the result was jammed paper and a control panel ablaze with warning lights.
‘Can you fix it?’ Lauren asked, as Rat crouched in front of the machine and opened a plastic flap.
‘I guess all those years working in the office at the Survivor’s Ark did teach me something,’ Rat said, as he expertly released a lever, then twisted a green wheel until two jammed sheets of paper rolled into the output tray.
He closed the flap and Lauren was relieved to see the red lights disappear and the words ready to copy appear on the touch screen.
‘Go and keep look-out,’ Rat said. ‘There’s only about six pages left. Then we’ll put the file back and get the hell out of here.’
16.STING
Hayley Large-Brooks was a Year Ten student at St Aloysius girls’ school, which was six kilometres from campus. Cherubs often saw Aloysius girls when they went into town, so everyone knew the uniform.
Lauren cobbled together a copy from the stock of school uniform kept on campus, and when she dressed on Monday morning, the only way to distinguish her from a genuine St Aloysius pupil was the lack of a school crest on her green blazer.
‘Don’t worry,’ Kyle said as they headed down the back stairs towards the car park, ‘nobody will ever notice if you keep your coat zipped.’
Like all cherubs, Kyle had learned to drive as soon as he was tall enough, but now he’d turned seventeen he’d been issued with a driving licence and was allowed to use the pool cars, provided he drove sensibly and mucked in with shuttling younger kids around.
When they reached the fire exit at the bottom of the staircase, Kyle stepped into the crisp morning air and glanced around, making sure there was nobody about.
Lauren was nervous as they walked briskly across the tarmac. She was supposed to be at an 8 a.m. combat-training session in the dojo, but she’d sent Miss Takada an instant message saying that she’d twisted her ankle. Takada was strict, and if she found out that Lauren had bunked off, her punishment would be two gruelling weeks scrubbing the dojo floor, cleaning the changing rooms and laundering the mountain of sweaty combat suits and damp towels used by the hundred-plus cherubs who trained there every day.
Kyle slid a plipper from inside his tracksuit top and pressed the button to unlock an anonymous Mazda estate. As he buckled up in the front, Lauren clambered in the back and squeezed herself into the footwell behind the front seats so that she wasn’t seen as they drove out. Unfortunately, CHERUB pool cars were unloved and the carpet was covered in mud and biscuit crumbs.
Once Kyle had rolled over the speed bumps and pushed his card into the security gate to leave campus, Lauren climbed up on to the seat and brushed the filth off her jacket and uniform before pulling her mobile out of her pocket. She dialled James.
‘Any sign?’ Lauren asked.
James was camped out in the trees around the back of Norman Large’s house, with binoculars around his neck.
‘Hayley’s got her uniform on,’ James said. ‘Gareth Brooks headed off for work about an hour ago, so it looks like Large is gonna drive her to school.’
Lauren looked at her watch. ‘They’re cutting it fine aren’t they?’
‘Don’t blame me, I’m only watching,’ James said. ‘And I think Meatball has picked up my scent. He’s running around in the Askers’ garden and yapping like crazy.’
‘Clever dog,’ Lauren grinned, before remembering that she was in a tight spot. ‘This is such a pain. I’ve got to head back to campus and get into CHERUB uniform before first lesson.’
‘Stop worrying,’ James said. ‘We timed it all out and Takada is the only person you have to worry about.’
‘It’s OK for you,’ Lauren moaned. ‘You’ve got the week off and Kyle’s only got one A-level to revise for—’
‘Here we go,’ James interrupted. ‘Hayley and Large have just opened the front door. You’ll be following a dark blue Renault Megane.’
Lauren banged on the headrest behind Kyle. ‘Slow down, they’re about to leave.’
But the road leading out of campus was lined with cameras which the CHERUB security staff monitored for any suspicious activity.
‘I can’t,’ Kyle said. ‘It’ll be too obvious that we’re following them.’
But Kyle did slow down slightly, and he rolled past the isolated parade of houses where Mr Large and the Askers lived as Hayley was climbing into the front passenger seat of the Renault.
‘She’s a big girl,’ Kyle grinned. ‘Even bigger than in the pictures.’
Lauren