James burst into his room, tired and sweaty from combat training, to find a message from his handler, Meryl Spencer. He was to make his way to the mission control building, because there was a new mission lined up for him. James quickly gave himself a blast of deodorant and pulled on a clean black CHERUB t-shirt. He took a golf buggy over to the mission control building. He was tired after being beaten up by Bruce in the dojo. James pressed in the code to gain access to the building, and stepped into the office of retired M15 agent and now senior mission controller, John Jones. James' friends, Rat Regan and Kerry Chang were already seated, and were scanning a small booklet. James took a seat beside Rat and took the briefing John held out to him.
**CLASSIFIED**
Mission Briefing:
For James Adams,
Kerry Chang and Greg Regan
DO NOT REMOVE FROM THIS BUILDING. DO NOT COPY OR MAKE NOTES. ANY ATTEMPT TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN PUNISHMENT.
Weaponry
There is a big market for weaponry at the moment. With armies wanting new guns, gangs wanting knives and general criminals wanting general weapons, there is a chance for people in the industry to make a lot of money. It is rumored that some of the bigger weapon makers have been involved with terrorist groups, such as Help Earth, and have been dealing with them.
Ashton Milford
Ashton Milford is a big name in the weapon industry. Based in the North of Scotland and with over fifty warehouses, and international links in Japan, Australia, Iran and Italy, he is well into the trade. He has been selling weapons for over thirty years, dealing directly with troops in Afghanistan and with the has recently been getting closer to a few remaining members of Help Earth, including Scargill Dunn, and trying to source explosives from around the country. It is suspected that Milford has a plan to do something big, extremely big.
1992- Milford established his presence in the weapon trade by exploding onto radars after he supplied a large group of suicidal terrorists with explosives. The terrorists were attempting to blow up the Edinburgh Castle. Milford himself was involved in the scheme, which failed after the explosives were in fact duds.
1994- Milford dealt with the MOD, supplying them with powerful guns to use in warfare. The guns were so powerful that you could blow yourself to pieces shooting with one, and a young army member unfortunately did. The MOD were on Milford's trail after that, but lost him after he placed decoys around the country.
1997- Milford takes a break from work after his youngest child, Marc, is born near the end of 1996. Milford slipped off radars after being inactive for so long.
2000- When the bells sounded to announce the beginning of the millennium, Milford was waiting in Trafalgar Square, explosives and bombs set up underground. As soon as the bells went to commemorate the beginning of the New Year, Milford set off his explosives, killing the shoppers in the square. Nobody knew it was Milford, as the bombs were set up to look like stray fireworks. People suspected though, and Milford was back on radars.
2004- After Help Earth attempted to blow up the conference building, everyone wondered where they had sourced explosives. Once again, fingers were pointed at Milford. Police finally caught Milford and he was taken to prison for 24 months. He was let out in 2006, and later moved up to Scotland. He was trying to live the 'quiet life' with his wife and three kids, but the thirst for adventure and crime was in his blood.
CHERUB's involvement
Milford has three children. Agents must get close to the family, plant bugs around the house and try getting as much information as possible.
James Jones (16) - Gary Milford (16)
Kerry Jones (16) - Abby Milford (15)
Greg (Rat) Jones (14) - Marc Milford (14)
John Jones will be posing as the single father figure. James will have to undergo a slight change of appearance to look like Greg and Kerry will be an adopted sister. John will be the blood father of Greg and James, and Kerry will be a daughter that John adopted to accompany James. Your cover story is that John has been offered a job in Scotland, so you have all moved up.
This mission is classed as HIGH RISK. All agents are reminded of their right to refuse the mission or withdraw at any time. CHERUB and MI5 will be partners for this mission.
James quickly finished his briefing and slid it across the table. Kerry and Rat did the same shortly after. John looked round at the three cherubs.
"I'm in." Rat broke the silence. Kerry nodded in agreement, as did James, who looked fit to burst.
"Yes James, your question?" John sighed wearily, rubbing a hand down his face.
"Scargill Dunn, as in the guy from my first mission? Fire and Worlds brother?"
"Yes."
"But, I thought he got busted?"
"He was let out after 2 years for good behaviour."
"But why's he up in Scotland?"
"Milford obviously contacted him regarding explosives. Bungle is still on the run, remember, and Scargill was close to Bungle. Scargill may well be the link between Ashton and Bungle."
"Ah. Oh, and this appearance change? When will it happen?"
"When we arrive at our 'new house' in Scotland. Now, scram and pack, we leave at 5 this evening. You are excused from lessons for the rest of the day." John shooed the trio out of his office and into the hall outside. Kerry led the way out of the building.
"Why don't we grab a late breakfast? Everyone else will be in lessons now." she said, climbing into the passenger seat of the golf buggy. James got behind the wheel, and Rat squeezed up next to Kerry.
James dabbed the accelerator and the trio rode over to the main building. It was a lovely day, and all three cherubs were quite happy to crawl along at a slow pace, until James' stomach gave an almighty rumble. James laughed and sped the buggy up a little. They reached the main building a minute later and Kerry and Rat went inside to grab a table while James parked the buggy in its original spot. When James had parked the buggy and was heading inside, he passed his handler, Meryl Spencer.
"I heard you're leaving for another mission?" Meryl asked. James nodded.
"Yeah, it's kinda linked to my first mission."
"Interesting. Well, be sure to keep safe on another mission." Meryl patted his shoulder as she walked off. James walked into the dining hall and began piling his plate high with food, when he noticed a familiar face at his usual table, with Kerry and Rat. He quickly put a few more rashers of bacon on his plate and made his way over.
"Amy Collins! Long time no see!" he said, dropping his tray on the table next to Kerry and giving Amy a hug. Amy laughed,
"I know! I've been accepted back as a mission controller! I'll be working with Chloe at first though." she said, straightening her white CHERUB t-shirt as she stood up.
"Well, I must be going, see you three around!" Amy said, walking off towards the door of the dining hall. James picked up his fork and speared a rasher of bacon, just about to close his lips around it, when he noticed Kerry and Rat both laughing at him. James sighed and brought the bacon back down, away from his mouth.
"What now?" James said, looking at his two friends.
"You can practically see the string of drool hanging from your mouth!" Kerry laughed, snorting as she collapsed against Rat, who was also having a laughing fit. James couldn't see funny side of being glad to see a friend again and he resumed the eating of his breakfast. Kerry finally calmed down enough to begin her fruit salad, and Rat stood up with his coffee and a muffin in his hand.
"I'm heading up to pack. See you two out front at 5." he said, blowing on his coffee as he walked across the dining room. James nodded a reply and continued shoveling food into his mouth. Kerry watched him in disgust, wrinkling her nose.
"You are a pig, James Adams. You act, and eat like one." she said, spearing a grape with her fork. James shrugged,
"So what? The ladies love me this way." Kerry snorted as she chewed a grape.
"Yeah right."
"You did."
"Yeah, did."
"You still did."
"Shut it Adams!" Kerry giggled, finishing off her fruit salad. She stood up and grabbed her plastic box and cutlery to put in the bin.
"See you later." she said, walking off towards the door. James felt confused as he watched Kerry walk off. He had found himself thinking about Kerry a lot since he broke up with Dana. Sure, they'd had their bad times, but their relationship had been full of good times too. James shook his head as he finished off his breakfast and went up to his room to pack some stuff. He'd already hurt Kerry more than once. He wasn't prepared to do it again.