‘What?’ Ryan gasped. ‘I’ve unearthed all kinds of stuff up here.’

‘I don’t know all the details,’ Ning said. ‘But apparently an MI5 team has planted more bugs in Uncle’s cabin and home. And they’ve recruited informants. A cleaning lady and some dude at the scrapyard whose immigration status is dodgy.’

‘CHERUB agents shall only be placed at risk in scenarios where adult agents cannot perform equally well,’ Ryan said, quoting from the CHERUB training manual. ‘So I guess my ass is heading back to campus. The twins won’t be happy if they’re back on heavy drill.’

‘You won’t be on campus for long,’ Ning said. ‘James said you need to head over to his flat and meet a guy called Joffrey from MI5. Hand over all the receivers for the listening devices and pack his stuff up in the Ford Focus. Then you’ve gotta drive back to campus and pack your swimming trunks and suntan lotion, because we’re all heading off to the summer hostel. Me included.’

‘I’m confuzzled,’ Ryan admitted. ‘If you don’t know what’s going on, can I at least speak to James?’

‘You’ll be lucky,’ Ning said. ‘He’s just got back to campus, but he’s buzzing about like an over-caffeinated bluebottle, planning some kind of secret mission.’

‘All CHERUB missions are secret,’ Ryan pointed out.

Ning shrugged. ‘Yeah, well this one’s even more secret than usual.’

26. HOSTEL

James hadn’t been to the CHERUB summer hostel in five years. Although it was autumn, the first sunlight caught the water around the Mediterranean island as the fifteen-seat executive jet made a banked turn and aligned with a short landing strip.

‘Happy memories,’ Bruce said, from the seat across the aisle, as he looked at the giant outdoor pool and rows of accommodation huts. These housed over a hundred CHERUB agents for twelve weeks between June and September, but out of season the population dwindled to a husband and wife caretaker and a small security team.

Besides James and Bruce, the little jet carried five agents. Ryan, Ning, Leon, Daniel and Ryan’s chunky best mate, Alfie. There was also a chef, a cleaner, training instructors Capstick and McEwen and two assistant instructors.

Alfie, Ning and the twins had a slide-out table between their seats and a rowdy game of Cards Against Humanity on the go. James was more interested in the fact that he had mobile reception for the first time in two hours.

He picked up three voicemails. The first was from Amy Collins, who’d been James’ mentor when he first arrived at campus thirteen years earlier.

‘Good to hear your message, James,’ Amy’s recorded voice said. ‘But I’m with the FBI now, so I’ve got my own undercover stuff going on and there’s no way I can get out of it.’