The Fall Read online

  It took Lauren a couple of minutes to call the operator and get the correct codes for Nizhniy Novgorod and dial the number.

  ‘It’s ringing.’ Lauren handed the phone across to Anna.

  ‘Hello,’ Anna said, putting on a deep voice.

  *

  John Jones sat in his bed and breakfast half a kilometre away. He listened to Anna’s conversation, with a laptop spread on the bed in front of him. The computer was doing a reverse search of the Russian telephone directory, via a secure link to CHERUB campus.

  ‘Who is this?’ a woman asked.

  ‘My name is Yasha,’ Anna said. ‘I’m a school friend of Polya’s. Can I speak with her?’

  ‘Polya isn’t here any more,’ the woman answered sourly.

  ‘Oh,’ Anna said, slipping into her normal voice for a moment. ‘I have a book she lent me. Can you tell me where she is?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ the woman snapped. ‘I’m not a secretary.’

  An address flashed up in Cyrillic letters on John Jones’ laptop:

  Underage Care Unit 7

  The Municipal Building

  Main Square

  Nizhniy Novgorod

  Russia

  ‘She lent me a book,’ Anna repeated. ‘I’d like to give it back to her.’

  The woman made a sound like a door creaking and followed it with a knowing laugh. ‘Anna,’ she said slyly. ‘I thought I’d seen the last of you.’

  The call abruptly went dead.

  *

  Anna turned ghostly white as she snapped the phone shut.

  ‘My friend is gone,’ she choked. ‘I hoped she’d tell me about Georgy, but I suppose they sent her away too.’

  ‘If it’s a children’s home, they’ll look after him, won’t they?’

  ‘Georgy is cute,’ Anna said, matter-of-factly. ‘Not many people want kids our age, but now I’m out of the way he’ll be adopted easily. I’ll never see him again.’

  Lauren put her arm around Anna’s back as a tear ran down her face.

  ‘They mustn’t send me back there,’ Anna sobbed. ‘So keep quiet about this, OK?’

  *

  It was dark and bitterly cold as James headed out of his last lesson and towards the training compound. Bruce ran up behind and slapped him on the back.

  ‘How’s your gob?’ he asked.

  ‘Not bad,’ James told him. ‘Bit of a fat lip.’

  ‘Stuart Russell’s in my woodwork class,’ Bruce grinned. ‘I grabbed hold of a chisel, went up to him and said: You got a problem with me, sunshine? All the colour went out of his face. I swear, he looked like he was gonna shit his pants.’

  ‘Is Stuart hard?’ James asked. ‘He was acting pretty confident.’

  Bruce shook his head. ‘Stuart’s all mouth. Lauren could probably take him.’

  James laughed. ‘Lauren could probably take me. She might be little, but you just try getting hold of her.’

  ‘Anyway,’ Bruce said, ‘stop smiling. We’ve got a job to do.’

  Kevin was waiting when they reached the wooden obstacle, dressed for the cold weather in a thick jacket, gloves and woolly hat.

  ‘Think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?’ Bruce said, as he grabbed Kevin by the scruff of his jacket and squeezed him against a wooden post. ‘Telling your cousin all about us. Trying to make trouble.’

  ‘I was just talking,’ Kevin squirmed. ‘I didn’t know he’d come after you …’

  ‘You pull another stunt like that and I’ll personally find the most disgusting toilet on campus and shove your head down it. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Kevin said meekly.

  ‘We saw progress last night,’ James said, as he reached into his jacket for a key Mr Pike had given him and slotted it into a grey box on the post above Kevin’s head. ‘Now let’s see how you get along with this baby.’

  As James turned the key, banks of floodlights came on, illuminating the wooden framework of CHERUB’s sprawling height obstacle. The mixture of towers, planks, poles and rope swings built amidst tall trees was a tough challenge for anyone. If you were scared of heights, it was your worst nightmare.

  ‘Looking a bit pale there, Kev,’ James grinned.

  He felt bad as Kevin fought back a sob. James’ instinct was to give him a hug and tell him that he’d be OK, but they’d already made one breakthrough by being ruthless. They couldn’t drop the façade now.

