‘Leon and Daniel?’ he said, offering a hand to shake. ‘I’m Gurbir. Welcome to Nurtrust Sandy Green.’
They filled out forms and discussed rules. The whole time a girl in the next office sobbed helplessly. She was twelve and very skinny. She sat on an armchair with knees tucked under her chin and what looked like her worldly possessions split between a school backpack and a pair of canvas bags.
Daniel tried giving the girl a reassuring smile as Gurbir led them on a tour of what had once been the upper floor of a furniture showroom. A small kitchen gave off a smell of veg cooked to oblivion. There was a room with pool tables and vending machines, another with TV and battered recliner chairs.
‘You’re in rooms twelve and fifteen,’ Gurbir explained.
They passed a locked corridor.
‘Is that solitary, for if we misbehave?’
‘We have nine secure rooms,’ Gurbir explained. ‘Only five are currently occupied and you’re not allowed beyond that door, should you ever find it open.’
‘What did the kids in there do?’ Daniel asked, as he put his face up to a shatterproof pane in the locked door.
‘There’s nobody in there now,’ Gurbir explained. ‘Most of them are at school.’
‘So they can come and go?’ Leon asked.
Gurbir laughed. ‘The courts set different rules and curfews for our secure residents, but this isn’t a prison.’
They’d reached room twelve by this time. ‘Daniel, you’re directly across the hall. Toilets and showers are at the end. Showers are kept locked, so you have to get a key from the office and return it when you’re finished.’
‘Right,’ Daniel said.
He threw his stuff into a room with a small window, a fold-down desk and a metal locker. It looked modern, but there was an oniony tang from the previous occupant and the window only opened inwards by about four centimetres.
Leon stuck his head around the door. ‘Not exactly spacious,’ he said, then wrinkled his nose. ‘It stinks like BO in here.’
‘I noticed,’ Daniel said sourly.
Out in the hallway, the sobbing girl was being led into room nine. A female social worker spoke in a soothing voice.
‘Abigail, you’ll only be here for a night or two, until you get a foster placement in a proper house. OK?’
She sobbed, and gave a weak nod.
‘I’m just down the hall until seven, and I’ll introduce you to the night staff before I clock off.’
As the twins unpacked, a few other noises started to break out. The twins could see into each other’s rooms if they left their doors open and they saw kids coming past in school uniform. Most were fourteen to seventeen, but there were a couple of pre-teens.
Daniel was hunting for a socket to charge his phone when he saw Oliver shoot past. Their target used the toilet, dropped into room thirteen next to Leon and came out a minute later having swapped school gear for trackies and an Aston Villa shirt.
‘Hey, neighbour,’ Leon said.
‘Hey,’ Oliver replied, but didn’t break stride.
The twins had seen photos, but were still surprised by Oliver’s presence. He was average height for twelve, with a light brown complexion. But his build gave him the air of a little thug. Big neck, broad shoulders, thick arms, and legs stretching his Nike tracksuit bottoms to bursting.
‘I’m Leon,’ Leon said, as he trailed Oliver. ‘Do you know where I can get soap and a towel?’
‘Call me Oli,’ the twelve-year-old said, staring Leon up and down, seeing a well-muscled kid with a medium build and blond streaks in his hair. ‘Ask in the office,’ he said impatiently.
‘Right,’ Leon said.
At the end of the hallway, Oliver cut into the TV room. The only kid in there was on floor-cushions using an ancient Xbox 360, still in his school uniform. He looked older than Oliver, but was beanpole thin.
‘Wes the weasel,’ Oliver said fiercely. ‘You got my money?’
‘I don’t owe you money.’
‘You reckon?’ Oliver said, pounding a fist into his palm as he closed in. ‘Gimme a fiver.’
Skinny Wes dropped the Xbox controller and raised his arms over his face. ‘I haven’t got any money.’
Oliver shoved Wes off the cushions. Leon watched in mild horror as Oliver lunged, delivering three hard punches to the ribs and a kick in the thigh.
‘I’m on the Xbox,’ Oliver growled. ‘Get out before I give you real beats.’
Wes scrambled up and limped out the door past Leon. Oliver smiled until he saw that he was being watched.
‘You got a problem?’ Oliver asked.
Leon smiled like he was OK with what he’d seen. ‘What did he do to piss you off?’
