‘Love you,’ Gabrielle said, her voice weaker than before.
Zara put her arm around Michael’s back once they’d returned to the changing area and stripped off their masks.
‘You did great,’ Zara said. ‘But I didn’t understand what was so significant about what she said. Who’s Sasha?’
Chloe explained as she dropped her latex gloves into a medical waste unit. ‘It never made sense that a teenage gang like the Runts would take on a hardcore crew like the Slasher Boys. But the Slasher Boys’ biggest rival is a group known as the Mad Dogs. Sasha Thompson is their main man.
‘The Mad Dogs are led by old-timers; people who worked for or had close ties to KMG. Armed robbers and big-time dealers. Rather than smuggling drugs themselves, they let other gangs take the risks, and then they steal their money, drugs or ideally both.’
Zara nodded. ‘So Sasha’s boy said there’d be a lot more than four kilos indicates that the Runts were tipped off by the Mad Dogs about Major Dee keeping his cocaine stashed above the roof tiles?’
‘Seems that way,’ Chloe said.
‘Why wouldn’t Sasha take the cocaine himself?’ Zara asked.
‘The Slasher Boys and Mad Dogs have been squaring up for the best part of a year. But it looks like Sasha’s worked out that it’s easier to have the Runts do his dirty work for him.’
Michael nodded. ‘And once the Runts and Slashers have spent six months stabbing and shooting one another, the Mad Dogs can move in and clean up.’
‘Our biggest problem with this mission has always been that we don’t have enough manpower,’ Chloe explained. ‘There are several large gangs and the balance of power shifts regularly. The only way we can really get a full picture of what’s happening is by putting agents into another major gang.’
Zara smiled uneasily. ‘That’s a tough ask, Chloe. I’m facing a grilling about whether the mission was too dangerous in the first place and you’re talking about expanding it.’
Michael liked Chloe’s suggestion and nodded enthusiastically. ‘Which gang would you target? The Runts accept anyone who can throw a punch. They’d be dead easy to infiltrate.’
‘It would be easy,’ Chloe said, ‘but the Runts aren’t much more than random teenage thugs. We really need to get someone inside the Mad Dogs. They’re the ones pulling all the strings.’
‘I take your point,’ Zara said. ‘But didn’t you consider infiltrating the Mad Dogs before and decide that they were too tight-knit?’
‘We did,’ Chloe nodded. ‘But we’ve learned a lot over the past couple of months. Maureen and I talked it over and we think there might be a way.’
Zara couldn’t help laughing. ‘You’re not joking, are you? You really want me to go to the ethics committee and suggest that we put another agent on to the mission where Gabrielle almost died!’
‘Two agents, actually,’ Chloe said sheepishly, wondering if her boss was about to bite her head off. ‘This mission has progressed slowly from the start and now that Michael is working alone it’s not going to get any faster. It’s pointless going on with one agent. We’ve either got to expand and go after the Mad Dogs, or pull the plug and head back to campus.’
Michael hated the idea of pulling the plug, but kept his trap shut because he could see that Chloe was fighting to save the mission.
‘OK,’ Zara nodded, ‘I’ll consider your plan. How long will it take you to make a written proposal and e-mail it to me?’
Chloe shrugged. ‘We’ve already done most of the work. I could get it to you in two or three hours.’
‘Right,’ Zara said. ‘Gabrielle’s not going to benefit from us hanging around here while she’s unconscious. I’m going to drive back to campus. I need your proposal by the time I arrive. Once I’ve read it through, I’ll set up an emergency meeting with the ethics committee. If I like what I see and if the committee isn’t too pent-up over what happened to Gabrielle, I’ll raise the plan and see if it floats.’
‘There’s one other thing,’ Chloe said. ‘The mission we’re proposing relies on an established relationship with an associate of the Mad Dogs. There’s only one agent who’d be able to do it.’
‘And who’s that?’ Zara asked.
‘James Adams.’
13. REVENGE
The sun was setting as a Toyota saloon dropped James and Jo at the main campus gate. A few of Jo’s red-shirt friends ran out of the reception area and gave her consoling hugs as James headed off to the lift, slightly put out that none of his mates had shown their faces.
