Free CHERUB: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

Then you slid across a pole, up another ladder and over narrow planks with jumps between them. James couldn’t see where you went from there because the obstacle disappeared behind trees. All he could tell was that it got even higher and there were no safety nets.
    Mac introduced James to his guides, a couple of fit-looking sixteen-year-olds in navy CHERUB T-shirts called Paul and Arif. They clambered up the ladder, the two older boys sandwiching James.
    ‘Never look down,’ Arif said. ‘That’s the trick.’
    James slid across the pole going hand over hand, fighting the pain in his right thumb. The first jump between planks was only about a metre. James went over after a bit of encouragement. They climbed another ladder and walked along more planks. This set were twenty metres above ground. James placed his feet carefully, keeping his eyes straight ahead. The wood creaked in the breeze.
    There was a one and a half metre gap between the next set of planks. Not a difficult jump at ground level but between two wet planks twenty metres up, James was ruffled. Arif took a little run up and hopped over easily.
    ‘It’s simple, James,’ Arif said. ‘Come on, this is the last bit.’
    A bird squawked. James’ eyes followed it down. Now he saw how high he was and started to panic. The clouds moving made him feel like he was falling.
    ‘I can’t stand it up here,’ James said. ‘I’m gonna puke.’
    Paul grabbed his hand.
    ‘I can’t do it,’ James said.
    ‘Of course you can,’ Paul said. ‘If it was on the ground you wouldn’t break your stride.’
    ‘But it’s not on the bloody ground!’ James shouted.
    James wondered why he was standing twenty metres up, with a headache, an aching thumb, plus dried blood and chicken crap all over him. He thought about how rubbish Nebraska House was and what Sergeant Davies had said about his knack of getting in trouble landing him in prison. The jump was worth the risk. It could change his whole life.
    He took a run up. The plank shuddered as he landed. Arif steadied him. They walked to a balcony with a hand rail on either side.
    ‘Brilliant,’ Arif said. ‘Now there’s only one more bit to go.’
    ‘What?’ James said. ‘You just said that was the last bit. Now we just go down the ladder.’
    James looked. There were two hooks for attaching a rope ladder. But the ladder wasn’t there.
    ‘We’ve got to go all the way back?’ James asked.
    ‘No,’ Arif said. ‘We’ve got to jump.’
    James couldn’t believe it.
    ‘It’s easy, James. Push off as you jump and you’ll hit the crash mat at the bottom.’
    James looked at the muddy blue square on the ground below.
    ‘What about all the branches in the way?’ James asked.
    ‘They’re only thin ones,’ Arif said. ‘Sting like hell if you hit them though.’
    Arif dived first.
    ‘Clear,’ a miniature Arif shouted from the bottom.
    James stood on the end of the plank. Paul shoved him before he could decide for himself. The flight down was amazing. The branches were so close they blurred. He hit the crash mat with a dull thump. The only damage was a cut on his arm where a branch had whipped him.
    *
     
    James could only swim a couple of strokes before he got scared. He’d had no dad to take him swimming. His mum had avoided the pool because she was fat and everyone laughed at her in a swimming costume. The only time James had been swimming was with his school. Two kids James bullied on dry land had pulled him out of his depth and abandoned him. He’d got dragged out and the instructor had had to pump water out of his lungs. After that James refused to get changed and spent swimming lessons reading a magazine in the changing rooms.
    James stood at the edge of the pool, fully dressed.
    ‘Dive in, get the brick out of the bottom and swim to the other end,’ Mac said.
    James thought about giving it a go. He looked at the shimmering brick and imagined his mouth filled with chlorinated water. He backed away from