Chapter 23 - The Beginning of The End

Frank woke Jack up at half two on Saturday morning, Jack dragged himself into the shower to try to wake up, he threw on his MI9 uniform, picked up his duvet and slippers and squeezed himself into the car. MI9 was picking up agents on the way and bringing them to Headquarters to brief them on the arrests, Jack sat in the corner bundled up in his duvet trying to stay awake when he realised it was his turn to speak, "Yes, I'll be coordinating from here, I'll feed through information to the relevant channels about the information you need," He yawned and took over the power point, "Team one led by Chief Agent Stark, your targets are; James and Lauren Adams, Kyle Blueman, and Kerry Chang, pick up these guys as a unit, we know Lauren is the only one not involved, however just grab her anyways, they're highly trained in combat, and adept at picking locks, so use the Cat 1 handcuffs. Also in that house will be John Jones – ex MI5, he's one of us pick him up too but treat him with respect, picking him up is more for cover, we know he has no involvement, bring him with the rest of them then let him go. Zara Asker, Chairwoman, she's the boss, we've not been able to access all of her files, so we're not sure if she knows of her husband's involvement or not – she will probably pull the immunity card, so Boss, you're going with that team." The Head of MI9 nodded. Jack continued, "Next team, CHERUB campus led by Chief Agent Knight, Bruce Norris – martial arts champion, he's our link to this, spilled the whole operation open, he's agreed to testify, in return we're dropping the accessory and drugs charges – he's not involved, we just caught him trying to destroy documents, but he didn't know what they were, he knows he'll be picked up, he's cooperative. David Moss, also has agreed to testify, he's aging out of the programme and has had enough of being used by the organisation, we're not dropping the accessory charges, he was just the translator, he knows this, the lawyers have worked out a deal – but Moss is going to blow the CHERUB organisation up with what he has to tell us. And finally, Ewart Asker – senior mission controller, Chairwoman's husband, ex CHERUB, we don't know his current capabilities, charges pending." Jack took a sip of his drink and readjusted his duvet before continuing, "And finally team three led by Agent London, Luton Airport, senior airport staff have been briefed on the emergency landing the plane will have to do thanks to the Russians, they also know that we're on our way. Yosyp Kazakov – ex Soviet military, ex secret service trainer, most likely to be armed so body armour is necessary, you're authorised to shoot in defence, but we need him to talk, also there are a bunch of ten year olds on that plane so we'll be sending social workers, once Kazakov is off that plane, they'll move in and pick up the kids and bring them back here for psychological assessment."

The teams were in place, they were just waiting for Jack's signal to move, Starks team was waiting round the corner from the CHERUBs house in Stoneybridge, the MI High team weren't with him, they wanted to be the ones to take down the CHERUB agents, but MI9 didn't want to risk them being recognised in their own village. Stella's team was on the CHERUB campus, disguised as maintenance staff, and the MI High team were waiting at Luton airport, they were the only ones that didn't have to hide their presence. Jack was watching the air traffic report, he was scanning the sky waiting for the Russian commercial airliner to intercept the CHERUB plane, "MI9 this is Captain Vladimir, we're intercepting the plane now, then making our landing." A voice came through Jack's comms, "Team standby, intercept it happening now." He watched the screen as the two planes came dangerously close to each other, he tapped into air traffic control, "This is airliner D27, requesting permission for emergency landing at Luton Airport" "Roger that D27, you're clear to land on runway 4, do you need assistance?" "Negative, we need to check for damages" Jack listened to the conversation between the pilot and the air traffic controller, "Team 3, head for runway 4" Jack told his team. He snuggled up in his duvet and continued to watch the screen, he saw that the plane was coming into land, "Team 2 are you in position, you need 6supth/sup floor and 9supth/sup floor of the accommodation block and the Asker residence" Jack asked, "we're in position, three agents at each" Stella's voice came through the radio, Jack watched the plane land, he flicked through to the security cameras at Luton airport, he saw his team waiting in the tunnel for clearance, the plane came to a halt and the stairs were taken towards the plane, "All teams, go, go, go" Jack said, he watched his team board the plane, he tuned into the body cameras each agent was wearing, all the audio was too much for Jack to bear, so he flicked through to each one individually.

At Luton airport, Frank, Rose, Carrie and Oscar had just boarded the plane, "What is this?" Kazakov said and he stood up, "Yosyp Kazakov?" Carrie asked, "Yes, what is this? This is a secure plane, did you cause this landing?" he replied, Carrie ignored his question, "we're MI9, and you sir are under arrest" Kazakov was a large man, and the plane was full of 10 year olds, he couldn't start a fight without hurting them although he had considered it. Carrie was the first to enter the plane and so she was nearest the Ukrainian so she was the one to cuff him, "Yosyp Kazakov you're under arrest for espionage, high treason, and breaking the official secrets act, you do not have to say anything…." Carrie continued as she took Kazakov off the plane. Frank and Rose stayed with the kids and Oscar brought the social workers onto the plane.

