2: Snow

"Teams are posted on the wall here. Everyone must collect a survival kit before they leave," Madame Bechard shouted, pointing to a pile of kit bags someone had piled by the entrance to the hut.

At first there was a scrum around the team list, but Debbie figured that would die down and she and Elaine headed for the kit bags instead. Each one was an ex-army cylinder with a name on a tag, and when Debbie found hers she was relieved to find warm outer clothing, high energy rations and snow shoes inside, as well as a folded yellow square of cotton with 'DEBORAH HALL' stamped on it.

"Must be the flag," she said to Elaine, whose bag was identical except her yellow square had 'ELAINE MARSHALL' on it instead.

As they fastened the bags back up again, a tall black shirt loomed over them, making them look up.

"You girls are with me, and we've got the cry-baby," she said, folding her muscular arms over her chest.

"Hi June," Elaine said, standing up. "We're both on your team?"

"Me, you, Debbie and Katherine," June confirmed. "I hope you two are up for this because there's no way I've giving up my Sunday for extra PT with the psychopath."

Inside, Debbie was relieved to have June on her team. She was sixteen, formidably strong, and one of the top CHERUB agents. Her blonde hair was pulled into a tight plait behind her head which made her look quite boyish from the front, and Debbie would back her in any fight you wanted to name.

"Where's cry-baby?" June asked nastily.

Elaine pointed to the corner of the hut. "She's with her friends over there."

June marched straight over and dragged Katherine away from her friends by her shirt collar. "We've got ten minutes to plan, you're not wasting it crying with the other babies," she said, pushing Katherine towards the kit bags. "Find yours and then we'll plan."

Katherine's face was smeared with tears. She was only eleven, just passed basic training, and Debbie wasn't even sure she'd been on a mission yet. Her left hand was bright red where Bivott had lashed it, an angry welt standing out clearly. Elaine dug out her hankie and gave it to Katherine to wipe her face and nose with, while Debbie found her kit bag and handed it to her.

"Come on, we'll stick together," Elaine said encouragingly, squeezing Katherine's good hand. "This is tough, but Cherubs are tougher."

Katherine nodded, managing a tight-lipped smile.

Ten minutes, or what was left of it, was barely long enough to form a coherent plan for a twelve-hour training exercise, especially since they didn't have any information except what was in their packs. Keeping their voices low so they wouldn't be overheard, they decided to head straight towards the disused hangar, which would provide shelter from the cold, and try to wait it out.

"If we all keep our flags," June said, confidently, "Then we at least won't come last. When it's this cold, I don't care about winning."

The other three girls nodded, grateful for June's leadership.

"The campus perimeter is only a few hundred yards away, so we can look for some wood to try and make a fire and keep warm," June added. "Bivott did say we were going to be testing our survival skills."

"There's food in our packs, and we can melt snow for water," Elaine said.

"But, if we make a fire, then the smoke will give away our position," Debbie pointed out.

June shrugged. "It's a trade-off. In broad daylight, anyone could find us, even if it's just by following our footprints, but at least we'll be warm and comfortable. I think a few teams will head for the woods on the other side of campus, past the lake, but they'll be frozen stiff after a few hours in this snow and in no condition for a fight."

"I think June's right," Elaine said in support. "Nobody ever goes over to the disused airfield and we'll be more useful in a fight if we're warm and dry."

"What do you think, Katherine?" June asked, and Elaine and Debbie exchanged looks of surprise. Katherine hadn't said anything the entire time and they'd got the impression that June didn't like her, so to hear their team leader asking for the youngest member's opinion was unexpected.

Katherine looked at Elaine for guidance, but Elaine just smiled.

"Um, I think the hangar idea is good," she said in a small voice. "If there's enough fuel, we could set a decoy fire closer to the main part of campus, then ambush anyone who tries to investigate."

June gave her a thumbs-up. "That's a great idea. We'd keep the upper hand, I like it."

Katherine seemed relieved that the older girl liked her idea and sniffed hard to clear her nose, narrowing her eyes and looking determined to toughen up.

When their time was up, they all opened their packs to put on their cold weather gear. Apart from thick coats and waterproof trousers, there was also woollen thermal underwear and balaclavas.

"Looks like this lot's been in storage since the war," June said disdainfully, giving the balaclava a sniff and then making a face.

