AWOL 1 Agent Without Licence by Andrew Lane

Author:Andrew Lane
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781848126640
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2018-03-14T13:14:19.017000+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘Right – let’s get him over there.’

Kieron pointed at the sofa. Funny, he thought as he and Sam manoeuvred Bradley across the room, how having a stranger in your flat suddenly made you aware of the fact that it could do with a vacuum and some tidying up. Oh, and maybe a fresh coat of paint on the walls – and not magnolia this time. It worked even if the stranger was semi-conscious.

‘What about your mum?’ Sam asked.

‘She’ll be out for a while yet. These business meals go on and on, and then there’s cocktails afterwards, and then the clients always want to go clubbing. Middle-aged men and women pretending they’re teenagers again – it’s disgusting.’

‘We’re teenagers,’ Sam pointed out. He lifted Bradley’s left eyelid and checked the size of his pupil. ‘And we don’t go clubbing.’

‘That’s because we’re already pre-grown-up.’ He indicated Bradley. ‘How is he?’

‘I think he might be concussed. We might need to get him to a hospital, or get an ambulance out, or something.’

Kieron pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. ‘I’ll ask Bex what she thinks, but I’ll call mum first, just to check she’s not heading home early. While I do that, you think of a cover story for Bradley here.’

Sam gazed at Bradley critically. ‘He’s a burglar? He’s my cousin? He just wandered in from the street?’

‘Yeah, something like that.’ Kieron pressed the redial button for his mum. ‘Maybe he was delivering pizzas, but he tripped and fell on the step outside.’

‘Ooh.’ Sam’s expression brightened. ‘Pizzas.’

The mobile rang briefly, then he heard his mum laughing as if she’d been caught in the middle of a conversation when she answered. The sound suddenly and unexpectedly made him feel shivery; like a kid again. It had been a long time since he’d heard her laugh like that.

‘Sorry, I’ve got to – yes? Kieron? Is everything OK?’

‘Everything’s fine,’ he said reassuringly. ‘I just wanted to check you were all right.’

‘I’m good,’ she said. ‘Look, I can’t stay on the line: I have to –’

‘I know, you go and have fun. You deserve it.’

He thought he heard her suddenly take a breath, then: ‘I love you: you know that?’

‘I know.’

‘You should be having fun too.’

Kieron glanced at Bradley, slumped on the sofa, then thought back to the events at the industrial estate and the terrifying drive back – terrifying not because they were being chased but because Sam was still a bit ropey on the whole driving thing and because they were worried that at any second they were going to be pulled over by a police car with flashing blue lights. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘I am having fun.’

‘Good. Don’t wait up for me.’

‘I won’t.’

He cut the call off. ‘How’s Bradley?’ he asked, crouching down in front of Bex’s friend.

‘He’s –’ Sam started to say, but Bradley raised a hand to interrupt him.

‘I’m fine,’ he said. His voice was deeper than Kieron had remembered, even though he sounded like he’d been in bed with flu for a week.

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