fiercely, from the opposite side of the room. ‘We just made a giant racket. Cut the cute banter and let’s get out of here.’
Kerry laughed. ‘Oh it’s Dana, I thought there had to be someone with brains behind this operation.’
‘Yeah, James,’ Gabrielle agreed. ‘I saw how you looked out for your team by running off at ninety miles an hour.’
James was irked. ‘I’ve got my gun pointing right at you,’ he said angrily. ‘Shut your stupid holes, throw us your packs and hand over your guns.’
‘Why don’t you come over and get them?’ Kerry jeered.
James fired a warning shot into the wall a few centimetres above Kerry’s head. ‘Because this clip is stuffed with ammunition. I can see every move you make and I can shoot you at will. Now, I’m gonna count to three, and if your guns and packs haven’t landed somewhere near my feet when I finish, you two are gonna feel serious pain. One, two …’
Kerry and Gabrielle’s pride didn’t extend far enough to run the risk of another hit. They surrendered their stuff before James finished counting. He crouched down and grabbed the egg box out of Kerry’s pack. It was hard to see in the darkness and tricky to feel through the protective gloves, but so far as James could tell, Kerry’s eggs were all intact.
‘Six unbroken eggs, for Little Miss Perfect,’ James giggled as he ground up the eggs under his boot.
‘This isn’t over,’ Kerry shouted back defiantly. ‘You have to let us go and I’m gonna hunt you down.’
‘I reckon this makes us even,’ James answered. ‘Remember last summer at the hostel, when you two blasted me and Bruce with the paintball guns from point-blank range?’
A small voice piped up from outside before Kerry got a chance to respond. ‘There’s four people heading our way from the top of the street,’ Jake said. ‘Let’s get out of here before World War Three breaks out.’
‘I’ve crushed Gabrielle’s eggs,’ Dana said. ‘Let’s roll.’
James realised he didn’t have time to take the driving spring out of Kerry’s gun in pitch darkness and it was too awkward to take with him, so he swung it by the barrel and smashed it as hard as he could against the wall. As he spun back, Kerry lunged at him. Dana fired a shot, but she’d aimed cautiously to avoid hitting James and ended up missing both of them.
Kerry crashed into James. She was smaller and lighter than her boyfriend, but her martial-arts skills were far in advance and five years of CHERUB training had made her stronger than a thirteen-year-old girl had any right to be. As James smashed into the ground with Kerry on top of him, a stun grenade exploded inside a building a few doors up the road.
Before Kerry pinned James, he found a second to shout at Dana: ‘Take Jake and get out of here.’
James’ logic was simple: eggs were what counted in the final tally. He only had one, while Jake still had six unbroken ones. Rather than get caught up in the melee that seemed set to break out, it was better to run off, even if that left James to tangle with the girls on his own.
As Kerry pinned James’ shoulders under her knees and Gabrielle ripped away his gun, Dana escaped out of the front window and ran off with Jake. Kerry thumped James’ helmet against the concrete floor, demolishing the night-vision goggles. Shots were being fired in the street outside as the broken goggles over James’ visor plunged him into absolute darkness.
‘Thought you were pretty clever, didn’t you,’ Kerry said sweetly. ‘Remember combat class, James? How many times did I tell you? Never turn away from your target and never let your guard down for a single second.’
Gabrielle crunched James’ single remaining egg, as Kerry pulled his arm tight behind his back.
‘Want a broken shoulder, James?’
‘Kerry,’ James gasped. ‘Please. You got my eggs, you’ve got to let me go now.’
‘Why don’t you write a letter to the United Nations?’ Kerry grinned, as she released his arm and smashed the point of her elbow into his lower back.
As James whimpered in pain, Gabrielle sounded happy. ‘He’s got tons of ammo in this backpack.’
‘Great,’ Kerry said, as she grabbed Gabrielle’s gun off the floor and loaded a clip. ‘Let’s head out the back way and try catching up with those other two.’
James lay face down on the bare concrete. Kerry had elbowed him in the same spot where he’d been shot