At the same time, Stella kicked down Ewart Askers front door, "This is MI9" she shouted, she had the other two agents check the bottom floor of the house was empty, before proceeding upstairs. Ewart had just put a dressing gown on, it was four in the morning and he clearly wasn't impressed by the wake-up call. Stella shone her torch in his face, and he held his hands in front of his face to protect his eyes, one of the other agents turned on the hall landing. "Ewart Asker, we meet again." Stella said, Ewart rolled his eyes, "I've checked in every day what more do you want?" he asked, Stella simply smiled, "you're under arrest" Ewart sighed and held out his hands, he couldn't be bothered to put up a fight, he knew it was a lost cause. They had caused some ruckus in the staff quarters and other staff members had come out of their front doors to see what was going on, Stella walked Ewart out in handcuffs to the shocked faces of other staff members. She waited by the car for the other agents to bring out Bruce Norris and Dave Moss. Some of the staff members had congregated together, some we're calling people, Stella assumed they were calling Zara, but she knew that they wouldn't get an answer, because Zara was also being arrested. Once Dave and Bruce had been brought out, the confusion only grew, as they were being put into the car, one staff member came over, "I'm sorry to interrupt" She said, Stella recognised her as Maureen Evans – one of the assistant mission controllers, "What's happening?" she asked, Stella slammed the car door shut behind Dave Moss and turned to her, "Clearly we're arresting them?" Stella responded, Maureen looked back to her colleagues, "Since you all want to know" Stella announced to the growing crowd, "MI9 has just completed a simultaneous arrest operation, Ewart Asker, Bruce Norris, and David Moss here are part of a larger group, other of your people" she stressed the word your, which made the CHERUB staff turn to each other in disgust, "have also been arrested, Yosyp Kazakov we just plucked him off the plane bringing him back to the UK, social services are doing a psychological assessment on the kids he was with." The CHERUB Staff looked scared, the 100-day basic training programme was tough, some kids weren't cut out for it and could crumble under the pressure of a psych eval. "We've also picked up, James and Lauren Adams, Kerry Chang, Kyle Blueman and Zara Asker" The CHERUB staff turned to each other and began muttering, Stella smiled slightly at the panic in their eyes an their tone, they turned back to Stella after a few moments, "can we know what for?" One of the staff members shouted, Stella was aware that kids from Bruce and Dave's floor had followed them down, "You remember the security sweep?" She asked the crowd, who nodded and muttered to each other, "They've been arrested on suspicion, although suspicion is just a formality, we have all the evidence to charge, on Drugs Charges, Piracy, Espionage, Breaking the Official Secrets Act, and High Treason." Stella smiled as she got in the car, as the car pulled away, she saw the shocked faces of the staff and kids.

Back in Stoneybridge, Stark was waiting for the order, "go, go, go" Jack's voice came down the comms, Stark nodded and his team exited the car, they ran around the corner, paused and checked the door number was right, before kicking down the door. surprisingly John Jones and Zara Asker were still awake, they seemed to be looking at something on their laptops when the door was kicked off its hinges, "Hands in the air this is MI9" Stark shouted, Zara reached down the side of the sofa, one of the agents had gone behind her and had pointed his own gun at the back of her head, "I wouldn't do that if I were you" he said, Stark sent the rest of the team upstairs to get the kids. Zara and John were held at gunpoint until the four teenagers were brought downstairs, "All of you face down on the floor now." Stark said, they all complied, although they were being held at gunpoint, The Head of MI9 walked through the door, to make an entrance and to show that she had beaten Zara Asker, "You're all under arrest" she said, Zara looked up, "You can't do this, I have immunity" Stark knelt down in front of her, "Your immunity ran out when we presented the evidence we have to the Prime Minister." The CHERUB agents were handcuffed with the Category 1 handcuffs, which meant that they couldn't be picked as they had to be unlocked with a fingerprint. The charges were read out individually, Kyle's was the longest as he added a drugs and piracy charge to his list. Stark smiled smugly as the car pulled away. "Jack did you get all of that?" Stark asked, "Yeah its all been recorded and documented on the system, I've also handwritten times and coordinates and staff in case they are in our system" Jack said tiredly. "We're all on our way back, Jack get the canteen ready, we've got 18 scared 10-year olds with us" Rose said. Jack yawned and nodded.

Jack was waiting in the canteen for the others to arrive back, Stark and the Head of MI9 would be the first back as they were the closest. He gleefully smiled as they were brought through the canteen to the cells, "This was you!" James shouted as he walked past Jack, Jack simply smiled, "yeah, it was" he replied, Stark pushed James out of the canteen and smiled at Jack. He heard them shouting all the way down the corridor, until the heavy door to the holding cells was slammed shut. Jack buried his head in his duvet and fell asleep on the table, there was nothing he could do now until the others were back.