head when Lauren got out of training this morning. I started helping her unpack and棐
Ire you with us on this mission or not??John interrupted.
Ture,?James said. Hou knew there was never any doubt in my mind.?
it like to speak with Lauren too,?John said.
Hou said she was too young.?
ite thought it through,?John said. Time is tight and we dont have a lot of suitable candidates for the third spot. If we tweak things slightly, the cute little girl factor might even work in our favour when youte on the run.?
i dont know if shee up to it, John. Shee got a bad foot and shee wiped out from training.?
Lauren realised she was being talked about. She scrambled excitedly across the bed and whispered in her brothere ear, it not that tired.?
James moved the earpiece away from Lauren, so he could hear what John was saying:
Ner part of the mission wouldnt start until after you escape from Arizona Max, so she抣l have a few days to relax.?
The seems quite keen,?James said, as his sister nodded frantically.
Lood,?John replied. Row, stop whatever youte doing and get over here sharpish.?
One day out of training and Ite already got my first mission,?Lauren squealed, as James put the phone down.
Bloody hell,?James moaned, as he pulled his ringing head away from his sister. Cid you have to shout that right down my ear??
Torry,?Lauren giggled. it just excited. Bethanye gonna be hell jealous.?
9. BACKGROUND
John Jones was concerned by Laurene eagerness to go on the mission before shet even read the briefing. He sent James and Dave Moss out of his office and sat on a corner of his desk, telling Lauren about the dangers she might face and trying to satisfy himself that a ten-year-old would be able to handle them.
John had spent the previous eighteen years working for the adult branch of the intelligence service. Het been in charge of undercover missions in all parts of the world and had seen operatives killed, imprisoned and badly injured. John could get his head around boys like James and Dave going undercover ?they were teenagers and their unarmed combat training meant they could handle themselves against most adults ?but Lauren made him uncomfortable.
Part of Johne problem was that his own daughter was a few months older than Lauren. He worried about her crossing two main roads on her way to school, and whether she was being properly looked after when she went off on camping trips with her youth group. Johne gut instinct told him something was deeply wrong about sitting with a girl of the same age, discussing jail breaks and the best thing to do when the cops start shooting at you.
But Lauren was well trained. Her answers to Johne questions showed she was intelligent enough to understand the risks she was being asked to take and the reasons why they were worth taking. After an hour going through every detail of the mission, John had stopped worrying about Lauren and started asking himself what his own daughter might be capable of if shet been pushed through CHERUB training, instead of spending her days being chauffeured between piano lessons, drama club and friends?houses in his ex-wifee car.
*
A CIA officer based at the American embassy in London worked into the early hours of Tuesday morning, creating identification documents in the names of James Rose, Lauren Rose and David Rose. Lauren and Davee dates of birth were their real ones, but James?had been put back exactly one year to make him fourteen: old enough to be sentenced to Arizona Max.
A motorcycle messenger drove through the night. He arrived at CHERUB campus at 6 a.m., with a sealed pouch containing three American passports and four sets of diplomatic paperwork. This paperwork gave John Jones and the three young agents immunity from American laws for the duration of the mission.
It was dark outside, but James was already up. Het showered, packed his bag and received a call from Lauren, who sounded like shet worked herself into a state.
i dont know what to pack,?Lauren said, when James got upstairs to her room. Ind I cant find half the stuff I do want.?
James put it down to first-mission jitters. Once het calmed Lauren down, he helped her go through all the unpacked boxes and find the clothes and equipment she needed for the mission.
Hou usually get a list of what to pack,?James explained, as he rummaged through a cardboard box, searching for the spare battery and charger for Laurene digital camera. But this has all