Secret Army (8 page)

‘You look beat,’ Troy said cheerfully as he came in and stepped up to the urinal. He now wore the same kind of striped rugby shirt as the trainees.

‘The training kills you,’ Paul said, as he ran the huge red welt on his wrist under the tap and then splashed water up on to his face. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’

‘Have you been crying?’ Troy asked. ‘Your eyes are really red.’

‘No,’ Paul said defensively, as he turned off the tap. ‘Being out in the cold makes them watery.’

He hurried downstairs. Luc had now joined Joel, PT and Rosie on the floor of the hall and he acted like nothing had happened.

‘There you go,’ Sam said, as he passed Paul an enamel mug filled with tea. ‘There’s a pile of towels by the door if you want to dry off.’

But before Paul took his second mouthful, instructor Takada had stepped into the hall and brought his hands together in a sharp clap.

‘In pairs,’ Takada demanded, before leaning out of the door and shouting upstairs. ‘All Group-B boys down here
now
.’

This would be Troy’s first taste of hand-to-hand combat training. He’d work with Sam and the two other Group-B students. They wouldn’t start their full training programme until two more boys were recruited, but in the meantime Khinde was taking them on cross-country runs to raise their fitness levels and they regularly joined Group-A’s indoor hand-to-hand combat training sessions.

With Marc away there was an odd number of Group-A trainees. While Rosie got sent across to help Khinde train the Group-B kids, PT paired off with Joel and Paul nervously faced Luc.

‘Going down hard,’ Luc grinned, but Takada suspended Paul’s doom by giving everyone ten minutes of warm-up stretches and running on the spot.

When Takada gave the order to face off and grapple, Paul found himself flying through the air and slamming hard on to a mat filled with horsehair. Within a second, Luc’s knees were crushing the wind out of his chest. Paul’s arm was at full stretch and his wrist and fingers were being painfully bent back.

Paul looked desperately between the burly legs that were crushing him and saw Takada coming towards them. Paul hoped he’d tell Luc to take it easy, but instead Takada crouched over Paul and smiled.

‘How’s it going down there?’ Takada asked cheerfully. ‘Maybe when Luc has finished you’ll have a real injury to get you out of training.’

‘Sir, I’ll never lie to you again,’ Paul said breathlessly, as Luc wrenched his arm even tighter. ‘Just tell him to get off me.’

‘No breaks,’ Takada said unsympathetically. ‘Good work, Luc. Let him up and do it again.’

Over the next thirty minutes Takada ordered the two pairs of boys from Group A to perform several drills: there were throwing exercises, trips, straight wrestling and an exercise where you had to disarm your opponent when he lunged at you with a fake dagger. But whatever the drill the result for Paul was much the same as Luc pummelled, kneed, twisted, elbowed and crushed.

At the halfway point of the ninety-minute session, Takada told everyone in the hall to take a breather. Paul’s face was bright red, the elastic had been torn out of his underpants and his bare chest was covered with welts and scratches.

‘Roll on the second half,’ Luc grinned, as he stepped back from Paul and turned around, heading for the water fountain at the back of the hall.

Luc was surprised to find Rosie blocking his path with her hands on her hips. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked angrily.

Luc shrugged mischievously. Behind him Paul stood up and started hobbling away to get a drink.

‘Only doing what Takada told me, Rosie,’ Luc said.

‘I’m not saying Paul deserves to get off for lying his way out of two days’ training,’ Rosie said. ‘But he’s my kid brother and you’re going
way
over the top.’

‘I’d do anything for you, Rosie,’ Luc smiled. ‘I’ll give Paul a break, on one condition.’

‘What condition?’ Rosie asked suspiciously.

Luc leaned forwards and whispered in Rosie’s ear: ‘We go outside after dark tonight, you take your shirt off and let me kiss you and feel your tits.’

‘You’re a
filthy
animal,’ Rosie shouted, as she thrust her palm at Luc’s head.

Rosie was strong and if her blow had connected it would have splattered Luc’s nose all over his face, but Luc ducked and her hand skimmed over his head. Luc then hooked Rosie’s ankle and sent her sprawling towards the wall.

‘Hey,’ Takada shouted as he charged across the hall. ‘What the goodness?’

Takada grabbed Luc, but in the two seconds before Khinde got hold of Rosie, she jammed her heel hard into Luc’s stomach. Everyone knew Rosie was sticking up for Paul and the jeers and shouts of the other kids were all in her favour, but Takada was angry. He let Luc go and eyeballed Rosie.