  ‘Cry baby,’ Bruce sneered, pinching Kevin’s cheek. ‘How are you ever gonna make it as a cherub if you start bawling before you even try?’

  James was pleased to see Kevin choke back his tears, grit his teeth and show the same defiant expression as he’d done after jumping off the roof the night before.

  The obstacle started with a line of rope ladders, each of which led up to a wooden platform suspended between two huge trees more than twenty metres off the ground.

  ‘Don’t look down,’ James said, as Kevin nervously planted his boot on the bottom rung.

  James remembered how frightened he’d been the first time he’d gone over the obstacle. As Bruce raced ahead on another ladder, James followed a few rungs behind Kevin. He was a little slow and he stopped moving when the wind made the ropes sway, but James thought he was doing OK for a first timer.

  In some ways, it was easier going over the obstacle in darkness because you were much less aware of your surroundings.

  ‘Where’s the railing?’ Kevin asked, when he reached the platform.

  ‘There ain’t one,’ Bruce said, with a flourish in his voice that made James wonder if Bruce actually enjoyed making Kevin suffer.

  James could remember his own first time on the platform, twenty metres up and less than two boot lengths wide. ‘If that plank was on the ground, you’d walk up and down it all day long and not fall over,’ he explained, as he rested a reassuring hand on Kevin’s shoulder.

  Bruce took the lead on to the next section of the course, which comprised two long scaffold poles stretching across the ten-metre gap to the next platform.

  ‘Rest a hand on each pole and hook your boots around at the back. Then crawl,’ Bruce explained.

  ‘Are there nets under here?’ Kevin asked.

  ‘You’ll find out if you fall off,’ James barked. ‘Move your skinny butt.’

  Again, Bruce led the way across and on to the next platform, which was square and had a wooden fence built around two sides. The metal poles were freezing cold on James’ fingers. Kevin moved quickly, until he was about two-thirds of the way across and his right boot slipped. He managed to tighten his grip and hook his ankle back around the pole, but it had spooked him and he froze up and started sniffling again.

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Bruce screamed. ‘We know who we’ll have playing the fairy in this year’s nativity play.’

  James was concerned because Kevin had stopped moving. If he fell, he would hit a net before the ground, but it would wreck his confidence and the branches would cut him to pieces on the way down. And it wasn’t just that James felt sorry for Kevin and wanted him to succeed: his History coursework was at stake as well.

  ‘Shift it,’ James said, as he took his hand off the rail and gently tapped Kevin on the bum.

  Kevin shuffled forward again, but he was crying his eyes out. Bruce grabbed hold of him as soon as he was within reach and slammed him against the wooden fence.

  ‘If I hear one more sob,’ Bruce said, as he pinched Kevin’s nose and twisted it out of shape, ‘I’ll give you something that’s worth sobbing for.’

  ‘I can’t do this any more,’ Kevin squealed. ‘Please let me down.’

  Bruce grabbed the collar of Kevin’s jacket and dangled him over the open side of the platform. ‘You wanna get down?’

  ‘Don’t let me go,’ Kevin screamed. ‘Please don’t let me go.’

  ‘Baby,’ Bruce said, ‘I can’t put up with your racket any more.’ And he let go of Kevin’s jacket and shoved him off the platform.

  James gasped as he heard the
small body screaming through the branches. ‘What are you doing?’

  Bruce shrugged. ‘He’ll hit the nets.’

  ‘But they’re for emergencies. He could easily put his back out or something.’

  Bruce tutted. ‘James, we’re supposed to be ruthless. You’re carrying on like you want to marry the kid.’

  ‘But there’s ruthless and there’s this, Bruce. You threw him off the platform, psycho.’

  ‘Me and Kyle used to do it all the time when we were red-shirts,’ Bruce said dismissively, as he put his foot out over the edge and leaned forward. ‘Nighty night.’

  James watched Bruce disappear through the branches. As James looked down, he was relieved to catch a glimpse of Kevin stumbling out of a net to safety, crying but apparently undamaged. Then Bruce screamed out in pain.

  ‘Bruce?’ James yelled frantically as he looked down. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Do I sodding well sound OK?’ Bruce yelled back.

  James crouched down and felt under the platform for one of the emergency ropes. Once he’d undone a leather buckle, a length of knotted rope dropped down towards the ground.