‘Brucey!’ James yelled, as he pounded his fist on his fourteen-year-old mate’s door. ‘You in there?’
‘Wait a sec,’ Bruce yelled shakily. ‘Just … I’m getting dressed.’
But it was Kerry that James saw pulling a T-shirt over her head as he burst into the room.
‘Sorry,’ James gasped, averting his eyes. ‘I didn’t know you were in here. I was trying to catch Bruce in the nuddy.’
‘We were just … You know,’ Bruce spluttered awkwardly.
‘Making out like randy dogs,’ James grinned.
‘Not that it’s any of your business if we were,’ Kerry said sourly.
James and Kerry were just about on speaking terms, but she was still sore after he’d dumped her for Dana.
‘How was Malaysia?’ Bruce asked.
James shrugged. ‘Hot, wet and too many bugs. Any breaking news on Gabrielle?’
‘Nothing new since breakfast,’ Kerry said.
James gave her a smile. ‘Have you been OK? Gab’s pretty much your best mate?’
‘I’m no worse off than a lot of other people.’
‘So is anyone else around?’
‘Lauren’s in Kyle’s room,’ Bruce said. ‘They’ve got a problem with Mr Large and they wanted to ask us about it. We said we’d head up there after we’d had some time to ourselves …’
Kerry raised an eyebrow. ‘We might as well go now, seeing as James disturbed us.’
James had dated a few girls on missions but he’d never had to live with them after the break-up. Kerry was part of his crowd and over the past few months he’d learned that no matter how much you pretend it doesn’t matter, it’s still uncomfortable having an ex-girlfriend around.
The trio headed along the sixth-floor corridor and found Kyle’s door open. Lauren lay face-down on Kyle’s bed flipping through a copy of Heat magazine, with the man himself sprawled over a leather beanbag.
‘Good news everyone, it’s me!’ James said exuberantly.
‘We noticed,’ Lauren said, as she faked a yawn.
James tutted. ‘Don’t die of over-enthusiasm, will you?’
‘You’ve only been away for ten days,’ Kyle said. ‘What do you expect, a ticker-tape parade?’
‘And nobody’s exactly in a laughing mood at the moment,’ Lauren added.
‘So what’s this problem?’ Kerry asked, as she slid her arm around Bruce’s back.
Kyle explained about Large threatening Meatball and that Meryl was going to speak to Ewart and arrange to have the dog taken into campus.
‘So it’s not ideal, but Meatball’s safe,’ James said. ‘What’s the big problem?’
‘Rod Nilsson,’ Kyle said.
James was fuzzy-headed after the long flight and wondered if he’d missed something. ‘Who?’
‘You know, James,’ Lauren said. ‘Remember that night we were in your room and everyone started getting out photos from when they were little?’
‘Gotcha,’ James nodded. ‘Rod was Kyle’s best friend; the one who never made it through basic training.’
‘That’s the man,’ Kyle said. ‘Rod took basic training with me and he got to day eighty-three. He’s asthmatic and we were in the desert. Large had decided that it was Rod’s day to be picked on. The air was really dusty and I carried most of Rod’s kit because he was fighting for breath. Not long after we set camp for the night this massive sandstorm blew up. It snuffed our fire before we could cook any food an
d all we could do was huddle inside our tents and hope they didn’t get blown away.
‘After about an hour, the winds died off, but the air was still thick with dust. Large dragged Rod out of his tent because of his bad attitude and started making him do pushups and squats. There was no way he could do it and he started coughing really badly. Large ran off to get a canteen, but Rod ended up having a full-scale asthma attack and passing out. Luckily we were in America and there was a medical chopper on the scene within fifteen minutes.
‘Rod ended up in hospital for three days. The asthma attack was really bad and he started getting nightmares about being unable to breathe. He went back to campus and built himself up to full fitness, but when it came to restarting basic training, he couldn’t face Mr Large putting him in that kind of position again, so he quit.’
James nodded. ‘You told me this story before. You still send him letters and stuff, don’t you?’
‘Mostly e-mails,’ Kyle said. ‘We usually meet up every year around Christmas time and he’s going travelling with me after he’s sat his A-levels.’
