CHERUB
THE EXTORTIONIST
ROBERT MUCHAMORE
KNOWING
Schoolyard bullying is a fact of life. There is always one child who takes fun in making others miserable. Yet when a group of children called only Them begin to extort money from local shops and their own parents do authorities begin to step in. The group is full of teenagers from the expensive private schools around North London. Them also can bully their parents and hold then hostage or murder them. Their ages ranging from seventeen to thirteen, they are a dangerous crew, and have caused the
(Mission Briefing 2008 for numerous CHERUB agents)
The cool Shanghai air greeted Kerry Chang as she stepped out of her apartment. Dressed in her uniform, she began the act of walking to school. Across the street, a small Chinese man was mirroring her every move, slipping from tree to bus stop. Any normal person would have been oblivious to such actions, but as Kerry caught his eye briefly, her training kicked in.
Looking down at her wristwatch, she flicked her long, dark hair behind her and backed into a graffitied alley. Sure enough, as she hid behind a large dumpster, the weedy fellow began walking towards her, his hands making slight movements to his coat pocket where it was obvious he had a weapon.
Kerry thought fast. She had been taught how to fight, but battling unarmed against a gun-wielding adult was going to be tricky.
As she thought, the man arrived at the brink of the side-street and stepped in.
"Ling?" he said. Kerry flinched and looked up at him. "Ling Chang?"
Mutely, she nodded.
"How do you know me?" she said quietly, standing up. Her small figure was a few inches shorter than him yet he looked balding and unfit.
"You look so much like your pretty mother," he said, the danger in his voice almost undetectable. In that moment, Kerry had three options. If she ran, he would most probably shoot her. If she stayed and talked, he could kill her too. She detected the eagerness in his motions and the hate in his voice. In that moment, she lashed out, swinging a hard roundhouse kick that caught him in the stomach. He gasped as the air rushed through his mouth and brought out the small, metal gun.
As he took aim, another kick launched his arm into the air and a bullet fired harmlessly into the sky.
Another half a dozen punches to his face made the man drop his gun and fall, blood streaming freely down his face, to the ground.
As he lay, gasping, his arm shot out, grabbing Kerry by the collar. She could have knocked him out, yet something made her stop.
"We know who you are, Ling," he said. "We know your face, your name. My contacts in England are owed the final Chang life and we will find you."
With a final look back, Kerry ran, ran straight out, ignoring the stares as the small man's blood splattered onto the pavement.
Pulling out her iPhone, she pushed the first speed-dial and held the phone up to her ear.
"Zara," she whispered, tears forming in the sides of her pretty almond eyes. "Zara, I need to talk to you."
*
"James, I know how close you are with Kerry," Zara Asker said to the tall, handsome blond in the hospital waiting room. "When her identity was uncovered, we had to act fast. Yesterday, a man from a group we call the Chinese MAFIA discovered Kerry while she was researching a murder. He knew her real name and who she was. For that reason, CHERUB officials acted very quickly. All information about Kerry Chang have been replaced with Kerry Fiore. This hospital is for plastic surgery. We have mixed her features with some of European and have made her look fairly different. Our aim is to create a new persona and life for her."
As if on cue, a small, pretty girl walk in wearing a hospital gown. James Adams' jaw dropped to the ground. Kerry was different. Very different. Her almond eyes were a starling shade of green, her head more heart shaped. Her lips were fuller, the teeth inside a shining white and her skin was more tanned. She was beautiful and she was Kerry.
To prove her identity, the girl pulled an anxious face, the eyebrows-up, nervous look Kerry sometimes had.
"James?" she said carefully, her eyes finding his. "It's me. Kerry."
"I've got to go, um, find Joshua," Zara muttered and left, shutting the door behind her.
James stood up and warily looked down at her face.
"James, I-" she began, but James pulled her into a hug, stroking her new, long dark curls.
That was when the tears started. From her curiously green irises, she began to cry softly. Bemused, yet knowing he had to hold his girlfriend, James settled down on a couch with Kerry until she stopped.
"Sorry," she said, sniffing. "I'm not meant to cry. It's stupid, but every time I look in the mirror, I see someone else."
James nodded. "I don't actually know what to say, Kerry, but you're the same girl I had a crush on four years ago." He wanted to say, "the same girl I want to shag," but he was sure the new Kerry could punch just as hard as the old.