  ‘I’m coming,’ James shouted, as he lowered his boots off the side and stepped down on to a knot.

  Bruce kept moaning as James scrambled down the rope. He raced up towards Bruce, who was crumpled on the ground.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘God knows,’ Bruce groaned, ‘but my leg is killing me.’

  Kevin stepped up behind James. ‘I saw,’ the younger boy sniffed, as he pointed up towards a section of black netting with a gap in it. ‘His boot got caught in the hole and his leg made this massive crunch.’

  ‘Run to the medical unit and get someone to drive straight up here,’ James said. ‘I think it’s just a dislocated joint, but it might be broken.’

  ‘Gotcha,’ Kevin said, before he sprinted off.

  James knelt over Bruce and grimaced when he realised that Bruce’s boot was almost pointing backwards.

  ‘Actually, I think that is broken,’ James said, recoiling at the thought that it was probably even more painful than it looked.

  ‘If you …’ Bruce croaked weakly.

  ‘Eh?’ James said, as he moved his ear closer to his friend’s mouth.

  ‘I’ve jumped off that platform a hundred times,’ Bruce moaned. ‘And if you say I told you so, I swear to god I’ll kick every single tooth out of your head.’

  James broke into a giant smile. ‘I told you so, Brucey boy.’

  24. CALLS

  Lauren was woken by her MC Hammer ring tone at three in the morning. She leaned way over the side of her bed and grabbed the phone off her desk. It was a man’s voice; someone she didn’t know, speaking in Russian.

  ‘Is that Anna?’

  ‘No,’ Lauren said. ‘But she’s here, do you want to speak with her?’

  Anna whispered anxiously from across the room. ‘Hang up!’

  ‘Sorry, Anna doesn’t want to speak to you,’ Lauren said.

  ‘I’m Anna’s friend and I want to help her. I can tell her where Georgy is.’

  Lauren looked up from the phone. ‘He says he knows where Georgy is.’

  The room was dark, but there was enough light for Lauren to see Anna twisting her face uncertainly as she crossed the room and grabbed the mobile.

  ‘Hello,’ Anna said nervously.

  ‘Anna,’ the man said in a gentle voice.

  Anna made a choking noise. ‘Mr Broushka.’

  ‘You made us a promise, Anna. We took a lot of risks and paid a lot of money to take you to England. All we asked was for you to come and work in our factory to pay off your debts.’

  Anna didn’t answer; she just gawped at the phone.

  ‘I know where Georgy is,’ the man said reassuringly.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘I’ll tell you all about it when I come to collect you.’

  Anna smiled. ‘So you don’t know where I am?’

  ‘You owe us money, Anna. You should have called us sooner. You shouldn’t have run away.’

  ‘I didn’t run,’ Anna said. ‘They left me on the boat.’

  ‘Where are you, Anna?’

  Lauren shook her head frantically.

  ‘If you don’t tell me, Georgy might have a fall,’ Mr Broushka purred. ‘Or maybe he’ll reach up and pull a saucepan of boiling water down on himself.’

  ‘I’m,’ Anna spluttered, but she snapped the phone shut and threw it back at Lauren. She collapsed against the bed and started sobbing. ‘They …’

  ‘Who was he, Anna?’

  ‘Mr Broushka was an old man who used to fix things at our children’s home. They didn’t have any money for maintenance, so he’d help out, mending broken windows, replacing light bulbs. He used to be friendly to all the kids; not like the staff who were as mean as hell. Sometimes he’d bring us hot pies from the bakery and cheap toys for Georgy and the little kids.

  ‘After a while, he started telling us about this cousin who had a factory in England. He said it was very hard for them to get staff. He asked if some of us girls wanted to work there, almost joking at first. But we kept asking him about it, practically begging him to fix us up with jobs in England when we were older.

  ‘It went on for ages. Mr Broushka laid it on thick, telling us how we’d live in nice houses and have lots of money in England. He said there were lots of English men who’d marry such beautiful girls and then we’d get citizenship. Then one night, he told us that his cousin was in town and that we could go and meet him if we wanted to.

