'Tell us,' Lauren said sharply. 'You know I'll just sit here bugging you until you do.'

James threw back his duvet and sat up, picking at a gluey eye.

'Why are you up so early?' he asked. 'It's pitch black outside.'

'It's half past ten,' Lauren said, turning slowly around on the chair. 'But it's raining.'

James swung out of bed and peered through the blind. Rain trickled down his window. The sky was grey and the outdoor tennis courts were under water.

'Great,' James said. 'There's nothing like British summer to cheer you up.'

'You've got a good tan,' Lauren said. 'Mine's almost gone and I've only been back from the hostel three weeks.'

'Best holiday I've ever had.' James grinned. 'We'll have to try and fix it so we go at the same time next year. Me, Kerry and about six other kids had this ma.s.sive race on the quad bikes.'

'Racing's not allowed,' Lauren said.

'Isn't it?' James smiled, guiltily. 'Anyway, there was a humungous crash. Me and Shakeel. You should have seen the state the bikes were in. Front tyres ripped off, petrol gushing everywhere. It was mad.'

'Did you get hurt?'

'Shakeel twisted his ankle, that's all. I can't wait for next year.'

Lauren smiled. 'We dared Bethany's brother to drive one of the quad bikes through the dining room. It was so funny when he got busted ... Anyway, are you gonna tell us why they kicked your b.u.t.ts home early, or not?'

James slumped miserably back on his bed, realising he was now about as far as you get from racing over sand dunes.

'I got totally st.i.tched up,' he said.

'Give over, James, you always say that.'

'Yeah, but this time it's true. Bruce and Kerry had a punch-up. They trashed our room and Kerry busted her knee, but Meryl sent me and Gabrielle home early as well. We've got to go and see the Chairman this afternoon.'

'You must have done something,' Lauren said.

'Lauren, all me and Gabrielle did was try to break the fight up. It was a total miscarriage of justice. Meryl wouldn't let me get one word in.'

'Makes up for all the things you haven't been caught for,' Lauren grinned. 'How's Kerry?'

'She's in loads of pain. They had to do a medivac: flew her home on a special plane because she can't bend her leg.'

'Poor Kerry,' Lauren said.

'I'll go and see how she is when I've got my uniform on. You coming?'

'I've got Karate cla.s.s in a minute,' Lauren said, shaking her head. 'I want to be in top form when my basic training starts.'

'Oh yeah,' James grinned. 'Only a month to go now. I'm gonna have such a laugh hearing about all the ways the instructors make you suffer.'

Lauren folded her arms and scowled at her brother. 'You're not scaring me, you know.'

The medical unit was a ten-minute walk from the main building. When James got to Kerry's room, Gabrielle was already there.

'Look what your friend did to her,' Gabrielle said, as if it was somehow James' fault.

Kerry was propped up on pillows beneath a Nil By Mouthsign. MTV blared from the portable TV hanging over her bed. She was on painkillers, but still had wet eyes and looked like she hadn't slept.

James put Kerry's MP3 player on her bedside table.

'Thought some tunes might help take your mind off it,' he said. 'Hope you don't mind me going in your room.'

'No problem,' Kerry said. 'Cheers.'

'Has the doctor seen you?' James asked.

Kerry nodded, pointing to a light box on the wall.

'Show James the thingy,' she said.

There was already an X-ray mounted on the light box. Gabrielle walked up and switched on the lamp.

'That's Kerry's kneecap,' Gabrielle explained, pointing to a round grey area on the X-ray. 'See the four black bars?'

James nodded.

'Those are the metal pins put in when Kerry broke her kneecap two years ago. When Bruce twisted Kerry's leg, that pin there shifted. So now Kerry's got a piece of metal sticking out the back of her kneecap. Every time she moves, the metal cuts into the tendons underneath.'

'Yuk,' James winced. 'What can they do about that?'

'They're taking her to hospital,' Gabrielle said. 'They're operating this afternoon. Kerry can't eat or drink before the anaesthetic. They're going under her kneecap and cutting out the bent metal. The broken bone has grown back together, so the metal isn't doing anything now anyway.'