‘Skinny weasel,’ Oliver explained, as he grabbed the controller off the floor. ‘I always give him beats. I don’t even wanna play. All the discs are scratched up so the games never work.’
‘I’ve got a PS4,’ Leon said. ‘Haven’t unpacked it yet, but it’ll only take half a minute to set it up.’
‘I had a PS4 and an Xbox One,’ Oliver said, putting a hand on his hip. ‘But I sold ’em. Needed the money for clothes and stuff.’
‘Really?’ Leon said, catching a whiff of bullshit stronger than the BO in Daniel’s room. ‘Got a bunch of games. You wanna play?’
‘Played most of ’em already, probably,’ Oliver said, shrugging. ‘But yeah, whatever. Got nothing else to do.’
Daniel was coming out of his room with some air freshener he’d blagged from the front office.
‘Gonna put the PS4 on,’ Leon told him.
‘That your brother?’ Oliver asked, as Daniel walked past. ‘Twins?’
‘Non-identical,’ Leon said. ‘I got the good looks.’
Daniel did a noisy false laugh. ‘Who are you kidding, bro? With your face like an ape’s backside.’
10. TALES
Leon set up the PS4. He played Call of Duty with Oli and Daniel before switching to FIFA16. An older teen called Wilfred joined in for a bit, and a girl called Rhea came in and started flirting with Leon. She looked about fifteen, with make-up trowelled on.
‘Smoking hot,’ Leon said, as his eyes followed her out of the room. ‘You think she was into me?’
Daniel was pissed off, because he reckoned he’d have got Rhea’s attention if he’d only chosen to sit by the door, rather than down on the floor in front of the PlayStation.
‘What room’s she in?’ Leon asked.
‘S-four,’ Oli said, then gasped as his shot on goal sailed over the bar. ‘Aww, come on, bitch!’
‘S?’ Leon asked.
Oli glanced at Leon like he was dumb. ‘S for psycho,’ he said.
‘What did she do?’
‘I heard Rhea and her brothers went around mugging people,’ Oli explained. ‘She’d lure some guy, then her brothers would mug them and beat the crap out of them. Brothers are in young offenders for cracking some guy’s skull.’
‘Really?’ Daniel asked, smiling. ‘Looks like you’ve hitched your wagon to another winner there, brother.’
Leon shrugged and smiled. ‘She’s got a great ass, so I can live with a few tiny imperfections.’
Daniel tutted.
‘Nooo,’ Oli shouted, as he overhit a corner. ‘This game is a pile of junk. It just does random bloody …’
Oli thumped the controller into a cushion then looked at Leon. ‘You wanna take this over? I’m 3–1 down.’
‘Give us,’ Leon said.
Oli was a clammy beast, and Leon found it gross taking a controller smeared in sweat.
‘Tackle!’ Leon said, as he took the ball off Daniel and passed out wide before starting a run on goal. ‘Come on, come on … Shit!’
‘So I never finished my story,’ Oli said.
Leon and Daniel both groaned internally. But Oli was their target so they had to listen.
‘So I go into this McDonald’s,’ Oli said. ‘And they’re giving away free breakfast vouchers. But they’re really
busy and I can see the whole pile of vouchers. So I jumped across the counter and grabbed the book. And I had like, two hundred vouchers. And I was eating free Big Macs for like, two months.’
‘I thought they were breakfast vouchers,’ Leon pointed out.
‘Yeah …’ Oli said. ‘I mean, they were mixed. Four different ones. Some were for Big Macs and apple pies and stuff.’
‘Right,’ Daniel said. ‘Cool beans.’
Leon reckoned Oli was one of those guys who’ll top any story you tell, and decided to put his theory to the test.
‘Our older brother and his mate robbed a Burger King one time,’ Leon lied. ‘He got over eight hundred quid. Cops chased him and everything, but he got away with it.’
Oli nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’ve been chased by cops so many times when I’m bunking school. One time me and this friend of mine took an iPad out of Selfridges at the Bullring. Sold it for four hundred.’
‘Nice,’ Daniel said. ‘You should show us how you did it.’
Leon nodded. ‘We could go robbing shops.’
