CHERUB: The General (28 page)

After the restful afternoon he felt brighter than he’d done all day as he cut away from the square between rows of near-identical huts. The alleyways were crammed compared to the night before when he’d passed through in his stolen officer’s uniform.

He found a staircase cut into the rock, which led up to an elevated area of the shanty town. Three men urinated against the stone sides and a huge lake of piss had collected behind a nearby hut. The residents wouldn’t be happy when they got home, but there was nowhere else to go so James unzipped and joined the fray.

As James strolled back to the party an attractive blonde stepped in front of him and asked if he knew anywhere she could get more to drink.

‘Queues are a nightmare,’ James said, eyeing the girl with her tight fitting shorts and blue and white striped top. Her shoulders were broad and she had a big bust and nice legs; but she looked at least twenty so James figured she was out of his league.

‘I’ve had enough,’ the girl said, stumbling forwards and grabbing James by his arm. ‘I’m horny.’

‘That’s an unusual name,’ James said.

She smiled girlishly and tapped her varnished index finger on her chin. ‘You can call me that if you like, but my real name’s Cindi-Lou.’

‘I’m James.’

‘You’re pretty cute, young James,’ she said, stepping forwards so that her breasts almost touched James’ chest. ‘How about we go and do something your mommy wouldn’t approve of?’

James cracked a huge involuntary smile as the girl put her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss. After all the female-related trauma of the past few weeks it was exactly the tonic his damaged ego needed. Lust pulsed through his body as he imagined getting his hands on female flesh.

‘How far’s your hut?’ James asked excitably, reaching across and putting his hand on Cindi’s bum.

‘Not far at all,’ she smiled.

James noticed Bruce heading by to take a pee as Cindi grabbed his hand and started leading him off. Bruce didn’t utter a word, but his expression clearly said
you jammy bastard.

‘You remind me of a guy I dated in high school,’ Cindi said. ‘Cute face and a nice ass. I did stuff to that guy that would make your eyes pop out!’

James had an ear-to-ear grin. His cold streak was over. He was
still
James Adams and there were at least three condoms in the back of his wallet. He could hardly believe his luck as he followed the attractive butt down a cobbled alleyway. Maybe her shoulders were a bit on the manly side, but you can’t have everything …

They ducked through a low door into a gloomy one-room hut.

‘Cosy,’ James smiled.

But Cindi didn’t smile back. A dark figure slammed the door shut as Cindi snatched James’ wrist and twisted it hard behind his back. He struggled but she’d taken him by surprise and pulled his arm into an excruciating lock.

‘You kick me and I’ll break it,’ Cindi screamed.

As the light came on, James’ legs were kicked away and his body slammed face down on to a laminate-topped dining table. He saw two women in army uniform. The oldest one moved in swiftly and locked a set of handcuffs behind his back.

Cindi smiled as she turned James on to his back. ‘I left something out,’ she smiled, suddenly neither horny nor drunk. ‘I’m
Sergeant
Cindi-Lou Jones, United States Army Intelligence Corps. These other two fine ladies are Corporal Land and Lieutenant Sahlin.’

James smiled and tried to sound cool. ‘So I suppose a shag’s now totally out of the question?’

Sahlin was the oldest and meanest looking of the three soldiers: olive skinned, with a hairy chin. She moved in and punched James in the kidneys. ‘A smart mouth can land a boy in a lot of trouble.’

‘We’ve got rules here!’ James shouted indignantly. ‘You can arrest and interrogate me, but you can’t use force.’

Jones tugged James’ trousers and boxers down with a single violent movement. ‘If you don’t cooperate, boy, we might just be spilling a nice hot cup of coffee down there on your intimate parts.’

‘You let the mask over your face slip and we identified you from the surveillance cams on base,’ Jones explained, as she pulled off her striped top, revealing a sweaty green combat vest underneath it. ‘General Shirley’s looking at a career nosedive if this operation doesn’t start going his way. He’s authorised us to bend the rules if we feel it necessary.’