‘Maybe it was for the best though,’ James said. ‘I mean, if he was a severe asthmatic …’
‘He wasn’t,’ Kerry said angrily. ‘Rod had an inhaler and he got short of breath sometimes, but he only collapsed because Mr Large was bullying him.’
‘Didn’t Large get a reprimand or anything?’
Kyle shook his head. ‘Large wrote up a report saying that Rod hadn’t experienced any previous problems with his asthma that day and all the other instructors backed him up.’
‘Did you say anything?’ James asked.
Kyle shook his head. ‘Maybe I should have, but I was ten years old. In those days, Mr Large had the other instructors in his pocket and it would have been our word against theirs. And you can imagine the misery Large would have put Rod through if he’d made a formal complaint and then restarted basic training.’
‘So Large is a buttwipe,’ James said. ‘It’s hardly earth-shattering news. And what does any of this have to do with Lauren and Meatball?’
‘Nothing,’ Kyle said. ‘Except for the fact that seven years on, Large is up to the same dirty tricks: trying to blackmail Lauren and weasel his way back into a job as a training instructor. I’m leaving CHERUB in two months and I’ve decided that before I go, I’m gonna get Large back for all the nasty stuff he’s done.’
‘Cool,’ James grinned. ‘I’m in. What’s the plan?’
‘That’s our problem,’ Lauren said. ‘We haven’t got one.’
‘Maybe we should leave it to the staff,’ Kerry said. ‘He’s probably going to be kicked out anyway and we could get in trouble.’
James shook his head and Bruce tutted.
‘Come on Kerry,’ Lauren said. ‘You’re always so straight. You’ve got as much reason to hate Large as anyone else.’
‘I’m leaving in two months so I’ll take the rap,’ Kyle said. ‘They can’t punish me because I’ll just walk out early.’
‘I’ve got it,’ Bruce announced. ‘Why don’t we go to his house in the dead of night carrying baseball bats and dressed in masks and stuff, then drag him out of bed and beat the crap out of him?’
‘Subtle,’ James laughed.
‘Brilliant,’ Lauren said. ‘Unless he has another heart attack and dies and we all end up getting done for murder. And even if he’s just battered we’d all get expelled.’
Bruce snapped his fingers. ‘Large is smart: he threatened Lauren by getting to Meatball. We’ve got to find a way of winding him up by getting at something close to him. Maybe we could do over his Rottweilers, Thatcher and Saddam.’
‘No way,’ Lauren said. ‘We’re not hurting those poor defenceless animals.’
James smirked. ‘They didn’t seem defenceless when they were trying to bite chunks out of my arse.’
‘Kidnapping and poisoning are too extreme,’ Kyle said. ‘I like Bruce’s idea of getting to him, but it’s got to be subtle.’
‘Well,’ Kerry said. ‘I don’t really want any part of this, but he’s got a fourteen-year-old daughter. I think she’s called Hayley and fathers tend to be very protective towards teenage daughters.’
‘Yes,’ Kyle said triumphantly. ‘Kerry, that’s it. I could kiss you.’
‘You wanting to kiss a girl,’ James grinned, ‘there’s a first.’
It was a cheap shot and everybody groaned.
James tutted. ‘Sorry I spoke. So what can we do to Large’s daughter?’
‘We’ve got to do something that upsets Large, but isn’t actually too harmful to his daughter,’ Lauren said.
‘Exactly,’ Kyle agreed. ‘I’ve seen Hayley Large at the bowling alley in town a few times and I don’t think she has a boyfriend.’
James nodded. ‘I highly doubt it, she’s a complete heifer.’
Kerry punched James on the arm. ‘Don’t be so sexist.’
‘Hey,’ James yelled. ‘You’re not my bird any more so if you go around hitting me I might just hit you back.’
Kerry laughed. ‘Try it and see where it gets you.’
Kerry had a point. She was miles smaller than James, but she could still kick his arse.
‘Here we go again …’ Lauren sighed. ‘I definitely preferred it when you two weren’t talking to each other.’
‘Getting back to the subject in hand,’ Kyle said firmly, ‘what we need is a boyfriend for Hayley Large. A good-looking guy who’s comfortable around girls, but who would also make Mr Large throw a fit if he thought the lad was trying to get his hands on his daughter’s goodies.’
