CHERUB: The Syndicate

14: Freedom

The trip to the local nick didn't do George any harm, and once he'd calmed down he reckoned it was actually a bonus to his street cred. Alice had picked him up after a couple of hours sweating in a foul-smelling cell and a caution from an ugly-looking female cop, and his pretend aunt didn't seem too concerned about it. The only downside was the fact that once Katie got wind of what had happened, she teased him mercilessly.

"Getting away from the police really isn't your specialty, is it?" she said, grinning as she inspected a few of his bruises.

On his first mission George had tried to run from the police and had ended up landing in a skip full of foul-smelling slop, but enough time had passed that he saw the funny side.

"At least this time isn't as embarrassing," George said, pulling down his t-shirt once Katie was satisfied that no major damage had been done.

Katie laughed. "Maybe now you'll learn your lesson about getting arrested every time you run."

"I didn't run this time, they just picked me up. Some idiot tried to grab me instead of getting away himself," George told her. "It was only a caution, so it's not like it matters."

"Want a cup of tea or something, jailbird?" Katie asked, flicking the switch on the kettle. "There's biscuits and cake and stuff on the side."

George felt a bit better as Katie made him a brew and he filled himself up with a huge slice of a chocolate sponge.

"I don't think that has much impact on the mission so I won't report it to Pete," Katie said, pouring milk into mugs, "But just remember that you could've got quite badly hurt in a brawl like that."

"I know," George replied after finishing his mouthful. "I'll try and be careful in future. Anyway, can I borrow your laptop? I want to check my email."

"Knock yourself out."

It was in sleep mode so Katie's desktop flashed up as soon as George opened the lid, presenting him with wallpaper of a shirtless man reclining on a bed.

"Nice background," George grinned, opening the internet browser.

Katie tutted. "Don't get cheeky with me. In a year or two you'll probably have a half-naked girl as yours."

Six weeks passed in a blur for George. Since he was only seeing Riley at school, he took the opportunity to hang out with the local teenagers and try and ingratiate himself with some of the local gangs, but it wasn't a fast process and he spent a lot of time in the park, enjoying the warm weather. Gruelling lessons on campus meant he was miles ahead on all of his easy-by-comparison schoolwork and CHERUB hadn't got round to organising any extra for him to do. It was about as good as a mission could get, so George made the most of it, working up a good tan and improving his swimming technique until he was almost as fast as Katie and way faster than Alice.

Katie had begun doing all of the hard work in the mission. Her job at the travel agency was yielding all kinds of information that ASIS didn't know and she was often up until the early hours dictating to George, who typed it up into a daily report for Linda and Dawn to read. He'd taken a couple of touch-typing courses online on a wet day and was starting to build up an impressive speed.

"If you want to get to bed, then just go, I'll finish it," Katie said, watching the lock on her phone tick past one a.m.

"If you don't mind, then I will," George said, stretching as he got out of Katie's desk chair. "Riley's first day of freedom is tomorrow and we're planning a celebration."

"Nothing too wild," Katie warned, but she was too tired to say anything else and just slumped down into the chair, facing the prospect of another forty minutes of typing.