CHERUB: Dark Sun - Robert Muchamore Page 0,11

son, George, and a fifteen-year-old daughter, Sophie. It has been suggested that a pair of CHERUB agents may be able to befriend George and/or Sophie, infiltrate Kurt Lydon’s home and then sabotage the centrifuge design.

6. INTRODUCING

‘You boys OK?’ John Jones asked, as he drove a Nissan 4x4 across a deserted roundabout. Andy and Greg sat in the back.

‘All set, boss,’ Greg nodded, before looking across at Andy. ‘Just remember not to call me Rat.’

‘OK, Rat,’ Andy smirked.

John turned into a modern development of detached houses and slowed down so that he could catch the house numbers as he rolled by. At number twenty-two he turned on to a brick driveway and pulled up beside a silver Astra.

The boys reached over the back seat to grab their backpacks before following him up to the front door. A slim woman opened up before they had a chance to ring the bell. George hurried up the hallway behind her, dressed in a T-shirt and Futurama boxers.

‘You must be Dr Lydon,’ John smiled, giving himself a bit of an Australian accent so that he’d pass for Greg’s dad. ‘Thanks for having the boys. If there’s any problem whatsoever just give me a call.’

‘Call me Susie,’ George’s mum said, as she shook John’s hand. ‘It’s no bother. They’ve got money for pizza and three dozen X-box games, so they’ll pretty much take care of themselves.’

As the adults spoke on the doorstep, Greg and Andy ducked under Dr Lydon’s arm, kicked off their trainers and headed upstairs to George’s bedroom.

‘You boys behave,’ John shouted after them.

‘No worries, Dad,’ Greg shouted back. ‘See you in the morning.’

The house was comfortable, but it wouldn’t win any design awards and smelled slightly like cats. George had a smallish bedroom, but he had a cool AV setup with surround-sound speakers and a 37-inch LCD mounted on the wall. Zhang had arrived early and was playing Forza Motorsport Two with the volume turned up loud. He’d stripped down to a pair of Chelsea shorts because the room was stifling, and sat himself cross-legged on the end of George’s bed.

‘Nice bruises, Zhang,’ Greg noted.

Zhang shook his head. ‘It was nice of you to leave your Karate Kid act until after Johno battered me and stuck my head down the crapper.’

‘Until today I thought getting your head stuck down the school toilet was just an urban myth,’ Greg smiled, before looking across at Andy. ‘This is my cousin. He’s down from Scotland for the first week of the holiday.’

Zhang was driving a Dodge Challenger through a chicane, so he just made a grunting noise.

‘You’ve got four controllers,’ Andy smiled.

‘Yeah,’ George said proudly. ‘You any good at Virtua Tennis? We can play a doubles tournament.’

‘Bagsy not Zhang’s team,’ Greg blurted. ‘He sucks.’

‘Screw you,’ Zhang shouted. ‘You can’t expect anyone to play brilliantly the first time you pick it up. I took you to a tiebreak that last set—AAARGH, I hate that stupid corner so much!’

George cracked up laughing as Zhang’s Challenger clattered through a gravel trap before smashing into a tyre wall.

‘Tossers!’ Zhang shouted, as he threw the controller at the bed. ‘Second place – I had him all lined up to overtake on the next straight.’

The boys all jumped as George’s mum’s voice sounded in the doorway.

‘Haven’t you heard of knocking?’ George tutted.

‘I did knock,’ she yelled. ‘If you didn’t have those speakers turned up so loud…’

George crawled across the floor and turned down the volume on his hi-fi.

‘Sit up as long as you like and have your fun,’ Dr Lydon said firmly. ‘But I’ve been on at the hospital for sixteen hours and I’m going to bed as soon as I’ve had my shower, so keep the noise down. OK?’

‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ George said. ‘We’ll be quieter than mice in silk slippers.’

George’s mum smiled. ‘There’s crisps in the cupboard, Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer and some of those microwave burrito thingies that you like. I’ll leave you to it.’

Greg looked surprised as she headed down the corridor. ‘So your mum’s going to bed?’

George broke into a big smile. ‘It’s so mint!’ he grinned. ‘My dad’s gone off for some business meeting in Belgium, Sophie’s going out clubbing with one of her mates and my mum’s just worked a double shift at the hospital. Once she’s asleep we own this joint!’

‘Cool,’ Zhang said.

Andy and Greg exchanged covert smiles: the fewer people in the house, the easier it would be to access Kurt Lydon’s computer.

‘It gets better,’ Greg said, as he pulled his