‘I’m gonna miss you so much when you leave,’ Ning said. ‘I could quit CHERUB.’

‘You’re still not eighteen,’ Bruce reminded her. ‘And besides, what’s the rush? You’ve got the rest of your life to not be a CHERUB agent.’

‘We’ll have to Skype.’

‘Every day,’ Bruce agreed. ‘I’m not going anywhere. I really like you.’

Ning smiled coyly. ‘Since you’re still refusing to deflower me, I suppose I could go for some breakfast.’

‘We’d better not be seen together,’ Bruce said. ‘I’ve already had a few sly comments from the twins about the chemistry between us. You head off first.’

James ducked back into his office as Ning made a swift exit. As soon as she was out of sight, James stuck his head around the frosted glass door and found Bruce picking up the stuff he’d knocked off the table.

‘Caught you!’ James shouted.

‘What do you mean?’ Bruce blurted, shooting upright and looking mortified.

James smiled. ‘Mate, I’m bloody impressed that you took the moral high ground.’

‘Rules are there to protect kids from abuse by adults,’ Bruce sighed. ‘My pre-CHERUB years were no bed of roses, so I respect them.’

‘Fair play,’ James said.

‘Are you gonna tell on us?’ Bruce asked. ‘I think technically, my employment contract with CHERUB expired when I flew here and signed up for an off-the-books mission.’

‘Nah,’ James said. ‘You’re one of my best mates and one of the nicest guys I know. Ning has worked as my assistant in mission control. She’s clever, funny and I totally get why you like her. Plus, you’re both nuts about beating people up. So basically, it’s a match made in heaven.’

‘Six-year age gap,’ Bruce said, smiling awkwardly. ‘You won’t be the only one who calls me a cradle snatcher.’

‘Screw the lot of ’em,’ James said, smirking. ‘I’ll come visit you in Thailand when you’re all settled down with four kickboxing brats and a family dojo.’

32. WEIGHT

James tried to stay awake by keeping himself occupied. Nobody else was around to clean up, so he went into the little sick bay in the admin building and restocked the medical pack. Thoughts turned to Kerry as he scraped her dried blood from the stretcher and nuked it with bleach spray, before setting it to rest against a wall. It was a quarter to eleven, so she was probably getting wheeled into surgery back in the UK.

Before heading out, James sighted a set of scales under a sickbed. He hooked them out with his foot and stepped on. 74.5 kilograms clothed was comfortably inside the target he needed to fly, so he allowed himself a slight grin as he crossed the hallway to the planning office.

Capstick sat at a computer, scanning through a fifty-page Echelon chatter report. Tovah had her feet up on the map table, playing Monument Valley on her Galaxy Note.