CHERUB: Divine Madness - Robert Muchamore Page 0,95
the world we live in, Dana. It’s full of people just doing their job and ignoring what’s really going on. Care about the rainforest until they get a couple of kids and enough money for a gas guzzling car, or some fancy hardwood dining furniture. Watch all those wildlife programmes and coo over the furry animals, but still eat meat and poultry that was raised in conditions of unbelievable cruelty. I’m sorry, but we live in a relatively free society. The facts are available, but people choose to ignore them. As far as I’m concerned, any educated person who works for the government or a big oil company is guilty through their own selective ignorance.’
Dana looked solemnly at the floor. ‘I guess I’m scared about what’s gonna happen.’
Barry turned towards Dana, one side of his face lit up blue by the control panel. ‘You’re going to do a fantastic thing in a couple of hours. Help Earth is fighting a war to help make the world a better place and you and the Survivors are part of that. You should be proud.’
As Barry said this, he stepped forwards and pulled Dana into a hug. It was perfect. Dana could feel the gun pressing into her waist as Barry’s hairy hand gently massaged her shoulderblade. She reached around to the back pocket of her shorts, slid out the aerosol and felt for the little dimple on the nozzle to make sure it was going to spray in the right direction.
The instant the hug broke apart, Dana whipped out the can and began squirting it in Barry’s face. Oven cleaner contains sodium hydroxide – a highly caustic substance that burns human skin as effectively as it dissolves the grease inside your oven.
As Barry staggered backwards with the bitter tasting foam bubbling around his eyes and mouth, Dana used her free hand to snatch his gun and expertly clicked off the safety.
‘On your knees, prick,’ Dana demanded. ‘Quickly.’
‘You’re dead,’ Barry shouted, as he desperately tried to scoop the burning foam out of his eyes.
‘That’s not how it looks from here,’ Dana said, as she turned the gun on its side and used it to punch Barry in the face. His nose burst and blood spattered Dana’s T-shirt as he splayed out over the leather cushions. She stood over him, pressed his head against the cockpit window and took two more slugs with the gun to knock him cold.
Barry’s face was pulped. Maybe the last punch had been one too many, but with adrenalin flowing and dozens of lives at stake, Dana figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
The hardest part of the job was done, but there was no time for self-congratulation. Dana ran out of the door at the back of the bridge and grabbed the bundle of nylon cord she’d dumped at the top of the stairs.
Back inside, she put the gun down on the cushion and dragged the unconscious body off the sofa on to the floor. As she knelt on Barry’s back, binding his wrists behind his back, the boat tilted violently and she slipped off.
It had been five years since Dana learned knot-tying in basic training and she struggled to remember. When she was done, Barry’s wrists and ankles were bound and she’d trussed the two sets of ropes together, but the result didn’t look much like the neatly tied outline in the CHERUB training manual.
As Dana stood up, she realised that the catamaran was skimming the water at a hundred kph with nobody at the helm. She grabbed the throttle to cut the engines. As the turbines slowed down to idle and the boat became eerily quiet, the door at the back of the bridge slid open. It was Nina, brandishing an evil look and a bread knife.
‘Traitor,’ Nina snarled. ‘I thought you were up to something with that cord.’
Dana spun around to grab the gun off the cushion beside her, but the wave had knocked it across the floor. Nina saw Dana eyeing the weapon and both women lunged.
Dana was closer and got a hand on the barrel, but Nina came crashing down on her outstretched arm as she swung at Dana’s head with the knife. The blade skimmed Dana’s shoulder and plunged into one of the leather cushions. Despite having Nina’s entire bodyweight crushing her arm, Dana tightened her grip on the gun and managed to lock her free arm around Nina’s neck, making a chokehold.