The Recruit

by Robert Muchamore

  Joanna and her dad stood by their garden gate in night clothes, watching the arguments and blue lights in the centre of the village.

  ‘Hey,’ James said.

  Joanna gave James a smile that made him feel better. James was still wary of Sergeant Ribble after he’d caught them in Cathy’s hut, but he sounded OK.

  ‘What’s going on up there?’ Sergeant Ribble asked.

  ‘Everyone’s been chucked out of Fort Harmony,’ James said. ‘How come you’re not involved? You’re a policeman.’

  ‘That lot don’t give me the time of day. I’m just the local bobby,’ Sergeant Ribble said. ‘As soon as they found the anthrax, the terrorist squad turned up and took everything off my hands.’

  ‘Can I use your phone?’ James asked. ‘I’ve lost my aunt and my sister.’

  ‘Of course you can, son. Jojo will show you where the phone is.’

  James took off his boots and stepped into the house with Joanna. She was wearing slippers and a Daffy Duck nightie.

  ‘Hi Jojo,’ James said, laughing.

  ‘Shut up, Ross. Only my dad and big brothers call me that.’

  ‘I’ll probably have to go back to London now,’ James said.

  ‘Oh,’ Joanna said.

  James was glad she sounded upset. It meant Joanna liked him as much as he liked Joanna. She showed him the phone. It took a minute to remember Amy’s mobile number.

  ‘Courtney,’ James said. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Cathy went nuts,’ Amy said. ‘She thinks what happened tonight is her fault for letting us into Fort Harmony. She dumped me a few kilometres outside Craddogh with most of our stuff. Ewart’s coming to fetch me. He should be here any minute.’

  ‘I’m at Joanna’s house in the village,’ James said. ‘What should I do?’

  ‘Stay where you are,’ Amy said. ‘I’ll get Ewart to pick you up after me. If anyone asks questions, say Ewart’s a mini-cab driver and Cathy has arranged for us to get the first train to London from Cardiff in the morning. We should be with you in about half an hour.’

  ‘Are we going home?’ James asked.

  ‘Mission’s over, James. With no Fort Harmony, there’s no reason to stay.’

  James put the phone down and looked at Joanna.

  ‘Mini-cab is on its way. I’m going back to my mum in London.’

  ‘Let’s go to my room,’ Joanna said. ‘Goodbye kiss.’

  Joanna’s dad was too busy watching outside to notice his daughter sneaking James into her bedroom. She didn’t care that James was all muddy. She leant against her bedroom door to stop her dad bursting in and they started kissing. Joanna was soft and hot to touch, her hair smelled like shampoo and her breath like toothpaste. It felt great, but James ached knowing they only had a few minutes and then he’d never see her again.

  The door hit Joanna in the back.

  ‘What are you two doing in there?’ Sergeant Ribble said.

  James and Joanna moved away from the door. Her dad came in. They probably could have made some excuse, if Joanna’s nightdress hadn’t been covered in James’ muddy handprints.

  ‘Joanna, you’re thirteen years old,’ her dad yelled.

  ‘But Daddy we were just …’

  ‘Put something clean on and go to bed. And you …’

  Joanna’s dad grabbed James by the back of his neck.

  ‘Did you make your phone call?’

  ‘Yes,’ James said. ‘There’s a mini-cab coming for me.’

  ‘You can wait for it outside.’

  Joanna’s dad shoved James out of the house and made him sit on the garden wall facing the road. James felt totally miserable. He was worried what would happen to Sebastian, he felt guilty that he and Amy finding out about the anthrax had led to Fort Harmony being destroyed, and worst of all the best girl he’d ever met was trapped in a house a few metres away and he’d never see her again.

  James heard a window open behind him. He watched Joanna throw out a paper aeroplane. Her dad charged back into the house.

  ‘I ordered you to bed, young lady.’

  James jumped into the garden and picked up the aeroplane. He realised there was something written on the paper and unravelled it.

  Ross,

  Please phone me. You’re so cute.

  Joanna.

  XXX

  James folded up the paper, put it in his pocket and felt even sadder.

  *

  Ewart drove Amy and James back to Fort Harmony in the BMW.