James felt queasy imagining surgical instruments poking around inside his leg.

'OOOOOOOOHHH G.o.d!' Kerry screamed.

'What?' James asked, rushing over to the bed. 'Are you OK?'

'It's nothing,' Kerry said. 'I just moved my foot. This is actually more painful than when I broke my knee.'

She let out a low groan. James sat beside the bed and stroked her hand.

'Has Bruce been to see you?' he asked.

'No,' Gabrielle huffed. 'Like that little jerk would have enough cla.s.s to come and apologise.'

'James,' Kerry said, 'will you do us a favour?'

'Course,' James said. 'Name it.'

'Go and see Bruce. Tell him I'm not making a big deal out of this.'

'You call this no big deal?' James laughed. 'You're joking.'

'I'm not,' Kerry said. 'I don't want this turning into some ma.s.sive feud. Remember I told you I broke Bruce's leg when we were red shirts?'

'Sure,' James said.

'It was in Karate practice. Bruce fell awkwardly. I came down on him full force and crunched his leg. I never should have done something like that in a practice. Bruce was cool about it. He shrugged it off like it was nothing. Everyone does stupid stuff sometimes. Remember that one, James?'

Kerry held out the palm of her right hand. It had a long scar where James had stomped it during training. 'You can't hold grudges against people for every mistake they make,' she said.

'Point taken,' James said. 'I'll speak to him.'

James hated the row of plastic seats outside the Chairman's office. If you had to see him for something good, Dr McAfferty usually known as Mac let you straight in. When you were in trouble, he kept you hanging outside in suspense. James sat between Gabrielle and Bruce. He was combed and deodorised, in his neatest set of CHERUB uniform: polished boots, army-green trousers and a navy T-shirt with the CHERUB logo embroidered on the front. The other two wore the same, except they were only ent.i.tled to wear grey T-shirts. Bruce had four red lines down his face where Kerry had clawed him.

Kerry might have forgiven Bruce, but Gabrielle wasn't talking to him. James felt like he was on a tightrope. Every time he said something to one of them, the other one huffed as if he was siding against them. James realised it was easiest if he kept quiet.

They waited a good half hour before Mac finally leaned out of his doorway. He was in his sixties, with a neat grey beard and a Scottish accent.

'Come on then,' Mac said wearily. 'Let's sort you three out.'

James led the way towards Mac's mahogany desk.

'No, no, come and look at this,' Mac said, heading towards an architectural model standing on a table by the window.

The kids stepped up to the model of a crescent-shaped building. It was a metre long, made entirely out of white plastic, with polystyrene trees and tiny white figures walking along paths outside.

'What is it?' James asked.

'It's our new mission preparation building,' Mac said enthusiastically. 'We're turning those shabby offices on the eighth floor into extra living s.p.a.ce and building this beauty to replace them. Over five thousand square metres of office s.p.a.ce. Every big mission will have its own office, with new computers and equipment. We'll have encrypted satellite links to our mission controllers all over the world, as well as to British Intelligence headquarters and the CIA and DOHS in America. This model just arrived from the architect's office. Isn't it fantastic?'

The kids nodded. Even if they'd hated it, they wouldn't have wanted to get on Mac's bad side by saying so. Mac treated CHERUB campus like his own personal Lego set. He was always having something built or knocked down.

'It's an eco-building,' Mac enthused, lifting the plastic roof off so the kids could see the offices filled with miniature furniture inside. 'Special gla.s.s retains the heat, so it stays warm in the winter. Solar panels on the roof power fans and heat the water.'

'When's it being built?' Bruce asked.

'It's already being made in prefabricated sections in a factory in Austria,' Mac said. 'That way we can minimise the number of construction workers we have to let loose on campus. Once the concrete base is poured, the whole lot is bolted together in a few weeks. Fitting out the interior should be completed early in the New Year. You wouldn't believe the amount of arm twisting I've had to do to secure the funding.'

'It's really cool,' James said, hoping his enthusiasm would translate into a lighter punishment.

