John seemed proud as they headed out of the conference room. 'Good stuff,' he told James. 'I'm glad they're not just gonna abandon Sachs and Yuen.'

'I don't know where to start with this,' James admitted.

But John was glancing at his watch. 'I've got another meeting over at MI6. Chat later!'

Then James found the deputy prime minister shaking his hand. 'I'll need progress reports,' he said. 'I have every confidence in you.'

James wanted to speak with the special forces colonel, but these were important people and they all dashed off, leaving him alone in a hallway. He loosened his tie and felt shaky as he stumbled into a bathroom, slammed a cubicle door and made a dry heave over a toilet bowl.

James had a pain down his side and realised he needed to sit still for a moment, so he put the toilet lid down, sat and took a slow deep breath. He pulled his phone and tried getting his head around the problem he now had to solve. When the screen came on, he spotted a forty-minute-old message from Kerry.

You'll knock 'em dead in the meeting. X.

James erupted in a big smile. Thinking how much he loved Kerry. How empty his life would seem if she wasn't around. He called Kerry's number.

'Hey you,' Kerry said, sounding like she was walking fast.

'You OK?' James asked.

'My boss just dumped on me from a great height,' Kerry said, her voice all high and stressed. 'There's a mistake in a contract I'm working on. Two hundred pages and I've got to go through marking up all the mistakes before the lawyer comes in tomorrow. So I'm sorry, but there's no way I can meet you for lunch today.'

James sighed, but wasn't surprised. He rarely stayed with Kerry in London during the week, because it was all work and sleep.

'So how was your meeting?' Kerry asked, and then she sounded angry after he'd explained. 'You agreed to do what! Are you nuts?'

James had no way of knowing who was outside the toilet cubicle, so he spoke in a whisper. 'It was so much pressure,' he admitted. 'My boss, a full colonel covered in medals, the intelligence minister, the deputy prime minister. All smiling at me and I'm like, OK, yes sir, I'll do it, sir.'

'Islamic State chop people's heads off,' Kerry said. 'This is no CHERUB mission. This is off the chart dangerous.'

'You think I should pull out?' James said.

Kerry's voice calmed down. 'Only if you really want to.'

'Are you p.i.s.sed off at me?'

Kerry sighed. 'If I sounded that way, it's because I was shocked. But I'll support you if this is what you really want.'

'I want to help those guys,' James said. 'But if I get this wrong, people will die.'

'Then you've got to build the best team you can,' Kerry said. 'Plan carefully, get good advice and good people working with you.'

'Do you think I'm a lightning rod?' James asked. 'Like, n.o.body senior will take this on because if it goes wrong it's a career killer.'

Kerry laughed slightly. 'If this goes wrong, your promotion prospects are the least of your concerns.'

'GRRR!' James moaned, as he thumped the tissue dispenser. 'Why didn't I just say no?'

'You're brilliant at your job, James,' Kerry said. 'You're just overwhelmed right now. Once you start breaking the problems down and you've got decent people around you-'

James interrupted. 'Kerry, do you really want to spend your life working sixty-hour weeks going through two-hundred-page contracts with lawyers?'

'I'm not going to do this forever,' Kerry said.

'Quit,' James urged. 'You're smarter than me. If we planned this thing together ...'

'James ...' Kerry said, giggling.

'You're only doing the job for the big bucks,' James said. 'But who really cares about money?'

Now Kerry sounded a bit p.i.s.sed off. 'You only say that because you inherited plenty from your mother.'

'I'll look after you.'

'I want my own career,' Kerry said. 'Not your charity ... And you're just saying this stuff because you're stressed.'

James heard someone speak, and Kerry mouthing, 'OK, OK.' Then into the phone, 'My meeting is about to start and my boss is glowering at me through a gla.s.s part.i.tion. I'll call you later, OK?'

'I love you,' James said.

Kerry laughed. 'I love you more. And don't worry. Everyone will support you and you'll do great.'

James heard a sound like a door opening, then the speaker went dead. He felt warm, imagining Kerry in her black business garb, pulling her close and smelling the top of her head. Then he started thinking about what Kerry had said.

She was right that he'd feel less overwhelmed once the shock had worn off. He started breaking the rescue mission down into manageable chunks and thinking about who he'd want alongside him in a situation where his life was on the line.

James. .h.i.t the contacts b.u.t.ton on his phone and scrolled down as far as B before dialling.

'Yo, dumba.s.s!' Bruce Norris answered.

James smiled, as someone in the next cubicle ripped a huge fart. 'Hey,' James said. 'Are you still on campus, helping out with combat training?'

'For a few more days,' Bruce said. 'How's Birmingham? How's the mission?'

'It's taken an interesting turn,' James admitted. 'Is there any chance you'd be up for something violent and highly dangerous?'

'Always,' Bruce said.

'Cool,' James said. 'Because I need people I trust. So I'm gonna try getting the old gang back together, for one last mission.'

The twins had school, but Ryan had nothing to do but kill time at Nurtrust. He'd spurned Rhea's advances, out of respect for Leon, and spent all day Monday and Tuesday in his room, doing Skype sessions with a maths tutor on campus.

Like most CHERUB agents, Ryan had taken his exams at weird times, enabling his studies to fit between missions. This meant Ryan already had enough qualifications for university, but he was now studying some extra modules to give himself an advantage when he got there.

He kept checking his phone, but James had vanished and there had been no job offer, either from Uncle, or the site foreman. It was Thursday morning when he finally got a call from campus.

James Campus flashed on his caller ID, but it was a girl's voice.

