CHERUB: The Sleepwalker (12 page)

The most random element was the cornering, which reminded Lauren of Meatball chasing a ball across Zara’s kitchen floor and crashing into all the cabinets. But for all its faults it was a ride home, and once Lauren got to grips with its eccentricities she realised that it was a very fast one.

Not wanting to risk an accident, Lauren kept the speed down. This also meant that the engine stayed quiet and she could hear the voice traffic going between the red and white shirts and the instructors in her earpiece.

For a black shirt it made grim listening. Over the space of three minutes Lauren heard white shirts capturing Kerry, Gabrielle and two other agents, while another group lay in wait ready to ambush the group of six who’d set off before James and Dana. Kazakov sounded like he was enjoying himself and several times he complimented his team on keeping a clean sheet: meaning that nobody had made it back to the main building.

Lauren was confident of becoming the first as she cruised the path at the side of the rugby pitches, with just the tennis courts between herself and the back of the main building. She’d be indoors in under two minutes, showered and snuggled under her duvet in fifteen if she didn’t hang about.

A shout came up over the radio. Lauren recognised the voice of a red-shirt girl called Ryan Smythe. ‘I’m eyeballing James Adams and Dana Smith in the trees by the lake,’ Ryan yelled. ‘I can shoot if you like?’

‘Hold on that,’ Mr Pike replied calmly. ‘Do we have anyone available to intercept?’

McEwen answered. ‘I nailed that groin kisser once and I’m on the quad ready to get him again. Dave Moss is riding with.’

‘OK, Ryan,’ Pike said. ‘I want you to keep them in your sights and report any movement.’

Lauren felt a twang of conscience. If the white shirts had disabled all the electric carts, she had the only available means of besting white shirts on the quad bikes. James was her brother and parts of her wanted to help him out. On the other hand he was also the git who’d kicked a football at her and left a dirty great red mark on her back earlier in the evening.

Her heart leaped as she slowed to a halt. She was less than a hundred metres from the back of the main building. Did she really want to risk it all for the sake of being a hero? And would James do the same for her if their roles were reversed? She liked to think that he would, but was less than convinced.

She looked at the fuel gauge taped to the dashboard and part of her hoped it showed empty, but it was three quarters full.

‘Can’t believe I’m doing this,’ Lauren grunted, as she jabbed the throttle and jerked the steering wheel. The cart almost threw her out as the back wheels squealed and she spun to face in the opposite direction.

Lauren had a big speed advantage over the white shirts, but the quads had four-wheel drive and big tyres designed for mud and hills, whereas her cart had a low chassis and titchy wheels. It was meant to run on flat paths and trimmed grass.

She blasted away from the main building, hardly able to believe she was being so nice. After half a kilometre she was alarmed by the outlines of two quads on a hilltop, but they didn’t come after her. She was heading away from the main building and they must have thought she was a member of staff.

Judging from the radio traffic, it sounded like a massive ruck had broken out in the bushes. The group of six black shirts had got hold of some weapons and were in a shoot-out with white and red shirts. Pairs of white-shirt units were moving in to collect them and Lauren knew she had a chance to help.

She pressed the transmit button and spoke into her microphone, deliberately talking quietly so that her voice was hard to recognise. ‘I’m over on the west side,’ she lied. ‘Five black shirts just came out the front of the basic training compound. I need urgent assistance.’

‘Can you confirm your ID and location,’ Kazakov answered.

‘Sorry base, can’t understand … Weak signal … My earpiece got some water in it earlier. I
repeat
, I’m close to the exit of the training compound. I see five black shirts coming towards me, but I can’t take all of them out on my own.’

Kazakov started to panic. ‘I want all units patrolling the lake to move west and intercept by the training compound. All rear units move forward to the lake. Don’t you dare let anyone through because there’ll be no safety net behind you.’

Lauren grinned as a sequence of
will dos
and
roger thats
came through her earpiece. The two quads she’d passed moments earlier roared away from the hilltop heading for the lake, while in the distance she could hear a whole fleet moving towards the training compound. It made her feel pretty good, but if one of the nuttier white shirts like McEwen got hold of her after that stunt, they’d kick her arse whether it was against the rules or not.

