People's Republic

  Nobody else knew Ning’s background, but a dozen kids jumped up when they realised Max was in trouble. For the first ten seconds of the bout, Max gritted his teeth and used all of his strength, but Ning’s arm stayed upright, like it was bedded in concrete.

  Max was turning bright red and grunting like a pig, while Ning smiled sweetly and didn’t even break a sweat.

  ‘You’re getting caned, Max!’ Chloe shouted. ‘Come on, thingy whatever your name is.’

  ‘Ning,’ Ryan said.

  ‘Well, I’m getting bored now,’ Ning said casually.

  She cheekily raised one eyebrow, took a breath and started to push. Max made a superhuman effort to resist, but within three seconds Ning had his hand pinned to the table. The crowd erupted and, as Max was always a bighead, everyone took great joy rubbing it in.

  ‘Crushed by a girl,’ Grace said happily. ‘How old are you, Ning?’

  ‘An orange-shirt girl wiped you out, bitch!’ Chloe added.

  Ryan was killing himself laughing, and to Max’s credit, he took defeat with good humour.

  ‘Well, you’ve got to let the little lady win, haven’t you?’ Max said jokingly. ‘Make her feel welcome and all.’

  ‘I’d be happy to make it best of three,’ Ning said.

  Max glanced at his watch. ‘Oooh, is that the time? I’d love to but I’ve got to go and see a man about a dog.’

  Ryan took a couple of steps back and enjoyed Ning being the centre of attention until an impatient-looking chef holding up two plates of steak caught his eye. ‘Sharma!’ he shouted. ‘Stop chatting up the girls and come get your dinner.’

  42. BREATHE

  Ning was given a room at the far end of the sixth floor. Like all rooms on campus, it had been decorated and refurbished when its previous occupier left CHERUB. It wasn’t as plush as some of the swanky hotels Ning had stayed in with her father, but it was a palace compared to Kirkcaldy IDC.

  The tiles and fittings in the bathroom were all new. Ning spent an hour with bubble bath up to her shoulders and cocoa butter conditioner nourishing her hair.

  Since leaving China she’d rotated two pairs of jeans, three T-shirts and three sets of underwear. As well as making up the bed and leaving fresh towels and toiletries, the person who’d prepared the room had left new socks and underwear, along with a swimming costume and a spare CHERUB uniform.

  Kids raced by outside as Ning sat on her bed combing her hair. Their easy banter reminded her that she didn’t belong here yet. The prospect of British foster-parents was better than what she’d faced when she’d woken that morning, but CHERUB campus felt like the thing she’d been longing for her entire life: somewhere you could make a difference now, not just after hundreds of exams and years of boring school.

  There was a quiet knock, followed by Amy’s head peeking cautiously around the doorframe.

  ‘Come in,’ Ning said.

  ‘I thought you might be asleep,’ Amy explained as she stepped into the room. ‘I wanted to catch up earlier, but I’ve been reading briefing documents over in mission control and I lost track of time.’

  ‘Ryan said I should try to sleep because of the tests tomorrow,’ Ning said. ‘But my brain’s shooting off fireworks after all that’s happened today.’

  ‘How was Ryan?’

  Ning smiled. ‘He’s really nice. His friends were too, and campus looks amazing.’

  ‘I printed this off properly and had it laminated,’ Amy said, as she passed Ning a copy of the photo of Ingrid in her army uniform.

  Ning reached down into the backpack alongside her bed and pulled out her yellow box. ‘I’ll put it in here,’ she said.

  Amy smiled as she sat on Ning’s bed. ‘Have you had the box for long?’

  Ning looked a touch embarrassed. ‘I know it’s naff, but I’ve had it longer than anything else. I use it to keep medals, nick-nacks, random junk.’

  ‘It’s not naff,’ Amy said. ‘It’s good that you’ve kept hold of a few things, even after all you’ve been through. I think CHERUB can sort you out a new backpack though. That one looks like it’s seen some action.’

  ‘Hasn’t been the same since it spent three hours in a bin at the back of a Kyrgyz nightclub,’ Ning said. ‘Zip’s busted as well.’

  ‘I’ve been working on questions for your debriefing on the Aramov Clan,’ Amy said. ‘It’s going to take a long while, but it can wait until after the weekend. However, I was intrigued by how little information you had about the sandwich factory and the house you stayed at.’

