Divine Madness (6 page)

Chloe walked to the cutlery drawer, grabbed a steak knife and used it to slice open the envelope. ‘Fuses,’ she answered cryptically, as Kerry poured out a glass of orange juice and sat herself at the dining table.

Chloe delved her hand into the envelope. She stripped out a layer of bubble wrap before removing four sticks of plastic explosive, identical to the ones Kerry had seen in Clyde’s bedroom the afternoon before.

‘At two a.m., we got information from CHERUB campus based upon the pictures you shot in Clyde’s room,’ Chloe explained. ‘The fuses are a special design made in tiny quantities for the CIA. They’ve never fallen into the hands of terrorists before. The fuse is designed to trigger when air pressure drops below a certain level.’

Kerry looked confused. ‘What good is that?’

‘At high altitude, air pressure is lower than at ground level.’

‘Right,’ Kerry said. ‘So if you want to blow up a mountaineer …’

‘
Or
 
an aeroplane,’ Chloe said.

‘Oh.’ Kerry felt like an idiot as she realised that American intelligence didn’t go around blowing up mountaineers.

Chloe continued her explanation. ‘Viennese is a small Italian oil exploration company that just hit big with the discovery of a major oil field in the South China Sea. But they need the financial muscle and expertise of a larger company to develop it. The chairman and owner of the soon to be explosive overnight bag is a guy called Vincent Pielle. He’s spent the last couple of days signing deals with executives from two major oil companies. He’s chartered a jet out of a small airfield in the New Territories tomorrow morning and he’s going to fly his new business partners and senior staff off to some plush Thai resort for a couple of days’ rest and relaxation.’

Kerry took over. ‘Except that Clyde Xu will have placed a bomb in his overnight bag that will blow a big hole in the aeroplane as soon as it reaches a certain height.’

‘You’ve got it, Kerry.’

‘How did we find all this out?’

‘The mission support team on campus unearthed the information about the fuses. There’s plenty about Viennese Oil’s discovery on the internet and the details that weren’t public were easily picked up with a few calls to the right people inside the intelligence services. MI5 and the CIA have always kept a close watch on the oil industry; even more so these days with Help Earth around and the situation in the Middle East.’

Kerry looked at the lump of plastic explosive sitting in the middle of the dining table. ‘I take it that isn’t real and we’re gonna go into the Xus’ apartment and switch it over.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Chloe nodded.

‘Where did it come from? It looks exactly the same.’

‘It’s an expired batch of the same brand of C4 explosive that Clyde Xu has in his sock drawer. The manufacturers add a chemical to the compound that spoils the explosive after a couple of years. That way, terrorist groups can’t stockpile it. Fortunately, the army keeps some old stock on hand to use in training exercises. There wasn’t time to fly any in from the UK, so we got the Americans to deliver a few sticks in a diplomatic pouch from one of their bases in the Philippines.’

‘Couldn’t we tip the Hong Kong police off about the bomb being in Pielle’s bag?’ Kerry asked.

‘We could, but swapping the explosive while the Xus are all out shouldn’t be hard. It’s better if Help Earth think the bomb didn’t go off because of a batch of dodgy explosives. If the Hong Kong police came charging in, they’d know someone was on their case.’

‘What about Barry Cox getting mugged at the hotel though?’ Kerry asked. ‘It happened right after the meeting with Clyde, so it looks dodgy.’

Chloe nodded. ‘They’ll be suspicious, but they can’t be certain. Anyhow, what really matters is that we’ve identified a senior member of Help Earth. Hopefully, there will be more information in the items Bruce stole from Cox’s room. But even if there isn’t, MI5 can start a detailed investigation into where Barry Cox has been over the past few years, what he’s been up to and who his associates are.’

Kerry nodded, then looked up at the clock on the wall. ‘I suppose I’d better take a quick shower and start getting ready for school.’

Chloe shook her head. ‘To quote Alice Cooper,
 
School’s out forever
. Once we’ve swapped the explosive we’re packing up and heading home. John’s booked us on the three-thirty flight to Manchester.’

