instructor come out,?Lauren whispered.
Bethany shrugged. They must have noticed all the cameras going off.?
The threesome crept around behind the bushes until they came to the buildingt double-doored entrance. Lauren flicked her head lamp on and off, startling a bony-legged ten-year-old, who was being made to spend the night standing on one leg, back to the wall and hands on head. Trainees received punishments like this for the tiniest breach of the rules, sometimes even for no reason at all.
Thot out there??the girl asked, in a plummy voice that hinted at a rich background.
Satasha??Lauren asked, stepping out of cover.
Aet back,?Natasha squealed desperately. Mr Large will be out here at any second, theret a video camera pointing right at us.?
So there isn't,?Lauren grinned, as James and Bethany followed her out of the bushes. Te fused the circuit. Het probably out trying to fix it.?
As soon as Natasha heard that the cameras were off, she took her hands off her head, put her foot down and began to massage her aching calf.
Mwww,?she moaned. Ttt so painful standing on one leg like that. But I'll telling you, Large is still in there. I would have seen if her gone out.?
Dammit,?Lauren said.
Now can he just be sitting there if were blown up the cameras??Bethany asked.
慤nless het nodded off,?James said.
That are you lot doing here??Natasha asked.
慠escue mission,?Lauren smiled. At least, we can't rescue you, but we brought you all extra food and dry underwear to cheer you up.?
Thatt amazing,?Natasha said, bouncing cheerfully on the balls of her bare feet. Tou guys are so brave!?
Bethany went into her pack and pulled out a package wrapped in a cellophane freezer bag.
Three Snickers bars, a flapjack, two cartons of orange juice and two fresh sets of underwear,?she explained. Tere stripped as much packaging off the food as we can, but make sure the instructors don't catch you with anything you shouldn't have or youEl get punished.?
Natasha almost burst into tears as she broke the package open and bit a massive chunk off the end of a Snickers bar.
Mmmmm,?she said. T am so starving. We spent three hours running around the assault course yesterday and all we got for dinner was that watery green soup.?
Mh god,?James grimaced. Tr forgotten all about training soup. That stuff always made me gag, no matter how hungry I was.?
James, Lauren and Bethany looked at each other as Natasha started on her flapjack.
That can we do if Large is still in there??James asked.
Tell, he has to be asleep,?Lauren said.
But we were planning for him to be on the other side of the compound,?Bethany said. Ne could burst out here any second.?
Half a minute earlier, James would have been arguing to quit and run, but the emotive sight of the training building and Natashat ecstatic reaction to her package had changed his mind. Tere come this far,?he said. T'll up for sneaking inside if you two are.?
Lauren and Bethany exchanged surprised looks before nodding in agreement. James opened the door of the accommodation building and crept into a gloomy corridor. The smell was straight out of his training nightmares: sweat, antiseptic and damp concrete.
Three steps in, he came to the open door of the instructort lounge and craned his neck inside. Sure enough, the monstrous figure of Norman Large lay slumped across a battered sofa, with static fizzing on the six black and white monitors stacked on a desk opposite him.
CHERUBt nastiest employee had let himself go since the humiliation of being demoted from head training instructor the year before. He now sported a ragged beard and a dozen kilos of fat around his midriff.
Then suddenly ?Sot fishfingers,?Mr Large begged, as James nervously edged backwards.
But it was just sleeptalking and Lauren grinned as if to say, Who has nightmares about fishfingers?
慠ight,?James whispered to the girls. Tou two get in there and hand those packages out fast. If Large wakes up we're dead.?
The nine kids in the dormitory were aged between ten and twelve and they all slept solid, like your expect after sixty-three days of brutal training. James kept watch in the doorway as Lauren woke Rat, and Bethany rushed to her brother, Jake.
The only light came from the green EXIT signs over the emergency doors. James wasn't an especially sensitive soul, but he felt a lump in his throat as Bethany woke her little brother and pulled him into a massive hug.
That are you doing here??Jake gasped, as Bethany pulled another ration pack out of her backpack. Mh my god, is that a Snickers bar??
While