CHERUB: Guardian Angel Read Online Free PDF

we’re gonna have to find some way to smash it.’
    Ning stared thoughtfully at the sky. The early cloud had burnt off and although there was a strong breeze coming off the sea it was turning into a decent spring day.
    She turned to Leon. ‘Did you go up close to the cliffs?’
    Leon’s mind had already been down this path. He skipped the question and took Ning straight to his conclusion. ‘The cliffs go about fifteen metres high in the tallest spots, but they’re over water so the slab will splash down and get washed away.’
    ‘Did you see any cliffs that overlooked a beach?’
    Leon nodded. ‘But the biggest drop was only eight metres.’
    ‘Well there has to be a solution and we’ve got until midnight to find it,’ Ning said dejectedly.
    Daniel jumped in to correct her as he glanced at his watch. ‘We’re way up north. It’s eleven a.m. now and it’ll be dark by half-three, four o’clock at the latest.’
    Leon nodded solemnly. ‘We won’t be able to do much by torchlight.’
    ‘What about the cannon?’ Ning asked.
    ‘I think it was out of order,’ Leon said. ‘Shortage of explosives.’
    Ning wasn’t in the mood for sarcasm and tutted. ‘But was there a big metal piece? Something heavy that we could carry between the three of us?’
    ‘Probably,’ Leon agreed.
    ‘OK,’ Ning said. ‘The slab’s not gonna break just by dropping it off a low cliff. But what if we put the slab at the bottom of the cliff and drop something really heavy on to it?’
    Daniel nodded. ‘Could work. Especially if you put something under the slab.’
    ‘I don’t get you,’ Ning said.
    ‘Like a hammer and chisel,’ Daniel explained. ‘The thing we drop acts like the hammer. The chisel is a rock or a piece of metal that we lay under the slab.’
    Ning still didn’t get it, but Leon did. ‘Like a car windscreen,’ Leon explained. ‘If you bang into it it doesn’t break, but if you give one spot a sharp punch the whole windscreen shatters.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ Ning said, feeling a bit dim. ‘That does make sense.’
    ‘One obvious problem, though,’ Daniel said, as he pointed across the island. ‘The cannon is on that side of the island. The cliffs are waaaaay over there.’
    Ning smiled. ‘About as far apart as you can get. And I bet that’s exactly how the instructors planned it.’
    *
    As noon approached for the three trainees in Scotland, the clock in Ethan’s room at the Kremlin clicked over to 6 p.m.
    The space had once been the quarters of a Soviet Air Force colonel. Its mini kitchen and bathroom had been refurbished shortly before Ethan arrived in Kyrgyzstan, but while it was clean and all the furniture and fittings were new, the tiny barred windows, sagging ceiling and vile odours rising out of all the plugholes were a constant reminder that he was far from California.
    But hope lay inside the board-backed envelope Grandma Irena had sent over. Ethan had been through the contents twice and excitedly started for a third time when he got to the end. The first item was a letter addressed to Irena from a Mr Douglas Miles, who described himself as an education consultant .
    Accompanying the letter were brochures for English language boarding schools, three in Dubai and one in Bahrain. The glossy pages were full of smiling, uniformed kids, sitting at computers, or standing in front of Bunsen burners dressed in lab coats and safety goggles.
    The brochures presented an idealised version of school life, along with lots of puff about startling academic achievement and admission to Ivy League universities while encouraging strong morals and building the skill-set required by the leaders of tomorrow .
    Ethan wasn’t naive enough to believe the hype: the burly kid running with the rugby ball was exactly the type who’d slam a geek like him into the changing room wall, all of the headmasters looked like smarmy dicks and those cute girls playing soccer wouldn’t be part of his social circle.
    But although