The cop gave Zara a custody form to sign, while Dinesh wandered into the living-room. Kerry stood up and gave him a hug.

'I'm so sorry about your dad,' Kerry said.

'I told you he was a crook,' Dinesh said angrily. 'It was bound to happen sooner or later.' He looked at the duvets and pillows scattered around the living-room.

'We couldn't sleep,' Kerry explained. 'They had to take Nicole to the hospital.'

'Is it serious?'

'Kyle called from the hospital. They gave her an adrenalin shot to bring her round. Then they pumped her stomach.'

'I saw that on TV once,' Dinesh said. 'It's so nasty. They force a rubber tube down your throat and right down into your stomach.'

'They'll keep her in under observation for a few hours,' James said. 'But they reckon she'll be OK.'

Dinesh managed a smile. 'I wouldn't want to be in her shoes when she gets home.'

It was gone 3 a.m. when a cab dropped Kyle home from the hospital. Zara told them all to go upstairs and try to get some rest. Dinesh slept on Nicole's bed.

While the mission was going smoothly, Ewart had been acting calm, but when he shook James awake at eleven o'clock that Sat.u.r.day morning, he looked rabid.

'In the bathroom, now,' Ewart barked.

'Uh?' James said, still half-asleep.

Ewart grabbed James by his wrist and practically dislocated his shoulder as he yanked him out of bed. He shoved James towards the bathroom, bolted the door and bundled him up to the wall.

'We've got to keep the noise down while Dinesh is in the house,' Ewart whispered. 'But you better start giving me straight answers about last night, or I'm gonna make you sorry.'

'I haven't done anything,' James said.

'So what's this then?' Ewart asked, producing the metal straw that had come out of Junior's cocaine. There were still specks of white powder stuck on one end.

'It's not mine,' James said.

'Liar,' Ewart snarled. 'I was checking inside the pockets before I put the washing on. It was in your jeans.'

James realised he must have pocketed it when Kelvin had surprised them.

'I swear I never took c.o.ke,' James said frantically. 'That belongs to Junior. I must have picked it up by mistake.'

Ewart opened the medicine cabinet and took out a plastic sample bottle.

'We'll see, won't we? I got three of these at the hospital last night,' Ewart said. 'Pee in that. I'm gonna have your, Kyle's and Kerry's urine samples tested and if there's cocaine in there, you'll be out on your a.r.s.e with Nicole.'

James was pleased to see the sample bottle. The test would clear up any argument.

'Give it here,' he said, smirking confidently. 'How much do you want to bet that I'm clean? Fifty quid, a hundred?'

'Cut the smart mouth,' Ewart said. 'And p.i.s.s.'

James angrily s.n.a.t.c.hed the bottle off Ewart, flipped up the plastic lid and stood over the toilet. He was usually busting when he woke up, but he couldn't go with Ewart standing behind him.

'Can't you wait outside?' James asked.

'You might tamper with it,' Ewart said. 'Try thinking about waterfalls or something.'

When he'd finished, James handed the bottle to Ewart.

'Any money you like,' he said c.o.c.kily.

His air of confidence had taken the edge off Ewart's anger. 'Go back to your room and tell Kyle to get over here.'

After Kyle had gone, James slumped on his bed feeling pleased with himself. Ewart would look an idiot when the drug test came back. Then he had a horrible thought: if Kelvin had called down the stairs a couple of seconds later...

James relived the drunken instant when the dish of white powder was just centimetres from his face. He felt sick when he realised how close he'd come to snorting a dangerous drug and getting himself booted out of CHERUB.

22. NICOLE.

Junior called James on his mobile.

'Dude.'

'You sound happy,' James said. 'What's up?'

'It's pandemonium here,' Junior said. 'I've got a killer hangover and the pigs arrested over eighty KMG people last night. My dad thinks he's about to get busted. He keeps running up to the curtain every time a bird flies past the window.'

