New Guard (CHERUB) (26 page)

‘You did very well on the recruitment tests,’ Ewart began. ‘Your English is improving, but we’ll need to work some more on that, along with your upper body strength and swimming before you’d be able to commence basic training.’

Zahra smiled at the news. ‘How far to then?’ she asked.

‘Basic training lasts one hundred days. If you progress well, I would like to think that you’ll be more than capable of joining the trainee group that commences at the beginning of April.’

‘OK,’ Zahra said. ‘I will try. And to work very hard.’

‘But I must ask one more thing,’ Ewart said. ‘Your father died fighting to free Syria from the Assad regime. Your brother died fighting for Islamic State, and was killed by a former CHERUB agent. How does that make you feel?’

Zahra’s face was a puzzle, as she struggled to answer in a language she’d been learning for less than two months.

‘I like to learn,’ Zahra said. ‘Learn science and math. Police stop all girls learning my home. Brother make me boy. He stop me from being forced to marry or get raped. He was not a real Islamic fighter. But no jobs. He
only
make money as fighter.’

Ewart nodded and smiled. ‘I understand.’

‘I like campus very much and not frightened of work hard,’ Zahra continued. ‘Theo, who showed me around, was very nice. I might make world better if I am live here.’

‘I think that’s
exactly
what you’re going to do,’ Ewart said, as he reached across the desk to shake hands. ‘Congratulations and welcome to CHERUB.’

CHERUB campus was January cold as Ryan Sharma waited outside the mission control building. The entry system was having a hissy fit until James Adams came and let him in.

‘Good to see you, buddy,’ James said. ‘Come on through. How’s the arm?’

Dressed in a white CHERUB T-shirt, Ryan waved to a couple of familiar faces in the control room as they set off for James’ office.

‘It’s healed,’ Ryan said. ‘Two more sessions with the physiotherapist.’

‘See this?’ James said, as he pointed to the door of one of the small offices along the hallway. The sign read
Kerry Chang, Junior Mission Controller
.

‘So you’re her boss,’ Ryan said, smiling.

‘I’m a full mission controller,’ James said. ‘So I’m senior to her, but I’m not her line manager or anything, thank god.’

‘Is she in?’

James shook his head. ‘Still in a leg brace. Had to go down to London to see her surgeon today.’

‘Ning said you set a date.’

James laughed. ‘Ning has a big mouth, it’s supposed to be on the QT … But yeah, I’ve got some leave booked for Easter time. So we’re getting hitched in Vegas, then we’re driving up Route 66 to Chicago for our honeymoon.’

‘Nice,’ Ryan said. ‘Motorbikes?’

‘I wish,’ James said. ‘Kerry does ride, but she’s not into bikes like I am.’

‘The way you ride, I’m not surprised,’ Ryan noted.

James tutted. ‘So I found a company that hires out old cars and we’re gonna do it in a vintage Ford Mustang. Plus, Lauren’s season will have started, so we’re going to see a couple of her races along the way.’

By this time they’d entered James’ office. Ning sat at James’ desk dealing with some admin and she cracked a big smile and jumped up to hug Ryan.

‘What are you doing here?’ Ning gasped, surprised. ‘I’ve not seen you since Christmas.’

‘You’re always busy whenever I want to meet up in town,’ Ryan explained. ‘But I had to come back to campus today to pick up some new identity papers and consolidated exam certificates for my uni applications.’

‘And for this,’ James said, pulling an envelope out of his desk drawer. ‘It’s all on paper because I don’t want an electronic trail.’

Ning looked curious as Ryan took the envelope. ‘Really appreciate this, James.’

‘You’d bloody better,’ James said. ‘I had to go into follow-up files from the Aramov mission. I could
totally
get my ass kicked off campus for doing this.’

Now Ning was practically bursting. ‘What are you two up to?’

James smirked. ‘Think Ning can keep a secret? The way I keep quiet about the twenty-four-year-old boyfriend she’s got stashed away in Thailand?’

