CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,17

The pieces were stored in foam slots under the board, which then folded in half to make a box.

‘It’s got pegs,’ Carl explained. ‘So I don’t knock the pieces over when we play.’

Dante had never played chess before Carl taught him. ‘We’ll have a game after school,’ Dante said. ‘I’m gonna beat you one day.’

Carl cracked a big smile. ‘You wish!’

Linda put a Woolworths carrier bag on the edge of the bed. ‘Just some Haribos and a couple of extra tops,’ she explained. ‘Don’t let the baby get the plastic bag.’

Almost as if she’d understood Holly stuck her hand down the bag and pulled out a glossy-covered WWE annual. It was the previous year’s title, reduced to ninety-nine pence.

‘That’s the wrestling book you were looking for, wasn’t it?’ Linda said.

Dante nodded enthusiastically. ‘I had it before the fire. It’s got a massive section all about Goldberg in it.’

‘Wrestling’s stupid,’ Carl said. ‘It’s all fake.’

‘You’re full of crap,’ Dante snapped back. ‘Those guys are so strong they’d pluck you out of your chair and toss you with one arm.’

‘But I could beat them all at chess,’ Carl smiled, as Holly opened out the annual and tried it as a hat.

While this was going on, Linda had picked dirty grey socks, pants and an ink-stained school shirt off the floor. ‘Get in the shower and put on clean school clothes today,’ she said firmly. ‘What must people think of me, sending you to school covered in biro and mud?’

Dante smiled. He liked the way Linda fussed over details like a loose shoelace or a scratch on his face, although sometimes he got upset because she’d use the exact phrase that his mum would have done.

Dante realised that Holly was still in her night clothes. ‘Do you want to come in the shower with Dante?’ he asked, holding his arms out wide.

Holly made a fuss in the bath and showering with Dante was the easiest way to keep her clean, but Linda had an eye on the clock.

‘I’ll give madam a little bath in the sink once you’re all at school,’ she said. ‘Otherwise you’ll be late again.’

Dante didn’t mind, but Holly knew what was going on and looked cross as she saw Dante grabbing the bath towel hooked up on his door and heading across the hall to the bathroom.

‘Meeee!’ Holly whined.

She was about to throw a fit, until she heard the hydraulic platform of Carl’s wheelchair lift swinging out over the staircase.

‘All aboard!’ Carl said, as he rolled the chair on to its platform and pulled up the locking bar.

Holly raced across and Carl leaned forwards to lift Holly on to his lap for the ride downstairs.

*

Dante showered until Linda banged on the door and told him to hurry up because she was cooking him his favourite scrambled egg, bacon and potato cakes for breakfast. After putting on underpants and combing his hair, Dante bolted across the hallway and found that Linda had straightened his bed and laid out clean school clothes. He had football practice after school, so she’d put out his Astroturf trainers to wear and tucked his water bottle and shin pads in his school pack.

Dante sang Happy Birthday to me as he pulled up black tracksuit bottoms and a red school shirt before swinging his bag over his back and heading downstairs. But he gulped in shock when he reached the landing and saw an oversized Harley touring bike parked out front and a man in a leather jacket heading up the driveway. Dante didn’t see enough to recognise who it was, but the Brigands logo on his helmet was unmistakeable.

The doorbell buzzed as Dante raced into the kitchen and yelled out: ‘Call the cops! Don’t let him in.’

But a twelve-year-old called Abby was standing right in the hallway by the front door and had already opened up.

‘Good morning,’ the biker said, as Linda realised who he was and rushed frantically down the hallway to block his path.

The staircase led directly into a kitchen and dining-room that had been knocked together to make a space large enough for Donald, Linda and eight kids to dine together. Dante looked one way, at Holly in her high chair, then the other, considering grabbing a knife from the kitchen drawer, but in the end he backed up the stairs and grabbed his mobile phone.

As a protected witness Dante was supposed to keep the phone with him at all times. Donald made sure it was fully charged every night and Dante