Lone Wolf - Robert Muchamore Page 0,40

went further when he saw the baffled look on Craig’s face. ‘I mean, how many hours before I pay off my debt.’

Craig turned his lips into a sneer. ‘You’ll work there until I say so.’

23. SAFE

Fay hadn’t forgotten any of the stuff her mother and aunt taught her. She made Ning bunch long hair under a baseball cap and wear a boob-squishing T-shirt and baggy hoodie. Cheap slip-on shoes a couple of sizes too big completed a look that would pass the pair off as young males to anyone who didn’t look too hard.

‘Only speak if you have to, and try to deepen your voice,’ Fay said. ‘If Hagar hears he got robbed by two women, I’ll probably be the first person he thinks of.’

Being July it was 10 p.m. before it got dark enough to leave Nebraska House. It was after Ning’s curfew, so the two girls nabbed a toddler’s ride-on fire truck from the outdoor play area and used it as a step-up before vaulting the back fence.

‘It’s like wearing clown shoes,’ Ning said, as she walked briskly. ‘I’d have put extra socks on if it wasn’t so warm.’

Both girls were sweating when they arrived. The moon was brighter than they’d have liked as Ning took a first glance at the shabby end-of-terrace house. The only hint that there might be something valuable inside were the bars over the front basement window.

‘First-floor windows open,’ Fay said. ‘Flickering light.’

‘TV?’ Ning asked.

Fay nodded. ‘If his girlfriend’s not around, he seems to go up to the bedroom early. I’ve had to be careful on lookout ’cos he sits by the window when he smokes.’

‘So how do we get inside?’ Ning asked.

‘Let me worry about that,’ Fay said. ‘How are your nerves?’

Breaking into a house with one guy inside was mild compared to many situations Ning had been in, both before and since joining CHERUB. But Fay didn’t know about that stuff so Ning made herself appear suitably wary.

‘I guess you know what you’re doing.’

‘For sure,’ Fay said, placing a reassuring hand on Ning’s shoulder before setting off towards the house.

The gate creaked, so Fay stepped over a low wall with Ning a couple of steps behind. Fay started down some uneven steps. Both girls pulled army-green balaclavas over their heads, as Fay took a lock gun from her pocket and approached the basement door.

A lock gun makes opening a lock easier than using a manual pick, but it still requires significant skill. Ning was impressed by how swiftly Fay managed to open a complex deadlock. Then she switched to a larger pick and effortlessly turned the main lock.

The door hadn’t moved in a while and it rained cobwebs and dust as Fay shoulder-barged it. After opening twenty centimetres, Fay felt a jolt as a thick chain pulled tight.

‘Damn,’ Fay said.

Ning thought Fay was lucky that the door had moved at all, because there might easily have been bolts on the inside.

‘Open my pack,’ Fay said.

Ning unbuckled the bag strapped to Fay’s back and pulled out a set of small bolt cutters. As Ning was stronger, she took charge of snapping the chain and led the way into a muggy basement with mildewed carpet and blistered plaster.

Nobody had lived down here for years, but the moonlight gave them a glimpse into a living-room populated with high-backed chairs and family photos from the 70s and 80s. The ground floor had a more modern vibe, but the occupant was a slob. There were mounds of dirty men’s clothes, a bin stuffed with takeaway boxes and a sink spewing dirty plates.

‘Mucky pup,’ Fay whispered.

All the doors were open because of the heat and Ning could hear the TV in the upstairs bedroom as Fay pulled out the Glock holstered to her belt and began creeping towards the flickering colours coming from the TV upstairs.

The last step made a loud creak as Fay lifted her foot, but there was no sign of movement in the bedroom. Gun poised, she craned her neck into the bedroom and was shocked to see nobody inside. She moved quickly to check under the bed, ripped open two wardrobes and looked out the window, instantly concluding that it was too high for Clay to have jumped.

‘Shit,’ Fay said, as Ning stood out on the landing, glancing behind at a couple of closed doors, then up at a loft hatch directly above her head.

Fay jumped when she heard a chirping noise, but it was a text message coming through on an HTC