CHERUB: Maximum Security (9 page)

T
HE
R
OLE
OF
B
RITISH
I
NTELLIGENCE
& CHERUB

Although Jane Oxford was known to British intelligence, she had never stolen British military equipment and was regarded as an American problem until the theft of the thirty-five Buddy missiles in March 2005. The British began an investigation, to see if anyone on their side of the Atlantic had leaked details about the movement of the Royal Air Force cargo aircraft sent across the Atlantic to collect the missiles. They also sent a senior British intelligence officer to America to work alongside the FBI team investigating the theft
.

The MI5 officer sent a top-secret briefing back to Britain. It included details of the FBI’s long-term plan to send undercover agents into Arizona Max and escape with Curtis Oxford. When the chairman of CHERUB read this briefing, he realised that the FBI’s ambitious ‘Escape and Infiltrate’ plan could be carried out immediately if underage CHERUB agents were sent into the juvenile unit at Arizona Max. An escape carried out by people too young to be employed by law enforcement agencies would also make it easier to convince Jane Oxford that the escape is genuine
.

John Jones has been selected as Mission Controller and has begun working out exact details of a plan that will send two CHERUB agents into Arizona Max, with a third CHERUB agent aiding the escape on the outside
.

NOTE: THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITTEE PASSED THIS MISSION BRIEFING, ON CONDITION THAT ALL AGENTS UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:

This mission has been classified HIGH RISK. All agents are reminded of their right to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time. The mission will involve incarceration in a dangerous prison environment and pursuit by armed prison guards and police. For security reasons, only a tiny number of senior law enforcement officials will be aware that CHERUB and the FBI have set up the escape
.

While every possible step will be taken to ensure your safety, the agents deployed on this mission are urged to consider the dangers carefully before accepting their role
.

*

‘Wow,’ James said, when he put the briefing down on John Jones’ desk. ‘That whole breaking-out-of-prison deal sounds
berserk
.’

‘I’m not asking for an instant decision,’ John said. ‘But this is our only half-decent shot at getting hold of Jane Oxford and the Buddy missiles. How about you think it through and come and see me in the morning?’

James shook his head. ‘I’m not
scared
,’ he said firmly. ‘I’ll do it.’

John smiled. ‘I’d be much happier if you slept on it before making a final decision. I’ll even allow you to discuss it with Meryl Spencer if you want.’

‘Whatever,’ James said dismissively. ‘I take it me and Dave are the two people going into Arizona Max?’

John nodded. ‘You’re only a few months younger than Curtis Oxford and roughly the same physical size. You’re a perfect candidate to make friends with him. For the purposes of the mission, Dave will be your older brother. We need a big guy like him to protect you on the inside and to dress up as a guard during the escape. He’s also got lots of high-speed driving experience.’

‘So who’s the third person on the mission?’ James asked. ‘The one who’s going to help our escape from outside the prison.’

‘We want someone who would pass as a sibling or cousin to you and Dave,’ John explained. ‘But we’re having a tricky time finding the right person.’

‘What about my sister, Lauren?’ James asked. ‘Today’s her last day of basic training. If she gets through she’d be eligible to come.’

John smiled. ‘Lauren’s a good kid, James. But I’m really looking for someone more experienced.’

James caught a glimpse as the mini-bus driven by Mr Large passed the window of his classroom. He leapt noisily out of his chair, making his maths teacher turn away from the whiteboard in mid-sentence.

‘They’re back from training,’ James explained excitedly, grabbing the olive-coloured combat coat off the back of his chair. ‘Can I go meet my sister?’

Luckily, maths was James’ best subject and he was on good terms with Mrs Brennan. She handed James his homework assignment, which he stuffed inside his backpack as he jogged down the corridor between the classrooms and out through a set of double doors into the cold.

James stopped for a moment to zip up his coat and hook his backpack over both shoulders so it didn’t slide off as he ran. As James did this, Bethany’s eight-year-old brother burst out of the doors behind him. Jake was a cute kid, with big brown eyes and spiky hair.

‘You going over to meet them as they leave the training compound?’ Jake asked.

‘Course,’ James nodded.

‘I hope they passed training,’ Jake said.

‘Didn’t Bethany call you or anything?’ James asked, surprised. ‘I was out at a mission briefing, but there was a voicemail on my mobile when I got back. Lauren was in the terminal at Toronto airport, waiting for a flight to London. She said she’d hurt her foot, but everyone had made it through.’

‘Safe,’ Jake grinned. ‘I’ll race you.’

Jake belted off across the grass with his backpack rattling up and down. James jogged after him at a steady pace. There was no reason to run flat out; Mr Large would make the trainees pack up all their stuff and tidy the training compound before he let them go.

When Jake got a hundred metres ahead, he stopped running and turned back towards James with a wounded look. ‘Are you racing or not?’ he shouted.

James was looking forward to seeing his sister and Jake’s enthusiasm was contagious. ‘I’m just giving you a start,’ he jeered, as he broke into a full sprint. ‘You’ll need it.’

Jake squealed and started running again. It took James a couple of hundred metres to close the gap, by which time the two boys were running across a couple of muddy football pitches. The wire fence around the training compound was visible in the distance.

Instead of sprinting past, James decided it would be funny if he ran up behind Jake and gave him a friendly shove in the back. Jake stumbled forwards and ploughed into the soft ground.

‘Enjoy the mud, El-Squirto,’ James hooted.

He started to think he’d overdone it when Jake made no attempt to get back up. He stopped running and walked back towards the little ball rolled up on the grass.

James leaned over nervously. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I think you broke my arm,’ Jake whimpered.

James felt a queasy sensation rise up from his guts. There’d be no easy way to talk himself out of hurting an eight-year-old, even though it was an accident. Jake might end up in hospital, he’d be in trouble and it would ruin Lauren and Bethany’s return from training.