*

Kerry rang the doorbell of the Xus’ apartment. Rebecca answered in her school uniform and was shocked to see her friend in tears.

‘Kerry, my god! What’s happened?’

‘It’s my dad,’ she sobbed. ‘He was in a huge car accident back in London. It looks like he was hurt really bad.’

‘Oh, Kerry …’

Rebecca’s mum was inside the kitchen. She overheard and came charging towards the door in a grey business suit and high heels. ‘Kerry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s OK,’ Kerry sniffed, as Mrs Xu gave her a sympathetic hug. ‘We’re flying back to England later tonight.’

‘When will you be back here?’ Rebecca asked.

Kerry shrugged. ‘We don’t know. I mean, we only came out here because my dad’s starting a new job. If he’s badly hurt and he can’t take the job, we might not be back at all.’

That was enough to start Rebecca off crying too and before long Mrs Xu joined in as well, making it three women sobbing in the doorway. Clyde emerged briefly, took one look at the three howling females and promptly dived back into his bedroom.

*

Forty minutes after the mass hysteria, Kerry, Kyle, Bruce and Chloe’s stuff was lined up by the front door packed into sports bags and backpacks. The cramped apartment felt sad as Kerry moved between the empty rooms, checking inside wardrobes and under beds to make sure nothing had been left behind.

When she came out of the bathroom, she found Chloe and Kyle in the kitchen watching the video feeds from the Xus’ empty apartment on the laptop screen.

‘OK, Kerry,’ Chloe said. ‘They’re all either at school or work. Kyle and I are going in to switch the explosives and clean up shop. Keep an eye out on the camera in the corridor; we’ll be wearing radio mics in case you need to speak to us urgently.’

Kerry sat in front of the laptop and popped a mint on her tongue as she watched Kyle and Chloe walk down the hallway. They entered the Xus’ apartment with an illicit copy of Rebecca’s key. Chloe walked into Clyde’s room first, unravelled the package in his drawer and switched the four live sticks of C4 explosive with the expired ones. Once this was done, the pair moved quickly, clambering on to sofas and chairs as they removed the seven hidden cameras and microphones from light fittings. Kerry’s five tiny windows into the Xus’ apartment slowly turned black.

Finally, as the pair headed back to the apartment, Chloe unhooked the corridor camera that was built into the buzzer on their front door.

Kerry began unscrewing the two small satellite antennas on the balcony, as Chloe and Kyle came back into the room, holding carriers stuffed with electronic surveillance equipment and the real explosive, minus the detonators. Chloe unzipped the largest of the cases and tucked it all inside with a grin.

‘I’ll have to make sure I give that lot to John. He’ll be travelling on a diplomatic passport.’

Kerry put the two satellite aerials into her case and tucked the laptop into the backpack Chloe would carry onboard as hand luggage.

‘Where are we meeting John?’ Kerry asked.

‘At the airport,’ Kyle answered, checking his watch. ‘Four hours until take-off, thirteen hours to Manchester, then a couple more to pass through customs and ride the train to campus.’

‘OK,’ Chloe said, as she slung the largest of the backpacks over her shoulder and grabbed a suitcase. ‘Let’s get moving. It’s usually pretty easy to hail a cab out front.’

‘Famous last words,’ Kyle grinned.

Kerry took a glance back inside the apartment as she pulled open the door. She felt a little sad about never being able to see Rebecca again, and she certainly wasn’t going to enjoy the nineteen-hour journey home, but she was looking forward to seeing the gang and catching up on six weeks of gossip.

Eight days later

James Adams staggered up the fire stairs to the eighth floor of the main building on CHERUB campus. He wore one sock, boxer shorts, a muddy tracksuit top and an Arsenal bobble hat as he began pounding a fist on the door of his sister’s bedroom.

‘Yo, Lauren, let me in,’ James said, his voice slurring.

James banged again as Lauren emerged behind the door, dressed in a Scooby Doo nightshirt. She had her arms folded and a fearsome look on her face.

