his routine sorted. He’d start off by getting the cleaning cart out of its cupboard. It was a giant contraption with a dustbin built into one end that went up as high as his chin. There was a mop, bucket and Hoover clipped to the sides and a rack of shelves, which were stocked with cloths and cleaning sprays. The mission preparation building had a banana-shaped corridor running its entire length, with twenty offices and special equipment rooms off to the sides and the luxurious offices of the two senior mission controllers – Zara Asker and Dennis King – at opposite ends.
James started with King’s office because he was always out of the building by 5 p.m. The routine was the same in every room: empty the bins, pick up any dirty cups or plates, wipe any surfaces that weren’t covered with junk, vacuum the floor and finish off with a squirt of air freshener. It wasn’t exactly backbreaking, but it got boring when you had to do it every night. Plus, you had to be speedy if you wanted to get twenty offices done, clean and restock four bathrooms, vacuum the corridor and do the washing-up inside two hours. Even working flat out, James could never get through in much less than two and a quarter.
Ninety minutes into the job, James’ feet were starting to ache. He’d finished the last of the bathrooms, which was the part of the job he really hated. Getting blanked by his friends and losing his summer holiday was bad, but having to unblock a toilet full of turds and soggy bog roll was easily worst of all.
As James threw his disposable gloves and soggy cloths into the rubbish sack on his cart, he heard a tiny giggle. He knew it was Zara Asker’s eighteen-month-old son, Joshua, but that wasn’t how you played the game.
‘Boo,’ Joshua squealed as he jumped out from behind the cart.
James theatrically backed up to the wall. ‘You scared me! You horrible little monster.’
Joshua giggled as he hugged James’ leg. ‘Joshua monster. Grrrrrr.’
‘Did you escape from Mummy’s office again?’
Joshua beamed as James picked him off the floor. His blond fringe hung over his eyes and he wore striped dungarees with powdery brown marks all over them.
‘It looks like you decided to wear that chocolate bar,’ James said, as he carried the toddler up to the door of Zara’s office and knocked.
There were a few staff on campus that James liked, but Zara was his favourite. She always worked late and in the month James had been on cleaning duty, she’d got into the habit of making him a mug of tea part way through his shift. He usually drank it in Zara’s office while they had a quick chat.
James stepped through the door and put Joshua down on the carpet. He was disappointed to see that Zara had company.
‘I’d better get on,’ James said, turning back towards the door.
‘Actually James, have you got a minute?’ Zara asked.
James turned back and studied the woman facing Zara across her desk. She was in her early thirties, with long dark hair and a fit body.
‘Millie, this is James; the one I was talking about. James, this is Millie Kentner, one of your predecessors at CHERUB.’
James reached forward to shake her hand, but Joshua snatched James’ attention by bashing his boot with a toy car.
‘Look,’ Joshua demanded.
James smiled at him. ‘Is that a new car?’
Joshua grinned up at James as Zara explained the situation to Millie. ‘Ewart brings Joshua over here while he gives the baby her bath and gets her off to sleep. He’s supposed to be visiting Mummy for half an hour before he goes to bed, but James is his hero.’
Millie gave James a toothpaste advert grin. ‘Is that right, James?’
‘I guess,’ James shrugged, as he crouched down and took Joshua’s new Lamborghini for a test drive across the carpet.
Zara nodded. ‘From when Joshua first wakes up, all I hear is James, James, James. When you ask Joshua what he’s going to do, he makes all this stuff up. Yesterday he announced that he was going to go fishing with James. He must have seen it on TV, because Ewart’s never taken him fishing.’
‘So, James,’ Millie smirked, covering her mouth as though she didn’t want Zara to hear. ‘As one CHERUB to another, how’d you end up on cleaning detail?’
‘I got in a fight,’ James said awkwardly.
Zara smiled. ‘Well that’s not exactly true, is it James?’