  ‘Why are they smashing it up?’ James asked.

  ‘I spoke to someone at the anti-terrorist squad,’ Ewart said. ‘They say Fort Harmony is a security risk. They wanted it wiped before Petrocon started, and the law was on their side.’

  ‘I wish I’d never come here,’ James said. ‘It’s our fault this has happened.’

  ‘I thought you hated Fort Harmony,’ Amy said,

  ‘I didn’t say I wanted to live there,’ James said. ‘Just, it’s not fair kicking everyone out.’

  ‘Fort Harmony was doomed either way,’ Ewart said. ‘If Fire, World and Bungle had killed all those people, they would have wiped the camp out after the conference instead of before. All you would have done is delayed the end by a month.’

  ‘Did you know it was going to happen, Ewart?’ James asked.

  ‘I wouldn’t have sent you back for one night if I had.’

  ‘Where’s Cathy gone?’ James asked.

  ‘She was upset,’ Amy said. ‘She said something about staying with friends in London.’

  ‘Cathy broke the deal,’ Ewart said. ‘She wasn’t supposed to abandon Amy in the middle of nowhere. I want that money back when I catch up with her.’

  ‘Leave her alone,’ Amy said. ‘She’s lived at Fort Harmony for thirty years and got in a bit of a state when all those cops showed up. She did a perfect job looking after us until tonight.’

  ‘A sixteen-year-old girl dumped in the middle of the countryside at night, with four bags of luggage,’ Ewart said. ‘Lucky your mobile had reception. You could have been picked up by some nutter and murdered.’

  ‘But I wasn’t,’ Amy said sharply. ‘So leave Cathy alone. We got everything we wanted from her.’

  Ewart banged the steering wheel. ‘OK Amy, if you say so. Cathy’s come out of this with eight thousand quid and a car. It’s better than she deserves after treating you like that.’

  Ewart slowed down at a police checkpoint. He showed an ID and they waved him through. The sun was coming up. Riot police were working their way across Fort Harmony. One crew emptied out the shelters, bagging up the contents and loading them into a truck. A follow-up team worked with chainsaws and sledgehammers, knocking the huts down and smashing the timber into small pieces so there was no way anything could be rebuilt.

  Ewart, James and Amy got out of the BMW. Ewart was wearing scruffy jeans and looked too young to be anyone important. A couple of policemen walked towards them.

  ‘Get back in the car and drive on,’ a policeman shouted.

  Ewart ignored him and headed for Cathy’s hut. James and Amy followed.

  ‘You’re asking for a day in the cells,’ the policeman said cockily.

  The cop made a grab for Ewart. Ewart dodged him and pulled out his ID. The policeman looked a bit stunned.

  ‘Um, what are you here for?’

  ‘Sir,’ Ewart said.

  ‘What?’ the policeman said.

  ‘Don’t you call a senior officer sir?’

  ‘What can I do for you, sir?’

  ‘Get me some plastic bags,’ Ewart said.

  They walked across to Cathy’s hut and started packing up. A chief inspector rushed over. She sounded apologetic.

  ‘Sorry about the mix-up. We got a message not to touch this hut. Can I double-check your ID?’

  Ewart handed it to her.

  ‘I’ve never seen one of these before,’ she gushed. ‘Level one clearance. The Commissioner of the anti-terrorist unit only has level two. What ar
e you doing here?’

  Ewart snatched it back out of her hand.

  ‘You should know better than to ask questions,’ Ewart said. ‘Take this down to my car.’

  Ewart dumped a bin-liner stuffed with clothes in the chief inspector’s arms. James thought it was funny watching a senior policewoman carrying a bag of his dirty clothes down a muddy hill.

  ‘I thought only Mac had level one security clearance,’ Amy said.

  Ewart shrugged. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So what did you show her?’ Amy asked.

  ‘A very good fake.’

  James laughed. ‘That’s so cool.’

  They loaded all their stuff in the back of the car. James turned back for a last glance at Fort Harmony and took a couple of pictures of a tree with his digital camera.

  ‘What’s with the tree?’ Amy asked, after they’d driven off.

  ‘Not telling,’ James said. ‘You’ll take the piss.’

