‘Loads of people,’ James said. ‘Kyle, Gabrielle, Callum, Connor, Michael. And people I’ve not seen for yonks, like Arif and Dana.’

‘Dana,’ Bruce snorted. ‘What about your sister?’

‘Lauren’s coming with Rat.’

‘Nice,’ Bruce said. ‘Probably in Rat’s private helicopter.’

James and Kerry both laughed. ‘I don’t think he’s in the private helicopter league,’ Kerry said. ‘But I heard Rat inherited well over twenty million from his crazy cult leader father.’

‘AAARGH!’ Bruce said, enthusiastically pounding the table as a waitress approached with three main courses. ‘It’s gonna be so cool seeing all the old faces again.’

Most older CHERUB agents took a trip off campus when they got a free Saturday afternoon, but Leon and Daniel’s train got held up, meaning it was past seven when they detrained at the station nearest to CHERUB campus.

‘We’re so screwed,’ Daniel said, as he stepped out of the unmanned ticket hall and glanced around. Sometimes there was a bus from campus waiting to pick up kids. ‘Shall we use the taxi account?’

Leon shook his head. ‘If we charge a taxi, campus will know we’re coming. If we rock up at the gate unannounced, we might just slip through unnoticed.’

‘Forty minutes at a brisk jog,’ Daniel said thoughtfully. ‘There’s a ton of guests arriving for the blow-up party, so security might have their eye off the ball.’

Like all CHERUB agents, the twins had to stay in top shape, so the 8km run was a breeze. They were on the last stretch towards campus when Daniel had a sudden thought.

‘Don’t forget my half of the money.’

‘What money?’

‘The three hundred that Nigel gave you,’ Daniel said.

Leon scoffed. ‘No way! I took all the risks. I had to put on those stupid shorts and have the pervert leering at me.’

‘Risks,’ Daniel said. ‘What risks? He’s got no skills. If Nigel tried something you could have broken his arm in ten seconds flat.’

‘I suffered mental trauma,’ Leon said.

‘Half of that three hundred is mine, Leon.’

‘I’ll give you fifty quid, just to shut you up.’

‘Stop being a dick!’ Daniel said, outraged. ‘Fifty-fifty.’

‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law.’

Daniel gave Leon a shove. It was enough to knock him off stride, but he managed to stay upright.

‘I want my half,’ Daniel demanded.

‘I’ll race you for it,’ Leon said. ‘First one to the campus gate. Go!’

The twins weren’t identical, but nor was there much between them in size or speed. Daniel knew that if he took the bait, he wouldn’t catch his twin, who was already ten metres ahead. All this became academic when Leon took a slight bend in the road and got flashed full beam from an army-green Land-Rover, parked alongside the road.