Ning covered her face with embarrassment. ‘James,’ she squirmed.

‘That’s still a thing?’ Ryan asked.

‘Bruce
just
set me up with a gap year in Thailand,’ Ning protested. ‘That’s all it is.’

James shook his head. ‘Every time I walk into this office, she’s on Facebook Messenger with Bruce.’

‘Sod you!’ Ning said. ‘And you said yourself, Bruce is a really nice guy. Now stop changing the subject and tell me what’s in the envelope.’

Ryan opened the envelope and showed Ning a picture of an eighteen-year-old girl.

‘Natalka,’ Ning gasped.

Ryan had met Natalka on a mission in Kyrgyzstan four years earlier. He’d fallen in love, and wound up with a broken heart when he had to go back to campus.

‘There’s a bunch of stuff in the file,’ James said. ‘Natalka was released from reform school when she turned eighteen. I managed to find an address that’s about three months old and three possible mobile phone numbers. The latest information is an arrest for petty theft, on January 2nd, but she’s not due in court until March.’

‘I’ve never stopped thinking about Natalka,’ Ryan confessed to Ning. ‘I begged James to help me to find her.’

Ning was aghast. She found it sweet and romantic that Ryan hadn’t forgotten about Natalka. And how cool was it that James was prepared to bend the rules to help Ryan find his true love? She couldn’t think of any other CHERUB staff member who’d do something like that. But she was also shocked, and that’s the side that came out.

‘You’re both
bloody
bananas,’ Ning blurted. ‘You’re not supposed to contact people you met on missions for all sorts of very good reasons. James, you’re the most highly regarded young mission controller on campus. John is retiring in three years and you could easily be his successor as senior mission controller.

‘And Ryan, you haven’t thought this through, have you? You were only fourteen. How much have you changed as a person since you last saw Natalka? And Russia’s a tough country—’

Ryan interrupted. ‘I don’t care,’ he blurted. ‘I can handle Russia. My dad was Russian. I speak the language.’

‘But what if you arrive and Natalka’s got a boyfriend?’ Ning continued. ‘What if she’s got a drug problem? What if she’s about to get sent back to prison?’

‘I don’t give one shit,’ Ryan shouted back. ‘I’ve kissed girls on campus, but all I think about when I’m with them is that they’re not Natalka. When I was with her, it was like we were one person. I haven’t seen her for three years, but I still think about her. Wondering where she is, what she’s doing, if she’s happy or sad. If she still thinks about me.’

‘But what are the odds this will work out?’ Ning asked. ‘What if you come back with another broken heart?’

Tears welled in Ryan’s eyes. ‘Maybe she’ll break my heart. But even if the odds it’ll work out were a million to one, I’d still want to find her and ask.’

Ning saw the intensity in Ryan’s face. ‘You want me to go to Russia with you?’ she asked.

‘Nah,’ Ryan said. Not wanting to cry in front of James, he rattled the folder and headed for the exit. ‘I owe you a big one, James.’

Ning wondered when – or even if – she’d see Ryan again as he walked out, with a manila envelope in one hand, and the other smudging tears out of his eye.

She gave James Adams a look. It was the look his mum gave when he’d gotten in trouble at school, the look Lauren had before she kicked him for doing something dumb, the look on Kerry when she found him in bed shagging the pizza delivery chick …

‘You risked your whole career because Ryan’s crushing on a girl,’ Ning said, stifling a smile. ‘You look all grown up, but there’s still a mischievous twelve-year-old inside your skull.’

James shrugged. ‘You’d rather I was some guy in a grey suit, barking orders?’

Ning thought for a couple of seconds, then surprised James with a peck on the cheek. ‘Don’t ever grow up, James Adams,’ she told him. ‘The world wouldn’t be the same if you did.’

All information accurate as of December 2017

The Paedophile Hunting Network (PHN) video of NIGEL KINNEY was viewed over 160,000 times in its first three months online. During this period several people approached PHN with allegations of other sexual offences committed by Kinney.

