nodded, ‘I’ll consider your plan. How long will it take you to make a written proposal and e-mail it to me?’
Chloe shrugged. ‘We’ve already done most of the work. I could get it to you in two or three hours.’
‘Right,’ Zara said. ‘Gabrielle’s not going to benefit from us hanging around here while she’s unconscious. I’m going to drive back to campus. I need your proposal by the time I arrive. Once I’ve read it through, I’ll set up an emergency meeting with the ethics committee. If I like what I see and if the committee isn’t too pent-up over what happened to Gabrielle, I’ll raise the plan and see if it floats.’
‘There’s one other thing,’ Chloe said. ‘The mission we’re proposing relies on an established relationship with an associate of the Mad Dogs. There’s only one agent who’d be able to do it.’
‘And who’s that?’ Zara asked.
‘James Adams.’
13. REVENGE
The sun was setting as a Toyota saloon dropped James and Jo at the main campus gate. A few of Jo’s red-shirt friends ran out of the reception area and gave her consoling hugs as James headed off to the lift, slightly put out that none of his mates had shown their faces.
‘Brucey!’ James yelled, as he pounded his fist on his fourteen-year-old mate’s door. ‘You in there?’
‘Wait a sec,’ Bruce yelled shakily. ‘Just … I’m getting dressed.’
But it was Kerry that James saw pulling a T-shirt over her head as he burst into the room.
‘Sorry,’ James gasped, averting his eyes. ‘I didn’t know you were in here. I was trying to catch Bruce in the nuddy.’
‘We were just … You know,’ Bruce spluttered awkwardly.
‘Making out like randy dogs,’ James grinned.
‘Not that it’s any of your business if we were,’ Kerry said sourly.
James and Kerry were just about on speaking terms, but she was still sore after he’d dumped her for Dana.
‘How was Malaysia?’ Bruce asked.
James shrugged. ‘Hot, wet and too many bugs. Any breaking news on Gabrielle?’
‘Nothing new since breakfast,’ Kerry said.
James gave her a smile. ‘Have you been OK? Gab’s pretty much your best mate?’
‘I’m no worse off than a lot of other people.’
‘So is anyone else around?’
‘Lauren’s in Kyle’s room,’ Bruce said. ‘They’ve got a problem with Mr Large and they wanted to ask us about it. We said we’d head up there after we’d had some time to ourselves …’
Kerry raised an eyebrow. ‘We might as well go now, seeing as James disturbed us.’
James had dated a few girls on missions but he’d never had to live with them after the break-up. Kerry was part of his crowd and over the past few months he’d learned that no matter how much you pretend it doesn’t matter, it’s still uncomfortable having an ex-girlfriend around.
The trio headed along the sixth-floor corridor and found Kyle’s door open. Lauren lay face-down on Kyle’s bed flipping through a copy of Heat magazine, with the man himself sprawled over a leather beanbag.
‘Good news everyone, it’s me!’ James said exuberantly.
‘We noticed,’ Lauren said, as she faked a yawn.
James tutted. ‘Don’t die of over-enthusiasm, will you?’
‘You’ve only been away for ten days,’ Kyle said. ‘What do you expect, a ticker-tape parade?’
‘And nobody’s exactly in a laughing mood at the moment,’ Lauren added.
‘So what’s this problem?’ Kerry asked, as she slid her arm around Bruce’s back.
Kyle explained about Large threatening Meatball and that Meryl was going to speak to Ewart and arrange to have the dog taken into campus.
‘So it’s not ideal, but Meatball’s safe,’ James said. ‘What’s the big problem?’
‘Rod Nilsson,’ Kyle said.
James was fuzzy-headed after the long flight and wondered if he’d missed something. ‘Who?’
‘You know, James,’ Lauren said. ‘Remember that night we were in your room and everyone started getting out photos from when they were little?’
‘Gotcha,’ James nodded. ‘Rod was Kyle’s best friend; the one who never made it through basic training.’
‘That’s the man,’ Kyle said. ‘Rod took basic training with me and he got to day eighty-three. He’s asthmatic and we were in the desert. Large had decided that it was Rod’s day to be picked on. The air was really dusty and I carried most of Rod’s kit because he was fighting for breath. Not long after we set camp for the night this massive sandstorm blew up. It snuffed our fire before we could cook any food and all we could do was huddle inside our tents and hope they didn’t get blown away.
‘After about an hour, the winds died off, but the air was still thick with dust.