Chapter Twenty-Five
Bethany Norris sat outside Zara's office, feeling as though she were twelve years old again.
She'd been caught. She knew it. She'd known it was risky, with Oscar being James' son, and Rosie the chairwoman's daughter.
She'd tried desperately to get Megan and Max paired together but the training instructors and handlers had been insistent that the brats were separated so they didn't rely on each other as much.
It had just made it all the harder for her.
Still, she'd thought her plan had been quite good. Extremley childish, yes, and very sloppy too – she'd obviously forgotten a lot of her CHERUB training in the years she was away. But she'd made sure she was in charge of the packs.
She'd slipped two phones into Max and Megan's packs – inside the small silver camping kettle, which she was certain they would use. Then she'd recommended that Ronan Walsh checked the GPS signals coming from the area the trainees were in – and they'd picked up one.
She was disappointed it was only one, and then furious to find that not one of the Adams' had been caught. She realised in the scramble to jump from the army plane, the packs must have got mixed up.
Bethany hung her head in her hands. It had all gone so wrong. She heard footsteps, and looked up.
James Adams was coming towards her, looking furious. She stood up.
"James, I .." She didn't have time to finish. James used his body weight to throw Bethany against the wall.
"What the HELL were you thinking?" he snarled. "I've just lost my sister, and my nephew. How could you do this? How could you? I thought Lauren was your friend!"
James let Bethany go. He turned away from her, so she wouldn't see his tears. It was all so… out of his control. And he hated it. He hated that he couldn't do anything to bring Lauren back. He hated that he was never going to be enough for Max and Megan, and they'd always want their mother.
Everything was now focussed on him. He'd been thrust into the spotlight, and he didn't know if he could do it.
Bethany was crying too.
"I did it because Lauren is my friend," she whispered. James turned around and Bethany realised how much he had aged in the past few months. There were deep grey and red rings under his eyes and his boyish good looks were hidden behind a mask of sorrow.
"Yeah, right," he spat, turning away. "Tell that to someone who cares."