CHERUB: The Sleepwalker - Robert Muchamore Page 0,96
stood up nobly and smiled at Lauren. ‘Are you feeling brave, young lady? Do you fancy a ride to the seventh floor with me?’
‘Someone’s got to,’ Lauren said, as she followed Mac out into a corridor. ‘At least he knows us.’
Lauren and Mac didn’t relish their task and they smiled uneasily at each other as they waited for the lift.
‘I got something else from the crash investigators yesterday,’ Mac said solemnly, as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. ‘It’s from my grandson. It’s a photocopy, but they found the original in a seat pocket, tied in a plastic bag.’
Lauren took the piece of paper and saw the Anglo-Irish Airlines logo at the top and a boy’s messy handwriting. She read the message as the lift cruised up to the seventh floor.
Dear Dad,
It looks like the end. I wanted to write to say that I love you and everyone else.
The plane is going to crash. Megan is upset but Mum is cuddling her. Grandma has her eyes closed and she keeps kissing her cross.
I really wish I’d got to be older than eleven, but I hope we meet some day in heaven.
At least I won’t get in trouble with Mr Williams on Tuesday because I forgot to do my history project (ha ha!).
Love u lots,
Angus McAfferty
9 September 2007
EPILOGUE
Anglo-Irish Airlines was declared bankrupt in January 2008. Its assets and fleet were purchased by a rival airline, but more than two hundred staff still lost their jobs.
Despite initial newspaper claims that it would take six months to identify and remove all of the suspect components from grounded airliners, most airlines were able to get all of their planes back in the air within five weeks. Over eight hundred suspect components were removed from two hundred and sixty-five airliners. Eighteen more aircraft nearing the end of their useful lives were declared beyond economic repair and scrapped.
A global investigation into the scandal is ongoing and has so far led to more than fifty people being arrested and charged. New measures have been brought in to ensure that parts removed from airliners are destroyed on site.
Aircraft manufacturers are also looking at ways to make the manufacture of fake parts more difficult, but it is still believed that fake parts are a growing problem, especially in poorer countries and places such as Iran where genuine parts are unobtainable due to trade embargoes.
FAHIM BIN HASSAM has settled into living with CHERUB’s retired chairman. He attends a local school and occasionally meets up with Jake and his friends on the weekend.
Regular jogging with his new guardian has enabled him to shed most of his excess weight. He also attends regular counselling sessions with Dr Rose and his emotional problems and sleep disturbances are under control.
Fahim’s grandfather made legal moves to adopt him and take control of his late father HASSAM BIN HASSAM’s assets. British authorities turned down the application and placed Fahim under secure custody as a potential witness in the trial of his uncle Asif.
Hassam’s assets have been frozen and placed in a trust fund. Any money left after paying compensation claims from Anglo-Irish Airlines and crash victims will pass to Fahim on his eighteenth birthday.
Despite an exhaustive murder enquiry, the body of YASMIN HASSAM has not been found.
Cleaning lady SYLVIA UPDIKE spent nine weeks in intensive care. She came close to death on several occasions and spent eleven days in a coma. After more than a dozen operations to repair her fractured thighbone she is now able to move a few steps with the aid of a walking frame.
ASIF BIN HASSAM was charged with the attempted murder of Sylvia Updike. Both Sylvia and Asif’s nephew Fahim were witnesses at his trial. The judge sentenced him to fifteen years’ imprisonment.
Asif and his wife MUNA may also face charges relating to the shipment of suspect aircraft parts. However, the evidence against them is complex and the chain of responsibility linking them to the airliner crash is difficult to prove and spans several countries with different laws. Police in the UK and USA remain hopeful that they will one day be brought to justice.
Following the death of his wife, DR TERENCE McAFFERTY has recommenced working on CHERUB campus on a voluntary basis. So far, his experience has been put to use helping out some of the younger mission-control staff on a variety of missions.
Mac’s report into the Anglo-Irish plane crash mission complimented LAUREN ADAMS’ performance. JAKE PARKER was praised for his brave actions at the end of the operation and Mac commented that he might have received a navy shirt had he not made several elementary mistakes earlier on. Mac recommended that Jake undergo refresher training in several key areas before being sent on further missions.
The faulty relay unit that led Hassam Bin Hassam to discover that he was under surveillance was dismantled and analysed by CHERUB technical director TERRY CAMPBELL. He identified a weakness in the design and the unit has been withdrawn from use by all British intelligence services until the manufacturers implement and test a revised version.
While DANNY BACH’s fractured limbs healed, two of his doorman colleagues took control of the increasingly profitable Wednesday night gig at the Outrage club. When Danny recovered, his former colleagues refused to pay him any share of their profits.
A violent altercation followed during which Danny stabbed and seriously wounded both men. After three weeks on the run, Danny was arrested while staying with relatives in the north east. Police initially charged Danny with attempted murder, but the charge was later dropped when he pleaded guilty to a lesser offence. Because of his lengthy criminal record, the judge sentenced Danny to seven years.
GEMMA WALKER has been promoted to assistant manager at Deluxe Chicken. She dumped Danny shortly before he went into prison, and their flat was later repossessed by the mortgage company. Gemma spent several months living in bed and breakfast accommodation with her two children. She gradually lost touch with James and Kerry, but when they last heard she’d moved into a terraced house with her sister MEL and was expecting a baby by a new boyfriend.
BRUCE NORRIS returned from Australia and resumed his relationship with KERRY CHANG.
JAMES ADAMS celebrated his sixteenth birthday in wild style on CHERUB campus. The climax of the celebrations was a drunken paintball match, followed by impromptu fireworks around the campus lake. James, DANA SMITH and several of his friends received fifty hours’ decorating duty for damage to paintballing equipment, setting off fireworks without permission and hurling fruit from an eighth-floor balcony.