It took them the best part of five minutes just to suit up fully, and as they finally waddled to the door, Madame Bechard approached.

"There are only five more minutes in the ceasefire," she said sternly, double-checking that nobody had any exposed skin. "What's the distress signal?"

"Three blasts on the whistle," June replied, patting the pocket with her whistle in.

"Good luck," Bechard said, stepping aside and letting them out of the hut.

It was a grey and overcast day, but the snow was lying thick and as soon as they stepped away from the main paths around campus, they needed their snow shoes to avoid sinking into the deep drifts. They walked in single file, Debbie at the rear keeping lookout for anyone following, and at first they went in the direction of the main gate to set a false trail. The cold was fierce and when the wind gusted it stole their voices away.

"June's trying to ask if you know if there's any more snow forecast," Elaine yelled, practically in Debbie's ear.

"I don't know," Debbie shouted back, miming a shrug at June in case she couldn't hear.

Nobody did follow them, so once they reached the main gate, they followed the campus perimeter around and started to go in the direction of the hangar. As they reached the areas where trees were growing, they all tried to collect any dry-looking branches they could find, although it wasn't easy with all the snow everywhere.

"Debbie, Elaine, give your branches to me and Katherine," June ordered when they'd reached the end of the old runway and were as close to the hangar as they could get without leaving the perimeter. "I want you two to circle around the hangar, make sure no other teams are here. Don't go into the hangar in case someone's watching, just meet us here."

Debbie gave her modest stock of sticks to Katherine and then, linking arms with Elaine to help balance, they marched off across the expanse of undisturbed snow which covered the old airfield. On sunny days in summers gone by, Debbie reminisced about playing on the airfield, learning skipping routines with the rope slapping against the concrete runway or playing hockey on the grass. It looked like a completely different landscape in the deep snow, with all the usual features completely hidden except for the sloped roof of the hangar and the three-storey control tower beyond.

"Can't see any tracks," Elaine said as they passed the open front of the hangar. "Nobody inside, either."

Debbie nodded to show she'd heard. "Some of the snow near the control tower has been disturbed, but maybe it's just where snow's fallen off the roof."

"Or it could be an animal?" Elaine suggested as they closed in for a better look. Their hearts sank when they saw what were unmistakably footprints heading from the direction of the lake to the entrance of the control tower. Looking up at the tower, they couldn't see any signs of life, but the footprints were too fresh to be anything else.

"Someone's here," Debbie said. "Come on, let's go back to June and see what she wants to do. There could be a whole team in there."

June didn't seem as worried as Debbie and Elaine had expected when they completed their loop and told her the bad news.

"Could just be a look-out, you do get a good view of the whole of campus from up there," June said. "Either way, the hangar is far enough away from us that we'd see them coming, and there's no cover with all this snow."

"Stick with Plan A then?" Debbie asked.

"Exactly," June confirmed. "The wind's from the north or northeast so we'll shelter under the north side of the hangar. Katherine and I can set the decoy fire at the campus end, and you two get the real fire started at the other."

"Roger," Elaine said. "We'd better have some of that wood, then."

They used a pile of relatively-dry leaves which had blown into one corner of the hangar in the autumn as kindling, and once the fire was going, it was actually a comfortable temperature, especially out of the wind. Elaine and Debbie both pulled their balaclavas off and held them near the fire to dry, watching the snow stuck to their snow shoes melting.

"Good job, girls," June said when she and Katherine got back. "We've got a decent fire going at the other end, although it's quite smoky."

"The smoke will probably help hide this one," Elaine said.

June agreed. "I put a pile of wood on to keep it going for a while, but we'll need to send someone to check every so often."

"And we'll need more wood," Debbie warned as she watched Katherine reaching down to undo her snowshoes.

"We'll take turns," June announced. "If we do get caught in the open, we'll only lose one flag, and it helps everyone keep their energy up if they can warm up properly in between."

Sitting around the fire, getting the feeling back in her numb fingers, Debbie thought that June's plan was quite a good one. It definitely beat freezing in the woods on the other side of campus trying not to be seen. By taking a step out into the snow, they could keep an eye on the control tower to see if anyone was coming or going.

June looked at her watch. "Just eleven more hours to go, girls."