Oli’s bluff had been called and his smile vanished. ‘I have to be so careful now though,’ he blurted. ‘Cos … Like, the store detectives all know me and shit. They’ve even got a special file on me.’
‘Special file,’ Daniel said, trying not to smirk as he caught his brother’s glance. ‘Wowee!’
‘But I’d like to hang with you guys, for sure.’
‘You seem cool,’ Leon said, which made a huge smile erupt across Oli’s face.
Leon was dominating at FIFA, but only got the score back to 3–2 before time ran out.
Daniel looked at Oli. ‘You wanna play Leon?’
But Oli was looking out the door down the hallway. Abigail – the girl who’d been sobbing when the twins arrived – had been to the office to get a shower key. Now she’d emerged from her room with a towel and a bundle of clothes under her arm.
‘I overheard Gurbir say that Abigail’s mum was in a big car smash,’ Daniel said. ‘Touch and go whether she’ll live.’
Leon nodded sympathetically, but Oli didn’t seem to care. ‘Boo-hoo,’ Oli said. ‘My mum died when I was three. What good’s sobbing her head off gonna do?’
Oli’s words made Leon and Daniel think about their mother dying of cancer. At the other end of the hallway, Abigail’s slender frame unlocked a door and hopped into a small room with a shower cubicle at the back.
‘You wanna mess with Little Miss Tearful?’ Oli asked.
Leon wasn’t keen. ‘We could put a different game on.’
But Oli was on his feet. After stepping into the hallway and taking a few furtive glances, he hurried to Abigail’s room, rattled her door and found that she’d had the sense to lock it. Undeterred, Oli beckoned Leon and Daniel.
‘You wanna see something funny?’ Oli asked.
The twins dashed along the hallway towards room nine. They instinctively wanted to tell Oli to leave Abigail alone, but their mission was to find out whether Oli would make a decent CHERUB recruit and they’d get a better sense of his personality if they went along with his plan.
‘I’ll give her something to cry about,’ Oli grinned, as he reached inside his tracksuit pocket and pulled a twenty-pence piece.
The boys heard water running as they closed up to the door of the shower room. A key with a big yellow In Use tag was in the outside of the door, which was locked with a bolt on the inside. This bolt had a bypass, which looked like a giant screw head and was designed to enable staff to access a bathroom from outside in an emergency.
Oli put his coin in the bypass slot and turned it to release the bolt. He looked back at Leon and Daniel, flicking one cheeky eyebrow before charging the door.
The door burst inwards. Abigail screamed as Oli reached into the steamy space and flicked out the light. Oli charged into the little cubicle and gave Abigail an almighty shove through the shower curtain. As she slammed tiles at the back of the shower and lost her footing, Oli scooped her towel and clean clothes from a shelf, whipped the curtain open and threw them all under the running water so they got soaked. As Abigail screamed in pain and shock, Oli backed out of the room and turned the key, leaving his victim screaming in pitch darkness.
‘You snitch and I’ll come after you,’ Oli warned, as he thumped on the door.
Abigail kept screaming as Oli turned back towards the twins, grinning like a loon.
‘How cool was that?’ he shouted.
Three hours later, the hallway was down to a bluish glow of nightlights as Daniel stepped out of his room. Abigail could be heard sobbing a few rooms away and a couple of kids were playing music, even though it was headphones only after ten on a weeknight.
‘You awake?’ Daniel asked quietly, as he stepped across the hallway and put his head inside Leon’s room.
The only light came from a laptop standing on the desk, but it was enough for Daniel to see his brother sat in bed with his phone.
‘Show us,’ Daniel said.
‘None of yours,’ Leon tutted. ‘I’m talking to Rhea on WhatsApp.’
‘Just make sure she doesn’t hit you over the head and steal your wallet,’ Daniel warned. ‘Why don’t you invite her over?’
‘She’s locked up in secure until morning.’
‘Can I sit?’ Daniel asked.
Leon nodded, and pulled up his legs so his brother could use the end of the bed.
‘So what do you make of Oli?’ Daniel asked.
Leon shook his head. ‘I think the cops were right. He’s a massive bullshitter. No way he’s connected to any terrorists.’
‘Not seeing much potential as a CHERUB agent, either,’ Daniel said.
‘Nope,’ Leon agreed. ‘CHERUB recruits a lot of kids who are messed up and rough around the edges, but I don’t think Oli has a sympathetic bone in his body.’
