CHERUB: The Sleepwalker (31 page)

‘Enter,’ Zara said, after Lauren knocked. You weren’t supposed to barge in on the chairwoman unless it was extremely important, so Lauren craned her head in the door sheepishly. ‘I couldn’t make an appointment; your secretary isn’t here yet.’

‘Come in,’ Zara said warmly.

As Lauren stepped in, she was surprised to see Mac sitting in one of the armchairs by the fireplace.

‘Did you get my e-mail?’ he asked.

‘Very good news,’ Lauren nodded. ‘If Fahim hadn’t made that phone call, another dodgy plane might have gone down before they worked it out.’

Zara smiled. ‘Nurse Beckett mentioned that you wanted to give a character reference for Fahim.’

Lauren nodded again. ‘I know he’ll need a lot of work on his fitness, but I genuinely think he’ll be great.’

‘Unfortunately …’ Zara began.

Lauren knew it wasn’t good news just from the tone. ‘Why not?’ she gasped. ‘He’ll be really good if he can shift some of that weight.’

‘Calm down and take a seat,’ Zara said, as she picked up a remote control and used it to rewind a VHS tape. ‘I was about to show the footage to Mac anyway.’

Lauren felt cold as she sat in a leather office chair and turned it around to face the TV.

‘My biggest concern with Fahim was the psychological reports on his temperament,’ Zara explained. ‘I’ve read a lot of guff written by educational psychologists about kids with behaviour problems. Usually they’re nothing more than symptoms of boredom and a bad home life, but the stories about Fahim’s panic attacks and sleepwalking concerned me.’

Zara pressed the play button and the LCD screen switched from static to greenish night-vision footage of Fahim under a duvet. He was tossing and turning, while muttering about blood and chickens. Then he kept asking for his mum and saying
must do well
, over and over.

‘Dr Rose has watched the whole video,’ she said. ‘Apparently Fahim talks like this for up to a third of the time he’s asleep.’

Lauren’s mouth dropped open. ‘He’s talking about everything he’s done.’

‘Most people mutter the odd word or three in their sleep,’ Mac explained. ‘But you can’t risk sending someone like that on an undercover mission.’

‘Fahim, you stupid boy,’ Lauren groaned. ‘What did you have to go and do that for?’

‘It’s totally subconscious,’ Zara said. ‘You can’t blame him for having an overactive imagination. Now if I just fast-forward a quarter of an hour there’s another interesting bit.’

It was Mac’s turn to look aghast as the screen showed Fahim climb out of bed and slide his feet into a pair of pool sandals. ‘Am I nuts or is he still fast asleep?’ Mac asked.

Lauren watched in disbelief as Fahim stood up and walked towards the door. He took three paces. They weren’t little zombie steps like sleepwalkers in the movies, but normal paces. On the fourth step, Fahim hit the wall and woke up with a start.

After looking around guiltily and taking a few seconds to work out where he was, Fahim rubbed his face before turning around and clambering back under the duvet.

‘I’m as sorry as you are,’ Zara said, as she stopped the tape and looked at Lauren. ‘At best, he’ll do himself an injury while sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings, at worst talking in his sleep could blow a mission and put lives in danger. We can’t take that risk.’

‘Isn’t there any kind of treatment?’ Lauren asked.

‘Dr Rose says there is, but it’s only partly effective and apparently this kind of behaviour is worst when you’re under a lot of stress, like when you’re on a mission.’

‘He’s gonna be so gutted,’ Lauren said sadly. ‘Hell,
I’m
gutted. He’s such a nice guy. What’s gonna happen to him?’

‘That’s why I called Mac in,’ Zara said. ‘There’s a possibility that Fahim will have to be a witness if his aunt and uncle are put on trial. I suspect that the aircraft parts scandal will go to the top of some serious criminal gangs, which means Fahim will need protection.’

Mac took over the story. ‘And down the road there’s a big house, with an old man who now lives all on his own.’

Lauren smiled. ‘That’s cool; if he lives with you we’ll still be able to see him sometimes.’

Mac nodded. ‘He won’t be allowed on campus, but you’d be more than welcome to visit him; and Jake too.’

