CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,73
crossed his fingers and willed the person to go away, but the handle turned and the door began sweeping across the carpet.
30. LOCKS
Lauren didn’t know how long she had. She stepped out into the corridor and was pleased to find it empty, but less pleased by the CCTV cameras staring at her from both ends. Even if the commotion hadn’t been heard, it was only a matter of time before she got picked up by security.
‘You OK?’ she shouted, as she stared at the hefty bolt and padlock across the door of Anna’s room.
‘What was that noise?’ Anna asked from the other side.
‘Stabbed Keith,’ Lauren explained. ‘Stand away from the door.’
The lock looked sturdy, but any security system is only as strong as its weakest link and the door itself was flimsy. Lauren grabbed each side of the doorframe of her own room and used it as leverage to launch an explosive, two-footed kick across the corridor.
She had trainers on, but the force still hurt the balls of her feet as the flimsy wooden walls on both sides of the corridor wobbled. The lock held in place, but a gap had been torn between the door and the chipboard in which it was mounted.
Lauren’s second kick knocked the hinged side of the door further inwards. It wasn’t a huge gap, but enough for Anna’s skinny body to wriggle through. Anna was shocked to see Lauren with blood-smeared clothing and a heavy padlock in her hand.
*
As they jogged down the corridor, the bouncer they’d seen at reception on the way in appeared at the far end. Three startled girls and one middle-aged man had stepped out of their rooms to see why the walls had been shaking.
Anna looked back for an alternative exit, but Lauren hid the padlock behind her back and strode on towards the bouncer. His scruffy grey suit bulged with muscle and Lauren guessed she was up against someone who was ex-military, or maybe a retired boxer. Even with the some of the best combat training in the world under her belt, Lauren would only get one shot at a surprise attack.
‘Where’d you think you’re going, missy?’ the bouncer grinned, as he pointed back along the corridor. ‘Get back in that room before I clock you one.’
Lauren waited until they were less than a metre apart before swinging the heavy padlock. A couple of the girls screamed as metal hit bone, making a sickening thunk and tearing a bloody gash in the bouncer’s cheek. As he stumbled forward in a daze, Lauren hit him with a brutal roundhouse kick to the ribs, followed by a knee in the guts and a knockout blow with the padlock.
‘We’re all getting out of here,’ Lauren shouted, and set off for the staircase, armed only with the padlock and terrified of finding herself on the wrong end of a gun. Anna kept close as they crept down the stairs, while four slightly older girls trailed nervously.
Lauren peered around the bottom of the staircase into the reception area. The sofas where the girls sat waiting for customers were out of sight, but she could see the receptionist, the bouncer’s empty armchair and Keith’s coat hanging tantalisingly from a rack.
‘See the coats?’ Lauren whispered.
Anna nodded.
‘I’ll go first. You run across and search the brown jacket. It’s Keith’s. He had a gun with him earlier.’
Lauren raced out into the room, much to the surprise of the receptionist who leapt out of her seat and pointed towards the staircase.
‘You’d better get back upstairs before you find yourself in a lot of trouble,’ the receptionist barked.
The girls on the sofa went quiet and stopped looking bored, but Lauren was furious to see that Anna had bottled it and stood limply at the bottom of the staircase.
‘For god’s sake,’ Lauren yelled, looking at Anna and pointing at the coat rack.
The receptionist had stepped out from behind her desk and tried to grab Lauren’s arm. Lauren snatched the woman’s bony wrist, twisted her into an arm lock and banged her head against the desk before smacking her around the side of the head with the metal face of the padlock.
‘Stay down or you’ll get another one,’ Lauren shouted menacingly. Then she turned her fury on Anna. ‘What’s the matter with you? You’re bloody useless.’
There was now a bunch of younger girls at the bottom of the stairs and the older ones who were on public display were getting off the sofas. As they all started chattering nervously in Russian,