Secret Army - Robert Muchamore Page 0,29

took long strides towards the table, ‘Poker, I see.’

Paul, Rosie, Troy and Joel’s eyes followed him suspiciously. PT, the oldest, stared directly at the officer and broke their silence.

‘I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure, sir.’

‘No, you haven’t,’ the mystery man said with a smile. ‘Captain Ramsgate, Scots Guards. Admiral Hammer dispatched me to check your little operation out.’

‘Does Superintendent McAfferty know you’ve arrived?’ PT asked.

‘Not yet.’

Rosie’s chair grated backwards as she stood up. ‘I’ll go fetch her. She’ll want to see you straight away.’

‘I thought you were due in the morning,’ Marc added.

Captain Ramsgate took a sideways step to block Rosie’s path. ‘I’ll report to the superintendent in good time,’ he smiled. ‘Admiral Hammer told me to get my worthless hide up here and surprise you all. I took the liberty of walking across the artillery range, rather than approaching via the security post on your front gate. You can learn a lot more about a place when your arrival comes as a surprise.’

PT smiled as he expertly shuffled the cards. ‘Would you like to join us for a few hands, Captain?’

The captain didn’t answer. Instead, he snatched the battered card deck off the table and shuffled it rapidly from hand to hand. His speed made PT look amateurish.

‘Cut the deck anywhere you like,’ Ramsgate said, as he placed it on the table in front of Troy.

Troy looked up uncomprehendingly.

‘His English isn’t too good, sir,’ PT explained, as Rosie translated the instructions into French for Troy’s benefit.

Troy cut the deck and placed the cards from the top underneath the deck. Ramsgate unveiled the top card, which was the king of hearts.

‘Who wants to bet me their whole pile of buttons that the next three cards off the pile aren’t also kings?’ Captain Ramsgate asked.

The kids all smiled, but after seeing how expertly he’d shuffled none of them took on the bet. Ramsgate turned the next two cards, revealing the king of diamonds and the king of spades, but the final card was a three.

‘Oh well,’ PT said. ‘Almost a clever trick though.’

Captain Ramsgate scratched his head, apparently mystified as to how his trick had failed. ‘That is odd,’ he said. ‘Where could it be? Oh, wait, I think …’

The captain reached inside his blazer and miraculously produced the king of clubs from the inside pocket.

‘Well, how did it get there?’ he smiled, as he placed it on the table beside the other three kings.

The kids all laughed and clapped. Captain Ramsgate saw the degree of interest in PT’s eyes. ‘If I get time I’ll teach you that one,’ he said. ‘It’s mostly sleight of hand, but it takes practice to make it look smooth.’

‘I’d like that,’ PT smiled. ‘My dad taught me a few card tricks back in the day, but nothing as elaborate as that.’

‘I can see you’re a trickster,’ Captain Ramsgate acknowledged, as he picked up the four kings and carefully examined tiny nicks in the top corners of each card. ‘If you deal these cards, I assume you always manage to win.’

Paul gasped. ‘PT, you cheating son of a—’

But he stopped abruptly when Rosie kicked him under the table. This was an inspector sent from Whitehall, after all.

‘So you five fancy yourselves as spies?’ Captain Ramsgate said, steepling his enormously long fingers as he squatted on the corner of Rosie’s bed. He was so tall that even when seated he had a clear view over the heads of the five youngsters around the table. ‘Why is that?’

Marc was first to answer. ‘I’d rather do something than lie in my bed while the Boche drop bombs on me every night, like in London.’

‘They killed our dad,’ Rosie said, as she pointed across the table at Paul. ‘They would have killed us if Commander Henderson hadn’t found us.’

‘So what kind of training have you been doing?’

‘All sorts,’ Rosie replied. ‘Everything from general fitness like running and swimming, to pistol shooting, radio operations, hand-to-hand combat and explosives training.’

‘Explosives, eh?’ Captain Ramsgate said, as he smiled mischievously. ‘Have they let you blow up anything good?’

‘Instructor Takada showed us how to make a tripwire mine,’ Joel said. ‘We blew up one of the cottages, but there’s a shortage of plastic explosive.’

‘Mostly we practise with blocks of marzipan,’ Paul explained. ‘It has a similar texture.’

‘And you can eat it afterwards, once you’ve scraped the dirt off,’ Joel added.

Ramsgate laughed noisily. ‘What about people who say it’s wrong to send people as young as yourselves undercover? How would you answer them?’

There was a