CHERUB: Maximum Security Read Free Page A

couldn’t bear turning away, knowing he’d catch sight of Kyle’s smug face.
    ‘Eight points and a gutter ball,’ Kyle said happily. ‘Maybe you should wander down to the bumper lanes and ask the supervisor if you can play with the little red-shirt kids.’
    James huffed as he slumped back into his seat next to Gabrielle. ‘The way I’m going tonight, I reckon the little kids would beat me.’
    ‘You’re doing better than Callum and Connor, though,’ Gabrielle said sympathetically, pointing up at the TV screen with the scores on it.
    ‘Some consolation that is. Those two are hopeless.’
    Gabrielle smiled and brushed the back of her hand against James’ leg. ‘Just not your night, I guess.’
    As she said it, both their backs got sprayed with more Coke. They turned quickly to see two beefy looking guys in football shirts wrestling in a puddle on the floor. James waited until they broke apart before having a go at them.
    ‘What are you two retards playing at?’ James barked furiously. ‘I’m bloody soaked.’
    ‘My top’s all marked,’ Gabrielle said, looking anxiously down her back and wondering if the stains would come out.
    The two lads were giggling as they got to their feet. ‘We’re just having a laugh,’ the one in the Tottenham shirt said.
    The other lad looked less sympathetic. ‘There’s loads of empty seats over there,’ he grunted. ‘Why don’t you just move?’
    ‘Because this is our rink,’ Gabrielle said. ‘I don’t want to walk five miles every time I take my shot.’
    ‘Yeah,’ James agreed. ‘Why should we move, just because you want to roll around the floor with your boyfriend?’
    The kid jabbed James in the back. ‘Are you calling me a queer?’
    James and Gabrielle stood up and turned around to face the two lads, who towered over them.
    ‘I didn’t come here for a row,’ James said.
    ‘Nor did I,’ the tough guy said. ‘But you’re going the right way about getting into one; so why don’t you just take your little wog girlfriend off and sit somewhere else?’
    The tough guy had twenty-five centimetres and fifteen kilos on Gabrielle, so he never expected what happened next. Gabrielle, who was a second-dan Karate black belt, launched a high kick over the row of plastic seats. Her bowling shoe slammed into the thug’s kidney and by the time he’d got his breath back, he was pinned to the ground with a bloody nose and an orange painted thumbnail digging into his cheek.
    ‘Call me that again,’ Gabrielle screamed, as she bunched up her fist. ‘Go on … I dare you.’
    Her voice echoed across the bowling alley’s metal roof as a hundred sets of stunned eyes turned towards her. The whole place went quiet, except for the sound of a couple of squealing toddlers and the blipping of arcade machines.
    James quickly straddled over the rows of seats and rested his palm on Gabrielle’s shoulder. ‘Come on, Gabrielle,’ he said soothingly. ‘Cool it. It’s not worth getting upset over the likes of him .’
    Gabrielle released her hand from her victim’s face and stood up. James thought he’d defused the situation, but then he realised four other lads were moving in to surround them. As he stepped forward to walk back to his lane, a clumsy punch glanced across the side of his head.
    James instinctively swung back with his elbow to take out his assailant, catching him full in the face and deftly sweeping away his opponent’s legs as he stumbled backwards. The other three lads didn’t like this one bit. Two lunged at James, while the guy in the Tottenham shirt tried to take down Gabrielle by jumping on her back.
    CHERUB had trained James to handle himself in a fight, but there’s a limit to what you can do against three significantly larger opponents at close range. Luckily, the other cherubs were rushing to his defence.
    Kyle, Connor and Callum all piled over or around the seats and launched themselves at the thugs. James caught a second punch and his bowling