‘The whole building, doofus,’ Jake Parker sighed noisily. ‘ATCC: Air Traffic Control Centre.’
‘Oh,’ Kevin said. ‘I thought it was one of the alarm thingies.’
Bethany cuffed her brother Jake around the head. ‘Don’t bite Kevin’s head off, he’s only little.’
Jake gave his sister the finger. ‘He’s less than a year younger than me, dog breath.’
Rat sighed. ‘Don’t start fighting again you two … Christ, what’s that stink?’
They all turned towards Ronan. He was a stocky lad, mad on rugby and combat training but less keen on showering afterwards. He’d just pulled off one of his muddy boots.
‘Put it back on,’ Bethany gasped as she wafted her hand. ‘How long have you been wearing those socks?’
‘My eyes are watering,’ Andy complained.
‘Only about a week,’ Ronan said as he buried his nose between his toes and took a long sniff.
‘Don’t!’ Bethany yelled. ‘Dirty animal.’
‘It’s harmless,’ Ronan grinned, as he swung his foot towards Bethany. ‘It’s just my natural bodily juices.’
A couple of the lads laughed, but Lauren stepped over the maps and loomed above Ronan. ‘If you don’t put that boot back on, me and Bethany will drag you into the bathroom, strip you butt naked and scrub you with my toilet brush.’
‘Kinky,’ Andy laughed. ‘Stripped and scrubbed by two hot chicks …’
‘Two repugnant walruses, more like,’ Jake said.
But Lauren shot the lads evil eyes and they both shut up. Ronan reluctantly pulled his boot back on and even though it was freezing outside, Bethany got up and flung open the balcony doors to clear the air.
Lauren went back to squatting in front of the maps before speaking again. ‘I’ve got a good reputation and my black shirt,’ she said, stretching out her T-shirt to emphasise the point. ‘It won’t make much difference to me if we mess this up, but we need to pull it off if you three younger lads want a sniff of some decent missions any time soon. So you guys choose: screw around, or calm down and start taking this plan seriously.’
Kevin, Ronan and Jake didn’t like admitting that Lauren was right, but she glowered until they all nodded.
‘OK,’ Lauren said. ‘I’m the only black shirt here, so I’m making myself Chairwoman. Any objections?’
Lauren half expected a mutiny. But they all knew someone had to take charge if their plan was going to work.
Rat raised his hand and waited for Lauren’s nod before he spoke. ‘Here’s where I see the problem with our plan right now,’ he said. ‘Bethany and Lauren do their bit at the front of the air traffic control centre, but me, Andy and the three little dudes are gonna end up at the back facing six adult security guards with no weapons.’
‘We need guns,’ Jake blurted. ‘Tranquilliser darts or stun guns at the least.’
‘Why don’t you read the mission briefing?’ Lauren sighed. ‘Our job is to test the security arrangements put in place by the private company at the new ATCC. If the government wanted people with Balaclavas and machine guns, they’d have sent in the army. We’ve got to dress and act like ordinary kids on a pre-Christmas rampage. We can use our mobiles, but no walkie-talkies. We can’t take listening devices, explosives, lock guns or anything else that your average thirteen-year-old doesn’t carry in the pocket of his hoodie.’
Bethany raised her hand and waved her mission briefing in the air. ‘But Lauren, it does also say that the security guards are backed up by a team of military police.’
‘With guns,’ Jake added.
‘Read it properly,’ Lauren said. ‘It’s a rapid response team stationed on an RAF base eight kilometres away. As long as we don’t give the regular security team at the ATCC time to sound the alarm, we’ll only be up against private security guards with batons and pepper spray.’
‘If only we knew exactly who these guards are,’ Bethany said. ‘I mean, they could be anything from doddery little old men to retired Special Forces.’
Lauren shrugged. ‘When that control centre opens in the new year it’s gonna be in charge of every civilian and military flight from the Midlands right the way up to the Scottish highlands. Planes could drop out of the sky if it was blown up.’
Ronan nodded solemnly. ‘So unless the security has been set up by total idiots, we won’t be facing a team of boy scouts.’
‘Why don’t we go over to Dennis King in Mission Preparation and say that we need more information on the security team?’ Andy asked.