CHERUB: Mad Dogs Read Online Free PDF Page A

was probably still in danger. Death is always shocking and she trembled as she backed out of the lock-up. Then she jumped with fright as a door slammed less than ten metres away, followed by a youth’s voice:
    ‘We’ve got two kilos and Aaron should have got the bag from the black girl by now.’
    Another voice: ‘Sasha’s boy said there’d be a lot more than four kilos.’
    ‘Well where is it? We’ve looked already.’
    Gabrielle crept back inside the lock-up. It sounded like five or six Runts were stepping out of the changing rooms. She realised that her urgent desire to know if Owen was safe had made her careless. It made perfect sense that a small team of Runts would go after the K bag hooked on her back, while a larger team searched the changing rooms for Major Dee’s main stash. But they were out of sight and it sounded like they were leaving.
    ‘I’m outta here before the cops arrive,’ the most dominant sounding Runt said.
    ‘Sod that,’ a younger voice said, maybe only thirteen or fourteen. ‘We haven’t searched the birds’ changing rooms yet. There could be another twenty grand’s worth of coke stashed above those ceiling tiles.’
    ‘I tell you what, shorty, you stay here and get done for murder when the pigs turn up. I’m gonna head home and start snorting this lot.’
    There were some laughs and a few jeers. The lads were egging one another on and it sounded absurdly casual; as if they were busting each other’s balls over the football results rather than robbing a drug dealer and murdering his associate.
    ‘You know what else,’ another boy said. ‘I need a snap of that dead Rasta man on my mobile before we get out of here.’
    The lads all laughed like they thought this was a great idea. ‘You’d better not let your little sister find it.’
    There was a round of laughter, followed by: ‘Remember that time your mum found the pictures of Brenda’s boobs …’
    Back in the lock-up, Gabrielle considered bursting out and making a run across the fields. But there were at least half a dozen boys and they had bikes which she wouldn’t be able to outrun.
    One of the boys started singing to the tune of Ten Green Bottles as they walked towards the lock-up. ‘One dead Rasta, stabbed inside a shed, one dead Rasta, stabbed inside a shed…’
    His mates laughed as Gabrielle glanced around at Owen’s tools. The Runts were going to find her within a few seconds and she desperately needed a weapon.

5. PEPPER
    Michael was well built and moved fast, but the two bikes were almost on his back as he rounded the corner into the main road. Knowing they’d catch up in seconds, he dodged behind a letterbox and gave the first cyclist an almighty shove as he sped past.
    The bike clattered into a bush and Aaron Reid tipped off, hitting the low wall below a hedge and rolling several times before smacking head-first into a gate post.
    The second guy managed to brake before Michael jumped him. But as Michael’s fist slammed into his head and knocked him off the bike, he realised that five more sets of wheels were coming from the direction he’d been heading.
    Even with CHERUB combat training, five against one was no good. They’d all have knives and they’d come to fight Major Dee’s crew, so at least one of them would be packing a gun. Michael considered turning back, but there was no way he’d outrun five guys on bikes. He needed to get reinforcements out of the Green Pepper café, which was less than a minute’s walk along the street.
    Michael bundled the second cyclist and knocked him cold with a blow to the side of the head. He spotted a small axe inside the youth’s jacket and ripped it out with one hand, while sliding his mobile phone open with the other. The five bikes were now less than fifty metres away and Michael flipped through the memories until he found the number for the Green Pepper.
    He crouched back behind the postbox, with the axe in one hand and his mobile at his ear. The bikes