Following a police investigation, Kinney was charged with eight serious sexual offences and found guilty of charges relating to six of them. After being assaulted by fellow prisoners, he is currently serving his twelve-year sentence in an isolation cell at York House prison on the Isle of Wight.

PHN actions have led to numerous similar paedophile convictions, though police and government continue to say that their brand of vigilante justice is dangerous and of limited use in obtaining real convictions of sex offenders.

OLIVER LAKSHMI, more commonly known as Oli, was moved to a foster home in North London following the robbery and vandalising of Uncle’s print shop. Despite numerous small altercations and some bullying incidents, Oli has now returned to normal schooling. He is doing reasonably well and his social worker reports that he has found a stable and age-appropriate friendship group for the first time in his life.

Police moved in to arrest MARTIN JONES aka UNCLE a few hours after James Adam’s glider rescue operation was completed. By this time MI5 had been investigating his operations for over a month. In all, twenty-six people involved in the smuggling of OME equipment were arrested. Two men linked to Uncle were also later charged with the drug-related murder of CHRIS CARLISLE.

Uncle received a life sentence for terrorism and money laundering offences. All of the OME equipment at his Birmingham scrapyard was destroyed, and oil companies around the world have agreed to destroy OME equipment when it is decommissioned, so that it cannot fall into the hands of terrorists.

Due to the secret nature of the rescue operation, the kidnapping and return of GORDON SACHS and KAM YUEN was never publicised, and nobody within Uncle’s organisation was charged with offences relating directly to their kidnapping.

The two engineers returned to peaceful retirement, although they are still viewed as kidnap targets and now carry emergency alarms and have had passive tracking devices inserted in their buttocks.

ZAHRA’s first attempt at CHERUB basic training ended on the thirty-second day, following a fall that led to an eye injury. She recommenced training three months later and is now a fully qualified CHERUB agent, awaiting her first mission.

After their return from the summer hostel LEON and DANIEL SHARMA faced no further punishment for their involvement with the Paedophile Hunting Network. Daniel received his black CHERUB T-shirt following a solo mission in early 2017. The twins remain active CHERUB agents, along with their younger brother THEO SHARMA.

Following two short, final missions, FU NING retired from CHERUB as planned in summer 2017. She currently works as a teacher at a Muay Thai dojo in Thailand. She is planning to study at an Australian university and is in a relationship with former CHERUB agent BRUCE NORRIS.

Because he had recently worked as CHERUB staff and commenced the relationship while Ning was still an agent, Bruce has been permanently banned from working on CHERUB campus and from returning to campus at all for three years. He says that falling in love with Ning totally made it worth the ban.

RYAN SHARMA travelled to Russia at the end of January 2017. He was able to locate his lost love NATALKA and used most of the resettlement money he’d been given by CHERUB to pay bribes to local police in order to drop various criminal charges that could have led to her serving a lengthy spell in prison.

Ryan and Natalka then spent the summer of 2017 travelling around Europe. The couple currently live in Cambridge, where Ryan is in his first year studying History. Natalka works as a waitress and is studying for GCSEs part-time at a local college. The couple’s relationship has been described by friends as, ‘Extremely volatile and unlikely to last.’

LAUREN ADAMS enjoyed a successful first season in saloon car racing, finishing the twelve-race series in third place and being voted ‘Rookie of the Year’. Lauren intends to compete in the same series in 2018, and has also been invited to become a test driver for a NASCAR team.

KERRY CHANG underwent three operations to remove and replace her damaged kneecap and was able to fully begin her role as a CHERUB mission controller in June 2017.

The complex nature of Kerry’s surgery, along with work commitments, meant that JAMES ADAMS eventually married Kerry at a Las Vegas casino in September 2017. Several friends attended the wedding, including KYLE BLUEMAN, who served as best man.

During Christmas dinner on CHERUB campus, Kerry announced that she and James were ‘Surprised but delighted’ to be expecting their first child.

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