‘You’d better start talking,’ Sahlin added. ‘Intel-ops officers like me are trained in about a million different ways to hurt little boys like you without leaving a mark.’

‘How come you’re not on the toilet with the rest of the Yanks?’ James asked.

‘The intelligence officers live and eat in a separate building on the far side of the base,’ Sahlin smiled. ‘Seems your Mr Kazakov missed a trick for once.’

Corporal Land was the smallest of the three women. She spoke with a sweet voice like a country and western singer. ‘Ya know what, girlfriends? How about we take James back to all them soldiers, release him in the middle of our base and tell our boys that he’s the one what made ‘em so sick.’

‘For god’s sake,’ James shouted. ‘This is a training exercise. You’re not allowed to do this!’

‘Yosyp Kazakov is making a lot of important people look
real
bad,’ Land smiled. ‘We don’t like that one little bit.’

James watched as Lieutenant Sahlin pulled a sinister-looking metal probe out of her shirt pocket.

‘Honey,’ Corporal Land said sweetly, moving in close and dabbing James’ sweating brow with a tissue. ‘You’d better start telling us some things we want to hear. ‘Cos when the lieutenant’s little probe heats up and gets shoved where the sun don’t shine, you’re gonna know
all
about it.’

Lauren, Jake, Kevin, Rat and Gabrielle all charged forward into the packed square as Kazakov drove through the crowd, standing in the back of a captured Hummer.

‘The enemy is weakened,’ Kazakov bellowed. ‘Soon the final attack will be upon us. Victory is in sight!’

The crowd didn’t know what to make of this burly man with a weird accent and two days’ worth of stubble.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Kazakov said. ‘You are all Americans. You love America because it’s the greatest country in the world!’

The young and drunk crowd around the Hummer loved this. There were some cheers and rifle shots fired into the air.

Twenty metres back, Lauren turned to Rat and smiled. ‘Now we can add “world-class bullshitter” to “tactical genius” on Kazakov’s résumé.’

‘I know some of you aren’t comfortable with the idea of fighting American troops,’ Kazakov continued, ‘but what we do here this evening will help our army to fight better in future. When the bullets are metal instead of compressed chalk, when the grenades are high explosive not fluorescent paint, American troops will be better prepared.

‘What we do here will save the lives of real Americans fighting against evil all around the world. It’s the patriotic duty of every insurgent to ready your weapons and prepare for the final assault on the army base. Are you ready to kick some butt?’

A moderate cheer ripped through the crowd.

‘Let me also remind you,’ Kazakov went on, ‘you have all signed two-week contracts for this training exercise. If we win this final battle, the exercise will be over and you’ll all receive over eleven hundred dollars for two days’ work!’

Patriotic pride had done its bit, but this appeal direct to the wallet had a much greater effect. Cheers and screams roared through the crowd.

‘Are we ready to attack the base?’ Kazakov shouted.

A blast of
yeses
ripped through the crowd.

‘Are we ready to kick some butt?’ Kazakov repeated, followed by more cheers. ‘Let’s get up there and storm the base!’

The frenzied crowd started surging out of the square.

‘Don’t forget to wear your goggles and god bless the United States of America!’ Kazakov shouted.

One of the SAS men changed the music playing over the PA system to the US Marine Hymn. A Scotsman punched his fist in the air and started a chant of
USA, USA
as Kazakov’s Hummer crawled through the crowd towards the edge of the square.

‘Victory!’ Kazakov shouted. ‘Victory!’

The crowd was moving out of the square in several different directions. Many were just here for the booze and headed for home, but the two hundred SAS men and insurgents were emboldened with drink and patriotism and began charging between the lines of huts.

Lauren reached around to grab her rifle out of her pack. ‘Where have James and Bruce got to?’ she asked impatiently.

‘I’m right here,’ Bruce answered, hurrying towards the scene and grabbing his pack from Jake. ‘Ready to bust heads, Brucey style.’

‘So where the hell’s James?’ Gabrielle asked, glancing at her watch. ‘He went for a slash before you did.’

