Secret Army - Robert Muchamore Page 0,89

blob of molten glass with sharp bits of slate stuck in it and gave him a good smash in the head with it. His teeth flew in all directions. Luc, reading this not only makes me feel queasy but I get the feeling that you enjoyed doing it.’

‘I just wrote what happened,’ Luc said. ‘That’s what Miss McAfferty asked us to do.’

‘And was it necessary to smash the Pole in the face with a jagged object as he came down the ladder? You had the advantage of surprise. You could have choked him, or at least hit him with a blunt object.’

‘It seemed reasonable to me,’ Luc said. ‘Three adults versus one kid. I had to even up the odds.’

‘Did you enjoy hitting him?’ Henderson asked. ‘Because, frankly, I think you did.’

Luc paused for a few seconds before drawing a long breath. ‘And what if I did enjoy it?’ he asked. ‘I got the job done. Isn’t that what counts?’

‘Not entirely,’ Henderson said. ‘What you achieved over the last two days was outstanding, but the way you did it was disturbing and before sending you on a mission I need to be certain that I can trust you.’

Luc shot up furiously and placed both palms against the desktop. ‘I did the job I was asked to do. I thought I was training for a war, not a ladies’ tea party.’

‘Sit down,’ Henderson snapped. ‘And lower your voice.’

‘My dad’s dead,’ Luc steamed, ignoring the order to sit down. ‘My mum pissed off with some bloke when I was four. The only one who ever looked out for me was my big brother. But he was conscripted into the army and got blasted when the Germans invaded. Nobody in the world cares about me and I don’t care about any of them.’

‘Do you seriously think that nobody here cares about you?’ Henderson asked.

Luc laughed as he finally sat back down. ‘I don’t see a lot of love coming my way.’

‘So what do you care about?’

Henderson hoped his question would make Luc pause for thought, but the answer came instantly. ‘The only thing that I care about is parachuting back into France and massacring as many of the German bastards who killed my brother as I can.’

‘Luc,’ Henderson said softly. ‘I can understand why your past makes you reluctant to form close attachments, but if you treat other people with decency you’ll come to learn the value of—’

‘Decency!’ Luc interrupted, before making a loud snort. ‘Who the hell are you to lecture me about decency? Marc has told me plenty about you: how you machine-gunned an unarmed man in a bath tub and threw a grenade into a room filled with Germans.’

‘In a war situation when there was no other choice,’ Henderson roared, as he stood up. ‘The difference is, you won’t find me beating up a training comrade in the toilet just for the fun of it.’

‘What about your poor little wife, then?’ Luc asked, as he shot up again and stood eyeball to eyeball with Henderson. ‘Joan went mental after your daughter died, but you still went off to work in France. Everyone knows you cheated on her with a woman called Maxine and god knows how many others.

‘Then you came back and got your wife pregnant. When you’ve pissed her off so much that she wants you dead, you incinerate all her pets and have her thrown in the loony bin. So what kind of person are you to question my decency and ask whether you can trust me?’

Henderson reached across the desk and grabbed Luc around the neck. ‘You have no business speaking about my wife like that,’ he hissed. ‘You poisonous little shit.’

Luc was gasping, but he was determined not to look weak and stretched his lips into a thin smile.

‘Touched a nerve, did I?’

‘I ought to thrash the daylights out of you,’ Henderson said, as the phone on the desk between them started to ring.

‘No matter how much you thrash me, it won’t make me wrong, will it?’ Luc sneered.

Henderson’s whole body trembled with rage as he looked down at the ringing telephone, then up at Luc, who was starting to turn blue. He shoved Luc violently away and snatched the receiver.

‘Henderson speaking.’

He recognised the voice of Admiral Hammer as Luc thumped against the wall. The boy rubbed his injured back and gulped air.

‘I hear one of your boys took out an entire Polish unit on Walker’s training exercise,’ Admiral Hammer said jovially.

Henderson found it hard to