‘Plus it’s Friday. And I’m thinking if we start early, we can finish early then cab it into town for a night of action.’
‘I’ve heard worse ideas,’ Bruce said. ‘We are supposed to take them out in the wet if we can and I’m never getting back to sleep with you fidget-arsing.’
Ten minutes later, James and Bruce were dressed and heading up in the lift. Bruce got out on six to grab Ning, Alfie and Grace, while James went to the seventh floor for Leon.
When he’d taken the short-term instructor job, James promised himself that he’d be a decent instructor like Mr Pike or Kazakov, not one of the mean ones like Miss Speaks, or former head instructor Norman Large, who’d got more enjoyment out of making trainees suffer than he should have and ended up being sacked. But on the other hand, James couldn’t resist the idea of charging into some poor trainee’s room and scaring the hell out of them.
‘Rise and shine!’ James shouted, as he booted the door of room 707, flipped on the light switch and whipped a Manchester City duvet off the bed.
The kid looked suitably horrified as he shielded his eyes. ‘Who the hell are you?’ he shouted.
‘You’ve got ten minutes, Leon,’ James said. ‘Get your rear in gear! Put some clothes on. Grab something to eat in the van on the way to the track.’
The kid looked furious. ‘I’m not Leon.’
‘Don’t piss me about,’ James said.
‘We’re identical twins,’ Daniel Sharma shouted. To prove his point he picked a framed photo off the bedside shelf and waggled it in the air. It showed Ryan in the middle holding youngest brother Theo, with Leon and Daniel standing on either side pulling stupid faces.
‘Ahh,’ James said sheepishly. ‘I looked up Sharma on the system and this room came up. I didn’t realise there were four of you.’
Daniel pointed along the hallway. ‘You’ll find my brother two doors along.’
James charged down the hallway and hit room 711 shouting, ‘Right, Sharma!’
There was a piercing scream as a fifteen-year-old girl pulled her duvet up around her neck.
‘Jesus Harold Christ!’ the girl yelled. ‘Haven’t you heard of knocking?’
‘Shit! I’m sorry,’ James said, backing out into the corridor where Daniel Sharma stood grinning at him.
‘Oops,’ Daniel said, unable to hide his smirk. ‘Did I say my brother was two doors that way? I meant two doors the other way.’
Meanwhile a stern-faced carer named May was storming down the hallway. ‘Who’s screaming … ? Well well, if it isn’t James Adams, causing a rumpus in my hallway. Just like old times!’
The girl had put on a dressing gown and now stood in her doorway giving James evils. ‘This pervo burst in on me!’
Daniel was killing himself laughing and James wagged a finger at him. ‘You’d better hope you don’t get a training exercise with me. I’ll nuke your skinny hide!’
‘You should stick to what you’re good at,’ Daniel teased. ‘Having sex in the campus fountain, that sort of thing … ’
James tutted. ‘Who started that stupid rumour?’
A couple of other sleepy kids now stood in their doorways, peering out to see what all the fuss was about.
‘You looking for me?’ Leon asked.
Before James could answer, he was the one getting a finger-wagging off May. ‘You wake up half the kids in my corridor again and I’ll have your guts for garters, Mr Adams. Training instructor or no training instructor.’
‘Sorry,’ James said, feeling like he was twelve again.
‘Show’s over, back to bed,’ May said wearily. But she gave Daniel an extra hard scowl. ‘I’ve got my eye on you, stirring it as usual.’
James eventually found himself in Leon’s room.
‘What did you do?’ Leon asked. ‘Everyone mixes me and my brother up.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ James mumbled. ‘It’s raining out, so we’re taking you on the road while it’s dark and wet. See you downstairs in fifteen. If you plan on eating before this evening, grab something you can nosh in the van.’
13. PETROL
The mini-van wasn’t built to go fast on a dirt road. Ryan hadn’t put on his seatbelt and had to lean his head to one side to stop hitting the roof, while the steering wheel tried to jerk out of his hands. There was nobody in pursuit, but the walkie-talkie was alive with panicked voices until Elbaz came on.
‘We don’t know if they’ve communicated,’ he said calmly. ‘We have to assume that they have. So we move out everything that’s ready to go and blow the base.’
The short-range walkie-talkie traffic started