CHERUB: The Sleepwalker - Robert Muchamore Page 0,74

his father was in the toilet right next to it. Dressed only in a tracksuit and socks, he moved quietly down the hallway, dodging the spots of blood.

‘Do you want more?’ Hassam screamed, as he flushed the toilet and banged down the toilet seat a second time. He’d only need to lean out of the door to see his son trying to escape.

‘Please stop,’ Sylvia begged, as he tugged her face out of the rushing water.

‘Stop,’ Hassam laughed sadistically. ‘It hasn’t even started yet. Tell me who you’re working for before things get much worse.’

Fahim thought about grabbing some trainers from the cupboard by the door, but he was desperate to get out so he went straight for the door handle. Unfortunately, his father had locked it with the mortise key to stop Sylvia escaping. If he’d done that, Fahim reckoned he’d also have locked the electronic front gate, trapping him inside the house. His only option was to head up to his room and phone for help.

‘Oh god,’ the cleaner sobbed, as Fahim belted up the stairs. ‘Please let me go.’

Fahim closed his bedroom door and grabbed his mobile, then flipped through the memories until he found Jake’s number.

‘Come on,’ he begged, as the call rang in his ear. ‘Pick up the bloody phone, you midget.’

*

Bethany’s post-mission holiday was over and she’d started a strict fitness regime that required her to spend Saturday morning in the campus gym. Only Rat managed to persuade his handler to let him off Saturday morning lessons for a second week running and visit Lauren and Jake in London.

‘Mac makes a bloody good breakfast,’ Rat said, rubbing his stomach as he knelt on the blow-up mattress where he’d spent the night, squeezing out the air.

‘It’s a shame about the mission,’ Lauren said sadly, as she lay on her bed staring at halogen lamps on the ceiling. ‘MI5 have already cut the live surveillance and it looks like we’re heading back to campus on Monday night.’

‘I guess our missions can’t all work out,’ Rat said. ‘I’m surprised though, you were all dead optimistic last weekend.’

‘We were only following up on Mac’s hunch, but Fahim seemed so convinced about what he’d overheard that I was sure the surveillance would pick up some evidence.’

‘And you or Jake will have to tell Fahim that you’re abandoning him.’

Lauren groaned at the prospect. ‘He’ll be really upset and I’ll have to do it because Jake has all the sensitivity of a randy rhino.’

‘Still,’ Rat smiled, ‘once you get back to campus you’ll be able to wind your brother up about how he got arrested while on work experience.’

‘It’s so classic,’ Lauren laughed. ‘Only James could do that.’

‘Kerry’s got three hundred laps, a hundred hours’ decorating duty and three months confined to campus with no allowance. James got fifty laps and twenty hours. The police won’t be pressing charges, thanks to Zara.’

‘My room could do with a lick of paint,’ Lauren decided. ‘I might put in a request.’

Rat shook his head. ‘It’s not that cushy. They’re sending them up on the scaffold, painting around the windows on the outside of the junior block. A lot of people are saying it’s out of order. They were defending some girl who was getting battered by her boyfriend.’

‘I’ll buy him a brush and some turps when we’re out later,’ Lauren grinned. ‘That’ll wind him right up.’

By this time Rat had rolled his air mattress and he stepped out into the hallway and stuffed it inside his overnight bag.

‘Still no sign of Mac and Jake,’ Rat said, as he glanced at his watch.

‘Not surprised,’ Lauren replied. ‘Sainsbury’s on a Saturday, the queues will be massive.’

Lauren’s phone burst into Sweet Child o’ Mine by Guns ’n’ Roses. She rolled nonchalantly off her bed, thinking it was probably Bethany or someone else from campus, but she sped up when she saw Fahim’s picture on the screen.

‘What’s up?’ she asked. ‘Everything OK?’

‘That’s a big bloody no,’ Fahim spluttered, sounding terrified. ‘I tried Jake, then Mac, but I couldn’t get through. My dad’s downstairs knocking seven shades of shit out of our cleaning lady. The front door and the gates are locked down and somehow my dad’s found one of the relays that Jake planted.’

‘You’re kidding,’ Lauren gasped. ‘Mac and Jake have gone out, but I’ll head straight over there. You keep calm and stay out of the way.’

‘What’s the matter?’ Rat asked, as Lauren pocketed her phone.

‘Problem,’ Lauren yelled. ‘Get your clothes on and grab whatever equipment you’ve