'Ning, is that you?'

'Who else, dear boy?' Ning said, putting on a posh English accent. 'Where you at?'

'Bored off my head,' Ryan said. 'I've done so much math, I'm seeing imaginary numbers in my dreams. Now I'm out, picking my car up from the repair shop.'

Ning sounded amused. 'You crashed?'

'Nah, just someone messed with a wing mirror. So how come you're at James' desk?'

'I help out in his office sometimes,' Ning explained.

'Is he coming back here, do you know?'

'That's why I'm calling,' Ning explained. 'You and your brothers have been rea.s.signed.'

'What?' Ryan gasped. 'I've unearthed all kinds of stuff up here.'

'I don't know all the details,' Ning said. 'But apparently an MI5 team has planted more bugs in Uncle's cabin and home. And they've recruited informants. A cleaning lady and some dude at the sc.r.a.pyard whose immigration status is dodgy.'

'CHERUB agents shall only be placed at risk in scenarios where adult agents cannot perform equally well,' Ryan said, quoting from the CHERUB training manual. 'So I guess my a.s.s is heading back to campus. The twins won't be happy if they're back on heavy drill.'

'You won't be on campus for long,' Ning said. 'James said you need to head over to his flat and meet a guy called Joffrey from MI5. Hand over all the receivers for the listening devices and pack his stuff up in the Ford Focus. Then you've gotta drive back to campus and pack your swimming trunks and suntan lotion, because we're all heading off to the summer hostel. Me included.'

'I'm confuzzled,' Ryan admitted. 'If you don't know what's going on, can I at least speak to James?'

'You'll be lucky,' Ning said. 'He's just got back to campus, but he's buzzing about like an over-caffeinated bluebottle, planning some kind of secret mission.'

'All CHERUB missions are secret,' Ryan pointed out.

Ning shrugged. 'Yeah, well this one's even more secret than usual.'

26. HOSTEL.

James hadn't been to the CHERUB summer hostel in five years. Although it was autumn, the first sunlight caught the water around the Mediterranean island as the fifteen-seat executive jet made a banked turn and aligned with a short landing strip.

'Happy memories,' Bruce said, from the seat across the aisle, as he looked at the giant outdoor pool and rows of accommodation huts. These housed over a hundred CHERUB agents for twelve weeks between June and September, but out of season the population dwindled to a husband and wife caretaker and a small security team.

Besides James and Bruce, the little jet carried five agents. Ryan, Ning, Leon, Daniel and Ryan's chunky best mate, Alfie. There was also a chef, a cleaner, training instructors Capstick and McEwen and two a.s.sistant instructors.

Alfie, Ning and the twins had a slide-out table between their seats and a rowdy game of Cards Against Humanity on the go. James was more interested in the fact that he had mobile reception for the first time in two hours.

He picked up three voicemails. The first was from Amy Collins, who'd been James' mentor when he first arrived at campus thirteen years earlier.

'Good to hear your message, James,' Amy's recorded voice said. 'But I'm with the FBI now, so I've got my own undercover stuff going on and there's no way I can get out of it.'

'Amy's out,' James told Bruce, his seat juddering as the jet touched down.

The landing strip was short, so everyone got thrown as the pilot used wing flaps and reverse thrust to slow down.

'Pity,' Bruce said, as he braced hands against a bulkhead. 'She'd have been perfect.'

'I've put some other calls in,' James said.

'What about the twins, Callum and Connor?' Bruce suggested.

'Final year of their masters degrees,' James explained. 'They can't take time out. Gabrielle's busy. Rat damaged his neck in a racing car last year.'

'Shakeel?' Bruce suggested.

James shook his head and laughed. 'He's in Brisbane, running some Internet start-up with guys he met at uni. Plus, the last time I saw Shak he'd totally let himself go. Must have weighed more than a hundred kilos.'

'Really?' Bruce said. 'Unbelievable!'

The plane U-turned at the end of the landing strip and taxied back towards a dilapidated hut. A ground attendant in Royal Air Force uniform ran out to place blocks in front of the wheels as the exit swung open.

James was out behind the two instructors and stepped on to the tarmac just as his sister came jogging out of the hut, dressed in shorts and her Rathbone Racing team hat.

'Thanks for coming,' James said, as he gave her a hug.

Lauren smiled. 'Thought I'd come and save your a.s.s one last time.'

James' mate Kyle was behind and shook Bruce's hand. 'Your employers were OK?' Bruce asked.

Kyle laughed. 'It's a charity. They've never got any money. My boss wasn't keen to lose me, but when I mentioned six weeks' unpaid leave, the finance department practically bit my arm off.'

As Bruce kissed Lauren, James turned his attention to an austere, dark-eyed woman. She was pet.i.te but muscular, with black hair curling down her back, and clad in combat shorts and a white vest.

'Tovah?' James said, offering a handshake. 'Thank you so much for coming at short notice.'

Thirty years old, Tovah spoke with a deep Israeli accent. 'Excited to finally meet you, Mr Adams.'

'Call me James,' he said, as Ryan led the rest of the youngsters out of the jet. 'I can't thank you and your government enough for your help.'

'No problem,' Tovah said, as Bruce closed in.

'My very good friend Bruce,' James said, as he shook hands. 'Bruce, this is Tovah, who absolutely isn't from the Israeli intelligence service.'

Tovah smiled and shrugged innocently. 'I barely even know where Israel is.'

'So why are you here?' Bruce asked.

Tovah cracked a huge smile. 'I'm here to teach you guys to fly.'