‘That’s a sweet idea,’ Lauren grinned.
James nodded until he realised that four sets of eyes were staring at him.
‘Oh no,’ James said. ‘Not me …’
‘Totally you,’ Lauren said, as she bounced on Kyle’s bed with excitement. ‘You’re always mouthing off about what a stud you are and how girls find you irresistible. Now you’ve got a chance to prove it.’
14. ETHICS
James had slept on the plane and his body clock was stuck on mid-afternoon when everyone started going to bed. He had a restless night and when it got to 5:30 a.m. he gave up on sleep and headed for the fitness centre in the recently refurbished gym.
It was a Saturday. Following a lonely walk across campus, James found the gym deserted and drew childish delight from running his hand over banks of light switches, setting off hundreds of fluorescent tubes.
After warming up with stretches and shuttle runs, James started pumping weights. He wasn’t big on team sports, but he found pushing himself in the gym or on the athletics track satisfying, and working out was always better when the gym was empty and you didn’t have to fight over the equipment.
Fifty minutes later, James was soaked in sweat, his veins were all pumped and the exertion had kick-started his brain. A couple of staff members were on the treadmills as he headed off to soothe himself in the plunge pool, but the dining room was virtually empty when he arrived for breakfast.
James knew he needed protein to replenish his aching muscles and the chef obliged by cooking up thin strips of steak with scrambled eggs and mushrooms. Zara came up behind and tapped his shoulder while he sat at a table reading the Premiership preview in the Saturday paper.
‘You’re up early,’ Zara said.
‘Jet lag,’ James explained. ‘Couldn’t sleep so I hit the weights.’
Zara nodded. ‘You want to be careful. If you start looking too much like a bodybuilder, it restricts the kinds of missions we can send you on.’
James slapped his belly. ‘There’s not much chance I’ll ever look like a bodybuilder. I’m too fond of my food.’
To prove the point, the chef put a plate stacked up with steak and eggs on the table, along with his side of toasted muffins and jam.
‘Cheers,’ James grinned, as the chef looked towards Zara.
‘I’m afraid the buffet won’t be ready for another twenty minutes or so, but I’d
be happy to cook anything you fancy.’
‘Well I wouldn’t normally …’ Zara said guiltily, as she watched James tuck into his food. ‘But I quite fancy what he’s having. I’ll have my steak well done and a pot of strong coffee.’
‘No worries. It’ll take seven minutes to fry the steak.’
‘Thanks,’ Zara nodded. Then she looked at James. ‘I need a proper meal. I’ve been back and forth between campus and Luton for the last two days and it seems like all I’ve eaten is Burger King and hospital sandwiches.’
James noticed that three little red-shirts had gathered around a notice by the door. ‘Is that an update on Gabrielle?’ he asked.
‘I just pinned it up,’ Zara nodded. ‘She’s been incredibly lucky. The knife went into her back this much’ – Zara held her hands twenty centimetres apart – ‘but despite that, it missed all of her major organs, and it’s the same with the injury to her side. The surgeon described it as a minor miracle.’
‘So she’s going to be OK?’
‘It’s not a hundred per cent, but it looks good. She’s lucid now and they’ve moved her out of intensive care. She could be out of hospital within five days, although she might need another operation if her tubes don’t heal properly.’
‘That’s quick,’ James said, as he gulped a lump of steak that he hadn’t chewed enough and almost choked himself.
‘There are a lot of antibiotic-resistant bacteria around in hospitals these days,’ Zara explained, as James hacked chewed-up steak into a serviette. ‘She’s got less chance of picking up an infection on campus, so they want her off the ward as soon as possible. I’m going to have her placed in a room in the medical unit.’
‘Fantastic,’ James grinned. ‘Everyone will be able to see her and that.’
‘It certainly is,’ Zara smiled. ‘I actually need to talk something over with you regarding Gabrielle and Michael’s mission. Do you mind if I sit down?’
James shrugged. ‘I’ll probably get called Chairwoman’s pet if I’m seen sitting with you, but I’ll just thump ’em.’
‘Well don’t thump ’em too hard,’ Zara said as she sat opposite James, her smile turning into a huge yawn. ‘I was up until one-thirty this morning with the ethics committee.’