Cherub: Target

Chapter 4: Home Sweet Home

A single man dressed in a black tux stood outside the mission control block, he had a small grin on his face.

He put his hands in his pocket and walked towards the door, pulled out a swipe card and entered the block, he went up the stairs to the 2nd floor and came out in hallway with multiple offices on each side, he quickly walked right down the hall knowing exactly where he was going, came to a door which read Jason King, he tried the handle and it opened, he walked straight to the phone before looking at the surroundings, he saw one unheard message, he played it and heard James shouting down the line.

He grinned even more as his finger pressed the delete button.

Lauren was sitting in front of Meryl, she had just told her what James had said and was waiting for a reply.

"So James rang you telling you that you needed to get everyone out of the campus and it was a matter of life and death" Replied Meryl

"Yes, Basically but he sounded really genuine about it"

"James has been known to play tricks before, remember when Rat and James tricked the London police into busting into Mr. Larges apartment in London because he was meant to be blowing up Big Ben"

"I know I know but I'm sure that James was serious about this, this is pretty big and he would know what would happen if it was a joke"

"Lauren, I just spoke to Jason, James' mission controller, he said James got the train back this morning and hasn't heard from him since and you know from basic training if something or anything goes wrong on a mission or you've found valuable information the first person to ring is your mission controller"

"I know but-"

"Lauren, James has played another trick but to keep you happy I'll ask for guards to be on high alert at all posts but now I have to go and sort out an little trouble maker called Jake, Goodbye Lauren"

As Meryl left the room Lauren was furious, James had made her look like a fool, she was a black shirt, she should have known better than to fall for James' tricks, he was going to pay next time she saw him.

James was in a gas stations restroom, James knew with a gunshot wound there was only one way to stop losing blood and that was to apply pressure at both ends of the wound, he knew if he didn't block one it would only increase the blood flow at the other end, James was in a huge amount of pain while doing this and he had limited time, while screaming he managed to block both holes with rolled up bits of his shirt and wrapped the rest tightly round his waist, I would last until he got back to campus.

He stepped out of the restroom and the cold hit him hard, he had forgotten it was winter when he ripped his top up but the thought of his friends kept him going, he hopped on the bike and kept on going.

James found out from a sign he passed that he was roughly 20 Kms from campus, this pushed him on.

He was passing through a village when he got a cold shiver down his back, he thought it was stupid but its better to be safe than sorry.

James hopped off his bike and wheeled it into the bush and waited for a minute , he was about to hop back out and dismiss it when he heard footsteps.

A large black man walked past him in basketball gear, James would have been fooled by the disguise if he hadn't seen the huge bulge he knew was a gun in the right pocket , James was very lucky, if he hadn't ducked away the guy would have seen and killed him. The man was standing with his back to the bush so James took his chance, he stood up and grabbed the guy around the neck, he knocked him out cold with a move he learn in advanced combat course, he hid the guy in the bush, took his shirt, phone and gun, stepped out with the bike when he heard a shout.

James looked down the road to see a man in a black suit raising a gun towards him. James took aim as well, his first two shoots missed but his third hit the guy in the knee cap and fourth and fifth in his left shoulder, he went down with a small cry. James ran while wheeling the bike to the man, James thought he'd fallen asleep at first until he released that the man had passed out with pain. James also took this mans gun and phone then went to hide back in the bushes.

He had to think about this seriously and plan his next steps. He spent 5 minutes thinking then picked up the phone, he needed to ring Lauren again and make sure she passed the warning on. He picked one of the phones and rang Lauren's number.

Lauren was still fuming about James, he always managed to get her with his tricks. After telling Bethany about her talk with Meryl and planning ways to get back at him she decided to go to her room and read the book assigned for English. She'd just arrived back at her room when her cellphone rang. She looked and saw it was a Blocked Number.

"Hello"

"Lauren it's James, where are y-"

"Don't you start that shit again, you just embarrassed me in front of Meryl, Why can't you just grow up"

"Lauren, I'm not trying to trick you, this is happening, I've just escaped 2 guys, knocked another out and serious wounded one more and to top it off I have a bullet stuck in my side"

"Don't get shitty with me and tell me your lies, your just full of crap James"

"Lauren, if you don't take me seriously, your going to blame yourself for years to come because of it, all your friends and family lives will be gone because of you"

"MY GOD JAMES, you are a cold, heartless pig, why should I believe you after everything you've put me through"

"LAUREN LISTEN TO ME, THIS IS-"

Lauren didn't hear the end of the sentence, all she heard was a round of bullets been fired down the other end of the line, suddenly she felt a huge ball in her stomach, James had been telling the turth, she knew that because the punishment for inappropriate use of firearms on a mission or on campus is no missions for 6 months and she knew James wouldn't risk it.

"Lauren can you her me"

"James, I'm so sorry I should have believed you"

"Never mind that, just raise a code red now, there attacking campus tonight, Campus is the target"

"Ok Ok I won't let you down"

"Lauren..."

"What?!"

"I Love you and no matter what happens I always will"

"James!, don't say that, nothing going to happen"

"Goodbye Lauren"

Just before he hanged up Lauren heard more gunshots and she started to panic, what should she do, who to go to. She snapped out of it after a minute and regained control, she instantly leaped up and ran out the door, down the hallway and was just about to exit the apartment building when a fist crashed straight into her face, he nearly went head over heels when she hit the floor, she even thought it was an accident, that was until she saw the guy standing over her, 6'7 easily, well build and looked like he could take on a full rugby team by himself, He gave Lauren a small grin and said to her.

" You won't be telling anyone about that convo you just had with your brother, will you dear"

James put his head up and saw 1 guy in a khaki uniform reloading his gun, James took one shot at the guys chest but missed and hit his ankle, he was still happy with the shoot because instead of killing him, he just immobilised him.

James leaped on his bike and shot out of the bush like a cat on fire, he still felt uneasy and knew he wanted to get to campus, even though he had told Lauren he still wanted to know for sure they knew and make sure they were all safe.

He was hoping for a qite trip back, behind him on the road were 2 cars and in front were 4, he was overtaking the 4 cars when he heard the roar of a motorbike coming up behind him, he chanced a look and saw a person dressed in full leather holding a pistol, so much for the quiet trip back.

Authors Note: Sorry for the long break, first few weeks of school have been crazy but i finally got time to write this down, hope you like it and please review, good or bad i don't mind but please review.