CHERUB: The Fall (27 page)

Obidin remains in typically bullish mood, but many commentators say that the closure is the final nail in Obidin’s dream of building a modern Russian aerospace industry to compete with America and the Europeans.

LOG IN
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

FOR IMMEDIATE ACCESS, PURCHASE AN ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION
HERE

‘All seems to tie up somehow,’ James said. ‘Lord Hilton withdraws funding from Denis Obidin’s pet project. They have some kind of falling out and Hilton ends up paying Boris and Isla to kill him.’

‘I can see that,’ Dana nodded. ‘Two businessmen falling out is nothing to write home about, but this is in an entirely different league. What did Obidin have that makes Lord Hilton turn to the dirty deeds department?’

‘Something that threatens his life, his career, or his family.’

‘Obviously,’ Dana said. ‘Ahhh, got her. I’ve found a website for an air show that took place back in 2002.
Members of the press wishing to interview Lord Hilton should in the first instance contact his personal assistant Madeline Cowell
.’

‘Blimey,’ James said. ‘So that’s Lord Hilton’s business partner, personal assistant and one of his top scientists all bumped off in the space of three weeks. You’d think someone would have twigged.’

‘Not necessarily,’ Dana said. ‘The secretary was an old lady and Obidin was three thousand kilometres away. The only death likely to raise an eyebrow in this country is the scientist.’

‘So, apart from Lord Hilton and his son, the journalist Jason McLoud and this Sarah Thomas woman are the only ones on the list who are still alive.’

‘Exactly,’ Dana nodded.

James thought for a few seconds. ‘Anything on who Sarah Thomas is?’

‘The name is way too common,’ Dana said. ‘I just went into the CHERUB server and accessed the UK electoral roll. There are five thousand three hundred and seventeen people in Britain called Sarah Thomas.’

‘So what next?’

Dana pointed at the piles of papers.

‘Keep shuffling, dude.’

James and Dana kept going until past midnight. Ewart had apparently conducted a thorough investigation with the help of personal contacts inside MI5 and the CIA. He seemed to have uncovered most of the truth behind the disastrous Aero City mission.

Lord Hilton’s son, Sebastian, had run Hilton Aerospace’s Russian operations until 1998, when he had left the company to begin a career in politics. During this time, Denis Obidin had gathered some dirt on Sebastian Hilton. When Lord Hilton said he was going to stop funding the ceramic engine research, Obidin had blackmailed him, threatening to ruin his son’s budding political career unless .. .

None of the paperwork said what Obidin’s hold over Sebastian Hilton was, or what Obidin had asked of Lord Hilton in return for his silence. But it
was
clear that instead of coughing up, recently appointed junior intelligence minister Sebastian Hilton had used a combination of his father’s money and his ministerial power to have Obidin killed.

He’d set Boris and Isla up on a legitimate mission in Aero City and then paid them $100,000 to kill Denis. Apparently, a couple of other people who knew or suspected the truth – such as the scientist and Lord Hilton’s retired personal assistant – had also been eliminated.

Sebastian Hilton assumed that he’d be able to use his connections inside MI5 to keep a lid on his dodgy dealings. Unfortunately, as the
junior
intelligence minister he’d never been told about the existence of CHERUB and neither had Boris or Isla.

They received a nasty shock when senior MI5 and CHERUB officials reviewed the slow progress of Boris and Isla’s mission and decided to send a CHERUB agent in to help them unearth the truth about Denis Obidin’s illegal arms sales.

James’ presence was a worry, but not enough to knock Sebastian Hilton or Boris and Isla off their stride. Their plan stayed the same: Boris and Isla would murder Denis Obidin, then escape Aero City and claim that they had killed him in self defence following a violent argument. The fact that James would most likely be captured, tortured and killed by Vladimir Obidin concerned them so little that they hadn’t even bothered to think up an excuse for him to get out of town on the night of the murder.

After the killing, Boris and Isla would have returned to Britain and pocketed Lord Hilton’s money. Following a short investigation in which Boris and Isla would have been the only credible witnesses, James’ death would be written off as a side effect of a mission that went tragically wrong.

Fortunately for James, Sebastian Hilton had miscalculated. Boris and Isla had been killed, while James had escaped. Worse, nobody within MI5 had known that there was a CIA team working in Aero City, who had not only worked out that Boris, Isla and James were agents for British intelligence, but obtained clear video evidence showing Denis Obidin being murdered in cold blood.

