home. It seemed James and Kyle had made genuine connections with people, while all sher done was aggravate the blisters on her feet.
*
Kyle reckoned he was on to something with Tom and Viv Carter. The brothers were seventeen and nineteen, dark hair, plenty of stubble and built like brick shithouses. They looked and spoke like a couple of loutish public schoolboys, but you didn't have to scratch far below the surface to get a far more eccentric picture.
Her literally bumped into the pair an hour earlier as they clambered out of a rusty MGB sports car near the village pub. They were immediately recognised as protestors and heckled by a bunch of locals drinking in the beer garden. Vivt response was to bend over, pull down the back of his shorts and repeatedly slap his hairy arse. Kylet laughter broke the ice and by the time theyr reached the protest site down the hill, their conversation was flowing.
Or at least, conversation with Viv was in full flow. Tom was the sensible brother, seventeen years old; her just taken his A-levels at a Bristol sixth-form college. He dressed and acted conventionally and didn't say much, although when he did it was usually something worth listening to. Viv was the total opposite, a student at Avon University with a blond streak in his hair and a pierced tongue. His mannerisms were over the top and he loved saying stuff to shock people.
As the three lads sat in the grass surrounded by rapeseed, Kyle mixed a few probing questions amongst Vivt ramblings, which bounced hysterically from Scott Walker CDs, to Barcelona, to a story about a Green Day concert where her ended up slipping into a urinal.
Kyle needed to know where the Carter brothers stood on animal liberation and found out that they were on the bitter edge. Both brothers reckoned it was fine to kill someone if it saved lots of animals, though Tom seemed less than convinced that it was a good idea to go round attacking employees of Malarek Research because of the bad publicity it created.
Ten minutes after Kyle saw Lauren disappearing back through the hedge, the teenagers were joined by a geeky dude in an army jacket. His name was George. He was in his mid-twenties and he gave Kyle the evil eye before demanding to know who he was.
Kylet kosher,?Viv said. Net just moved into the village with Ryan Quinn.?
George looked surprised. T didn't think Quinn had kids.?
Net not my dad,?Kyle said. My mum got off with him when he was inside.?
Viv broke out in a machine-gun laugh. Tour mum must be some nut, shacking up with a dude she met in the nick.?
Thatever,?Kyle shrugged. Tho gets to pick their parents??
慟uinnt an admirable character,?George said, a touch pompously. Ne practically wrote the book on undercover operations and Zebra eighty-four were legends.?
Everybody loves the mighty Quinn,?Viv said noisily. Ne should have kept it tight though. Zebra Alliance is a joke. Bunch of la-di-dah Guardian-reader mango heads scared of their own goddamned snot.?
Kyle smiled as Viv contemptuously spat at the ground, but George didn't look pleased.
Ter be nowhere without those la-di-dah Guardian readers and their monthly contributions,?George snapped back.
Eo, is all the equipment sorted??Tom asked, changing the subject before George and Viv started a full-blown row.
Mel brought it all up in her dadt Volvo,?George said, before turning to look at Kyle. Listen stranger, no offence, but were got business here. Would you mind butting out??
T understand,?Kyle said as he backed off. Tre got your mobile number, Tom. IEl call you about the meeting at the uni.?
Don't leave,?Viv yelled. Aeorge man, Kylet a diamond and youre spent half the last week running around campus trying to drum up extra bodies for this thing. He might just want to come with us if you tell him whatt going down.?
Look Kyle,?George said, So offence, but I only operate with people I know.?
Kyle obviously wanted to know what they were up to, but realised it could blow up in his face if he seemed too eager.
Don't sweat it,?Kyle said, waving his hands to make it clear that he wasn't offended. Aood luck, whatever you're up to.?
As he turned away, Kyle noticed James running towards them. His voice sounded a touch anxious.
Eomethingt going on up by the entrance,?James explained. 慠obynt mum came and dragged her off. The straight types are leaving 抍os two coachloads of pissed-up students just arrived, all chanting and going bananas.?
George looked at his watch. ThatEl be Madeline Laingt crack troops,