‘Fahim’s sleeping up on the seventh floor,’ Zara said. ‘This isn’t my favourite part of the job, so if either of you fancies going up there and breaking his heart, feel free to volunteer.’

Mac stood up nobly and smiled at Lauren. ‘Are you feeling brave, young lady? Do you fancy a ride to the seventh floor with me?’

‘Someone’s got to,’ Lauren said, as she followed Mac out into a corridor. ‘At least he knows us.’

Lauren and Mac didn’t relish their task and they smiled uneasily at each other as they waited for the lift.

‘I got something else from the crash investigators yesterday,’ Mac said solemnly, as he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. ‘It’s from my grandson. It’s a photocopy, but they found the original in a seat pocket, tied in a plastic bag.’

Lauren took the piece of paper and saw the Anglo-Irish Airlines logo at the top and a boy’s messy handwriting. She read the message as the lift cruised up to the seventh floor.

Dear Dad,

It looks like the end. I wanted to write to say that I love you and everyone else.

The plane is going to crash. Megan is upset but Mum is cuddling her. Grandma has her eyes closed and she keeps kissing her cross.

I really wish I’d got to be older than eleven, but I hope we meet some day in heaven.

At least I won’t get in trouble with Mr Williams on Tuesday because I forgot to do my history project (ha ha!).

Love u lots,

Angus McAfferty

9 September 2007

Anglo-Irish Airlines was declared bankrupt in January 2008. Its assets and fleet were purchased by a rival airline, but more than two hundred staff still lost their jobs.

Despite initial newspaper claims that it would take six months to identify and remove all of the suspect components from grounded airliners, most airlines were able to get all of their planes back in the air within five weeks. Over eight hundred suspect components were removed from two hundred and sixty-five airliners. Eighteen more aircraft nearing the end of their useful lives were declared beyond economic repair and scrapped.

A global investigation into the scandal is ongoing and has so far led to more than fifty people being arrested and charged. New measures have been brought in to ensure that parts removed from airliners are destroyed on site.

Aircraft manufacturers are also looking at ways to make the manufacture of fake parts more difficult, but it is still believed that fake parts are a growing problem, especially in poorer countries and places such as Iran where genuine parts are unobtainable due to trade embargoes.

FAHIM BIN HASSAM has settled into living with CHERUB’s retired chairman. He attends a local school and occasionally meets up with Jake and his friends on the weekend.

Regular jogging with his new guardian has enabled him to shed most of his excess weight. He also attends regular counselling sessions with Dr Rose and his emotional problems and sleep disturbances are under control.

Fahim’s grandfather made legal moves to adopt him and take control of his late father HASSAM BIN HASSAM’s assets. British authorities turned down the application and placed Fahim under secure custody as a potential witness in the trial of his uncle Asif.

Hassam’s assets have been frozen and placed in a trust fund. Any money left after paying compensation claims from Anglo-Irish Airlines and crash victims will pass to Fahim on his eighteenth birthday.

Despite an exhaustive murder enquiry, the body of YASMIN HASSAM has not been found.

Cleaning lady SYLVIA UPDIKE spent nine weeks in intensive care. She came close to death on several occasions and spent eleven days in a coma. After more than a dozen operations to repair her fractured thighbone she is now able to move a few steps with the aid of a walking frame.

ASIF BIN HASSAM was charged with the attempted murder of Sylvia Updike. Both Sylvia and Asif’s nephew Fahim were witnesses at his trial. The judge sentenced him to fifteen years’ imprisonment.

Asif and his wife MUNA may also face charges relating to the shipment of suspect aircraft parts. However, the evidence against them is complex and the chain of responsibility linking them to the airliner crash is difficult to prove and spans several countries with different laws. Police in the UK and USA remain hopeful that they will one day be brought to justice.

Following the death of his wife, DR TERENCE McAFFERTY has recommenced working on CHERUB campus on a voluntary basis. So far, his experience has been put to use helping out some of the younger mission-control staff on a variety of missions.

Mac’s report into the Anglo-Irish plane crash mission complimented LAUREN ADAMS’ performance. JAKE PARKER was praised for his brave actions at the end of the operation and Mac commented that he might have received a navy shirt had he not made several elementary mistakes earlier on. Mac recommended that Jake undergo refresher training in several key areas before being sent on further missions.

