CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,65

try and trace the call?’

Lauren looked at her watch. ‘She’ll be coming out of school in under half an hour.’

‘A23,’ John said.

Lauren was confused. ‘Eh?’

‘Sorry, I’ve asked the campus control room to put a trace on the mobile phone that called you. The Russian’s signal has jumped two kilometres in two minutes, so my guess is that they’re on the fast road into Brighton.’

‘How come they’re so close already?’

‘They knew Anna was picked up on the coast a few kilometres from here. She was bound to be somewhere in the Brighton area.’

‘How long till they reach us?’

‘Fifteen or twenty minutes,’ John said. ‘Depending upon the traffic and how long it takes them to track down the care homes.’

‘Do you think they’ll try snatching Anna straight away?’

‘Snatching her from inside the home is too risky. They’ll either try picking her up shortly on her way home, or on her way to school tomorrow morning … The car just moved about a kilometre west. Looks as if they’ve turned on to the A27 and they’re not hanging about.’

‘So what do we do?’ Lauren asked. ‘Can we get the police here to protect her?’

‘We can’t get the local plods involved without blowing our cover and a lot of long-winded explanations. In the longer term, we can either get Anna moved to another home, or I can have an MI5 surveillance team out here by tomorrow morning. But if they’re planning on scooping her up now, it’s down to you and me.’

Lauren realised that she had to start preparing. ‘Carl, I’m going inside,’ she yelled, as she dashed towards her unit.

Carl screamed and ran after Lauren, but she didn’t have time to listen.

‘Where are you, John?’ she asked, as she bolted up the stairs.

‘On the way out of my room,’ John said. ‘I’m taking the car, I’ll be outside the ACC’s front gate within ten minutes.’

Lauren was relieved to hear that John would get there before the baddies. She raced into her room, shut her door and grabbed her case from the wardrobe under the bed. After lifting out a stack of clothes, she found the hidden catch. A flap opened up, revealing a few pieces of emergency equipment.

Lauren pocketed a small can of pepper spray and pulled down her leggings before strapping a concealed knife to her thigh.

‘Young lady,’ a man said stiffly, as he burst into the room.

Lauren jumped with fright as she straightened her clothes. ‘Haven’t you heard of knocking?’ she demanded. ‘I’m undressing here.’

It was Ronald, one of the house parents. ‘What’s going on with Carl?’ he asked.

‘I dunno,’ Lauren said, mystified.

‘You were outside playing with him. Then you stormed off and locked him out in the dark.’

‘Oh,’ Lauren gasped. She’d forgotten that the front door had a catch that locked if you shoved it hard. ‘Sorry.’

‘That’s not a very respectful way to treat one of our youngest guests, Lauren. He’s a vulnerable human being, not a toy that you can abandon in a dark playground the instant you get fed up with him.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Lauren repeated, as she pointed at the open phone on her bed. ‘I got excited, my best mate just rang me.’

‘Well don’t do it again.’

Lauren flicked Ronald off as he closed the door behind himself. She grabbed her phone off the desk. John was still on the line.

‘I know where Anna gets off the bus from school,’ Lauren said. ‘I’ll wait at the end of the street. I should be able to get to her before she’s in sight of ACC. I’ll tell her that I’m treating her to a burger or something.’

*

Twenty minutes later, Lauren stood nervously on a dark street corner as the kids started to filter down from the main road in their school uniforms. John had parked up outside ACC’s main gate and was keeping a suspicious eye out for any car with two men inside it.

The wind was bitter. Lauren started getting paranoid when it got to ten minutes past four. Finally, she looked down the main road and saw Anna stepping off a double-decker bus.

‘Hey,’ Lauren said, smiling with relief. ‘You’re late today.’

‘I have special English class at the learning support unit in town. What are you doing out here? It’s freezing.’

‘I had another call from your Russian friends,’ Lauren explained. ‘They said they knew you were here and that they’re coming to get you.’

‘You’re joking,’ Anna said as she glanced around nervously. ‘How can they know?’

‘I don’t know,’ Lauren lied. ‘But they do.’

‘You haven’t told anyone else about