Part 24 (1/2)

'Time's up,' Amy said. 'Better luck next time.'

'But I got them,' James said tetchily.

'I know,' Amy said. 'But you weren't supposed to leave any traces behind. It was a good idea to move the pa.s.sword-protected doc.u.ments, but you should have put them all back where they belonged and deleted the new folder you created ... Ready for the next one?'

'My head's spinning,' James said. 'Can't I have five minutes' break?'

Amy gave him an evil grin. 'You don't deserve a break after that sorry performance.'

She tapped the reset b.u.t.ton on top of the clock, then flipped up the lever to set it ticking.

25. DIGGING.

James made such a hash of the laptop-hacking test, Amy kept him upstairs in the mission preparation room until gone nine o'clock for extra tuition. He got ratty with her as his brain stubbornly refused to accept any more information.

When they got downstairs to the dining hall, the kitchen had finished serving. There was a fridge stocked up with sandwiches and microwave meals, but James had been looking forward to a proper dinner before his return to Luton and Zara's dodgy cooking.

James slammed the door of his bedroom. He was in a stinking mood. He packed his hacking textbooks and some odd bits in a backpack, then stripped to his boxers and went to take a pee before getting in bed. There was a muggy smell as he got near his bathroom, like the smell trainers get after a couple of hours on a muddy football field. It spooked him a bit. His imagination toyed with dead rats and leaking sewage as he leaned in warily and flipped on the light.

'What the h.e.l.l ...'

It was Lauren, propped on the toilet lid in her filthy training kit. Her hair was cropped, she had a nasty scab down her face and all the cuts and bruises you'd expect after a month of basic training.

'What's going on?' James asked.

'I messed up,' Lauren said miserably. 'And I'm in so much trouble,'

She did a ma.s.sive sniff, followed by a howling noise. Then she broke into five minutes of the most desperate bawling James had ever heard. He tried to give her a hug, but she wouldn't let him anywhere near her.

'Lauren,' James pleaded, 'I want to help you, but I can't until you tell me what's happened.'

Lauren seemed to see the sense in this and looked up from the floor.

'I ... I ... hit,' she sniffled, unable to control herself.

She stood up and draped her filthy arms around James' back. Her kit stank of mud and sweat.

'Calm down and sit on my bed,' James said gently, rubbing his sister's back.

He stepped backwards out of his bathroom, with Lauren flopped over him. It felt like dancing with a drunk. When he got near his bed, James peeled off Lauren's arms and she slumped on to the corner of his mattress.

'I hit him,' Lauren sniffed.

'Who?' James asked.

'Mr Large.'

James sat down beside her. 'I doubt he even felt it, Lauren. He's ten times your size.'

'He felt it all right,' Lauren said, salvaging a touch of composure.

James reached over to his bedside table and got her a tissue.

'Bethany injured her back yesterday morning,' Lauren explained. 'We were on the a.s.sault course. I was helping her as much as I could, but she was still slow. We finished the course miles behind the other kids. Mr Large started shouting his head off! You two are worthless. You're not fit to be cherubs. You're not even fit to eat your own puke. He got two spades and told us to start digging our own graves.'

It was a standard torture from Mr Large's repertoire. James and Kerry had got it a couple of times when they were in basic training. Large made you dig a ma.s.sive hole, then fill it in. If he decided you weren't fast enough, he'd make you do it again.

'It's so tough,' Lauren said. 'I managed, but my back and shoulders were killing me. Bethany had a bad back to start with, so you can imagine how she was after two hours' digging. Large made me stand to attention at the edge of my grave until Bethany was finished. She kept slowing down, until she could barely drag her shovel. She begged Mr Large for a drink, so he got that ma.s.sive fire hose and drenched her with it. By the time he'd finished, the water was up to her knees. She was crying and sobbing, covered from head to toe in really thick mud. Then he started kicking the mud she'd already dug up back into the hole.

'It was. .h.i.tting her in the face and he screamed at the top of his voice: You're too weak, little girl. You'll never make it. Why don't you quit? It made me so angry. I was so sick of his stupid voice. I just got this urge to make him shut up. Then I realised I still had my spade on the ground, right in front of me.'

'You didn't,' James gasped.

'When Mr Large turned around, I took this ma.s.sive swing with it and whacked him behind the knees to knock him over. The first time only made him go wobbly. He started turning towards me and I was so scared. I thought he was gonna kill me, so I whacked him again. As he went down, he caught his head on a rock and got knocked out.'

James couldn't help smiling. 'You knocked out Mr Large! That's pure cla.s.s.'

'It's not funny, James,' Lauren moped. 'I'm probably gonna get expelled. I thought I'd killed him for a minute. There was all blood coming out of his head. I was so afraid, I ran out of the training compound and didn't stop. I wanted to speak to you before anyone else, so I went to my room and phoned you. Zara said you were on campus, but I'm not allowed upstairs to mission preparation, so I waited for you in here.'

James pondered for a few moments.

'First things first,' he said. 'You better wash up, then we'll have to find Mac and sort this whole mess out.'

'Do you think they'll boot me out?' Lauren asked.

'I hope not,' James shrugged. 'But laying out a teacher ... Let's just say it's not gonna go down too well.'

James found some of his smaller clothes for Lauren to wear after she got out of the shower. When they got down to the ground floor, Mac's office was locked. They asked the receptionist on the front desk.

'Mac usually heads home at about eight,' he explained. 'But one of the training instructors got injured and I think he's still over at the medical unit. I can ring his mobile if it's urgent.'

'I think you'd better,' James said.

The receptionist had a short conversation before putting down the receiver.

'Mac's coming over ASAP,' the receptionist said. 'I don't know what you two have done, but judging by the tone of his voice, I wouldn't want to switch shoes with you at the moment.'

A few minutes later, Mac rolled up the gravel driveway outside in one of the golf buggies the staff used to move around campus.

'This way,' he said stiffly, striding through reception.

He pulled a great bunch of keys out of his jacket and unlocked his door.

'Sit at the desk.'

James nervously sank into one of the leather chairs at the big oak desk. Lauren looked ready to start crying again.

'So, young lady,' Mac snapped. 'Would you be so kind as to tell me why my senior training instructor is lying in the medical unit with a serious concussion and eight st.i.tches in the side of his head?'