Chapter 2Alison went quite for the rest of the journey to their unknown destination. She had too many questions rushing through her head to even think where to begin.
"What does TFU stand for" Alison began
"The Transnational Facilitator Unit. Try saying that when you're drunk" Vina replied with a snigger.
For the first time since the shootings Alison laughed knowing that she was safe for now.
Boris switched to the thermal scope on his sniper and the car lit up like a Christmas tree. He put his two forefingers to the radio in his ear to make sure it was working.
"Got them in my sights" He said "I can take the shot now". Boris was eager to prove himself to his father Leonid Aramov badly but always rushed in with clumsy solutions.
"No, we need her alive Boris" Leonid replied to his eldest 23 year old son.
"Oh come on Dad!" He nearly shouted and sounded like a 5 year old kid who wasn't getting his own way.
"No Boris! I agreed to take you back into my care after all you did before you ungrateful little shit, now do what I say or I'll be getting a sniper to take you out of my life for good!"
The radio went silent after and the car had passed the cliff and the chance of eliminating their target had been lost. As Boris got up he swung the strap on the sniper over his shoulder and cursed to himself in Russian.
"I'm never going to please father again"
As Vina drove down the road she was happy to be joking around with Alison to pass the time but she soon came to a sudden halt.
"Why have we stopped?" Alison asked, fearing another shoot-out was imminent.
"I can't let you see where we're going." Vina said calmly.
"Why?" Alison asked.
"You'll find out soon, now we can do this the easy way…" She pulled out a blindfold in the left hand "Or the hard way" and she pulled out an injection in the right hand. "Your choice" She offered.
Alison immediately went for the blindfold
"I don't feel like drugs tonight" She joked and Vina smiled.
"Didn't think you were up to it, looks like you're not as tough as I thought" Vina teased.
Alison grinned "Go fuck yourself" She joked back.
"Watch it! I just saved your life, you're in my debt now" Vina replied with a small grin to show that she wasn't being too serious.
Alison put the blindfold over her eyes and sat back, then the car started to accelerate again.
"You better get some sleep, you're gonna have a big day tomorrow." Vina suggested and for the first time Alison did as she was told
Alison woke up on a bed and looked at a 12 hour clock and saw that it read 15:23. As she rose from the bed the door opened and Vina appeared around the corner.
"You are a heavy sleeper aren't you?" Vina said, but she kind of stated the obvious.
Alison shrugged "My specialty" She joked.
"Put this on and meet me outside" She said as she threw an orange coloured T-shirt at her.
As Alison put on the T-shirt she noticed the logo that was on the front of it.
"Cherub?" She asked herself and raised an eyebrow at the name but soon got up and walked out the door.
"Took you long enough to put on a T-shirt" Vina said with a smile as she gave Alison a light punch in the shoulder.
As they exited the building the air was cold from the upcoming season of winter and the short-sleeved orange T-shirt that she was forced to wear didn't help keep her body heat. Alison saw many other kids, some her age and others a lot younger. Many of the kids who looked only 9 or 10 wore red T-shirts while other older ones wore grey or black and a few others wore blue T-shirts.
"What do all these different shirts mean" Alison asked as she got as close to Vina as she could.
"They're all staring at me" She added.
"Don't worry about it" She said as she let out a laugh "Everyone you see has gone through that at some time. You'll learn about the T-shirts when we speak to the Chairwoman"
It took a couple of minutes to walk across from one side of the campus to the other and they entered a building which looked like a typical city office block but it felt no warmer inside than it did out.
Vina stood next to a door on the right hand side of the room "She's waiting for you" She said and then walked off.
Alison watched her walk off and the pushed open the door and a friendly voice greeted her.
"Welcome to Cherub Alison. Please, have a seat"
She took the offer and sat.
"Are you impressed with what you've seen so far?" The woman at the desk asked.
Alison was spoilt for words as the only thing she said was "Its definitely different but confusing"
"How so?" The woman asked as she put her elbows on the table and extended the bottom of her arms towards Alison.
"All the different coloured T-shirts, all the kids that are here. What is Cherub exactly?"
The woman laughed "Let me introduce myself first, I am Zara Asker, the Chairwoman of Cherub." She said as she held out her hand and Alison shook hands with her in greeting.
"Now, your questions? Zara replied
They went on for hours with Alison's constant questions and Zara's very detailed answers that took several minutes to complete. Looking around the room Alison saw pictures of Zara with the same man next to her in several other pictures which was no doubt her husband. Zara's desk was covered in different pieces of paper which littered any space that remained but most were covered in weird coding which made Alison's brain spin in confusion.
After she left Zara's office she knew nearly as much as most of the adults did and it only took her a matter of hours to learn it all. Alison learned that this campus would be her home where she would stay and train with other young agents such as herself until she was old enough to be kicked out or be offered a job there as a trainer.
She also dealt with her confusion about the T-shits and knew what the different colours meant:
Orange – For guest who were going to be staying to become an agent themselves.
Red – For kids who lived on the campus but are too young to qualify as agents.
Blue – For kids who are going through Cherub's 100 day basic training regime .
Grey – For kids who have successfully completed the 100 day basic training regime.
Navy – For outstanding performance on a mission.
Black – For outstanding performance on several missions.
White- For staff and for retired Cherub agents.
Alison had only been on the campus for less than 24 hours and learnt that she was going to go through the 100 day basic training regime in less than a week which made her very nervous.