Free Lone Wolf by Robert Muchamore Page B

eyebrow and smiled wryly. ‘You can cut that out.’
    The two girls hugged like old friends and made high-pitched squeee noises.
    ‘We’ve got our release papers for Saturday,’ Ning said. ‘I put yours up by the window.’
    Fay smiled as she reached for an envelope. Her expression changed dramatically when she’d read a couple of sentences.
    ‘They’re sending me to foster-parents in Elstree,’ she yelled. ‘Where’s bloody Elstree ?’
    ‘Way north I think,’ Ning said. ‘Like, past Barnet, or something.’
    ‘What gives them the right to send me to Elstree? Surely they’re supposed to release me back where I came from.’
    Fay steamed down the hallway and entered Wendy’s office without knocking.
    ‘Elstree?’ she screamed. ‘I’m not from anywhere near Elstree. I thought you got released back into the care of whatever local authority you were arrested in.’
    Wendy sat at her desk and looked resigned to another shouting match. ‘You were arrested in Camden,’ Wendy began calmly. ‘But Camden has a network of foster-parents in other boroughs. And given that your aunt was murdered by a gang based in Camden, it was decided that you’d be better off living a few miles out of harm’s way.’
    Fay tutted. ‘If Hagar had wanted me dead he’d have done it already. But I’m just a kid. He doesn’t regard me as a threat.’
    ‘Elstree is a perfectly nice place,’ Wendy said. ‘It’s not like you’ve got friends or relatives in Camden.’
    ‘I wasn’t even consulted – as per usual,’ Fay huffed.
    ‘You might have had time to make changes if you hadn’t got yourself locked up in seg,’ Wendy said stiffly.
    ‘Always my fault,’ Fay said, before storming back to the cell.
    ‘You can always come and visit me,’ Ning said soothingly.
    ‘Where are you?’ Fay asked.
    ‘The north of Islington,’ Ning said. ‘Some place called Nebraska House.’
    *
    Ryan still felt down after another morning of school, moving between lessons without really connecting with anyone. At lunchtime he queued up for sausage and chips at a takeaway near the school, then walked briskly towards the swing park.
    The kids with links to Hagar’s operation were a close-knit bunch of Year Nines and Tens. They lurked at the back of the park on a skateboard ramp, while Year Seven kids mucked about on the swings and the roundabouts.
    Ryan got a text from James, All set?
    He dabbed ketchup over the screen of his iPhone as he responded.
    Ready when U R.
    A couple of minutes later, six boys came into the park wearing the black blazers of the nearby Dartmouth Park school. None of the sextet had ever been near Dartmouth Park. They were all CHERUB agents, including Ryan’s mates Max and Alfie and a kid called Jimmy who looked like he could break rocks with his head.
    ‘St Thomas’,’ Jimmy shouted, as he approached the kids by the skateboard ramp. ‘Why you got this park? It’s nearer to our school than yours.’
    A target of Ryan’s named Ali took the bait. ‘You got the massive reservoir park, right next to your school.’
    Jimmy laughed. ‘That’s ours, but now we’re taxing this park.’
    Ryan picked up the last of his chips as eight of his target kids moved towards the six CHERUB agents.
    ‘Why don’t you start something?’ a target called Andre shouted as he stepped out to the edge of the skating ramp. ‘You bitches be lucky to leave this park on two legs.’
    As Andre stepped forward, CHERUB agent Alfie DuBoisson met him with a fist in the face.
    ‘Our park!’ Alfie shouted.
    The St Thomas’ kids piled forward into the CHERUB agents. Blows flew in all directions, but the results were predictable as combat-trained CHERUB agents knocked three kids on their arses. One St Thomas’ kid charged in with a lump of wood, but was swiftly disarmed by Max and had the wood shoved up the inside of his blazer.
    As the melee erupted between fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds, most of the little kids scrambled out of the