CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,76
your Marina Heights security pass get you down into the car park under Marina View?’ Chloe asked as she placed a small paper bag in James’ lap.
‘Sure,’ James nodded. He unravelled the bag. It contained a black box with two buttons, a screw-top jar filled with brown gloop, a device that looked like a staple gun and a smaller grey box.
‘You recognise everything in the bag?’ Chloe asked.
‘Except the brown stuff,’ James said.
‘It’s mud from our garden mixed with a couple of egg yolks to make it dry on hard. Rub it on the number plate.’
‘Gotcha,’ James said. ‘By the way, I saw Sealclubber in the clubhouse with the Führer earlier, so I’m guessing that they came down with George’s two hundred and fifty grand.’
Chloe nodded. ‘George had a meeting in London before Sealclubber left. He said that his first batch of weapons will be delivered within a week.’
‘So what’s the plan for Nigel and Julian’s trip?’
‘Neil Gauche and one of our junior mission control staff will tail Julian’s car. We’ll also have backup from Devon police. Neil will listen to the conversations inside the car and decide whether to pull them over.’
‘Right,’ James said, as he popped the door open. ‘I’ll sort this lot out and see you back at home.’
Chloe nodded. ‘You’d better clear out, I’m supposed to pick up Lauren and Dante and a couple of their friends in five minutes.’
James hopped out of the Range Rover and walked briskly along the promenade. It was ten past ten, so while the restaurants and bars upstairs were still moderately busy, the shops were all closed and the lower floor was deserted apart from a cleaning crew and a young couple making out on the grass verge between two rose bushes.
James swiped his security pass at a recessed door between two shop fronts and walked down a corridor that ran behind the shops. The floor and walls were bare concrete, and pipes and electrical cables hung from the ceiling centimetres above his head.
He’d only been down here once before, on his first day when Teeth took him to blast graffiti. A door at the end of the corridor opened on to a set of metal steps. These led down into the secure parking area beneath the Marina View apartments where Julian lived.
Each parking bay was assigned to a specific apartment, so James easily found Julian’s red Fiat parked next to a Jaguar XF that belonged to his father. James knew that one security man watched the whole Marina Heights complex, so his concern was being detected by a civilian rather than by the CCTV cameras at the end of each line of cars.
James pulled the small black box from his jeans and pressed the button. Chloe had pre-programmed the device to send out a master radio frequency that would unlock Julian’s car. James was reassured by a flash of Julian’s indicator lights.
With the car unlocked, James opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. He used the staple gun-type device to fire three needle-sized bugs into the fabric-lined roof before stepping outside. He took a wary glance over his shoulder before using the plipper to relock the car.
Next he crouched down by the front tyre, reached under the wheel arch and fitted the magnetic grey box. This acted as a remote tracking device and as a signal amplifier for the tiny bugs inside the car.
James’ final task was the messiest. He unscrewed the lid on the pot of egg yolk and mud, then dipped in two fingers and spattered it on the front number plate, obscuring three letters. Because the bumper was up against the car-park wall, there was no way Julian would see this when he drove off.
James wiped his fingers on a crêperie napkin and dropped it inside the paper bag before standing up and walking back to the stairs. He said hello to a cleaner in the corridor, before heading into the staff locker room to grab his helmet and riding gear.
Before zipping his leather riding jacket he pulled out his phone and sent Chloe a text message: Job done!
27. STAGED
Friday
Julian and Nigel set off from Marina View at half-eight, blissfully unaware that two cars were tailing them from a kilometre behind. One was a Devon police vehicle containing two uniformed officers. The second car was unmarked. From inside, NPBTF officer Neil Gauche and burly assistant CHERUB mission controller Jake McEwen listened to every word Julian and Nigel said.