rings and Gregory thought it was great dipping his biscuit in James’ mug, especially when the end dropped off into the tea.

  ‘I’m taking these guys into town and picking Eleanor up from the village,’ Bungle said. ‘Can you keep an eye on Gregory for an hour?’

  ‘No worries,’ James said.

  ‘If you have any probs there’s a mobile phone on the table, and there are plenty of adults around. I’m on the speed dial.’

  James was well pleased. Now he could get photos of Bungle’s hut and have a rummage around. It made his decision not to go to school look like a masterstroke.

  35. PAST

  James left Fort Harmony after lunch. He ran a couple of kilometres, checked nobody was around, and waited for Ewart. Ewart drove up in a BMW. He’d taken all his earrings out and was dressed like a businessman in a pinstriped suit and tie.

  ‘Nice threads,’ James laughed.

  ‘Got to blend in at Green Brooke.’

  Ewart drove a few kilometres and parked in a farm access road.

  ‘So, what did you get?’ Ewart asked.

  James handed over the memory card from his digital camera and some screwed-up pieces of notepaper.

  ‘Plenty of pictures there,’ James said. ‘Everything in Bungle’s room, on the bookshelves, close-ups of stuff like his address book. I’ve written a list of all the numbers stored in his mobile, plus there’s his bank account and passport details.’

  ‘Good job, James. Look at this.’

  Ewart handed James a folder with an FBI crest on the front. James opened it and saw a black and white picture of Bungle, looking about ten years younger with long hair.

  ‘That’s him,’ James said.

  James flipped to the next page. It was a standard FBI record. James had seen a few when he was preparing for the mission. Bungle’s rap sheet only had three typed lines.

  Student at Stamford, MA. Room-mate of known felon Jake Gladwell.

  Questioned. Released. 6.18.1994

  Traffic violation Austin TX 12.23.1998

  ‘Not very exciting,’ James said.

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ Ewart said. ‘Then I had a little look into Jake Gladwell. He’s doing eighty years in San Antonio prison, Texas.’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘Trying to blow up the governor at a charity fundraiser. The bomb was found before the event and defused. Police caught Gladwell on the night of the fundraiser. He was outside the hotel with a radio control under his jacket. Know what the former governor of Texas is up to these days?’

  ‘What?’ James asked.

  ‘George Walker Bush. President. And you know what else? There were eight big cheeses from the Texas oil industry sitting around Bushy when that bomb was supposed to go off.’

  ‘Bungle was hanging around with Fire and World today,’ James said.

  ‘I found the connection between Fire, World and Bungle. Fire and World did two years at York University before they went to prison. York has a teacher exchange program with Stamford University in America. Bungle was a guest professor at York. He taught Fire and World microbiology for two terms before he quit his job and moved to Fort Harmony.’

  ‘So we’re sure they’re part of Help Earth?’ James asked.

  ‘We can’t prove squat. We always thought Bungle, Fire and World were involved. Now we’ve found out Bungle’s background I’d bet my life savings, but there’s still no hard evidence. All we can do is keep working and hope you or Amy get a lead before a bomb goes off.’

  Ewart reached around to the back seat and handed James a small box of fancy chocolates.

  ‘Give them to Joanna, they’re her favourites.’

  James was freaked out.

  ‘What are you on about? I only went round to her house for a bath.’

  Ewart laughed. ‘That’s not what I heard. What about all the smoochies?’

  ‘Are you having me watched?’ James asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘So how do you know we kissed?’

  ‘M15 is monitoring all the Internet use around here. They send me a briefing if anything interesting crops up. About eight o’clock last night Joanna logged into a chatroom. Spoke about a new boyfriend called Ross. Says he’s a total hunk. Got really cute blond hair. Can’t wait to see him at the bus stop in the morning.’

  ‘I wish I’d gone to school now,’ James said. ‘What about the chocolates?’

