CHERUB: Mad Dogs by Robert Muchamore

about them.
    ‘You can’t get shot of me that easily,’ James grinned.
    Meryl usually had a good sense of humour and James was surprised when she just grunted. ‘I haven’t even been to bed yet. Everyone’s been up all night worrying about Gabrielle and—’
    ‘Eh?’ James gasped. ‘What’s happened to Gabrielle?’
    ‘Right, James I’m sorry,’ Meryl said. ‘My head is all mixed up. You haven’t heard, have you?’
    *
    Meryl Spencer had only grabbed two hours’ sleep, and at thirty-nine the former Olympic athlete was past the age where you can get away with that sort of thing. She was exhausted and had a thumping headache, but mainly she was scared for Gabrielle.
    As a CHERUB handler, Meryl was a substitute parent to many of Gabrielle’s closest friends and she had to be strong for them. She’d cried in the washroom attached to her office, but had to put on a brave face when the kids were around.
    ‘Come in,’ Meryl said, as she looked up from her cluttered desk and recognised Lauren and Kyle through the frosted glass.
    ‘Any news?’ Kyle said hopefully, as they stepped inside.
    Meryl was sick of constantly being asked the same question and sounded narked. ‘If that’s all you’re here for, I don’t know anything that wasn’t pinned up on the noticeboard at eight this morning. Gabrielle was in surgery for eleven hours and came out of theatre just after 6 a.m… . She’s suffered severe internal haemorrhaging but there’s no sign of serious organ damage—’
    ‘I read the notice,’ Kyle said. ‘I’m sorry; I guess you’ve been asked a million times. But if you’re not too busy, we’re actually here to talk about a little problem that Lauren’s got.’
    Meryl smiled. ‘You know, the odd thing is that I’m not part of the mission staff. I don’t actually have much to do except sit around waiting for news like everyone else. But I’ve got to be here if information comes through and I don’t think I’d sleep if I tried.’
    Lauren and Kyle sat down.
    ‘Last night was so weird,’ Lauren said. ‘I didn’t get to bed until midnight, but I couldn’t sleep and four of us spent half the night cuddled up in Rat’s room watching MTV. People were just wandering the corridors in their night clothes and everyone was out of it in lessons this morning.’
    ‘I had a call from your brother, by the way,’ Meryl said. ‘He’s coming back early with an injured trainee; landed at Heathrow an hour ago and I forgot to send anyone to pick him up.’
    Lauren smiled. ‘You won’t get rid of him that easily.’
    Meryl wagged her finger. ‘That’s exactly what he said. So what’s your problem, anyway?’
    Lauren explained what had happened on the Askers’ driveway the night before.
    ‘And I know I’ve had run-ins with Mr Large in the past,’ Lauren said. ‘But I’m not lying or exaggerating about this, I swear.’
    Meryl nodded. ‘Of course I believe you. Norman Large is one of the most obnoxious people I’ve ever met. It’s rumoured that Zara doesn’t have a lot of time for him and wants him booted out for good.’
    ‘Really?’ Lauren grinned.
    Meryl realised that she’d said more than she should and had to cover herself. ‘When Mac was chairman, he often gave Mr Large the benefit of the doubt. Zara’s thirty years younger and our generation has different opinions about how kids are treated. As far as she’s concerned, there’s fine line between tough training and child abuse and Mr Large has overstepped it. But I’ve only told you two that, so I don’t want it repeated outside this room.’
    Kyle and Lauren both nodded.
    ‘I did have one idea,’ Kyle said. ‘What if Lauren put her evidence in writing, but Mr Large was shown a different version of what she’d said?’
    Meryl shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t wash. It’s a formal misconduct hearing before the ethics committee. Mr Large has the right to see all the evidence against him and refute it.’
    Kyle nodded.
    ‘I