  Amy wriggled her fingers in the air. ‘I’ll tickle it out of you.’

  ‘OK,’ James said. ‘But promise not to laugh.’

  ‘I promise,’ Amy said.

  ‘It’s where I first kissed Joanna.’

  Amy smiled. ‘That is so sweet.’

  Ewart put his fingers in his mouth and pretended he was being sick.

  ‘You promised,’ James said.

  Ewart laughed. ‘Amy promised. I never said a word.’

  ‘I can’t wait to tell Kerry all about your smooching with Joanna,’ Amy said.

  ‘Oh god, don’t … Please,’ James said.

  ‘Why would you care what I told Kerry about you, unless you like her more than you’re willing to admit?’ Amy teased.

  James wanted to storm off, but that was difficult in a car doing eighty kilometres an hour. He folded his arms and stared out the window, trying to hide how upset he was about not being able to see Joanna again.

  41. DARK

  When they got back to CHERUB Amy took James to the woodwork shop. She found an electric drill and fixed on a circular cutter. James gave the silver teeth a grim look.

  ‘You’re not cutting it off with that,’ James said. ‘You’ll kill me.’

  ‘Stop being such a pansy. Put these on.’

  Amy threw James a set of protective goggles and fixed a pair on herself.

  ‘Put your arm on the bench,’ Amy said.

  ‘Have you ever done this before?’

  Amy smiled. ‘No.’

  James rested his cast on the workbench. Amy gave the drill a couple of test spins then set to work. Plaster shards pelted James’ face and the white dust dried his mouth. James thought he felt the blade tickling the hairs on his arm, but hoped he was just imagining it.

  Amy stopped the drill and cracked off most of the cast, leaving the part around the elbow.

  ‘OK, last bit,’ Amy said.

  Amy cut in at a different angle. When she was done James pulled the last bit of plaster down his arm and went into a scratching frenzy.

  ‘That feels so much better,’ James said. ‘OHHHHHH.’

  ‘Leave it alone, you’ll tear all your skin off,’ Amy said.

  ‘Don’t care.’

  James took off the goggles and flicked white dust out of his hair.

  ‘Go have a shower and take your clothes to the laundry,’ Amy said. ‘Mac will want to see you in his office when you’re ready.’

  ‘Just me?’ James asked.

  ‘It’s a standard thing,’ Amy said. ‘He does it with everyone after their first mission.’

  *

  Mac was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt when James got to his office.

  ‘Come in, James. How you feeling?’

  ‘Fine now,’ James said. ‘Bit tired.’

  ‘Ewart seemed to think you had some doubts about the value of your mission.’

  ‘It’s confusing,’ James said.

  ‘He said you didn’t seem sure that we’d done the right thing,’ Mac said.

  ‘I heard some stuff about the people going to Petrocon,’ James said. ‘They poison people and beat people up and stuff. I’m not even sure it’s true.’

  ‘It’s mostly true,’ Mac said. ‘Oil companies have a terrible environmental and human rights record. Without oil and gas the world stops working. No aeroplanes, no ships, no cars, very little electricity. Because oil is so important, companies and governments bend rules to get it. Help Earth and a lot of other people, including me, think they go too far.’

  ‘So you support Help Earth?’ James said.

  ‘I want to stop people getting exploited and poisoned by oil companies. I don’t agree that terrorism is the way to do it.’

  ‘I understand,’ James said. ‘Killing people never solves anything.’

  ‘Think about what would have happened if all those people got killed at Petrocon,’ Mac said. ‘Would Help Earth have attacked somewhere else? What if the anthrax got into the hands of another terrorist group? You’ll never know for certain what would have happened if Fire and World Dunn weren’t caught. The next attack could have been in the middle of a city. Stick some anthrax in a London Underground station and you’d be looking at five thousand dead people. That’s how many lives you and Amy might have saved.’

  ‘Bungle’s still on the loose though,’ James said.

  ‘Can I trust you with some information?’ Mac asked.

  ‘What?’ James said.

  ‘You’re the only person who knows besides Ewart and myself, so if this gets out I’ll know you leaked it.’

