CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,28

automatic weapon sparked just outside the aircraft. It hit one of the cars, making it veer off-course. Then something thunked against a carbon fibre panel, almost directly beneath James’ seat. After an anxious second, he saw Ewart scrambling to his feet after a dramatic skid under the belly of the aircraft. Ewart grabbed the rail at the bottom of the steps and lunged inside.

‘Where’s my Craig?’ Irene screamed. A second blast of automatic gun fire sounded from somewhere behind the aircraft.

‘Pull the steps up,’ the pilot ordered. ‘Now.’

‘Don’t you dare,’ Irene shouted as Ewart scrambled down the aisle and collapsed into a seat at the back.

‘I was alongside him till a few seconds ago,’ Ewart called. ‘I slid under, Craig ran around behind the tail.’

The co-pilot leaned out of the doorway and sighted Craig, lying on the runway just a couple of metres behind the tail. The big man had slipped on the ice, crunched his knee and was struggling to get up.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ the pilot shouted as the co-pilot jumped down the steps.

James could see the pilot’s hands on the throttles, ready to take off the second she pushed them forward. Outside, the nearest car was less than two hundred metres away.

James leaned forward and peered through the door to try and see what was going on. Craig was hopping towards the aircraft with one arm around the co-pilot’s back. He was tall enough to grab the railings near the top of the stairs. He pulled up his injured legs and swung himself into the aircraft. The co-pilot tripped over Craig as he came inside and sprawled across the cabin.

The pilot looked at James and screamed: ‘Get the door!’

Sheer terror gave James the strength to reach over the two men and grab the metal lever that retracted the steps. The pilot hit the throttles as soon as the steps were off the ground and James had to grab hold of a handrail above the door to stop the blast of air from knocking him back.

A siren sounded in the cockpit and a voice warning blared out of a speaker above James’ head. ‘Danger, main door improperly secured. Danger, main door improperly secured …’

Craig crawled along the aisle and the co-pilot got back to his feet as a hydraulically assisted bolt locked the door into place. The red warning light went out, replaced by a reassuring green bar with door secured written across it.

James clicked his seatbelt on as the co-pilot scrambled into the cockpit, but a quick glance out of the far side window showed him that the excitement wasn’t over. The car that Craig had shot off-course was coming alongside them and the cop in the passenger seat was aiming a pistol. He remembered what the pilot said about a single stray bullet blowing the whole plane – but the cop only got one shot in before the twin jets gained an edge over the small Russian petrol engine.

The ice on the runway made the take-off hairy. The pilot was fighting her tail rudder, trying to keep the aircraft from skidding off the runway. All James could see was her hand on the throttles, but her shaking arm and bulging tendons made it clear that this was no routine take-off.

Then the nose lifted and everything went smooth. Everyone in the aircraft let out a collective gasp. James looked around and saw Craig, with ripped trousers and a bloody gash over his knee, belting up in the leather seat behind him.

James peered out of his window and looked back at Aero City. There were a few cars moving along the roads and odd glimmers of light from buildings with their own generators. He felt relieved for about ten seconds, then his ears popped and his sinuses exploded with pain.

12. NURSE

James opened his eyes slowly. It took a couple of blinks for his surroundings to come into focus. He was in a hospital bed. The back of his throat felt like it had been scoured and he had a tube up his nose, electrodes wired to his chest, a drip in his arm and a port taped to the back of his hand for injections. He felt hungry and needed to pee really bad. Then he raised his head slightly and noticed Lauren.

‘Hey,’ James croaked, as he watched his sister breaking into a giant smile.

‘Kerry,’ Lauren yelled happily over her shoulder. ‘He’s awake!’

‘Where am I?’

‘East Side military hospital, near campus,’ Lauren explained, as Kerry’s boots squeaked

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