It took another two minutes to pass the last of the football pitches. She took a right and sped down the track leading towards the lake, all the time trying not to think about how she could have been tucked up in bed by now.

James and Dana crouched in the trees, watching the quads roar past in the darkness.

‘They’re heading for the training compound,’ Dana whispered.

‘You think it’s Lauren?’ James asked.

Dana shook her head. ‘They wouldn’t send all that lot after one person.’

They could hear the six black shirts and the white shirts fighting in the woods less than a hundred metres away. James and Dana considered joining the fray, but both sides seemed to have guns and simunition, while all they had was a big stick and a ropey plan.

‘If half of the quads have gone west and loads of other white shirts are in a rumble over there we could try making a break for it,’ James suggested.

But Dana didn’t sound keen. ‘After my last attempt I don’t fancy our chances on foot. We should stick to our plan. One of the quads has got to come up close eventually.’

Over the next couple of minutes they heard more shooting and watched a bunch of black shirts break out of the trees and make a run downhill towards the lake. They had no vehicles, but most of them had grabbed weapons from the red shirts and some even seemed to have retrieved well-fitting clothes and body armour from the whites.

As the massed group sprinted around the edge of the lake, a single quad closed in on James and Dana’s position. Dave Moss had gone after the non-existent group in the west, leaving McEwen to hunt James and Dana alone.

McEwen was confident that with a gun and body armour he’d be able to capture them both, but as he stood up astride the quad and glanced around to eyeball them with his night vision, he was stunned to see the pair running right at him. They were two metres apart, and they held a thick branch between them at shoulder height.

McEwen ducked and went for his rifle, but he was too slow. The branch smashed into him. As he tumbled off the quad and on to his side, his boot caught the hand throttle and the quad engine roared. Dana moved fast, landing heavily on McEwen’s stomach and knocking the wind out of him.

‘I’m under attack,’ McEwen shouted into his mouthpiece. ‘Get some backup over here.’

McEwen was much bigger than Dana and she knew he’d beat her if she gave him time to catch his breath. Kevlar armour covered all of McEwen’s vulnerable body parts, so Dana went for his goggles, punching them with such ferocity that the plastic bridge between the two sides cracked and blood spewed out of his nose.

‘Where are you, James?’ Dana screamed, as she looked around briefly before grabbing the handcuffs off McEwen’s belt and locking them over his wrists while he was dazed.

Getting the better of McEwen felt good, but they needed the quad to get home. James had made a lunge as it began to roll, but it was heavy and his fingers had no grip after being out in the cold. He ended up sprawled in the grass.

As he scrambled to his feet, the rolling quad’s front end turned gently into the slope and gathered speed as it rolled downhill towards the lake. James broke into a sprint, but couldn’t make up any ground. His last hope was the hedgerow along the lakeside. With luck it would be enough to stop the quad, or at least slow it sufficiently for him to catch up and grab hold of it.

The muddy front tyres reared up as evergreen leaves rustled and branches crunched. All four wheels were off the ground as James made a desperate final charge. He reached out to grab the fender over the back wheels, just as the front wheels tilted forward and raised it beyond his grasp.

The gravel path between the hedge and the lake was fairly flat and the quad crept towards the water less than two metres away. James vaulted the breach in the hedge, confident that he had time to catch up and grab the handlebars before it crashed into the lake, but as he moved out a simulated round thumped him in the back.

James collapsed as a second slammed the back of his bare leg. He spun around and saw Ryan Smythe and another red-shirt girl running downhill towards him. After straightening his safety goggles, James ducked behind the bushes as the front of the quad tipped over the edge of the lake. The water was almost a metre below the embankment and the quad teetered precariously.

The red shirts were too titchy to risk hand-to-hand combat, but they stood their ground until they spotted Dana charging down the hill towards them. One girl made a run for it, but Dana flew in with a two-footed tackle and knocked Ryan flying.

‘Goggles and rifles, short arse,’ Dana yelled, as she held Ryan down. ‘Make it snappy or I’ll throw your butt in the lake.’