*
Four hours later, night had fallen and James was in the shower after particularly rigourous training. In Kerry's absence, he had been paired with Michael Hendry, who had never quite forgave him for the attack he received after James' ex, Dana, snogged him. Needless to say, it was quite painful, until Michael's ex, Gabrielle, started pounding him. The punishment laps they endured were pretty bad on him too.
As he got out, dressed in just a pair of shorts, Kerry walked in. James looked around and was about to ask who she was before biting his lip.
"Remember me?" she said sarcastically. Since most CHERUB agents liked her, everyone had taken to telling her how pretty she looked and how she still looked "just like Kerry," which had given her an edge to joke with her new appearance.
"Hey," he said. "I just got attacked by Michael Hendry."
Kerry snorted.
"I've just been to see Gab. She said he looked in bad shape once she had finished with him."
"Yeah, but so was I," James remarked.
Kerry giggled and sat down next to him on the sofa, leaning against his shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around her and sighed.
"Am I ever going to sleep with you?" he asked.
Kerry laughed again. Since she had returned from hospital, her mood had forever been jubilant.
"Maybe. Actually I wanted to asked you about a mission. It's a really easy one, just a bit of bullying in North London."
James laughed. "Why can't police handle that?"
"The kids are really good. And they actually like, destroy shops and stuff. What with all the other stuff happening, the police can't be bothered to investigate."
"Who else is going?"
"Not sure."
She wriggled around until she was sitting on his lap, her legs wrapped around his torso.
Leaning forward he cheekily kissed her one the nose.
"James, you're ruining the moment," Kerry said, giggling.
James playfully rolled his eyes at her, wondering how far he could get her. Slowly, his arms reached around her neck and he gently kissed her. He picked her up as the kiss lengthened, feeling around her bum. All she wore was a pair of denim shorts and her black CHERUB shirt. Kerry let him carry her to his messy double bed and fall gently onto her, pulling his shirt off. His muscles pressed against her bust as she teasingly ran her hands down his chest.
"Hang on," he said, looking at her suspiciously. "Is this another one of those times where I think I'm going to sleep with you and you end up beating me up?"
Kerry laughed underneath him.
"You think? I'm not that cruel."
James kissed her again, pulling her shirt off easily and sweeping his lips down her neck.
"One day," he said between kisses. "One day, I'm just going to get too horny and make love to you in public."
Kerry laughed again, but he grabbed her wrists and pulled them above her. He balanced his weight comfortably around him and knelt his head down to her boobs.
"Are these things bigger?" he asked.
Kerry blushed.
"Ok, so the doctors asked if I wanted to change anything else, so I got them to take some fat from my butt."
He pulled his hand down to her bum again and felt around.
"I'm not missing anything," he said, trying to feel between her legs.
"That's enough, big boy," Kerry said, feigning sternness. "I need to shower and get to bed. Go play."
She picked up her top, kissed James on the cheek and left.
James collapsed onto the bed.
"I'm never going to get her, am I?" he said to himself.
"Not if you keep showing those creepy signs of madness," a skinny, dark skinned girl laughed. Gabrielle wore a jumper over her CHERUB shirt and her short hair was wet. "Zara's having a complex looking for you and Kerry. She's under the impression that you're hauled up somewhere with a half empty bottle of condoms."
James rolled off her bed and pulled on his black CHERUB t-shirt.
"I wish. Kerry just left. Are you coming on the mission with us?"
"Yeah, I told Kerry to see Zara and you need to head over there too. Them, that's the name of the kids, Them are mainly boarding school kids. We're all coming in from different angles. You, Kerry, me, Rat, Lauren, Bethany, Andy, Jake, Kevin Sumner and Dante Welsh," Gabrielle said, ticking them off their fingers. James shook his head. God, not Bethany, he thought.
SNEEZE
James looked at the small horde of files on the Chairwoman's crowed desk. Picking up the one marked JAMES ADAMS, he peered inside.
"James Milton-Jones, son of rich English doctor, occasionally charged for shoplifting, speeding and DUI. Expert at maths, single, fifteen."
He looked up at Zara.
"I'm single and fifteen?"
She sighed airily. "They are overcrowded with sixteen-year-olds and are looking for younger blood. You're single because you and Kerry haven't met. Just, what do you call it, 'hook up' at the school."
"Why am I James' sister?" Lauren asked sarcastically.
"Why am I Beth's brother?" Jake asked in the same voice.
Bethany rolled her eyes. "Can I still date Andy?"