  Ning looked uneasy. ‘The police asked over and over. They thought I was hiding something, but I told them everything I remembered.’

  ‘I’m not accusing you of lying,’ Amy said. ‘But the human brain often blocks out the memory of stressful or distressing events. It’s a kind of coping mechanism. My boss at TFU has taught me a relaxation technique that might help jog your memory.’

  ‘I don’t mean to be awkward, but I am knackered,’ Ning said.

  ‘The technique actually works better when a subject is drowsy,’ Amy said. ‘If we can find the sandwich factory and the house where you stayed, it could open up a whole new front in the battle against people smuggling.’

  ‘How?’ Ning asked.

  ‘Police surveillance teams, most likely. They’d start off watching the factory. Track the vans bringing the women to and fro and find out where all the houses are. Hopefully they’ll pick up on the people who deliver new workers.’

  ‘One of the cops who interviewed me said I’d given them a few other leads.’

  ‘Oh yes, lots,’ Amy said. ‘For instance, we could try tracing the warehouse you were taken to when you first arrived in Britain, staking out the truck stop in the Czech Republic, finding Chun Hei, or tracking down female Bangladeshi driving instructors working in south-west London. But I really want to find the factory and the house where you stayed, because if we find Leo we should be able to track down Ben.’

  ‘Why’s he so important?’ Ning asked.

  ‘Ben is clearly a boss,’ Amy said. ‘He knows what was done with the bodies of the two dead girls and was clearly planning for you to be exploited sexually if you hadn’t managed to escape when you did. Chances are, if we track Ben down we’ll find other girls who weren’t so lucky.’

  ‘Makes sense,’ Ning said, chilled by the reminder of how much danger she’d been in. ‘Let’s give it a go.’

  ‘It should be easier to identify a factory than a house,’ Amy explained. ‘So that’s where I’d like to take you first.’

  ‘Is it like hypnosis?’ Ning asked.

  Amy nodded. ‘Some people are more susceptible to hypnotic states than others. This is a bit of a long shot, but I’d really like to try.’

  ‘OK,’ Amy said, as she adopted a softer tone and slower speech. ‘Lie back on the bed and find a position in which you’re comfortable. Then I want you to focus your eyes on a single spot on the ceiling.’

  Ning plumped her pillows, then lay back as Amy turned out the room’s main light, leaving the dim glow from a desk lamp.

  ‘Stare at the spot,’ Amy said. ‘Focus on your breathing. Don’t think about anything except the rhythm of your breathing. In and out, in and out.’

  Amy let Ning breathe for a few seconds before continuing.

  ‘Now I want you to relax your fingers and your toes. Feel the relaxation coming up your body. Your stomach is relaxed. And your shoulders. Now all the muscles in your face are very, very relaxed. Your eyes are getting heavier and you’re focused on your breathing. In and out, in and out.

  ‘Now your eyes are closing. When I snap my fingers, you’re going to close your eyes and focus on my voice. You’re going to be arriving at the sandwich factory for the first time. Remember everything around you. Remember what you’re wearing and how you feel. Your eyes are getting heavier and now I want you to completely close your eyes.’

  As Ning’s eyes closed, Amy set a small digital voice recorder running and then snapped her
fingers.

  ‘You stepped out of the van,’ Amy said. ‘Tell me the first thing that comes into your head.’

  ‘I’m sucking a boiled sweet,’ Ning said. ‘One of the ladies in the van handed them out. It doesn’t taste nice, but I can’t spit it out without upsetting her and I don’t want to crunch it because Ingrid says that can break your teeth.’

  ‘Good,’ Amy said gently. ‘Focus on the taste of the sweet. As you do, look up at the building and tell me what it looks like.’

  ‘It’s dark,’ Ning said. ‘Two storeys. Bricks, covered in black dirt. The windows downstairs are boarded. There’s no light at the windows upstairs, and some of the glass is broken. There’s a fan running.’

  ‘And who is with you?’

  ‘There’s a lady with a clipboard. Mei is next to me, and the lady with the sweets, and a couple of others.’

  ‘Tell me where you go next.’