‘I’m sorry,’ James said, gently rubbing Jake’s shoulder. ‘Can you move your arm at all? Do you really think it’s broken?’

Jake’s expression changed to a grin as his muddy hand tightened around James’ wrist. The eight-year-old yanked James’ arm forward, while simultaneously hooking his foot around James’ ankle and sweeping his boot from under him.

James overbalanced, ending up sprawled out on the soggy ground alongside Jake. The younger boy quickly scooped up a clod of mud, splatted it against James’ cheek and then combed his mucky fingers upwards through James’ blond hair.

While James lay on the floor, stunned by the icy brown water trickling down his neck, Jake exuberantly sprang to his feet.

‘I’m in
so
much pain,’ Jake sneered. ‘
Suck-ahhh
.’

Jake jogged the last stretch towards the gates of the training compound, flailing his arms in the air and bowing to an imaginary crowd. James staggered to his feet and did the best he could to wipe the water out of his ear with a crinkled-up tissue.

‘Cheating little git,’ James shouted bitterly, as it occurred to him that he should have known better: every kid at CHERUB did Karate and judo training and even little guys like Jake knew some smart moves.

James saw the funny side once the shock wore off. When he got up to the gate of the training compound, joining siblings and close friends of the other trainees, he pulled out the chocolate bar he’d been saving for morning break and gave Jake two squares to make it clear there were no hard feelings.

‘I’ll have to get you back for that,’ James said.

‘Can try if you like,’ Jake shrugged confidently, as he crammed the rectangle of chocolate into his mouth with his grubby fingers.

James got excited as soon as he saw the trainees in their grey T-shirts. The first four jogged down the concrete path from the compound, but Lauren was limping slightly. She had her bandaged foot in an unlaced trainer and Bethany loyally at her side.

James didn’t like Bethany much. He was happy that Lauren had found a close friend, but when the two girls were together they drove him mad with their girlie talk and half-hour giggling fits over the lamest jokes.

Jake got scooped into his big sister’s arms, as James wrapped Lauren in a tight hug and kissed her cheek. Lauren looked taller and her shoulders seemed more muscular than before. James felt a twinge of sadness at the passing of the chubby-faced little sister he’d had when their mum died eighteen months earlier.

‘You look so grown up,’ James sniffled happily. ‘Congratulations … I’m so proud of you.’

‘I missed you,’ Lauren sniffed back.

Lauren’s mood evaporated when she saw the dirty brown marks James had smeared over her uniform.

‘For
god’s
sake,’ she gasped, as she backed away. ‘Where have you been? What happened to your hair?’

‘Me and Jake had a race on the way over here,’ James explained. ‘It got a bit out of hand.’

‘And
I
won,’ Jake interrupted.

‘Rolling in the mud with an eight-year-old,’ Lauren sneered, as she smudged a tear off her cheek. ‘That sounds about your level … We had to wait five hours when we changed planes at Toronto airport. I got you a present in the gift shop.’

Lauren pulled a brown paper bag out of her jacket and handed it to James. He opened it up, revealing a fleece hat with yellow and blue tassels dangling off either end.

‘Cheers,’ James grinned, as he stretched it over his muddy hair. ‘It’s in Arsenal away colours.’

Bethany had bought an identical hat for Jake and the two boys headed back towards the main building, hats on, listening to their sisters rabbiting about stuff that had happened during training.

*

James wasn’t sure if his teachers would let him off the rest of the day’s lessons to hang out with Lauren. He got around this thorny issue by not bothering to ask. He decided if he got pulled up, he’d act emotional about Lauren’s return and get off with a few punishment laps at worst.

Lauren had been allocated one of the newly converted rooms on the eighth floor, where the old mission preparation suites had been. She wouldn’t let James cross the threshold until he’d washed his hair and put on clean uniform.

The layout was the same as the room James had two floors below. There was a double bed, ensuite bathroom, laptop, mini fridge, microwave and a little lounge area by the door with a two-seat sofa, where you could watch TV or play video games.

James was a bit jealous: he’d inherited his room from another kid, whereas everything in Lauren’s room was spanking new. The rooms at the front of the building also had sliding glass doors and balconies that overlooked gardens, rather than the windows overlooking the muddy football pitches you got at the back.

It took three round trips in an electric golf buggy to bring Lauren’s stuff over from her old room in the junior building, followed by a dozen rides carrying boxes up to the eighth floor in the lift. It was lunchtime by the time James and Lauren were through.

Lauren hobbled down to the storeroom on the fourth floor and got a ton of junk food to stock up her fridge: drinks, snacks and chocolate. She also grabbed two Snickers ice creams and two microwave burritos out of the freezer for their lunch.

The microwave meals were supposed to be for kids who’d arrived back from a mission, or training, after the canteen closed in the evening. James would have preferred the proper food being served downstairs, but Lauren wanted to zap something in her new microwave.

When they’d finished the burritos, James and Lauren opened the balcony doors to let out the stink and sprawled out next to each other on the double bed, too stuffed to bother getting on with the unpacking.

‘Man,’ Lauren said, rubbing her tummy and doing a little burp. ‘At least I’ve got a week off before I have to restart lessons. I’m so whacked after training, I’m gonna sleep till noon every day, then steam in the bath all afternoon, reading books and stuffing my face.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ James smirked. ‘I’m only gonna be around for a couple more days. I’m off on some mission in America. I tried to get you on it, but John Jones didn’t sound keen. He thinks you’re too inexperienced.’

‘What’s the mission all about?’ Lauren asked.

Before James got to answer, he had a mental jolt. ‘Oh shit …’ he gasped. ‘John’s gonna kill me.’