Free CHERUB: The General by Robert Muchamore

up your arse.’
    After this, James expertly removed the clip from the gun -perhaps a little too expertly for someone who was supposed to be an ordinary teenager. He pocketed the bullets and checked the chamber was clear before handing the empty weapon to Davis.
    The room went into an uneasy quiet. Bradford and Davis glowered at each other, James scowled at the bodyguard, defying him to stand back up and take another swing at him.
    Finally, Davis looked down at the empty gun in his hand and burst out laughing. ‘I’ve seen some things in my time, but that’s a right nasty little green-haired thug you’ve got yourself there, Mr Bradford.’
    James taking out the bouncer had given Bradford confidence and he allowed himself to smile slightly. ‘James is a good man,’ Bradford nodded. ‘I’ve got a lot of good men. Now do you think we can forget all this macho shit and talk some business?’
    *
     
    When it opened in a month’s time the air traffic control centre would be the workplace of a hundred and fifty civilian and eighty military air traffic controllers, along with more than two hundred support workers ranging from canteen staff to software engineers and senior management.
    Right now it was ghostly. Many of the main lights were switched off to save energy and Lauren and Bethany crept down a corridor lit only by green emergency exit signs.
    ‘The arrow said that the security office is along here somewhere,’ Lauren whispered, as Bethany clattered into a bucket half filled with water.
    ‘Oww,’ Bethany moaned, as she flipped on her torch to see what she’d hit.
    ‘Keep the noise down,’ Lauren warned. ‘If that last guard radios out we’re totally screwed.’
    ‘Looks like the builders did a good job on the roof,’ Bethany said, as she shone her torch up at a mouldy glass skylight that was feeding the water into the bucket.
    Lauren had carried on walking and saw light shining around the rim of a door. She flicked her torch on and was delighted by the sign on the door: ROOM G117 – SECURITY STAFF LOUNGE & TRAINING AREA.
    Lauren put her ear up to the door and could hear a woman speaking into her radio. ‘Guys, what’s going on out there? Respond please. You tossers better not be jerking me around.’
    ‘One woman, and she’s close to losing her cool,’ Lauren said, as Bethany got close. ‘Get the bucket.’
    ‘Bucket?’ Bethany said, sounding like she’d misheard.
    Lauren didn’t know the layout of the security lounge, but there was almost certainly an emergency alarm trigger somewhere in the room. If they burst in, the female guard might reach it before Lauren and Bethany could grab her.
    ‘Cheers,’ Lauren said, as Bethany heaved over the plastic bucket. It was so full that the weight of grubby water inside buckled it out of shape.
    Lauren began pouring the water under the door of the security lounge. Some ran back into the corridor and swirled around her trainers, but the majority of the brownish liquid ran under the door and the guard inside heard it splashing on the vinyl floor.
    ‘Goddammit,’ the woman yelled to herself. ‘Poxy roof. Now let’s just add mopping up to my job description.’
    The guard was startled to open the door and see Lauren standing in front of her. In a move not out of any combat training manual, Lauren swung the empty bucket at the guard’s head. It hit with a hollow thunk but the plastic was too light to do serious damage and the guard screamed and tried slamming the door in Lauren’s face.
    Lauren barged in as the guard ran towards the control panel. She locked arms around the guard’s chunky thighs and brought her down on to the damp floor with a rugby tackle. Bethany had picked up the bucket as she entered and couldn’t resist wedging it over the guard’s head.
    The sight of the guard thrashing about with the bucket on her head and her muffled shouts of ‘Oh my god!’ touched the girls’ warped sense of humour and they both started to laugh.
    ‘Give