The Recruit

41. Dark

When they got back to CHERUB Misty took Ash to the woodwork shop. She found an electric drill and fixed on a circular cutter. Ash gave the silver teeth a grim look.

"You're not cutting it off with that," Ash said. "You'll kill me."

"Stop being such a pansy. Put these on."

Misty threw Ash a set of protective goggles and fixed a pair on herself.

"Put your arm on the bench," Misty said.

"Have you ever done this before?"

Misty smiled. "No."

Ash rested his cast on the workbench. Misty gave the drill a couple of test spins then set to work. Plaster shards pelted Ash's face and the white dust dried his mouth. Ash thought he felt the blade tickling the hairs on his arm, but hoped he was just imagining it.

Misty stopped the drill and cracked off most of the cast, leaving the part around the elbow.

"OK, last bit," Misty said. Misty cut in at a different angle. When she was done Ash pulled the last bit of plaster down his arm and went into a scratching frenzy.

"That feels so much better,' Ash said. "OHHHHHH."

"Leave it alone, you'll tear all your skin off," Misty advised him.

"Don't care mate." Ash took off the goggles and flicked white dust out of his hair.

"Go have a shower and take your clothes to the laundry," Misty said. "Oak will want to see you in his office when you're ready."

"Just me?" Ash asked.

"It's a standard thing," Misty said. "He does it with everyone after their first mission."

Oak was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt when Ash got to his office.

"Come in, Ash. How you feeling?"

"Fine now," Ash said. "Bit tired."

"Sycamore seemed to think you had some doubts about the value of your mission."

"It's confusing," Ash said.

"He said you didn't seem sure that we'd done the right thing," Oak said.

"I heard some stuff about the people going to Petrocon," Ash said. "They poison people and beat people up and stuff. I'm not even sure it's true."

"It's mostly true," Oak said. "Oil companies have a terrible environmental and human rights record. Without oil and gas, the world stops working. No aeroplanes, no ships, no cars, very little electricity. Because oil is so important, companies and governments bend rules to get it. Help Earth and a lot of other people, including me, think they go too far."

"So you support Help Earth?" Ash said.

"I want to stop people getting exploited and poisoned by oil companies. I don't agree that terrorism is the way to do it."

"I understand," Ash said. "Killing people never solves anything."

"Think about what would have happened if all those people got killed at Petrocon," Oak said. "Would Help Earth have attacked somewhere else? What if the anthrax got into the hands of another terrorist group? You'll never know for certain what would have happened if Fire and World Dunn weren't caught. The next attack could have been in the middle of a city. Stick some anthrax in a London Underground station and you'd be looking at five thousand dead people. That's how many lives you and Misty might have saved."

"Bungle's still on the loose though," Ash said.

"Can I trust you with some information?" Oak asked.