whack Meatball …’
Kyle thought for a second. ‘I’m sure you can trust Meryl, but all the senior staff are having an emergency meeting about Gabrielle at the moment. I don’t think they’d appreciate it if you knocked on the door because you’re worried about a dog.’
Lauren nodded. ‘I know my problem isn’t the biggest in the world right now, but I can’t ignore it.’
Kyle put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. ‘If the worst comes to the worst, we’ll walk down to Zara’s house and kidnap Meatball ourselves. But I’m sure it won’t come to that. We’ll speak to Meryl tomorrow and sort something out, so don’t go losing any sleep.’
‘Thanks, Kyle,’ Lauren smiled. ‘I’m gonna go inside and see if there’s any candles left. And let’s be honest: I can’t see anyone on campus sleeping too soundly tonight.’
11. AIR
James had to get up after less than five hours’ sleep so that a local fisherman could sail him to the mainland. When he arrived at the hospital all the kids on Jo’s ward were asleep and James had to throw a small stack of Malaysian notes at a porter to secure a pair of crutches.
It was supposed to be an hour’s taxi ride to the international airport, but it was morning rush hour and they eventually reached the business-class check-in less than forty minutes before take-off. After a row – and mainly because they were kids who didn’t have bags to check – the desk manager reluctantly reopened the flight to issue boarding passes and arranged for a beeping electric cart to speed them through a kilometre of airport corridors to the departure gate.
James had a set of clean clothes in his backpack and had hoped to shower in the lounge before boarding, but their late arrival forced him to board the aeroplane in a sweaty T-shirt and combat trousers stiffened by dirt. Still, he was too tired to care about the businessmen staring over their laptop screens as they boarded, or even Jo’s complaints that his feet stank when he pulled off his boots.
As soon as the seatbelt light went out, James pushed his seat back until it became a bed, slapped a hot towel over his face and indulged in twelve glorious hours of teenage idleness, interrupted only by meals and toilet breaks.
The time difference meant they reached London at two in the afternoon. James wanted to freshen up and get a free lunch in the Heathrow arrivals lounge, but Jo was all excited about returning to campus and seeing her friends and he was too chilled to argue with the exuberant ten-year-old.
He thought Jo would be more upset after coming so close to passing basic training, but like most kids who’d grown up on CHERUB campus from an early age, she had a sense of her own self-worth that bordered on cockiness. Jo wouldn’t recover in time for the next session of basic training in a month, but when she did restart she’d be close to her eleventh birthday and only another freak accident would keep her out of a grey shirt.
To speed things up, Jo sat on a luggage trolley with her crutches held aloft and James steered her through customs and the arrivals gate. They expected to see a member of CHERUB staff waiting for them, or a driver holding up a card with their names on, but there was no sign. James spent a few minutes wandering around to make sure someone wasn’t at waiting at another exit.
‘Not a soul,’ he said irritably.
‘You’d better call campus,’ Jo said. ‘I reckon they’ve forgotten us.’
James patted his pockets. His mobile battery was dead after a week in the jungle and he didn’t have any British money. ‘You haven’t got twenty pence for a payphone have you?’
Jo shook her head.
‘Great,’ James sighed.
Eventually they found a help desk and the attendant let them use a phone to call up the CHERUB emergency number. The assistant mission controller on the end of the line put James through to Meryl Spencer, who apologised and said that she’d forgotten all about them.
‘You can’t get shot of me that easily,’ James grinned.
Meryl usually had a good sense of humour and James was surprised when she just grunted. ‘I haven’t even been to bed yet. Everyone’s been up all night worrying about Gabrielle and—’
‘Eh?’ James gasped. ‘What’s happened to Gabrielle?’
‘Right, James I’m sorry,’ Meryl said. ‘My head is all mixed up. You haven’t heard, have you?’
*
Meryl Spencer had only grabbed two hours’ sleep,