CHERUB: Maximum Security Read Online Free PDF Page A

but the girls barely considered this as they half spooned and half drank the soggy mixture.
    ‘I hope there’s no more tricks,’ Lauren said, as she wiped a dribble of porridge from the corner of her mouth.
    Bethany spoke with her mouth full. ‘If we can just keep our heads together for four more hours …’

4. SUNDAY
     
    Kids who live on CHERUB campus miss a lot of school when they’re away on missions. One of the ways they catch up is by having lessons on Saturday mornings. James thought this was cruel, because it left Sunday as the only time when he got a chance to lie in.
    It was nearly eleven when he decided to untangle himself from his duvet. Dressed only in boxers and a grubby CHERUB T-shirt, he glanced through the slats in his blind and saw that it was a typical April morning, with a light frost on the grass and a drizzle of rain. A football match was being played on the pitches beyond the tennis courts. The players were a bunch of muddy eight- and nine-year-olds, mostly boys.
    James wandered across to his laptop, flipped up the screen and tapped on the navigation pad to check his e-mail. He was hoping for a message from Kerry, but all he had was spam from a company offering him a Free online personality test that could change your WHOLE life!!! and a schedule notification from the mission controller Zara Asker:

    James ,
    Please ensure you attend the mission preparation building, room 31, at 1530 this afternoon, where you will be briefed on your upcoming recruitment mission . Zara Asker (Mission Controller)

    James thought about sending an e-mail to Kerry, but he’d sent her three since she’d last replied and the only news he had was about the fight at the bowling alley, which he didn’t feel like going into.
    He felt too lazy to go down to the canteen, so James flicked on Sky Sports News, poured himself a bowl of cereal and got milk and orange juice from his miniature fridge. There was a knock on the door while he ate.
    ‘Not locked,’ James munched.
    Kyle and Bruce came in, both dressed in shorts and trainers and holding carrier bags with a towel and a change of clothes in them.
    ‘Aren’t you ready?’ Kyle asked.
    James looked at the clock on his bedside table. ‘Sorry,’ he said, ‘I never realised it was time.’
    James went to the fitness training session with Kyle and Bruce every Sunday morning. Most boys preferred playing football or rugby, but after thirteen years of missing open goals, tripping in the mud and getting smacked in the face by balls that came out of nowhere, he’d reluctantly accepted that ball games were not his forte.
    ‘I’ll get some clothes on,’ James said, as he sat on the edge of his bed and grabbed one of the crusty sports socks scattered over his floor.
    ‘Way to go at the bowling alley last night, James,’ Bruce sneered.
    ‘You would have been involved if you hadn’t already been on punishment detail in the kitchens,’ James sneered back.
    ‘Yeah well,’ Bruce smiled, ‘better spending a couple of hours down on my knees cleaning out the ovens, than a month stuck in some god-awful children’s home. Mind you, it’s always a shame to miss a punch-up, whatever the consequences.’
    ‘You know what?’ James said, as he pulled on a white sock that didn’t match the first one. ‘I don’t see what all this fuss is about recruitment missions. It can’t be that bad being sent off to some children’s home to try and get another kid to join CHERUB.’
    Kyle, who’d been on five recruitment missions for his many sins, nodded. ‘They’re not awful. They’re just really boring and a lot of the kids you meet in those places are complete scumbags; nicking your stuff and that. One time I got sent to this place in Newcastle. I had guys starting on me every five minutes. I was there for three weeks and I must have been in a row every day.’
    ‘Did you recruit anyone?’
    Kyle nodded. ‘Those two blonde twins with the Geordie accents. Remember I pointed them