CHERUB: People's Republic by Robert Muchamore

didn’t help,’ Yannis said.
    ‘I was on the spot. It was all I could come up with to save you.’
    ‘I could have handled them,’ Yannis said.
    ‘I saw how you handled them, Yannis. You were like Jell-O.’
    ‘You think they’ll really get us after school?’
    Ethan shrugged. ‘Sal’s fierce, but they might just be trying to scare us. I say we go to the chess room now and stay all lunchtime. After last lesson, we run flat out and get straight on the bus, sitting up the front near the driver. With any luck they’ll forget by Monday.’
    ‘My dad’s got a gun,’ Yannis bragged. ‘If they do anything to us, I’ll bring it to school and shoot them dead.’
    ‘Aww, don’t start being a dick. You’re so full of crap.’
    ‘I’d do it,’ Yannis said defensively.
    ‘Yeah,’ Ethan scoffed. ‘You’re going to bring a gun to school. You’re going to solve all our problems with a good old killing spree.’
    ‘Don’t believe me then,’ Yannis said, sounding even more pathetic than usual as Ethan turned towards a staircase.
    ‘Have you even fired a gun before?’ Ethan asked. ‘And your dad’s not a US citizen, so he can’t own a gun.’
    ‘Where are you going?’ Yannis asked, deliberately ignoring Ethan’s attack on his revenge fantasy.
    ‘First floor, chess room.’
    ‘I’ve got to eat,’ Yannis said.
    ‘I’ve got a packed lunch,’ Ethan replied. ‘Sal and all those guys will be in the cafeteria. If you want to risk that, you’re on your own.’
    ‘I’m starving ,’ Yannis protested. ‘They do burgers and fries on Fridays.’
    ‘Your blubber will tide you over ’til three-thirty,’ Ethan said, still holding his stomach as he started up the stairs. ‘You can have one of my sandwiches if you like.’
    Ryan didn’t belong to chess club so he couldn’t follow Ethan and Yannis upstairs. As their voices faded out, he felt almost as bad as he’d done after the meeting on the beach the night before.

12. NEWS
    As Ryan ate lunch, the first light of Saturday morning was breaking over Dandong. Ning had barely slept. She woke on a double bed in the Pink Bird Motel. It was after five and she rushed to the bathroom with a bout of nervous diarrhoea. It wasn’t cold, but she kept shivering and had to clench her fists under her arms to keep her hands from shaking.
    Everything felt wrong. Ingrid promised an explanation, but had said little more about what her stepfather had done, or why they had to leave the country. She’d passed out after draining a litre of vodka and had been snoring ever since.
    Ning kept seeing the two dead cops. When her eyes closed she imagined her stepfather under interrogation, or knelt against a wall facing execution. Much as Ning hated her lessons and exam-obsessed classmates, she now craved the certainty of her old life. She felt like she was falling into a bottomless well, grasping at the sides but unable to grab hold.
    The Pink Bird was newly built by an unopened highway. The rooms were large but bland, with framed pictures of Cadillacs on the wall. It was a budget place, made for travelling salesmen, visiting relatives and amorous types who could pay by the hour. Each room faced a large parking lot, with a line of flat-roofed convenience stores on the far side.
    Ning was sick of Ingrid’s snoring and eau de booze. She slipped on trainers, grabbed the room key and crept out. After going down the stairs at the end of the balcony, Ning cut into the parking lot. There were less than thirty cars in a lot designed for hundreds, and it would stay that way until the highway opened.
    Something about the silent grey space and the orange sky helped Ning relax. It could get hot at this time of year, but right now the sun wasn’t up and a breeze freshened the air. She found herself at the shops without knowing it. The only place open was a twenty-four-hour convenience store.
    This part of town probably would have been fields two years earlier. The little shop hadn’t had time