‘He started on Wes the Weed again after we brushed our teeth.’
‘Hard punches,’ Leon nodded. ‘Wes had tears in his eyes. Before this is over, I might have to accidentally break the little shit’s nose.’
Daniel laughed. ‘You bust his nose, I’ll break his thumbs. And that story about winning a trip to see the Taj Mahal in a poetry competition.’
‘He didn’t even know what country it was in,’ Leon grinned. ‘Talk about Captain Bullshitter.’
‘Thing is, bro, if we’re completely honest …’
Leon finished his brother’s sentence. ‘If we tell James what we really think about Oli, we’ll be back on campus doing heavy drill by Monday.’
‘So we lie to him?’ Daniel asked.
‘Not lie exactly,’ Leon said, giving a conspiratorial smile. ‘We just need to be economical in how rapidly we deliver the truth.’
Daniel smiled. ‘String this thing out for at least two weeks.’
11. UNIFORM
Two days after arriving at Nurtrust, Daniel came out of his titchy room wearing the uniform of St Andrew’s Catholic school. Oli sat in the home’s cramped dining area, scoffing Nutella toast.
‘Was it today you’ve got History with Mr Cunningham?’ Oli asked. ‘Tell the old fart that I said hello.’
‘That the guy who got you expelled?’ Daniel asked, as he filled a bowl from a giant box of Asda-brand wheat flakes and topped it off with mixed nuts and milk. ‘Seen my brother?’
‘Saw him disappear with Rhea.’
Leon had spent the previous evening in the TV room making out with Rhea. She was hot stuff, and Daniel was jealous.
‘So, you all set for lunchtime?’ Daniel asked. ‘Bunk off and head over to our cousin’s place?’
‘Course,’ Oli said. ‘I’ve bunked a million times. Anything to get out of Games.’
‘Thought you said you were good at football,’ Daniel noted.
‘I am,’ Oli said defensively. ‘I was top scorer on the school team last year.’
A Year Eight girl called Mel sat across the table, big shoulders and purple streaks in plaited hair. ‘Top scorer,’
she squealed, as she accidentally spat cereal across the table. ‘You so full of it, Oli, with them chunky-monkey legs.’
Oli reared up. ‘What do you know? You’ve never been at my school.’
‘Seen you run,’ Mel said. ‘Give us a football, bet you couldn’t catch me, let alone tackle me.’
‘Am I talking to you?’ Oli blurted. ‘Is this your conversation, hippo?’
Mel looked at Daniel, then pointed a false nail at Oli. ‘He’s full of shit.’
Wes the Weed chimed in from the next table. ‘You know how you can tell when Oli’s lying?’ he asked. ‘He’s lying whenever his lips move.’
Oli’s chair grated backwards as he stood and yelled. His voice hadn’t broken so it was really shrill. ‘I’ll bust your nose if you don’t shut your mouth.’
One of the kitchen staff overheard this and stepped between the boys. ‘Cool heads, the lot of you,’ he shouted.
Rather than sit down, Oli abandoned the last of his toast, grabbed his school pack and stormed out. Daniel had wolfed most of his cereal and ignored the kitchen guy’s order to come back and clean plates.
‘Up yours, losers,’ Oli shouted, giving a backwards flip off.
Daniel followed Oli past the admin office, downstairs and along the corridor to the street. He had a fiver and realised there was time to get a McDonald’s breakfast before school. But he was distracted seeing Leon up against the shutters of the yet-to-open betting shop, snogging Rhea.
‘Get a room you dirty perverts,’ Oli yelled.
Rhea stopped kissing Leon and checked the time on her phone. She went to the same Fresh Start unit as Oli, so she gave Leon a goodbye peck.
‘Laters, Leon,’ she said, before walking off the same way as Oli.
‘I love this mission!’ Leon told his brother as he picked his school pack off the pavement. ‘What a girl!’
Daniel didn’t want Leon knowing he was jealous, but the twins knew one another too well to hide emotions.
‘Don’t worry,’ Leon said, as he pulled his phone out of his school trousers and unlocked it. ‘I had a word with Rhea. She’s gonna fix you up with one of her hot mates. I know your type, she’s perfect.’
Daniel looked excited. ‘Really?’