  ‘I hacked her user profile on the website. She likes Thornton’s handmade chocolates, rock music, blond-haired boys and her ambition is to ride a Harley Davidson across America.’

  ‘Can you drop me near the village so I can give them to her when she gets off the bus?’

  *

  Joanna hugged him when he gave her the chocolates. They went back to the cottage, drank cocoa, slagged off all the bands on MTV Hits and chased around tickling and throwing sofa cushions at each other. James stayed until her dad got in from work, then sneaked out the back door and walked to Fort Harmony with an ear-to-ear grin.

  James was starting to understand all those terrible romantic films his mum used to watch where the leading man ends up in a state over some woman. He lay awake half the night thinking about Joanna. He realised when the mission ended he’d have to go back to CHERUB and never see her again.

  He got up extra early and waited for her at the bus stop.

  *

  Everyone looked at James when he got to class. Stuart and Gareth dropped snide comments all morning.

  ‘After school it’s round two,’ Stuart said, as James stood in the line to get lunch.

  The last thing James wanted was to miss the bus and lose time with Joanna.

  ‘What about right here, right now?’ James said. ‘Without all your pals backing you up?’

  ‘If you want to start it, hippy boy, we’ll finish it.’

  The kids standing around them in the queue were excited about a punch-up. Normally James wouldn’t start a fight where everyone could see, but he was trying to get suspended so it didn’t matter. James waited while the queue shuffled forward.

  ‘Chickened out, did you?’ Gareth asked.

  James flicked Gareth off. He was waiting until they were level with the baked beans. When they got there, he hit Gareth in the stomach, grabbed him behind the neck and dipped his face in the beans. Gareth screamed, hot orange sauce burning his face. Stuart whacked James over the head with his lunch tray. James doubled Stuart up with an elbow and followed with some punches that took him down. Gareth was blind, screaming, and wip
ing his face with his sweatshirt. James battered Stuart until he got dragged off by a couple of teachers. Two hundred sets of eyes were on James as the teachers dragged him off, kicking and shouting.

  *

  Joanna thought James getting suspended was superb. James was lying face down on her bed after a bath. Joanna rubbed his wet hair with a towel.

  ‘You’re so bad,’ Joanna purred. ‘And you don’t even care.’

  She threw the towel on the floor and kissed the back of James’ neck.

  ‘We’ll run away to Scotland and get married when we’re sixteen,’ Joanna said. ‘Then we’ll go all over the country robbing banks. We’ll live big with all the money we steal. Flash restaurants, big sports cars.’

  ‘You’ve put a lot of thought into this,’ James said, grinning. ‘I’ve only known you for a week.’

  ‘Then you’ll get shot by the police in a robbery.’

  ‘You’re so full of shit.’ James giggled.

  ‘Don’t worry, Ross. You’ll recover, but you’ll have to do five hard years in prison. You’ll kiss my photo every day. I’ll go to America and ride a Harley Davidson across the country. When you get out, you’ll be all beefy from lifting weights, and have tattoos all over you. When the prison gates open I’ll be waiting on my Harley. We’ll kiss. You’ll climb on the back and we’ll ride off into the sunset.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about getting shot and going to prison,’ James said. ‘Why can’t you get shot and I’ll ride the Harley across America?’

  ‘You want me to be all muscled and covered with tattoos?’ Joanna asked.

  James rolled over and kissed Joanna on the cheek.

  36. MESS

  ‘Ring Ewart,’ Amy said when James got back to the hut. ‘He’s pissed at you.’

  James went out to the Land Cruiser and made the call.

  ‘Hello James, nice time with your girlfriend?’ Ewart asked bitterly.

  ‘What did I do?’ James asked.

  ‘Your headmistress blew her stack over your antics in the canteen. She rang one of your supposed old schools; luckily she got the number from the fake file and the call went through to CHERUB, but if she’d got the school’s real number and they told her they’d never heard of you it would have made a right mess.’