CHAPTER FIFTEEN

‘So what exactly is this thing?’ Bex asked, staring dubiously at the glass Kieron had handed to her.

Kieron smiled. ‘It’s a milkshake,’ he said, ‘but it’s made with one of those chocolate cream egg things you can get, all mashed up in a food blender with ice cream and milk.’

‘It’s a heart attack in a waxed cardboard cup, that’s what it is,’ she said, but she sipped at it experimentally.

They were at Manchester Airport, having met Bex’s flight back from Tokyo. There hadn’t been much chance to talk before she had taken off; although the Ahmya satellite control station had been largely destroyed, thanks to Kieron’s attempt to turn the complex into a robotic mosh-pit, it was still taking the Falklands control station some time to regain control of all the satellites, and the ARCC kit was still a little flaky.

Bradley and Sam stood beside Kieron. They all had large smiles on their faces, smiles that had been there pretty much since Bradley had rescued them from Avalon Richardson’s troopers. He had told them that he’d seen the two boys being taken prisoner, hot-wired the nearest vehicle – a flatbed utility truck – and followed them at a distance. When he saw Kieron being dangled out of the rear of Avalon Richardson’s lorry he had decided to take his chance, and driven up behind them. The rest had been luck, and the kind of shared thinking that good friends could sometimes achieve.

‘I’m going to have to introduce you to the idea of a carrot-and-ginger smoothie,’ Bex said, smiling, ‘but right at the moment I need the blood sugar. First, though: Sam, hold this for me.’ She passed the cup to Sam, then stepped forward and hugged Kieron. He felt his face turning red, but he didn’t try to squirm out of her embrace. Not too hard, anyway.

‘Thank you,’ she said, holding him at arm’s length and staring into his eyes. ‘For saving me.’ She took the cup from Sam and gave it to Bradley, then hugged Sam. ‘And thank you for saving him.’

‘People are staring!’ Sam complained.

‘It’s an airport. Everybody hugs.’ Bex released him, then took the smoothie cup from Bradley and gave it to Kieron. ‘Hold this for me.’

‘Do we have to?’ Bradley asked, but she grabbed him and hugged him too. ‘Thank you for saving both of them.’

‘We save each other,’ he said, his voice muffled by her hair. ‘That’s what we do.’

Bex released him, and took the cup back from Kieron. She looked at each of them in turn, and Kieron saw that she had her ‘serious’ face on.

‘This isn’t the end though,’ she said. ‘We still have Avalon Richardson to worry about – and she’s shown a distinct desire to kill lots of people from races or religions that she doesn’t like.’

‘Actually,’ Bradley said, ‘maybe we don’t have to worry quite that much.’

Bex frowned. ‘What have you done?’

‘Well,’ Bradley started, ‘Kieron turned on the ARCC program that Avalon had running on her computer, and started it transmitting everything that she said –’

‘And Bradley, while he was driving to rescue us, set his end of the ARCC kit up to record and store all of that information,’ Kieron went on.

Bex looked at Sam. ‘What did they do?’ she asked. ‘Tell me the truth.’

‘Well,’ he said nervously, ‘even though Bradley had rescued us, we knew that it was only a temporary thing. Avalon Richardson would still be after you, and us. So –’

‘So while we had an operational ARCC window,’ Kieron continued, ‘we sent out the recording. To everyone in the MI6 contact book, everyone in the MI5 contact book, everyone at the Ministry of Defence and every MP. They all received a recording of her explaining how she was going to torture two boys for information.’

‘She was arrested ten hours ago,’ Bradley went on. ‘She’s in custody now. Obviously nobody can work out our identities from the recording, and I don’t think Avalon will be saying very much, but I’ve managed to scrub all references to us from her system. We are whiter than white.’

Bex stared into the distance for a while. Kieron, Sam and Bradley shifted nervously, wondering what she was going to say.

‘OK,’ she said eventually. ‘We may just be in the clear. Good work.’

‘Team effort,’ Bradley said. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you guys.’

‘Oh,’ Bex said suddenly, ‘that reminds me. I did some work on the plane, and managed to send some emails and splash some money around. You guys can finally go professional.’

Kieron felt a warm glow sweep through his body. ‘As agents?’ he asked hopefully.

‘Absolutely not,’ Bex said. ‘As computer-repair technicians. I’ve set up a company for you, a website and a payroll, and I’ve rented office space near where you live. Congratulations, guys. You are now the proud co-directors of K&S Computer Repairs.’

‘K&S?’ Sam queried. ‘Not S&K?’

‘No,’ Bex said. ‘K&S.’

Kieron glanced at Sam, and smiled. Sam smiled back. They may not have been agents, but at least they had their own company.

‘We need to get advertising,’ he said. ‘We need to get customers.’

‘Oh,’ Bex said casually, ‘I’ve got you your first contract.’

‘You have?’ Sam sounded cautious.

‘Yes.’ Bex looked from Sam to Kieron, and then at Bradley. ‘You are now the official tech support for Bradley and me.’

‘We’re staying in Newcastle, then?’ Bradley asked, smiling.

‘For the foreseeable future,’ Bex replied. ‘After all, we have friends here.’