A terrorist doesn't let strangers into her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children can bring their friends home whenever they like.
What she doesn't know is that one of these kids has bugged each of the...
This room was flashier than the one at Coumarine House. It was a single for starters. TV, kettle, telephone and miniature fridge. It was like the hotel when his mum took him and Leaf to Disney World. Ash didn't have a clue where he was or how he'd got here. The last thing he remembered was Ramos asking him up to his office after he got back to Coumarine House.
Ash burrowed around under the duvet and realised he was naked apart from a pair of Calvin Klein boxers. That was freaky. He sat up and looked out of the window. The room was up high overlooking an athletics track. There were kids in running spikes doing stretches. Some others were getting tennis coaching on clay courts off to the side. This was clearly a children's home, and miles nicer than Coumarine House.
There was a set of clean clothes on the floor: white socks, pressed orange T-shirt, green military-style combat trousers with zipped pockets and a pair of boots. Ash picked the boots up and inspected them: rubbery smell and shiny black soles. They were new.
The military-style kit made Ash wonder if this was where kids ended up if they kept getting in trouble. He put on the underwear and studied the logo embroidered on the T-shirt. It was a winged baby sitting on a ball. On looking closer the ball was a globe and you could see the outlines of Europe and the Americas. Underneath was a set of initials: CHERUB. Ash spun the initials in his head, but they didn't make any sense.
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(Logo btw)
Out in the corridor the kids had the same boots and trousers as Ash, but their T-shirts were either black or grey, all with the CHERUB logo on them.
Ash spoke to a boy coming towards him. "I don't know what to do," Ash said.
"Can't talk to orange," the boy said, without stopping. Ash looked both ways. It was a row of doors in either direction. There were a couple of teenage girls down one end. Even they were wearing boots and green trousers.
"Hey," Ash said. "Can you tell me where to go?"
"Can't talk to orange," one girl said.
The other one smiled, saying, "Can't talk," but she pointed towards a lift and then made a downward motion with her hand.
"Cheers," Ash said. Ash waited for the lift. There were a few others inside including an adult who wore the regulation trousers and boots but with a white CHERUB T-shirt. Ash spoke to him.
"Can't talk to orange," the adult said before raising one finger.
Up to now, Ash had assumed this was a prank being played on the new kid, but an adult joining in was weird. Ash realised the finger was telling him to get out at the first floor. It was a reception area. He could see out the main entrance into plush gardens where a fountain spouted water five metres into the air. The sculpture in the centre was the winged baby sitting on a globe, like on the T-shirts. Ash stepped up to an elderly lady behind a desk.