  ‘The door is grey. There’s a space, like a rectangle for a sign, but it’s been unscrewed. Inside my backpack scrapes along the wall, because it’s narrow. There are brown trays that we put the sandwiches in. All stacked up.’

  ‘Are there any markings or names on the trays?’

  ‘No, they’re plain.’

  ‘You’re inside with Mei and the others,’ Amy said. ‘What happens now?’

  ‘Roger is there. He’s big. Ginger beard. He argues with clipboard lady because he expected twelve of us. Mei and the others go inside to the cloakroom to put on overalls and masks, but I have to go upstairs to see the boss.’

  ‘Feel yourself walking up the stairs,’ Amy said. ‘What’s around you?’

  ‘Upstairs is dusty,’ Ning said. ‘Old sewing machines and it smells oily. There’s a big roof outside with lots of pigeons, but it’s too dark to see. You can just hear them warbling. The lady is in front of me and the boss makes us wait outside his office.’

  ‘Is there a sign on the office door?’ Amy asked.

  ‘Can’t see. The door is open.’

  ‘What’s the boss doing inside? Is he making any kind of noise.’

  ‘I don’t think so. But it feels like clipboard lady thinks he’s toying with her. Wasting her time.’

  ‘What else is around you?’

  ‘A photocopier and water bottles. And there’s a desk. For a secretary or something.’

  ‘Does the boss call you into the office?’

  ‘Yes. I’ve been in the dark and the office is really light, so my eyes hurt.’

  ‘Does the boss have a name?’

  ‘Clipboard lady calls him Mister or Sir. He reminds me of my stepfather, but younger. It looks like he’s wearing golf trousers. And there’s a big globe resting on a glass shelf.’

  ‘Is there anything else on the shelves?’

  ‘Files, but there’s a picture of two boys on the wall above.’

  ‘Tell me about the boys.’

  ‘They’re the boss’s sons.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘They look like little versions of him. One is maybe a year older than the other. The younger one has dirt on his cheek.’

  ‘Dirt?’ Amy said curiously. ‘Is it a school photo? Are they in uniform?’

  ‘They’re both quite muddy,’ Ning said. ‘They’re wearing football kit.’

  ‘Can you see the colours?’

  ‘Orange and maroon striped socks. Maroon shorts and orange shirt.’

  ‘Good,’ Amy said. ‘Is there anything else in the picture?’

  ‘I can’t think,’ Ning said, raising her voice.

  Amy realised she’d raised her own voice, and that Ning had responded. ‘You don’t need to think about anything because you’re in the room,’ Amy said. ‘The boss is there. You can see the picture. With the two boys in their muddy kit.’

  ‘The younger one is holding a little silver cup,’ Ning said. ‘And there’s a sponsor’s logo on their shirts.’

  The sponsor’s name might be crucial, but Amy kept her voice calm. ‘What does the logo look like?’

  ‘It’s a square man. Cartoon, with a smile.’

  ‘Is there writing on it.’

  ‘I’m too far away,’ Ning said. ‘There is writing but I can’t read it.’

  ‘OK,’ Amy said. ‘And what else do you see. Is there anything else? On the boss’s desk, perhaps?’

  ‘Pen pot, laptop, Sellotape dispenser.’

  ‘No more photographs? Nothing you can read?’

  ‘2011, on the front of his diary. He has a blotter with a map of the world.’

  ‘OK,’ Amy said. ‘And what are the boss and the lady saying?’

  ‘He’s stressed. Ranting about the supermarket. And not having enough staff. He never looks at me.’

  ‘Does he have a name for the supermarket?’

  ‘They never said,’ Ning said, speaking louder as she opened her eyes and rolled over to face Amy. ‘It was always a big secret.’

  A more experienced hypnotist might have kept Ning in her trance state for longer. Amy had violated one of the rules that Dr D had taught her: you must lead the subject gently through a trance with hints and suggestions. Asking direct questions such as Did the boss ever give a name for the supermarket? pulls the subject out of their trance and back into rational conscious thought.

  ‘They always spoke about the supermarket,’ Ning explained, sitting up and stifling a yawn. ‘But the name was like top, top secret. Once we’d packed up the sandwiches, someone in another room would stick labels on the boxes.’