*

James was relieved to finally know the truth – at least most of it – but he still had a queasy feeling in his gut. Ewart had known the facts for several days, some for as long as a week; but he’d kept him in the dark and even gone so far as to warn him that his CHERUB career might be over.

James was right at the bottom of his stack when he came to a final batch of Ewart’s handwritten notes.

‘Appointments,’ James yelled, with the kind of euphoria that can only come after four brain-numbing hours of speed reading.

‘What’s up, doc?’ Dana asked.

‘The most important piece of paper
would
be right at the bottom, wouldn’t it?’ James said as he held it out for Dana to see. ‘Remember the two people on that list who weren’t dead? It looks like Ewart has appointments with both of them tomorrow. The first one is at nine-thirty, with our journalist friend, Jason McLoud. Then he’s going to lunch with the mysterious Sarah Thomas.’

‘So now we know where he’s going,’ Dana said. ‘But we still don’t know what he’s up to. This looks like a pretty thorough investigation for a man staging a cover-up, though.’

‘I agree,’ James said. ‘But I’ve been getting stick from half the kids on campus, I’ve been lying awake every night feeling sick to my stomach and all because Ewart hasn’t had the decency to tell me that he knows I’m innocent. There’s got to be
something
fishy going on.’

‘It’s certainly freaky,’ Dana nodded. ‘But what does Ewart stand to gain?’

‘Money I guess,’ James shrugged. ‘The Hiltons are billionaires and Sebastian could end up becoming intelligence minister, maybe even Prime Minister, some day. If Ewart helps the Hiltons out, his lifestyle could become a lot more pleasant.’

‘And you think Zara’s in on it too?’

James wasn’t comfortable with that aspect of the situation. Zara had always been one of his favourite people on campus. ‘Dunno,’ he said. ‘Maybe … but, for all we know, Ewart’s planning to up and run off with a stripper or something.’

‘On the other hand, maybe he’s just being cautious and waiting until he’s completely sure about his facts.’

‘But why lie to me?’ James insisted. ‘The video evidence clears me, one hundred per cent. Why make me go through an extra week of torture? I’ve never liked Ewart and I’m prepared to bet my right nut that he’s up to something.’

‘There’s only one way we can really be sure,’ Dana said.

‘What’s that?’

‘We know where Ewart’s going to be at nine-thirty tomorrow morning. We can follow him around and see what he’s up to and who he’s working with.’

‘That’s risky,’ James said warily.

Dana laughed as she looked around the room at the piles of top-secret documents. ‘And this isn’t … ? McLoud’s house is only about an hour’s drive from here. I’ll go and put the papers back in mission preparation now. If anyone stops me, I’ll say that I lost a ring when I was cleaning earlier. We’ll grab a few hours’ sleep, then we’ll get up early, sneak down to reception, nab some equipment and steal the keys to one of the pool cars.’

‘I can hardly believe you’re prepared to go out on a limb for me, Dana,’ James smiled. ‘I’ve got a girlfriend two doors down the hall. I begged her for help and she spent the night watching soaps instead.’

‘A friend in need,’ Dana smiled back. ‘Besides, you’re a nice guy, James. And I don’t just mean nice; I mean
nice
-nice.’

James was suddenly aware that Dana was standing close. She’d spent the whole night helping him, taking a massive risk in return for nothing and now she was saying that she was attracted to him.

The circumstances would have made it hard not to kiss Dana if she’d been a three-eyed monster with pickled onion breath. But she wasn’t. James had always been attracted to her, but he’d never acted on it, or even really thought about it. He’d been going out with Kerry since before he’d got to know Dana and besides, Dana was an older girl. Boys on campus usually hit on girls their own age or younger.

‘I’ve always thought you had fantastic eyes,’ James said, as he stared into them.

Dana was nearly two years older than Kerry. Taller, bulkier, curvier. She had hair that was kind of crazy because she never combed it, but somehow that made it even sexier. Most importantly, two years older meant that she was much more likely to want to have sex, a prospect that gave James a rush akin to having the Queen’s golden jubilee fireworks going off in his boxers.

‘Mind the papers,’ Dana mumbled, as James gave her an experimental kiss on the cheek.