The faulty relay unit that led Hassam Bin Hassam to discover that he was under surveillance was dismantled and analysed by CHERUB technical director TERRY CAMPBELL. He identified a weakness in the design and the unit has been withdrawn from use by all British intelligence services until the manufacturers implement and test a revised version.

While DANNY BACH’s fractured limbs healed, two of his doorman colleagues took control of the increasingly profitable Wednesday night gig at the Outrage club. When Danny recovered, his former colleagues refused to pay him any share of their profits.

A violent altercation followed during which Danny stabbed and seriously wounded both men. After three weeks on the run, Danny was arrested while staying with relatives in the north east. Police initially charged Danny with attempted murder, but the charge was later dropped when he pleaded guilty to a lesser offence. Because of his lengthy criminal record, the judge sentenced Danny to seven years.

GEMMA WALKER has been promoted to assistant manager at Deluxe Chicken. She dumped Danny shortly before he went into prison, and their flat was later repossessed by the mortgage company. Gemma spent several months living in bed and breakfast accommodation with her two children. She gradually lost touch with James and Kerry, but when they last heard she’d moved into a terraced house with her sister MEL and was expecting a baby by a new boyfriend.

BRUCE NORRIS returned from Australia and resumed his relationship with KERRY CHANG.

JAMES ADAMS celebrated his sixteenth birthday in wild style on CHERUB campus. The climax of the celebrations was a drunken paintball match, followed by impromptu fireworks around the campus lake. James, DANA SMITH and several of his friends received fifty hours’ decorating duty for damage to paintballing equipment, setting off fireworks without permission and hurling fruit from an eighth-floor balcony.

READ ON FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER
OF THE NEXT CHERUB BOOK,
THE GENERAL
.

The anarchist organisation known as Street Action Group (SAG) first came to light in summer 2003 when its leader Chris Bradford hijacked the rostrum at an anti-Iraq-war demonstration in London’s Hyde Park. Bradford urged a peaceful crowd to attack police officers, before setting light to straw-filled effigies of Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush.

By 2006 SAG had built a cult following and was strong enough to begin staging its own anti-government protests. These culminated in July with the
Summer Mayhem March
through central Birmingham. Dozens of cars were vandalised, windows were broken, more than thirty protestors were arrested and a police officer was stabbed.

In the months that followed, prison sentences were handed down to several senior SAG members involved in the rioting. Heavy police presence wherever SAG planned to appear made staging violent protests increasingly difficult.

Chris Bradford became bitter at what he called ‘state oppression’ and an MI5 agent sent to infiltrate SAG made a shocking discovery: Bradford was trying to acquire guns and bomb-making equipment in order to transform SAG into a terrorist organisation.

(Excerpt from a CHERUB mission briefing for James Adams, October 2007)

It was December 21st, the last Friday before Christmas. The sky was purple and strings of lights dangled between Victorian lampposts on the pedestrianised London street. The pubs around Covent Garden tube station were crammed and office workers huddled in doorways smoking cigarettes. Teens gawped into shops well out of their price range and The Body Shop was full of miserable-looking men buying last-minute gifts.

Shoppers and drinkers ignored a rectangular pen made from metal crowd barriers as they shuffled past, though some noted the irony that two dozen police officers in florescent jackets lined up to face thirteen protestors inside the barriers.

James Adams was one of the thirteen. Sixteen years old, he was dressed in a bulky army surplus jacket and twenty-four-hole Doc Marten boots. His hair was shaved down to a number one on the sides and a shaggy, green-tinted Mohican ran from his forehead down to the collar of his jacket. He banged his gloved hands together to fight the cold as cops gave him stern looks.

Chris Bradford stood three metres away. Well built, Bradford had scruffy ginger hair, a baggy hoodie worn with the fluffy lining on the outside and two cameras filming him. One was held by a cop, who walked the perimeter with a titchy camcorder. The other was a more impressive beast. It sat on the shoulder of a BBC cameraman and a lamp mounted on top shone its light in Bradford’s face.

‘So, Mr Bradford,’ BBC correspondent Simon Jett said. He had a silk scarf tucked into his overcoat and a microphone in hand. ‘Today’s turnout must be a disappointment. Many people are saying that the Street Action Group is on its last legs.’