'Anyway, I suppose I have to sort you three hooligans out,' Mac said. He clearly would have preferred to go on about his new building for the rest of the afternoon. 'Plant your b.u.ms at my desk.'

The three kids sat in the leather chairs opposite Mac. Mac leaned over his desk, interlocked his fingers and stared at them.

'I've already spoken to Kerry,' he said. 'So what have you lot got to say for yourselves?'

'It's well unfair that me and Gabrielle got sent home,' James said. 'We were the ones who tried to break the fight up.'

He noticed Lauren and her best friend, Bethany, with their noses squished against the outside of the window behind Mac's desk.

'As I understand from Meryl Spencer,' Mac said, 'the four of you came back from a training exercise, went into your room and began taunting one another and bickering. Is that true?'

The kids gave a mix of shrugs and nods. Outside, Lauren and Bethany were sticking their tongues out and mouthing rude words.

'As far as I'm concerned, that makes all four of you responsible for what happened,' Mac said. 'Gentle ribbing leads to teasing, which leads to nastiness and, as in this instance, it sometimes leads to violence and an eight-thousand-pound bill for an air ambulance. While each of you is serving your punishment, I want you to reflect that you'd all be enjoying another two weeks of holiday if you'd had the sense to behave decently towards one another instead of winding each other up. Is that understood?'

The three kids nodded. James hated how Mac's way of twisting the facts around made him feel partly responsible for Kerry getting hurt. What made him even more annoyed was Lauren sticking a sheet of paper up to the window that said JAMES SUCKS in giant black letters. Gabrielle couldn't stop herself smirking.

'By way of punishments, I want the three of you to report to the head gardener after you finish lessons every afternoon. We don't have enough staff to give the lawns the attention they deserve in the summer, but you guys putting in two hours' mowing a day for the next month will certainly help.'

James groaned to himself. With extra fitness training in the mornings and mowing in the evenings, the next month was turning into a nightmare.

'Any questions?' Mac asked.

The kids shook their heads and stood up to leave.

'And James,' Mac said.

James turned back. 'What?'

Mac raised a picture frame off his desk and turned it towards James. It showed Mac, standing with his wife, his six grown-up children and an ocean of little grandkids.

'James, would you kindly inform your sister that the gla.s.s in this picture frame gives me a very good reflection of everything that's going on outside my window. I want to see Lauren and Bethany in this office and you can tell them that they'll be joining you on gardening duty for the rest of the week.'

5. SLEEP.

TWO WEEKS LATER.

James got up at 5.30 a.m., despite his whole body begging him to stay under the duvet. He put on his running kit and headed to the athletics track as the sun rose over campus. It took him an hour to run twenty-five laps: a distance of ten kilometres. He showered, then traded some homework with Shakeel over breakfast. Lessons went from 8.30 until 2.00, with half an hour for lunch. After lessons, there was Karate practice topped off with forty-five minutes' circuit training. Boiling hot, James downed half a litre of orange juice and collected one of the ride-on mowers from the gardeners' storeroom. It wasn't hard driving the mower, but the sun was on him the whole time and the gra.s.s pollen made his eyes itch.

It was 6.15 p.m. by the time James got his first chance to relax. Dinner was a social event, with everyone mucking about and catching up on gossip. Most cherubs had done their homework before dinner and had the evening to themselves, but the mowing meant James hadn't even got started. Homework was supposed to be two hours a day. Some teachers were decent. Others piled on so much work it took heaps longer.

When James got back to his room it was gone 7.00. He sat at his desk, spread out his textbooks and opened his homework diary. In the two weeks he'd been back on campus, James had acquired a backlog of homework that sucked up every second of his free time.

It was a warm evening, so James left his window open. A breeze clattered into the plastic slats of his blind. James' eyes were gluey and the words in his textbook drifted out of shape. His head slumped on the desk and he dozed off before he'd written a word.

Kyle lived across the hall. He was nearly fifteen, but he wasn't much bigger than James.

'Wakey wakey,' Kyle said, flicking James' ear.

James' head shot up from his desk. He opened his eyes, inhaled deeply and looked at his watch. It was gone ten o'clock.