The bed was off limits, so Dana walked backwards, frantically snogging James as she collapsed on to the small sofa by the door.

‘I’ve fancied you for ages,’ Dana said, coming up for air as James felt her hand slide down the back of his jeans.

‘Can I touch your tits?’

Dana laughed. ‘You’re subtle, aren’t you?’

Dana rolled off and James thought he’d blown it. But she’d only backed away so that she had room to pull her T-shirt over her head. James took his off too.

‘What do I get in return for the bra?’ Dana teased.

‘Name your price,’ James grinned.

‘No charge.’

James couldn’t believe his luck. It had taken
months
to get this far with Kerry. He could hardly breathe and practically had drool coming out the corner of his mouth. Then someone knocked at the door.

‘Bloody hell,’ Dana gasped, as she batted James’ hand away.

‘Door’s been locked all night,’ James whispered. ‘Just keep quiet for a sec and they’ll think I’m out.’

Dana smiled as James made a complete hash of undoing her bra.

‘Wakey, wakey,’ Lauren shouted, as she burst through the door. She’d showered at a police station and wore a policewoman’s black pullover. ‘Get your Brighton rock here.’

James had finally triumphed over the bra and sprung up with it in his hand as Dana quickly snatched her T-shirt off the carpet.

‘You told me it was locked,’ Dana hissed.

‘Didn’t you lock it when you came back with the coffees?’

As Dana pulled her T-shirt back on, James realised that he had a big problem.

‘You dirty, stinking,
cheating
louse,’ Lauren snarled, as she brandished the bright pink stick of rock under her brother’s nose. ‘I was gonna give you this, but now I’m tempted to shove it up your arse.’

‘I can explain,’ James said weakly.

‘Oh, let me guess,’ Lauren sneered. ‘You were just sitting there when your T-shirts flew off over your heads and Dana’s bra dropped into your hand.’

‘You’re not gonna tell Kerry, are you?’

‘Too bloody right I am. I gave you an ultimatum, James. Kerry’s my friend too and I’m not gonna sit back and let you treat her like dirt.’

James looked uneasily at Dana and decided to play for time. ‘We’re obviously gonna have to talk this through and I’ll be honest with Kerry, I swear to god. But she’ll be upset. We’ve got to break this to her gently.’

‘How long have you been carrying on with
her
for?’ Lauren demanded.

‘About five minutes,’ James said.

‘Oh yeah, James, and the other one’s got bells on.’

James was disturbed by Lauren’s face. For some reason she’d started looking more upset than angry.

‘James is telling the truth,’ Dana said calmly. ‘We’ve been working on his problem with the investigation. We’re both tired and we just got carried away.’

‘You’re such a pig, James,’ Lauren sniffed.

James could see what he’d done to make Lauren angry, but he was baffled by her crying. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘Enjoy your rock,’ Lauren sobbed, as she held the pink stick out to James.

James took it, but Lauren started crying much harder as she backed out of the room and set off down the corridor.

‘What’s that all about?’ Dana asked. ‘Lauren never struck me as the jealous type.’

‘I don’t think she is,’ James said. ‘There’s more to that than me snogging you. I’d better go after her.’

Dana nodded, as she took her bra back.

James was annoyed that he hadn’t even managed a glimpse of Dana’s goodies before Lauren burst in, let alone a feel. But he had too much other stuff on his mind to get wound up over it: Lauren was acting weird, she was planning to tell Kerry and he still didn’t know exactly what Ewart was playing at.

‘I’ll go put the papers back in Ewart’s office,’ Dana said, as James headed for the door.

James smiled, before giving Dana a quick kiss. ‘You’ve been fantastic.’

‘Fun’s only just starting,’ she grinned.

Lauren had already reached the staircase by the time James began running after her.

‘Wait up,’ he shouted, but not so loud that it woke up the other cherubs sleeping in their rooms.

Lauren didn’t try to run when she heard James coming, but she didn’t stop either. He eventually cornered her on the landing between the seventh and eighth floors.

‘Leave me alone,’ Lauren sobbed. ‘I want to go to bed.’

‘You can talk to me about anything, you know,’ James said, as he moved in to try giving his sister a hug; but she backed into a corner and adopted a fighting stance.

‘You’re an animal,’ Lauren spat. ‘
Don
’t touch me.’

‘Me and Kerry … I mean … You know it’s never been perfect between us.’