‘Don’t let him get hold of you.’
As the chairwoman of CHERUB, Zara Asker was one of the highest ranking officials in the British Intelligence Service. This made her a potential hostage target and her home was fitted with a state-of-the-art alarm. When Meatball heard the claxon, he went into a frenzy, running around the living-room couch and barking like mad.
Mr Large had looked after Meatball when the Askers were on holiday and the little dog padded curiously towards a man who’d fed him on many occasions. But as Mr Large reached down to grab Meatball off the carpet, the dog picked up the scent of Lauren racing up the driveway.
While Mr Large had fed him, Lauren not only fed Meatball but also played with him, took him for really long walks and never shouted at him. As a result, Meatball vaulted over Mr Large’s hands, cut between his legs and charged on through the splintered front door.
But Kyle was running ahead of Lauren and before Meatball knew it, he’d put a hand under the dog’s belly and plucked him off the ground. Meatball hadn’t seen Kyle since he was a puppy, but the dog remembered Kyle’s smell and seemed happy enough, until he looked back and noticed that Mr Large was charging down the hallway towards them and yelling noisily.
With Meatball in his arms, Kyle scrambled out on to the driveway. But Large had a good turn of speed for a man in his forties. He’d built up momentum while Kyle turned, and soon got his arms around Kyle’s waist.
As Kyle tumbled forward on to the patio, Meatball spilled out, yapping frantically as he ran towards Lauren.
Down on the patio, Kyle had wriggled on to his back and put Mr Large in a headlock, while Large was using his trunk-like arms to crush Kyle’s ribs.
Lauren considered grabbing Meatball and making a dash back towards campus, but the fight was horribly uneven. Large was powerful and completely out of control, and she could see Kyle getting seriously hurt. To emphasise this, Large freed himself from the headlock and pressed his elbow against Kyle’s windpipe.
‘You’ll kill him,’ Lauren screamed, as she searched desperately for a weapon.
As Meatball wagged his tail, excited by the running around and the blaring alarm, Lauren raced towards the Askers’ front door. She was greatly relieved to see a muddy implement leaning against the inside of the front porch.
Mr Large saw Lauren charging towards him, but he had Kyle’s legs locked around his waist and only one free arm to fend her off. Kyle used all his strength to keep Large still as Lauren swung at him, hitting him square in the back of the head.
The blow made a huge clang and sent a wave of vibration up the handle. Large groaned, as Kyle felt his opponent’s strength evaporate. He wound up with Large’s dead weight slumped on top of him.
‘Are you OK?’ Lauren asked, as she threw down the spade and pushed Large’s unconscious body off Kyle.
Kyle was bright red, with sweat pouring down his face. ‘Just about,’ he coughed.
As he stood up and brushed off his trousers, a white BMW came to an abrupt halt in the road. Two men slid handguns from under their jackets as they opened the doors and ran up the driveway. Lauren recognised them as campus security officers and realised that the Askers’ alarm was linked up to the campus security room.
‘What’s going on here?’ one of the guards shouted, glancing between the unconscious Large and the busted front door as his colleague used a plipper to shut off the alarm.
20. RECKONING
Zara Asker had never liked Mr Large, and she had to hide her smile when Lauren admitted that she’d battered him with a spade for the second time.
Large had only been stunned and he’d regained consciousness shortly after being lifted on to a bed in the medical unit on campus. When Zara arrived ten minutes later, he sat on the edge of his mattress sipping water out of a plastic cup.
‘Ahh, here she is,’ Large grinned sarcastically. ‘Her Royal Highness, gracing me with her presence.’
‘Funny,’ Zara said, her manner making it clear she thought it anything but. ‘I was just speaking to my husband. Is it true that you threatened to kill my son’s dog?’
Large shrugged, acting like he couldn’t have cared less. ‘That fancy security rig on your house must have CCTV. Why don’t you work it out for yourself?’
‘I haven’t had a chance to look, but I’ll take