‘Paul will be punished,’ Takada shouted. ‘You are not my boss here.’

‘But it’s too much,’ Rosie protested. ‘Luc will end up breaking Paul’s arm or something.’

‘Paul is the cleverest boy here,’ Takada laughed. ‘It’s up to him whether he wins or not.’

‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Rosie screamed. ‘Luc is twice Paul’s size.’

‘OK,’ Takada shouted. ‘Time for an important lesson. Everyone in Group A and Group B, gather around me in a circle. Break is over.’

There were a few groans as sweating bodies that hadn’t reached the front of the queue for the water fountain trailed back and sat cross-legged, facing Mr Takada.

‘Lions are the mightiest animals in the jungle,’ Takada began. ‘Ten times stronger than any man. Their legs can crush a human chest. Their teeth shatter human bone. But in the jungle, it is man who hunts the lion. Why is that?’

‘Because they have guns,’ Sam answered cheekily.

There was some laughter, but it wasn’t the answer Takada wanted.

‘And why do men have guns?’ Takada asked. ‘Or perhaps I should ask, why
don’t
lions have guns?’

‘Lions are stupid,’ Troy said.

‘You have the answer,’ Takada said, as he beamed at Troy. ‘Men are smarter than lions and in the long run, brains will always beat brawn.’

After the exhausting run and a half-hour pummelling, Paul failed to see what good his brain was going to do him. The hunter might be able to bugger off into the jungle and go and grab a spear, but what were his brains going to do when he was trapped on a two-and-a-half-metre square of horsehair-stuffed matting with Luc belting the daylights out of him?

‘Group A pair up for straight wrestling,’ Takada ordered.

Luc grinned as he charged forwards. He reached around Paul’s waist, grabbed the back of both thighs and lifted Paul’s feet, sending him crashing face first into the mat. Paul squirmed as Luc grabbed his shoulder, rolled him on to his back and pinned his right shoulder under his knee.

Luc could have put his other knee on Paul’s left shoulder. This would count as a pin and under wrestling rules he’d have to stand back up. But Luc liked to make Paul suffer, so he clamped his thighs tightly around Paul’s chest and rolled on to his back so that Paul dangled in the air, crushed between Luc’s knees, hardly able to breathe.

When Luc released the knee hold, Paul crawled rapidly off of his chest. Luc grasped Paul’s ankles, bent the younger boy’s feet up towards his buttocks and pressed down so hard that Paul thought the tendons in his knees were about to rupture.

‘Please,’ Paul screamed.

‘Why don’t you use your big brain now?’ Luc teased. ‘Think your way out of it.’

‘Oh god,’ Paul gasped, as tears streaked down his face. ‘Let me go.’

Luc finally set Paul free when Takada came over and told him to stop. Paul looked pleadingly at the Japanese instructor, but he showed no mercy.

‘Don’t lie there,’ Takada ordered. ‘Get up and fight!’

Luc was a typical bully. He enjoyed the pain he’d inflicted when he bent back Paul’s knees and predictably he tried the same move. Knowing what was coming, Paul rolled on to his back and kicked up with both feet as Luc lunged forwards to grab his ankles.

Paul’s feet sank into Luc’s belly. Unfortunately Luc’s stomach was as strong as the rest of his body and even the two-footed kick was only enough to knock Luc off balance. Paul sat up as Luc thumped down on the mat beside him.

Paul had spent so much time getting mauled that he’d forgotten how to make an attacking move and he wasted a valuable second as Luc’s ankle flailed in the air. When Paul did spring forwards he grabbed Luc’s foot, twisted it with all his might then landed hard with both knees on the back of Luc’s thigh, making him moan with pain. It wasn’t much of a moan but this small triumph gave Paul a surge of confidence.

He lunged again, trying to lock his hands around Luc’s neck. But Luc rolled on to his back, then bucked violently, flipping Paul’s entire body into the air. Normal service had resumed and Luc had Paul’s shoulders pinned beneath his knees and a hand squishing his head against the mat.

‘At last, something I want to see!’ Takada said triumphantly. ‘Paul uses brain and achieves small victory. You’ve had enough for today, Paul. Take early shower.’

Paul smiled with relief as he hobbled away from the mat. His knees killed and he felt like he could roll in a ball and sleep for about fifty hours, but he’d got through his punishment without any serious injuries and the desperate struggle against a massively superior opponent probably had improved his combat skills.

