to face the van,?the cop said nervously. Thatt that youre got sticking out of your pockets??
A Smith and Wesson revolver and an automatic pistol.?
The policeman looked shocked as he stepped forward and pulled the guns out of Kylet pockets. Ts that all youre got??
Theret an assault rifle on the passenger seat.?
As the other cop walked around to check the front of the van, a message burst out of his radio. 慤nits six-two and one-eight-eight. One of you stay and look after the van. The other officer to escort the van driver to Newcastle airport.?
*
It took half an hour to load up the people carrier. Lauren felt sad as she did a final check under the beds and in all the wardrobes and drawers. As she came out of the loo, she bumped into Ryan at the top of the stairs.
Ney,?she said, looking up and feeling her eyes start to moisten.
Thatt the sour face for??Ryan grinned. T wouldn't be upset if I was you. Wherever this CHERUB campus is, it sounds pretty fantastic from what Ire heard.?
Ttt cool,?Lauren nodded. T'll looking forward to seeing my mates and that, just ?Do you remember the first time I saw you? You said how you were never going to have a family and how your probably end up dying in prison, well 厭 Lauren paused to rub her nose on a tissue. Tell, I really hope you win against Malarek and that you live until you're ninety-nine and die with about twenty kids and grandkids sitting around your bed.?
Ryan was touched. T didn't know you cared,?he smiled, giving Lauren a hug and rubbing her back as his own eyes misted over.
Tf Ire made a few kids like you think about what they put in their mouths and get them to stop eating meat and wearing bits of dead animals on their feet, maybe it will have been worth it,?Lauren quoted.
Blimey,?Ryan sniffed. Tell remembered.?
Lauren grinned. T'll not eating meat ever again. Well, I might have to if I'll working undercover, but apart from that I'll staying vegetarian.?
Ryan leaned forwards and gave Lauren a bristly kiss on the cheek. Tou're a cool kid, Lauren. I really hope you stick to it.?
T will, I swear. And I'll gonna download all those leaflets about factory farming off the Internet, make photocopies and try persuading all my mates to go veggie as well.?
Zara was at the bottom of the stairs, holding Meatball in a makeshift dog carrier that consisted of the washing basket with a couple of towels folded up in the bottom. Tf you're ready, wer better run. Do you need a ride anywhere, Ryan??
TEl be all right,?Ryan said, as Lauren ran down the stairs, dabbing her face with the tissue. TEl stay with Lou for a few days until I sort myself out. Het coming over to pick me up when he finishes work.?
Lauren stroked Meatball for comfort as the car pulled off the driveway and the little cottage receded into the distance. She saw a few familiar faces holding placards as they drove past the gates of the Malarek Research compound for the final time and felt sadder still when she realised that she hadn't said goodbye to Stuart.
*
James had learned to drive, busted out of a drug dealert compound in a Range Rover and driven across Arizona and California with thousands of law enforcement officers looking for him. But this was the first time her ever actually got in a car for the comparatively simple purpose of driving home.
As the car crawled through the rush-hour jam on the motorway outside Leeds, he listened to the drama unfold over the car radio. Her heard the dramatic news that Nick Cobb had been delivered to hospital by a young terrorist, then that two vanloads of AFA members had been arrested by armed police as they attempted to escape a farm near Rothbury.
Next it was announced that one of the women arrested was the daughter of eighties pop star Joe Jules and to cap it all a seventeen-year-old suspect named Kyle Wilson had killed himself with a concealed knife while sitting in the back of a police car taking him to a Tyneside police station.
James was particularly amused by this detail and wondered what excuse theyr dream up for his own disappearance. His mood was only dented by his dead mobile and the flickering low-petrol light on the dashboard.
He pulled in at the next services and couldn't decide if he was getting stared at for looking suspiciously young