CHERUB: Guardian Angel Read Free Page A

the Internet’s favourite animal?’ Andre asked.
    ‘Dunno,’ Ethan said.
    ‘The lynx,’ Andre said. ‘Do you get it?’
    Ethan smiled. ‘It’s a pun; you know when a word has two meanings? A lynx – L Y N X – is a type of wild cat. Links – L I N K S – are what you click when you’re on the Internet.’
    ‘Right,’ Andre said, nodding keenly. ‘I’ve got another one.’
    Before Andre could continue the bus jerked violently and driver Alex threw everyone forward by slamming the brake pedal. Natalka came off worst because she’d been sitting sideways and Andre made no attempt to hide his amusement as she sprawled over the appallingly filthy floor in front of her seat.
    ‘What now?’ Natalka asked, glaring at Andre as they came to a squealing halt. ‘Did we hit something?’
    ‘I wouldn’t be surprised, the way my brother drives,’ Andre said.
    Ethan turned to look out of the window. They’d left the built-up part of Bishkek and reached the start of the desolate mountain track that led up to the Kremlin. This stretch of potholed road was also used by trucks taking cargo from China to Russia, and a few locals scraped a living selling food and drink off roadside stands.
    One of these sellers worked from a pitch twenty metres behind where they’d stopped. He sold spicy lamb kebabs cooked on a barbecue made out of an old oil drum. Natalka had made Ethan try them once and he’d found the kebabs delicious once he’d got over the fact that they were prepared by an elderly bloke who had an entire ecosystem growing under each nicotine-stained fingernail.
    Within seconds of stopping, Alex and Boris had jumped off the bus and steamed towards the kebab seller. Boris inflated his beefy chest and shouted in Kyrgyz, a language he wasn’t fluent in, while Ethan hardly understood a word.
    ‘What’s his problem?’ Ethan asked.
    Nobody answered because the kids were all piling towards the back of the bus to get a better view. There were more shouts in Kyrgyz and the old man looked scared as the muscular teens closed him down.
    Alex threw a brutal punch, emphasising the blow with a shout of, ‘Ker-pow!’
    When the old man hit the ground, Alex doubled him up by putting his trainer on his stomach and walking over him. Meantime, Boris launched a kick at the hot oil drum, spewing sparks and coals across the roadside.
    The kebab seller groaned as Alex ground his hand under his heel.
    ‘Satisfied now, you old buzzard?’ Alex shouted, as he beamed with sadistic pleasure.
    Boris had grabbed a set of metal cooking tongs and used them to pick up a lump of hot charcoal. As Boris closed on the old man, the kids on the bus winced or looked away.
    Ethan turned towards Andre and shouted accusingly, ‘Why are they beating him?’
    ‘How should I know?’ Andre shouted back. ‘You think I’m responsible for those nuts, just because they’re my brothers?’
    ‘We’re Aramov,’ Alex shouted in Russian as he stomped again. ‘Nobody messes with Aramov.’
    Boris pushed the smoking coal up to the old man’s cheek, close enough to singe white facial hairs.
    ‘We see you again and you’re dead,’ Boris hissed. ‘No more warnings. Get out of town.’

3. GREY
    Ning was strong, but she wasn’t a great swimmer. By the time she came out of the freezing water and staggered breathlessly up the shingle beach the twins had already stripped off and were towelling their cropped hair and pulling on dry clothes.
    Leon looked wary as Ning crunched towards him. ‘I should have asked,’ he said, holding his hands up and half expecting a slap.
    ‘Whatever,’ Ning said, as she dumped her pack and started pulling off the dripping life vest.
    She was angry, not so much because she begrudged Leon a Jaffa Cake but because going down her pack was an invasion of privacy. But she let it go because she might need the twins’ help later on.
    Ning had a change of clothes, but the instructors hadn’t given her time to take off her boots