  ‘I’m a beginner with hypnosis,’ Amy said, ‘but we might have got somewhere. I hadn’t seen the bit about the globe, or the photograph, in any of your statements.’

  ‘That was really powerful,’ Ning said, in a state of awe. ‘I actually did feel like I was there. Do you want to try again?’

  ‘At some point,’ Amy said. ‘It’s good to know you’re susceptible to hypnosis, but you should probably get some sleep now. It’s past ten and you’ve got a big day tomorrow.’

  ‘I saw a hypnotist on TV once,’ Ning said. ‘He told this woman that onions tasted like oranges and she sat there biting great chunks out of them.’

  Amy laughed. ‘Whatever happens I promise not to make you eat any onions.’

  43. SUPPLY

  CHERUB agents miss out on regular schooling when they’re away on missions and they have to catch up with Saturday morning lessons.

  Ryan felt a sense of dread as he packed his books for history, maths and English literature. He hadn’t been able to understand most of the maths homework and he was relying on summaries he’d found on the web to make up for only having read fifteen pages of To Kill a Mockingbird.

  In between breakfast and history class Ryan had to take Ning across to the medical centre where she’d begin her recruitment tests. It was a drizzly morning with a biting wind.

  ‘Campus seems bigger without the buggy,’ Ning noted, as she rubbed goosebumps on her bare arms.

  ‘You can’t get training hoodies in orange,’ Ryan said. ‘But the tests will warm you up.’

  The medical unit was state-of-the-art and included a six-bed hospital ward, a dental suite and a sports medicine facility used for fitness assessments and rehabilitating the kind of injuries CHERUB agents commonly pick up in training.

  ‘Good morning,’ Dr Kessler said, with a thick German accent. ‘Two more recruits for the mincer, eh?’

  ‘Two?’ Ning said, as Kessler led them down a short corridor.

  The sports medicine and fitness testing facilities were similar to ones Ning had been in at Dandong National Sports Academy. Amy was already in the examination room and Dr Kessler bit her head off for sitting on a worktop.

  ‘This is a medical facility,’ he yelled. ‘Your bottom may look very nice, but it does not belong on my sterile work surface.’

  Amy put on an I’m sorry face as she jumped down. The other person in the room was a boy who looked about ten. He wore the same boots, trousers and orange shirt as Ning. He had a
slim build, with glossy black hair and a Mediterranean complexion.

  ‘Ning, this is Carlos. Carlos, Ning,’ Amy said. ‘You’ll be going through all the recruitment tests together.’

  Carlos was shy and it took a nudge from Amy to get him to come forward and shake Ning’s hand. Ning felt sorry for Carlos as she studied his slim wrist and long slender fingers with chewed nails.

  ‘Good luck,’ Ning said.

  Carlos narrowed his eyes. ‘I don’t believe in luck,’ he said.

  Ning thought Carlos sounded arrogant, but she was keen to make nice so she smiled and said, ‘Maybe you’re right.’

  Dr Kessler glared at Ryan and Amy. ‘If you see Lottie the nurse on your way out of my medical unit, tell her to come immediately.’

  Amy and Ryan took the hint about leaving and exchanged smiles as they headed into the hallway.

  Ryan wagged his finger at Amy and mocked Dr Kessler’s voice. ‘You will not sit on my sterile surface. If you do I’ll have you shot by the Gestapo.’

  ‘Kessler’s Jewish,’ Amy said. ‘I wouldn’t make any Nazi cracks in front of him, unless you want to end up with a thermometer up your butt next time you stop by to get your blisters popped.’

  ‘Good call,’ Ryan said, laughing as he and Amy backed up to the wall to let Lottie the nurse get by. She was pushing a trolley laden with heart monitoring equipment and two rather sinister-looking sets of pincers that were used for muscle biopsies.

  ‘Kessler’s waiting for you,’ Amy told Lottie.

  ‘He’s a grumpy old sod,’ the nurse said. ‘And he wonders why everyone quits.’

  A cold gust blasted Amy and Ryan as they passed through the automatic exit doors. The rain was coming down quite hard as they set off along a gravel path towards the main building.

  ‘The height obstacle’s gonna be tricky in this weather,’ Ryan said, as he looked up at a darkening sky. ‘And Ning didn’t seem keen on heights.’