'Mr Singh got nabbed,' James said. 'Dinesh spent the night here. Ewart's taken him to the airport to meet his mum.'

'They nicked Uncle George and Uncle Pete,' Junior said. 'They're not my real uncles, but they've been working for Dad since before I was born.'

'So how come you're in a good mood?' James asked.

'Nicole, of course,' Junior said. 'I had my hands everywhere. No offence, James, I know she's your sister and everything.'

'She's in hospital,' James said. 'The c.o.ke did her in.'

'No way,' Junior gasped. 'That explains why I couldn't get her mobile. Is she OK?'

'Yeah, but I wouldn't get your hopes up about seeing her any time soon. She overdosed once before,' James said, repeating Zara's latest cover story. 'Ewart and Zara are terrified that she's gonna end up killing herself. They've arranged for her to go back to a care home in London for a psychiatric a.s.sessment.'

'Oh, my G.o.d,' Junior blurted. 'I'm really sorry, man. I'd never have offered her c.o.ke if I'd known she had a problem. How long will she be gone for?'

'Um,' James said, scratching for an answer, 'it all depends on the a.s.sessment, I suppose ... She might not be back at all ... Anyway, I just heard Zara pulling up with a carload of shopping. She goes loopy if I don't help her unload.'

'I'll see you then,' Junior said. 'April asked if you fancied coming round for Sunday lunch?'

'Maybe,' James said. 'I don't know what's going on at the moment, with Nicole and that. I'll ring you later.'

James ended the call. There really was a car pulling up, but it was John Jones. Zara made tea while John Jones explained what had been going on over the last twenty-four hours.

'It all came out of the production facility you kids found at Thunderfoods. KMG imports and distributes cocaine through lots of different channels, but you guys uncovered the weakest link in the chain. Almost every gram was being packaged in the automated plant at Thunderfoods.

'We wired the place with cameras and bugs and watched everybody who came and went through binoculars. I've been on drug investigations where you go months without finding a good lead. Once we had Thunderfoods under surveillance, we started getting so much information we had to bring in extra staff to handle it.

'You'd get a couple of guys coming in to mix and package a few kilos of c.o.ke. It's boring work, so they'd usually start gossiping. They were off guard and the quality of the information was unbelievable. Names, dates, phone numbers, flight numbers.What are you doing next week? Where's your next shipment coming in? What deal is old so-and-so working on at the moment?

'We've made a hundred arrests already, but we're not even scratching the surface. We're sending information to police stations all over the country and another two or three hundred guys are gonna get pulled over the next few days. By the time we're done, KMG will be lucky if it can sell a bag of sweets in a school playground.'

'I just spoke to Junior,' James said. 'Keith Moore still hasn't been arrested.'

'That's politics,' John said. 'Us MI5 guys wanted to keep the undercover work going until we had enough evidence to get Keith, but the police wouldn't hold out. They've got hundreds of people working on Operation Snort. Not just police officers, but the administration and back-up staff that go with them. It's costing over a million pounds a month and there was talk of shutting it down if they didn't start getting results.'

'So Keith Moore might get off?' Kerry asked.

John smiled uneasily. 'I hope not, Kerry. I'd say out of the top ten people in KMG, we've got enough evidence to put eight in prison. We're gonna try and flip a couple of those guys. We're offering total immunity from prosecution. Given a choice between twenty years in prison and walking home to your wife and kids, we reckon a few people might start tattling on Keith Moore.'

'So is there anything special we should be looking out for?' Kyle asked.

'I'd be amazed if you kids make another breakthrough to match the one you've made already,' John said. 'Just keep in with the bad guys and we'll see if anything else turns up.'

'Actually, kids,' Zara said, 'I had to phone Mac and explain what happened with Nicole. He seems to think we've achieved most of what we set out to do. He's not impressed by what happened to Nicole and he wants the rest of you out of harm's way. I expect we'll be heading back to campus in a few weeks, so you might want to start dropping hints to your friends. Suggest that Ewart has gone for a job interview and there's a chance you might be moving back to London.'