James thought about going after the red shirt who was running away, but Dana had now floored McEwen and a red shirt. He figured they had two rifles and two sets of night-vision goggles, so he decided to rescue the quad bike. However, the red shirt who was on the run knew the quad would enable James and Dana to get back to the main building. When she noticed that James wasn’t coming after her, she dropped into a firing position and took aim.

The quad was an easy target and James turned around in time to view the rapid succession of shots. The first hit the back wheel, but the rest punched the metal bodywork. The simulated rounds turned to powder on impact, but had enough power to give the quad a final nudge into the water.

James dived for cover as rubber and metal hit the surface of the lake. Ducks started quacking as a huge splash spilled up the embankment, giving James a soaking. Even if they could drag the quad out without getting shot to pieces, the engine would be flooded.

‘Why didn’t you grab it?’ Dana screamed, as the two red shirts sprinted up the hill.

James was half drowned and limping from where he’d been shot in the leg. ‘What do you think I was trying to do?’ he shouted bitterly.

The red shirts had made it back to the trees and the one who still had her gun took a shot. Dana ducked down and fired back, but James noticed a pair of quads coming towards them. Lauren’s fake radio announcement had only fooled the white shirts for a few minutes, and now they were all heading back to the lake.

‘Run,’ James shouted, as Dana fixed on Ryan’s night-vision goggles. ‘Where’s the other pair?’

‘McEwen’s goggles smashed,’ Dana explained. They started running along the edge of the lake. It was pretty open, but there were a few bushes to shield them.

‘We could try swimming across,’ James said. He realised it wasn’t his greatest ever idea, but he forgave himself when he recognised a pungent waft of exhaust fumes. ‘My buggy,’ he shouted.

But only Dana could see the cart charging downhill towards them, with two quads close behind.

‘I think it’s Lauren,’ she shouted.

James couldn’t believe it, but saw for himself when the headlights from one of the quads caught his sister’s face. Dana sprinted uphill with James behind, stopping only to take a couple of shots at the chasing quads.

‘Care for a ride, old bean?’ Lauren asked, skidding to a halt.

‘I bloody love you,’ James smiled. He grabbed the front passenger seat while Dana squatted down in the rear storage compartment and grabbed on to the poles holding up the roof.

The quads were almost on top of them and the little cart struggled to get any grip on the shaggy grass as Lauren tried steering back uphill.

‘Gimme a gun,’ James shouted.

Dana passed her rifle back, but she was out of ammo and it took another couple of desperate seconds for James to fit one of the spare clips from the red shirt’s backpack. Dana had to duck as he fired backwards at the chasing quads. Their riders were alone and it was impossible for them to shoot and drive at speed, but they continued to get closer and while you weren’t supposed to ram other vehicles on training exercises, everyone knew that rules get bent whenever a surge of adrenalin kicks in.

‘Right in the face,’ James howled, as a pellet smacked the rider of the closest quad in the goggles. She held on to the handlebars, but the quad wobbled and she couldn’t keep up the chase with the powdered remains of a simunition cartridge blocking her view.

The second quad had always been less of a threat, and as soon as they reached the concrete path, Lauren hit the accelerator and the buggy roared clear. The quad rider realised it was hopeless and gave up.

It was a violent ride, especially for Dana who was getting thrown all over the place in the back.

‘Don’t rev it so hard,’ James shouted over the engine noise. ‘There’s no safety cut-out. You could blow the head gasket and you
don’t
want to be on board when that happens.’

Lauren eased off, but she surprised James by taking a left off the path back to the main building.

‘What are you doing?’ James screamed. ‘It’s the Japanese garden. It’s a dead end.’

As Lauren slowed down, a volley of shots pelted the cart’s roof from a sniper position on the porch at the front of the dojo.

‘What’s going on?’ Dana yelled.

‘I just heard on the radio,’ Lauren replied, before yelling into the dark: ‘Do you want a ride? I can’t wait all night.’

Seconds later two crouching figures emerged from the side of the dojo. They seemed to be unarmed and bullets came from at least two firing positions as they ran. James recognised Gabrielle first as she clambered in the back and squeezed up to Dana. The other girl was James’ ex, Kerry Chang, but she hesitated because there was nowhere to sit.