Zara mimicked the fourteen-year-old's eye roll.
"Look. Just do what you want and act like stuck-up rich kids. How hard can it be?"
Kerry nodded.
"Do I have any family?" she asked, trying to pull her file off Gabrielle.
"Yeah, you're adopted into me and Rat's," Gabrielle replied.
"Mission briefing is in all of your files, I suggest you find someone's room to get together in and set your stories straight. We're leaving in three days."
*
The next morning, eight floors above the office, Rat's room was overflowing with people.
Rat, Gabrielle and Kerry were on his couch, quizzing each other on their history.
James, Lauren, Andy and Kevin were on the bed, comparing notes on their parents.
Dante was the only red-head in the room and was studying by himself. He occasionally glanced at the clock, sighing.
James had given up on the notes and was busy making faces at Kerry.
"James!" she said when she caught him. "They're not appropriate for the little kids."
Ignoring the ageist comment, Lauren turned to look at James.
"So you're back together again," she said, not bothering to hide her appreciation. James knew what she meant. Lauren and Kerry were quite close, and Kerry was Lauren's obvious choice for James' girlfriend.
James looked at Kerry, eyebrows raise.
"Are we?" he asked theatrically.
"Yeah," Kerry said, wandering through a thick booklet.
Rat high-fived Kerry and leaned over the back of the bed to kiss Lauren on the cheek.
"Um, guys can we like, not do this before it turns into some kind of orgy?" Kerry said, giggling.
"Yeah, an incest orgy considering there are only three families here," Rat commented dryly.
"Ok!" Bethany cried, drawing the kids back to their task at hand. "If Zara asks why we failed the mission, I'm not the one that going to explain the orgies."
"Shut up!" Kevin shouted suddenly.
"What's up, Kev?" Jake asked, sneezing loudly.
"I've got a splitting headache," Kevin moaned, clutching his head.
"I know what you mean," Dante said. "I think my temperature's way over average."
Jake sneezed again, this time in unison with Kevin.
"I think you three should all go see Zara," Gabrielle said seriously. "You might not be able to come on the mission."
*
"This place is massive!" James exclaimed as the massive party entered the top floor of North London's most expensive apartment building. It was a small corridor with a massive glass window in front of them.
"Ok, Milton-Joneses are on the left and Claires on the right.
Lauren and Andy pushed past James to enter the large penthouse. James thought for a minute about what Jake, Dante and Kevin were missing out on, but then went to see his room. His "dad" was George Pike, the head training instructor who wanted to take a break from training. Kerry, Gabrielle and Rat's "mum" was Meryl Spencer.
James' room was reasonably large, with his own TV and computer. After eating a quick breakfast with Lauren, Kevin and Andy, everyone met in the Claire's room to discus what they wanted to do. It was Sunday, and school didn't start until the next day so most of the kids wanted to go hang out at the mall.
"Why do you need to go shopping?" James whined to Gabrielle.
"Because nothing in my wardrobe says 'extortionist,'" Gabrielle shot back.
James gave up and wondered down the elevator with the rest of the agents.
At the mall, shops were lined up neatly around the marble plaza. Lauren, Rat, Bethany and Andy quickly ran to some of the clothing stores while Gabrielle went to find a toilet. Kerry had dressed casually in a stretchy white singlet, a pair of dark jeans and a short, black jacket. Her new hair was pushed behind her ears as James pulled her to the nearest cafe.
"I didn't have much breakfast," he told her. "I'm totally starved."
They grabbed a table and watched as a bunch of boys their age chatted noisily on the other side of the cafe.
"God, all I want to do right now is sit back and watch Family Guy," Kerry said, laying her head on his shoulder after he had received his breakfast.
James laughed.
"I think that was all you did on the way here," he said, tipping a bit of pepper on his egg.
"Wow, watch it, James," Kerry spluttered as she sneezed loudly.
The guys on the other table turned, checking her out and James quickly finished eating while sizing them up. There were three of them, two were Asian, with long, bleached hair, black stripes messily carved into the greasy strands. The third was handsome and was clearly in charge. They didn't move but the trio's eyes followed Kerry and James as they departed the cafe.
"I think they were Them," James whispered to Kerry as they walked back to the others.
"I know," she muttered back. "Do you think I should cut my hair? I could go rebel."
James shook his head. Lauren and Gabrielle had given each other brutally short and messy hair before they had left, but James loved Kerry's new, soft dark curls and didn't want them to change.