‘Paul will do better when he fights Luc again tomorrow,’ Takada said.

Paul felt like a bullet had passed through his heart. ‘You said my punishment was for one day,’ he protested, raising a single finger into the air.

‘Are you small and weak, or big and strong?’ Takada asked.

‘Small and weak,’ Paul admitted, as beads of sweat dripped from his head on to the polished floor around his feet.

‘So most people you fight will be bigger and stronger than you,’ Takada said. ‘You must learn how to fight
them
. With regular practice against a stronger opponent, your techniques will improve much.’

Paul looked crushed, but he couldn’t think what to say and ended up resorting to, ‘It’s not fair!’

‘Luc will also learn to deal with stronger opponents,’ Takada continued.

‘Ha!’ Luc spluttered. ‘None of the others is as tough as me.’

Takada smiled before spinning dramatically on the ball of his left foot. He took a short run, grabbed Luc’s upper arm and then swept his feet away. Luc landed on the mat with the loudest body slam in Espionage Research Unit B’s short history.

‘Bloody
hell
.’ Rosie gasped when she saw Marc’s singed eyebrows and peeling forehead. ‘What happened to you?’

They were in the hallway on the first floor of the school building. Marc held his pigskin bag and the Harrods package he’d received that morning.

‘Oh, just the usual,’ Marc explained. ‘I rescued a man from a burning building and inadvertently helped save the entire unit from getting canned.’

Rosie smiled. ‘What’s in there? Presents for us?’

‘All for me,’ Marc said, as he theatrically clutched the package to his chest. ‘Though if you ask nicely I might give you a piece of Harrods banana fudge.’

‘I
love
fudge,’ Rosie said, clapping her hands. ‘So how come your voice is so rough? I thought you were having that broken bit of tooth cut out.’

‘Smoke inhalation,’ Marc explained. ‘They tested my lungs at the hospital. The doctor says it’s just minor burns and I’ll be OK to resume training in a week or so.’

Rosie looked confused. ‘Why did you inhale smoke at the dentist?’

Marc shook his head and sounded slightly irritated. ‘Not at the dentist, I just
told
you. We got bombed last night! We were staying at Henderson’s gentlemen’s club and it got burned down. I dragged an old guy out through the smoke.’

‘Oh,’ Rosie said, putting her hand over her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry! The way you said it I thought you were joking.’

‘I’ve got bandages on my hand,’ Marc said, aghast, as he held it up in the air. ‘I know dentists are butchers but you’ve
really
got problems if you come out looking like this.’

‘Good point,’ Rosie smiled. ‘I was being thick.’

‘The present is from the old man I rescued. So what are you doing up here anyway, have afternoon lessons been called off ?’

Rosie shook her head. ‘We’ve just had Mrs Donnelley for two hours of English and maths, but I came up to check up on the casualties before target practice.’

Marc was concerned. ‘Who got hurt? Was it explosives training?’

‘Walk this way and all will be revealed,’ Rosie said, adopting a serious tone while smirking to show that she found the situation highly amusing.

The pair walked through to the Group-A dormitory and reached Paul’s bed.

Paul opened one eye and poked his head above the blankets when he heard their footsteps. He forced a smile. ‘Hey, Marc! Glad you’re back.’

‘As you know, Paul decided to fake an ankle injury to get out of training,’ Rosie said, keeping up her sarcastic commentary. ‘Sadly, the silly Billy also decided to help Mrs Henderson catch dormice to feed her tarantulas and got spotted by Mr Takada running full pelt around her back garden.’

Marc smiled. ‘I told you faking was a
dumb
idea.’

‘Takada made me spend half an hour sparring with Luc as punishment,’ Paul explained as he peeled back his blankets. ‘My skin’s got more purple bits than white.’

Before Marc could answer, Rosie pulled him back towards the door.

‘Here we have exhibit two,’ Rosie said, as she pushed through the thin white sheet that hung in front of Luc’s bed. ‘Luc told Mrs Donnelley that he had a headache.’

Luc lay on his bed, still muddy and stinking from his morning exertions. He was reading a battered detective novel.

‘Didn’t know you could read, Luc,’ Marc said cheekily.

‘I
have
got a headache,’ Luc snapped. ‘Takada body-slammed me five times.’

‘Funniest darned thing I’ve seen in ages,’ Rosie nodded. ‘Takada ordered Paul to spar with Luc, but he didn’t like the way Luc enjoyed making him suffer.’