‘I saw him with a piece of tail,’ Bruce said. ‘Hand on her butt. Looked like they were heading off to some hut in the back streets for a bit of fun.’

‘You what?’ Lauren gasped. ‘It’s the final assault!’

Rat grinned admiringly. ‘Can you believe that guy? Was she hot?’

‘Nice T and A,’ Bruce nodded. ‘Bit butch for my taste, but I wouldn’t say no.’

Lauren was irritated at the way they were discussing women and scowled severely at Bruce. ‘I’ll be sure to mention your comments to Kerry when we meet up.’

‘I’m just saying that she was hot.’

‘I hate him,’ Rat said, smiling enviously. ‘I bet James is in some hut right now, bouncing around on top of some bimbo- OWW!’

‘It’s not funny,’ Lauren growled. ‘I’m gonna have words with James. The way he carries on he’s gonna end up catching some disease and having his willy drop off…’

*

James was spread-eagled over the dining table, with his shorts and trousers around his ankles and his hands cuffed behind his back. He didn’t doubt that an army intelligence officer knew how to inflict severe pain if she wanted to. The question was, was Lieutenant Sahlin bluffing? Had General Shirley really got so desperate that he’d authorised his staff to use torture? There were now only two women in the room with him – Corporal Land had been sent out to investigate the loud civilian cheering.

‘Tell us exactly what you did inside the base.’

James turned his head to one side and grinned. ‘Shouldn’t a nice girl like you be home baking cakes and having babies?’

‘Cute,’ Sahlin said, as she pressed James’ head against the table top and swept the tip of the probe across his cheek. There was a sharp hiss and James’ whole body shot into spasm. His nose filled with a burning smell from the singed stubble on his cheek.

‘You can’t do this,’ James yelled. ‘I’m sixteen years old. I’m here with a British cadet group—’

‘Shut your damn hole,’ Sahlin ordered. ‘I only touched your stubble. Now you start talking, because I’ve cracked tougher nuts than you, bucko. What did you do inside the base?’

James tried to think. Maybe they were bluffing and wouldn’t hurt him badly, but he didn’t fancy finding out for the sake of a training exercise.

‘We put some drug in the water tank,’ James explained.

Sahlin smiled. ‘What drug?’

‘Some really complicated name,’ James said nervously, having genuinely forgotten. ‘The packaging is probably still in the bin inside the services building. It’s pretty toxic stuff, so we sealed it all into a zip-lock bag with our masks and stuff.’

‘And this drug is what’s causing all the tummy trouble.’

‘That’s why we did it,’ James nodded.

‘Is there an antidote?’

‘Do I look like a pharmacist?’ James asked.

Sahlin thought about this for a second before changing tack. ‘What are Kazakov’s plans?’

‘Can’t you work that out for yourself?’ James snorted.

Sahlin used the probe to singe some of the hairs on James’ bare bum.

‘Chrrrrist,’
he shouted. ‘Cut that out! I’m cooperating aren’t I?’

‘I don’t like your attitude,’ Sahlin explained. ‘Kazakov’s plan: tell me everything you know, now!’

‘Steam through the front gates while you’re all doubled up on the toilet,’ James smiled. ‘That’s the plan and you can’t do squat about it.’

Sahlin looked up at the sergeant. ‘Jones, call base. Get someone to go find that packaging in the services building and identify the contents. Make sure General Shirley knows we have confirmed intelligence of an all-out attack.’

James overheard as Sergeant Jones spoke into her walkie-talkie. The reply came through the loudspeaker laden with sarcasm:

‘Good to hear Army Intelligence is keeping us informed. Tell Lieutenant Sahlin that if she wasn’t on the ball we might not have noticed the two-hundred-strong armed mob currently trying to smash through our front gates. If it’s not too much trouble, maybe you could get your butts up here and help us out.’

‘Insurgent pigs,’ Sahlin shouted. ‘Didn’t I send Land out to investigate all that cheering and shouting?’

James couldn’t help laughing and earned a punch in the back for his trouble.