CHERUB: The Syndicate

17: Sydney

They were planning to fly to Sydney, since it was a ten-hour drive otherwise, spend George's birthday sightseeing and then the next day with ASIS before flying back. Alice and Katie shared a dislike of cheap hotels so they were booked into a four-star hotel in the centre of the city at Alice's expense. The plan was to to fly out the night before so they could get an early start on George's birthday. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that George was still expected to do his deliveries that evening and he'd decided to spend the day sunbathing on the grass with the first two books in a series about teenage football players than actually pack anything for the trip.

Unusually, he was directed straight to a residential address a few miles away from St Albans rather than picking up the drugs first, and he guessed that it would be something different to his usual drop-offs. All he needed was to be back at home by eight so they could catch the flight.

"Yo, Brian," a bulky Javanese man called Tirto said, giving him a fist bump as he chained up his bike. "Good to have you on board."

"Something up, boss?" George asked, studying the house they'd stopped outside.

Tirto was Kuwat's second-in-command and sometimes ran the show when Kuwat wasn't around. "Pretty basic stuff, really. Kuwat's inside, doing a deal with some Malaysians. We provide the cash, they give us the product. Problem is, we're expecting an ambush by some other gang."

"Someone tip you off?"

"I think so. Anyway, you can't be too careful, so the moment Kuwat's out with a few packs full of product, we're gonna divide it up and send everyone their separate ways. Here's the address you're going to." He showed George an address on his phone and George used the map function on his own phone to plan a route.

"If you get attacked, drop the stuff and run as usual," Tirto said. "No point losing blood over it."

George nodded. The map said it was a forty-five minute cycle ride, which he could handle, but it would cut it close for time getting back home. "Any idea when he'll be out?"

"No. You late for something?"

"We're flying out to Sydney this evening and I've gotta be back before eight if we're going to make it," George explained, checking his new watch and working out that he had two and a half hours. "If he's not out in half an hour, we're going to miss the flight, I reckon."

Kuwat would probably have torn a strip off him for trying to bail out of an operation, but Tirto was friendlier and thought for a moment.

"Tell you what mate, if he's longer than half an hour, I'll drop my product off and then swing over to you to drive you out to the airport. Kuwat will probably deduct the petrol from your pay, but better than missing a flight."

"Cheers," George said, sitting on a nearby garden wall. "My aunt will kill me if I'm late."

Kuwat took nearly an hour to conclude the deal, but George had rung Katie and asked her to pack some clothes and stuff for him, explaining the situation. He could tell she was annoyed, but it was bad mission practice to get into a row when he was undercover so she just hung up and left him to it. He played on games on his phone for most of the rest of the wait, before switching off all of the sound effects and taking the opportunity to get photographs of everyone who left the house with Kuwat.

"Here you are, get going," Kuwat said, handing George a carrier bag. George shoved it into his backpack without looking at the contents and cycled off at a brisk pace, anxious to get away as soon as he could. Tirto jumped into his van and overtook him as he turned onto the main road, giving him a quick wave as he did. George just followed the directions on his phone, which included a useful cut across some parkland, dodging in and out of the last remnants of Melbourne's rush hour traffic.