CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,58

string of petty convictions. According to Neil Gauche he’d turned down the opportunity to become a prospect Brigand many times because he took pride in his status as a lone rider and didn’t care for the infighting and squabbles that came with club membership.

After passing two well groomed mechanics in turquoise overalls, they headed upstairs and found Rhino at a desk in jeans and an AC/DC T-shirt. Behind him was a large room, with its white tile floor streaked with tyre marks. The space was crammed with bikes ranging from battered Harleys and Ducatti racers to pink Lambrettas and quad bikes.

After James had explained about his brakes, Rhino gave him a card and told him that he’d need to phone the service department and make an appointment for later in the week. Nigel had wandered off and found half a dozen mid-sized bikes, similar to Ben’s. They were all a few years old, but most only had a few thousand miles on the clock and prices on the right side of £2,000.

‘You’ve got a two-fifty haven’t you?’ Rhino asked, as he sniffed a sale. ‘You’re Will’s brother?’

Nigel nodded. ‘Some nice bikes here, but I’m just looking.’

‘Look all you like,’ Rhino smiled.

James sat astride a £1,800 498cc Kawasaki ER5 and bounced the suspension.

‘That’s a perfect bike for a young man like you,’ Rhino said. ‘Easy to ride, fifty horsepower, it’ll cruise at a hundred miles per hour.’

‘You’d need one of those restrictor kits,’ Nigel said. ‘That’d slow it down.’

Rhino smiled. ‘Between you and me, on a fifty-horsepower bike we’ll fit you the kit, give you the certificate and make sure you feel no difference if you see what I mean.’

‘It’s academic,’ James smiled. ‘I haven’t got eighteen hundred quid.’

‘Maybe you don’t need it,’ Rhino explained. ‘Your old bike will count as a deposit of at least four hundred. Then you’ll have fourteen hundred outstanding. Zero per cent finance over three years, that’s less than ten pounds a week.’

‘Can you lend us money?’ Nigel asked incredulously.

Rhino shook his head. ‘You’d have to get a parent to sign the paperwork. But that’s a formality. All our bikes are guaranteed rock solid. You’ve seen the mechanical set-up we’ve got down there and all these bikes have been stripped and tested. Your friend is sitting astride a bike that’s done less than six thousand miles. It’s barely run in, but you’re paying a third of what some sucker paid in a showroom less than three years ago.’

James smiled, imagining himself blasting the motorway on a 500cc bike. ‘Maybe I’ll ask my mum.’

‘I’ll need a bigger bike if I’m going on a run in the summer,’ Nigel said. ‘But the insurance is gonna be the killer.’

Rhino switched out of being a salesman and sounded more genuine when he heard this. ‘Who you going on a run with?’

‘Monster Bunch, hopefully,’ Nigel said. ‘My brother said he’ll try and sort something out when he gets back from uni in a couple of weeks.’

‘Has Will still got that raggedy 883 Sportster?’

Nigel nodded. ‘Spent a lot of money fixing it up. It looks the business, but he’s had chronic breakdowns.’

‘We have a philosophy here when it comes to selling motorcycles,’ Rhino said, dropping back into salesman mode. ‘You’re teenagers. You don’t have much money now, but enthusiasm for motorcycles is a lifelong thing. I’m more interested in sending you out of here on a good reliable bike. Then I can bleed you dry when you’re older and you come in here to drop ten grand on a Harley.’

James and Nigel both laughed.

‘Do you know Teeth?’ Rhino asked.

James knew the name, but he shook his head.

‘I know of him,’ Nigel said.

‘Well Teeth is the Führer’s right-hand man these days,’ Rhino explained. ‘He runs Marina Heights promenade. Cleaning crews, maintenance, the diner and the fast-food kiosks. He can’t offer glamorous work, but it’s a minimum six quid an hour. You can work Saturdays, and once the school holidays start you can do forty hours or more a week. If you’re prepared to graft you can easily pay for a bike like this over a single summer.’

Nigel snorted. ‘Do you know how hard it is to get Marina Heights jobs? Every kid in town wants them, along with about a million older dudes who come to the beaches to surf.’

Rhino nodded. ‘But in case you haven’t noticed, Marina Heights is run by the Brigands. We’re motorbike people, you’re motorbike people. If you’re buying a bike out of here, I’ll go to Teeth and