  ‘There was me and eight other girls and we all broke curfew and got on a bus to the river front. When we arrived, Mr Broushka told all of us to get inside a truck. A couple of the older girls wanted to know what was going on, but there were other men there – gangsters – and when two of them tried to get away, the men started slapping and kicking them. They pulled baseball bats and bundled us all in the truck. They said we were going to be travelling for several days and that if any of us made a fuss we’d be …’

  Anna stopped to sob and Lauren grabbed her hand.

  ‘The men said that they would rape us.’

  *

  James woke up at 6 a.m., to ice on his bedroom window and a severe weather warning on the radio. He peeked between the slats of his blind and was delighted to see the trees and lawns of CHERUB campus under a layer of white frost. This meant he could go back to bed for another hour and a half.

  James grabbed his telephone and called the main campus switchboard. ‘Hi, I need to be put through to Kevin Sumner’s room in the junior block.’

  After three rings, a young boy answered with a yawn and a hello.

  ‘Is Kevin there?’ James asked.

  ‘Nah, he’s had to go off to the training compound.’

  ‘Already?’ James moaned. ‘But I’m not supposed to be meeting him there for another forty-five minutes.’

  ‘Well he’s not here.’

  ‘Does he have a mobile?’

  ‘Yeah, but it’s here on the table.’

  James shook his head and tutted. ‘Listen, if you do see Kevin tell him that it’s James and I’m cancelling his training session. It’s too dangerous to climb up the obstacle in this weather. It’ll be covered with ice.’

  ‘I’m telling you he’s already gone,’ the kid insisted.

  ‘OK, cheers. I’ll take my mobile with me, so if he does turn up, make sure he gives me a call so I don’t have to go all the way out there.’

  After putting the phone down, James wondered if he’d got the time mixed up in his head. But he’d discussed it with Kevin on the walk back from the medical unit and he could distinctly remember saying 6:45.

  ‘Oh well,’ James muttered to himself. ‘You can stand out there and freeze your butt off for half an hour if you want.’

  James listened to the news and sport on his radio as he used the toilet, got dressed and blasted some instant porridge in his microwave, all the while hoping for the ca
ll from Kevin that would mean he could get back in bed instead of going out into the cold.

  When it didn’t come, he wrapped up warm in a CHERUB-issue green skiing jacket, thick gloves and a hat with ear flaps. He was in a foul mood as he jogged in the crisp morning air, knowing that he could have gone straight back to bed if Kevin hadn’t left the junior block so ridiculously early.

  It took twelve minutes to reach the height obstacle, but there was no sign of Kevin. James figured that the cold might have got to Kevin’s bladder and made him disappear into the trees for a leak.

  ‘Hey?’ James shouted. ‘Kev, are you out there?’

  ‘Yoo-hoo,’ Kevin shouted, from up high.

  James looked towards the sky and was shocked to see Kevin’s outline silhouetted against the rising sun. He’d made it across the scaffold poles to the second platform.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ James yelled.

  ‘What the hell does it look like I’m doing?’ Kevin yelled back.

  ‘Don’t move, you lunatic. It’s too icy.’

  ‘The scaffold poles were pretty hairy,’ Kevin grinned.

  James noticed that the rescue rope he’d used the night before was still dangling down from the platform. ‘Come down on the rope,’ he called. ‘Seriously, it’s not safe up there.’

  ‘We’ve got nets,’ Kevin said, starting to walk towards the third platform. This involved crossing a series of wooden planks and leaping over gaps between them. ‘Maybe I’ll break a few bones. Well so what? Why do you care, bully boy?’

  ‘Come down now,’ James screamed. ‘I’m ordering you.’

  James couldn’t look as Kevin leapt a metre and a half between the ends of two planks.

  ‘If you want me, come and get me!’

  James thought about Bruce screaming his head off in the medical centre the night before and the sight of his horribly twisted leg. It had freaked James out, but had apparently had the opposite effect on Kevin.

  James considered staying on the ground, but he was worried that Kevin might freak out or slip and need help, so he reluctantly began clambering through the netting, until he reached the dangling rope.

  By the time James got to the platform, Kevin had made a series of jumps and was more than thirty metres ahead of him. He was shocked to see that the planks were slippery with frost and ice, broken only by Kevin’s boot prints.