CHERUB: The Syndicate

18: Breakthrough

George had passed on the details of the Malaysians he was working with, but ASIS's email the next day said they weren't hopeful of making any arrests with the limited information he had. There were a few suggestions of things George could find out if he could, but the focus of the mission was back on Zach and the Syndicate so George didn't spend very long thinking about it.

It took a week for ASIS to get everything into position for the operation, which George was at the centre of. After arriving back from Sydney George's voice was hoarse and Alice thought he might have picked up a virus on the plane, but after a few squeaks and occasional voice cracks, Katie and Alice worked it out.

"Sounds as if your voice is finally breaking," Katie said, patting his head. "Nice to know that puberty is finally happening for you."

"It'll work itself out in a week or so," Alice said, more helpfully. "Take a while for you to get used to your macho voice, I expect."

George liked the way he sounded, but the occasional squeak made him sound stupid and Katie made the most of it, bursting into laughter every time it happened.

It was a minor operation by the usual standards of both CHERUB and ASIS, but George rehearsed it in his head on the way back to Riley's house after school. Every Cherub was told that even the smallest thing going wrong can throw the whole operation out, so George was conscious that it hinged on him.

The plan was for George to send Riley downstairs to grab drinks at the same moment as a ASIS operative wearing a police uniform rang the doorbell. Riley and his mum would be held up at the door by the operative who was going to claim to be making enquiries about a fictional crime that happened in the local area. Meanwhile, George would be sneaking into Zach's office and cloning his computer's hard drive, followed by searching the filing cabinets for some specific documents he had memorised. The tricky part was the timing; if Riley got bored and came back upstairs, or George took too long in the office, it could blow George's cover. As insurance, Katie would be sitting in a car on the other side of the street and was going to be in contact with George by an earpiece he'd wear once the doorbell went. Any movement by Riley and she'd tell George to abort.

George had some high-tech equipment to clone hard drives in his bag, but he had to be careful not to knock it, so he put his bag down carefully in Riley's room as his friend booted up the PlayStation.

"Want a drink?" he asked, pushing the Virtua Tennis 4 disc into the slot.

George shook his head. "Maybe later," he replied, checking his watch to make sure everything was on time.

"Cool," Riley said, sitting on his bed and navigating through the menus to find multiplayer mode. George was no fan of tennis and just picked the best-ranked player he could find, but Riley spent a couple of minutes making up his mind before selecting Rafael Nadal.

They spent ten minutes playing, which was long enough for it to become obvious that Riley was much better at the game. George wasn't entirely sure of the controls, but even when he remembered enough to maintain a rally, Riley would use spin or something that George hadn't mastered. George's mind was elsewhere and so he celebrated as if he'd just won Wimbledon every time he scored a point.

"Ah, thrashing you has made me thirsty," George said after scoring two points in a row but still losing the match. "Can you get me a drink?"

"Is Coke alright?" Riley said, pausing the game and getting up. "Actually, only winners get to choose."

George lobbed his controller at Riley, but he dodged and it fell harmlessly on the bed. Once Riley had left the room and George was sure he was downstairs, he grabbed everything he needed out of his bag and set off for Zach's office, pausing quickly to repeat his toilet trick in case of emergency. He heard the doorbell as he wiggled his lock gun, sleeve wrapped around his hand, unlocked Zach's office, and after a momentary pause to ensure it was definitely a police officer at the door and not some random parcel delivery, he shut the door behind him and slid the earpiece on.