CHERUB: People's Republic
Read CHERUB: People's Republic Online
Authors: Robert Muchamore
Robert Muchamore
was born in 1972. His books have sold millions of copies around the world, and he regularly tops the bestseller charts.
He has won numerous awards for his writing, including the Red House Children’s Book Award. For more information on Robert and his work, visit
www.muchamore.com
Praise for
CHERUB
and
Henderson's Boys
:
‘These are the best books ever!’ Jack, 12
‘So good I forced my friends to read it, and they’re glad I did!’ Helen, 14
‘The CHERUB books are so cool, they have everything I ever wanted!’ Josh, 13
‘Never get tired of recommending
CHERUB/Henderson’s Boys
to reluctant readers, because it never fails!’ Cat, children’s librarian
‘My son could never see the point of reading a book until he read
The Recruit
. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for igniting the fire.’ Donna
BY ROBERT MUCHAMORE
The Henderson’s Boys series:
1. The Escape
2. Eagle Day
3. Secret Army
4. Grey Wolves
5. The Prisoner
... and coming soon:
6. One Shot Kill
The CHERUB series:
1. The Recruit
2. Class A
3. Maximum Security
4. The Killing
5. Divine Madness
6. Man vs Beast
7. The Fall
8. Mad Dogs
9. The Sleepwalker
10. The General
11. Brigands M.C.
12. Shadow Wave
CHERUB series 2:
1. People’s Republic
2. Guardian Angel
... and coming soon:
3. Black Friday
Copyright © 2011 Robert Muchamore
First published in Great Britain in 2011
by Hodder Children’s Books
This eBook edition published in 2012
The right of Robert Muchamore to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means with prior permission in writing from the publishers or in the case of reprographic production in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency and may not be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 444 91386 6
Hodder Children’s Books
A Division of Hachette Children’s Books
338 Euston Road
London NW1 3BH
An Hachette UK Company
WHAT IS CHERUB?
CHERUB is a branch of British Intelligence. Its agents are aged between ten and seventeen years. Cherubs are mainly orphans who have been taken out of care homes and trained to work undercover. They live on CHERUB campus, a secret facility hidden in the English countryside.
WHAT USE ARE KIDS?
Quite a lot. Nobody realises kids do undercover missions, which means they can get away with all kinds of stuff that adults can’t.
WHO ARE THEY?
About three hundred kids live on CHERUB campus. They are usually recruited between the ages of six and twelve, sometimes younger if they join with an older sibling. They are allowed to work as agents from age ten upwards, provided they make it through a hundred days of basic training.
Key qualities for CHERUB recruits include high levels of intelligence and physical endurance, along with the ability to work under stress and think for oneself.
CHERUB STAFF
With large grounds, specialist training facilities and a combined role as a boarding school and intelligence operation, CHERUB actually has more staff than pupils. They range from cooks and gardeners, to teachers, training instructors, technical staff and mission specialists. CHERUB is run by its chairwoman, ZARA ASKER.
CHERUB T-SHIRTS
Cherubs are ranked according to the colour of the T-shirts they wear on campus. ORANGE is for visitors. RED is for kids who live on CHERUB campus but are too young to qualify as agents. BLUE is for kids undergoing CHERUB’s tough one-hundred-day basic training regime. A GREY T-shirt means you’re qualified for missions. NAVY is a reward for outstanding performance on a single mission. The BLACK T-shirt is the ultimate recognition for outstanding achievement over a number of missions, while the WHITE T-shirt is worn by retired CHERUB agents and some staff.
PART ONE
1. LAPS
July 2011
Three women sat in the chairwoman’s office on CHERUB campus. Blinds shut out low evening sun as the air conditioner battled high summer.
‘Tell me about him,’ Dr D said, speaking in a brash New York accent as she studied a photo of a twelve-year-old. ‘He’s a good-looking boy. Do I see a touch of Arab in him?’
Dr D was tiny and the wrong side of sixty. Despite the heat she wore a tartan cape, thick grey stockings and knee-high boots. She looked like someone’s cranky old secretary, but was actually a senior officer with the American intelligence service – the CIA.
Zara Asker was another spy who didn’t look the part. CHERUB’s forty-year-old chairwoman sat opposite Dr D, wearing a three-quid plastic watch and her youngest son’s dinner down the front of her dress.
‘Ryan joined CHERUB fourteen months ago,’ Zara explained. ‘His grandparents were a Syrian, a German, an Irishwoman and a Pakistani.’
Dr D raised one eyebrow. ‘Sounds like the first line of a bad joke.’
‘Ryan was mainly brought up in Saudi Arabia and Russia. His dad was a geologist in the oil industry, but drink and gambling problems led to debts and he turned up dead under some rubbish bags. Nobody knows if it was murder or suicide. Ryan reached Britain in 2009 with his mother and three younger brothers. She’d bluffed her way into a private treatment program for a rare form of cancer, but got kicked out when she hit the limit on her credit cards. Immigration tried sending the family back to Syria, but she was too sick. She died penniless in an NHS ward, with four boys under eleven and no known family.’
‘Are they all here at CHERUB?’ Dr D asked.
Zara nodded. ‘We never split families. Ryan’s the eldest, he’s got twin brothers who are about to turn ten and Theo who’s seven.’
‘You said Ryan’s not had much mission experience,’ Dr D noted.
‘Just a couple of one-day things,’ Zara said. ‘But he’s chomping at the bit, and the operation you’re proposing should be well within his capabilities.’
Dr D nodded as she reached forward and dropped Ryan’s photo on to a glass coffee table. ‘So when do I get to meet him?’
*
Ryan didn’t know he was being talked about as he strolled off the campus athletics track. It was baking hot and he had a six pack showing as he stretched up the bottom of his grey T-shirt and used it to mop sweat off his face.
The twelve-year-old was muscular but not bulky. He had brown eyes, straight dark hair in need of a trim and a silver stud in a recently pierced ear. After two mouthfuls from an underpowered drinking fountain, Ryan went up three paved steps towards a tatty shed used by the athletics staff.