John Jones did his routine of shaking everyone's hands before he left.

'Of course,' he said, holding on to Kerry's hand after he'd shaken it, 'this young lady is the biggest hero of the lot.'

Kerry still had an ear-to-ear grin five minutes after John Jones had driven away. James got sick of looking at it and chucked Joshua's furry cement mixer at her head. Kerry chucked it back and they ended up chasing each other around the dining table, along the hallway and into the living-room.

'I'm a hero,' Kerry sang as she ran. 'Hero, hero, hero. Hero, hero, hero.'

James chucked a couple of sofa cushions at her. Kerry bundled James on to the floor and pinned him down. She grabbed his ankle and started tickling the bottom of his foot. It was James' weakest spot. Within thirty seconds she'd reduced him to a drooling wreck.

'OK,' James gasped. 'You're a hero. You're a hero.'

Kerry stood up sharply and straightened her expression. Ewart and Nicole stood in the doorway, stone-faced. James got off the floor and wiped his lips on his sleeve.

'They tested your samples at the hospital,' Ewart said. 'You two are both clean for drugs, though they found higher levels of alcohol than I'd like to have seen, especially you, James. I know you're allowed to drink if you're in a situation where the kids around you are drinking, but that's not a licence to go crazy.'

'So you're glad you didn't bet me fifty quid?' James grinned.

Ewart gave James a vicious look. He definitely wasn't in the mood for joking.

'Go help Nicole pack and say your goodbyes,' Ewart said. 'I'm driving her back to campus in half an hour. Where's Kyle?'

'He's in the kitchen,' Kerry said.

'Right,' Ewart said angrily. 'Let's go and sort him out.'

Ewart stormed off and slammed the kitchen door.

'What's Kyle done?' Kerry asked, looking at Nicole.

'Don't know, don't care,' Nicole said bitterly. 'I suppose he failed his drug test.'

'No way,' James said.

'He wasn't doing c.o.ke with me and Junior,' Nicole said. 'But he's been going to loads of parties. Who knows what he gets up to?'

'Oh, my G.o.d,' Kerry said, cupping her hands over her face. 'This is so sad.'

Nicole started up the stairs. Kerry and James followed her.

'How do you feel?' Kerry asked.

'Not bad, except my stomach's agony and I feel like I've got an elephant standing on my head.'

'I'm really sorry about what happened to you,' James said, as they stepped into the girls' bedroom. 'It could have been any one of us.'

Nicole smiled, 'By the skin of your teeth, James.'

'How's that?' Kerry asked.

'He was ready to snort a line,' Nicole explained. 'But he got distracted.'

'You moron,' Kerry said, giving James a shove. 'You told me you tried to stop Nicole.'

'That's not what I said,' James squirmed.

'That's exactly what you said, James.'

'So, anyone who takes drugs is a moron?' Nicole asked. 'Eh, Kerry?'

'Nicole,' Kerry said angrily, 'if you'd pa.s.sed out when you were in bed instead of on the stairs, n.o.body would have realised until morning. You might have died.'

'You're so sly, Kerry,' Nicole stormed. 'You and your prissyI'm a good girl act.'

'What do you want me to do?' Kerry asked. 'Congratulate you on getting expelled?'

'I don't care about any of this CHERUB stuff,' Nicole said defiantly. 'It's just a bunch of dumb kids getting hot under the collar over who wears what colour T-shirt and what stupid missions they've been on. Who cares about any of that anyway? They're gonna set me up with a foster family and a place in a nice public school. I can have a boyfriend, chill out and lead a normal life.'

'Don't you get it, dumbo?' Kerry said, tapping her head with her finger. 'You nearly died last night.'

'You don't know what you're talking about,' Nicole said, shoving Kerry backwards.

'Don't dare touch me,' Kerry said, rearing up on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet. 'I could kick your b.u.t.t so easily, but you're such a worthless tramp I can't even be bothered.'