  ‘I swear,’ James said.

  ‘MI5 knows where Bungle is,’ Mac said.

  ‘So why don’t you get him?’

  ‘They’re tracking him,’ Mac said. ‘Bungle won’t tell us anything if we arrest him, but by letting him wander he might lead us to other members of Help Earth.’

  ‘What if you lose him?’ James asked.

  Mac laughed, ‘You always ask me the question I don’t want to answer.’

  ‘Have they lost anyone before?’ James asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Mac said. ‘It won’t happen this time. Bungle can’t stick a finger up his nose without ten people knowing about it.’

  ‘It makes more sense now you’ve explained it,’ James said. ‘I still feel sorry for all the people who got chucked out of Fort Harmony. They’re a weird lot, but basically they’re OK.’

  ‘It’s a shame,’ Mac said. ‘But a few families losing their homes is better than thousands of people getting killed.

  ‘So I want to thank you for doing a brilliant job, James. You made friends with the right people, didn’t break your cover and polished off the mission in half the time we expected.’

  ‘Thanks,’ James said.

  ‘I also owe you a massive apology,’ Mac said. ‘You nearly died. We had no idea Help Earth was planning an anthrax attack. If we’d known, we never would have sent someone as inexperienced as you on this mission.’

  ‘It’s not your fault.’

  ‘You must have been frightened, but you handled yourself tremendously. You kept a level head and even agreed to return to the mission. I’ve decided to classify your overall performance as outstanding.’

  Mac pulled a navy CHERUB T-shirt out of his desk and threw it to James.

  ‘Wow,’ James said, grinning. ‘When Kerry sees this she’s gonna be so pissed off.’

  ‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,’ Mac said. ‘But if you use that sort of language in my office again I’ll make you a very unhappy boy.’

  ‘Sorry,’ James said. ‘Can I put it on?’

  ‘Don’t be modest on my account,’ Mac said.

  James ripped off his Arsenal shirt and pulled the navy CHERUB T-shirt over his head.

  *

  The kids at CHERUB were allowed to sleep late and wear normal clothes on Sundays. It was still early and nobody was around. James ate breakfast alone in the dining room, with one eye on the television. There was a story about Fort Harmony being destroyed on News 24. Th
ey cut to a clip of Michael Dunn waving his fists in the air and vowing he would spend the rest of his life rebuilding Fort Harmony if that was what it took.

  Kerry came down in shorts and a denim jacket. She gave James a hug.

  ‘I was so happy you finally got a mission,’ Kerry said. ‘I got back from my third mission on Thursday.’

  James loved the way she couldn’t resist mentioning it was her third mission. He wondered how long it would be before she noticed his navy shirt. Bruce came down and joined Kerry at the breakfast buffet.

  ‘Good mission?’ Bruce asked, as he put his tray on the table next to James.

  James acted casual. ‘Mac seemed to think I did OK.’

  Kerry sat opposite James. She only had a bran muffin and a couple of bits of fruit.

  ‘On a diet?’ James asked.

  ‘I’m trying to eat less greasy stuff,’ Kerry said.

  ‘Good,’ James said. ‘You’re starting to look a bit fat.’

  Bruce burst out laughing and spat half his bacon across the table. Kerry kicked James in the shin.

  ‘Pig,’ Kerry said.

  ‘That kick hurt,’ James said. ‘I was only joking.’

  ‘Did you see me laughing?’ Kerry asked.

  James got a punch in the back. ‘Stop being rude to Kerry,’ Lauren said. ‘You should ask her out now you’re back. It’s so obvious you two fancy each other.’

  James and Kerry blushed. Lauren got her breakfast and sat next to Kerry.

  Callum and Connor sat at the next table a few minutes later. James hadn’t seen them together since Callum restarted basic training.

  ‘Which one of you is Callum?’ James asked.

  Callum raised a finger.

  ‘You passed basic training now?’ James asked.

  ‘Got back from Malaysia on Tuesday,’ Callum said. ‘Slept for twenty hours solid.’

  ‘Bet you’re glad that’s out the way,’ James said.

  ‘You know that navy T-shirt you’re wearing is a CHERUB shirt?’ Callum said.