‘What are you playing at, James?’ she whispered angrily. ‘It’s two in the bloody morning.’

‘I want you to come out and par-tay with me, sis.’

‘James, I’m not
 
partying
 
with anyone. You smell like a pub, how much have you had to drink?’

‘Not partying, Lauren,’ James giggled. ‘Part
ay
ing.’

‘James, go down to your room and go to bed. If one of the night staff catches you stumbling around in that state, they’ll murder you.’

‘But I want to have fun,’ James moaned. ‘It’s Friday night, I got my Advanced Combat Certificate today. We’ve all been in town celebrating: shopping arcade, the dodgy off-licence, cinema.’

‘What happened to Gabrielle and the others?’

‘Wusses,’ James sneered. ‘They all went to bed.’

‘James,’ Lauren said irritably. ‘You’re gonna get in
 
so
 
much trouble. Then I’m gonna have to spend the next god knows how long listening to you moaning on about it. Go downstairs to your room and
 
go to bed
.’

‘Let me in for one minute,’ James begged, holding up a finger. ‘I just wanted to say that I love you.’

Lauren dived out of the way, as her big brother stumbled forwards and tried to give her a hug.

‘You know,’ James said, ‘I never get to tell you that I love you any more. That stupid cow Bethany is always hanging around.’

‘James, when
 
exactly
 
did you and me ever go around saying that we loved each other?’

Lauren flicked on her light and James noticed that her best friend was sitting up in the double bed scowling at him. There were three other girls lying in sleeping bags on the floor, as well as empty soft drink cans and plates of half-eaten munchies scattered around.

‘We’re having a sleepover,’ Lauren explained.

‘Then I’ll join you,’ James grinned.

‘Oh no you won’t.’

James gave Bethany a wave. ‘Hi, Bethany.’

‘Drop dead, James.’

James giggled. ‘That’s not nice.’

‘Nor’s calling me a cow.’

The other three girls were all sitting up in their sleeping bags, watching the drama in the doorway. They were whispering and shaking their heads. Lauren was totally embarrassed.

‘Go to bed, James,’ Lauren repeated, shoving her brother back out of the room.

‘OK, I will,’ James nodded. ‘Can I come in and have a quick pee first? I’m busting.’

Lauren backed away from her door. ‘Go on then. I suppose you’re satisfied now that you’ve woken five people up? Make sure you lift up the seat for once, as well.’

James stumbled over the legs inside the sleeping bags and walked into Lauren’s bathroom. She bunched her fists and grimaced at her sleepy friends.

‘
Brothers
,’ she huffed. ‘I’m really sorry about this.’

Bethany smiled sympathetically. ‘You don’t need to tell me about them.’

‘I like the bobble hat,’ one of the sleeping-bag girls giggled. The three others joined in the laughter, but Lauren wasn’t in any mood to see the funny side.

James flushed the toilet and staggered back over the sleeping bags, but this time he managed to stick his foot in a plate of nachos, spewing crumbs and dip over the floor.

‘Oh, crap,’ James gasped, crouching down and scooping up some of the dip with his bare hand.

‘James, you’re rubbing it all in,’ Lauren said furiously. ‘I’ll do it, just get out of here.’

‘Sorry,’ James said as he opened Lauren’s bedroom door to leave. ‘Goodnight.’

Lauren stamped her foot as she shut the door behind her

brother. ‘Idiot.’

‘Don’t get upset about it, Lauren,’ Bethany said. ‘It’s not your fault.’

A couple of the girls had grabbed tissue from the bathroom and were using it to scoop crumbs and dip off the carpet.

‘You know,’ Lauren said, holding her thumb and finger a few millimetres apart, ‘I was
 
that
 
close to giving him a slap.’

*

‘Good morning, James,’ Meryl Spencer yelled cheerily as she leaned over James’ bed.

Meryl was a retired Kenyan sprint champion who worked as an athletics coach on CHERUB campus. She was also James’ handler, a role that was part form teacher and part guidance counsellor.