The Recruit

James has all the games and toys he could want because his mom runs a shoplifting ring of thieves. When James arrives at his sister’s school, a group of moms give him lists of what they want James’s mom to steal for them. After collecting Lauren, the two head home, where the brother of the girl in James’s class jumps them and beats James up. Lauren chastises James for picking a fight with the girl and starts to leave, but she goes back for him, realizing “she couldn’t abandon her brother, even if he was an idiot” (13).

At home, James’s uncle is gone, and his mom still hasn’t talked to his school. After washing off the blood and applying antiseptic to his cuts, James calls his friend, who informs him he’s probably going to be suspended for the incident at school. James asks if his friend wants to come play video games, but his friend says no. After what James did, James’s friend doesn’t want to become a target for bullies, and though he thinks James is a good friend, he notes, “At the moment being your friend is a suicide mission” (19).

In the middle of the night, James realizes he’s peeing blood. When he goes to tell his mom, he finds she’s dead. James and Lauren go to the emergency room with their mom’s body. James’s internal bleeding—a result of being beaten up earlier—should stop on its own, and a social worker will help the kids find someone to stay with.

The next morning, James wakes in a home for displaced kids and feels distanced from reality, as if he were “sitting in an armchair watching himself on television” (23). One of the home’s workers explains that, since Lauren is the child of James’s uncle, he gets automatic custody of her, but the man doesn’t want James, meaning James will go into the foster care system.

James returns to his apartment to collect what he can take with him. His mom kept a safe with all her stolen money in the closet, and James knows he has to get it before his uncle can. James finds the safe’s combination in one of his mom’s books and takes the cash inside, replacing it with a picture to anger his uncle. Lastly, he grabs an old hairbrush his mom used to use on his hair, and “once he had the brush it felt easier to leave” (36).

Altogether, there is $43,000 in the safe. James hides most of it in a gutted VCR and scatters the rest in obvious places, figuring if his uncle comes looking, he’ll take what he finds and not realize there’s more in the VCR. In addition, James takes a few of the things his mom stole for him, including his gaming console and a skateboard. When James’s roommate, Kyle, comes home from school, the boys spend the evening getting to know each other and playing video games. After Kyle goes to sleep, James remembers there was an envelope mixed in with his mom’s cash. Inside, he finds a key and a business card for Rex Depositary that states, “Deposit Your Valuables with Total Discretion and Security” (43).

James’s first day at his new school is neither great nor horrible. Afterward, he has his first meeting with a therapist, where he admits he sometimes is terrible to others because it helps him feel like he has power over his life. The therapist ends the session by asking James to do a math problem in his head. James solves it in seconds, explaining that he’s always had a head for numbers but hates showing it off because “it makes [him] feel like a freak” (50). That night, James goes out with a group of older boys at the home who vandalize cars.

Over the next three weeks, James goes to school during the day and hangs out with the gang at night so he can fall into bed exhausted and not think about whether his sister is suffering. He receives a caution from the police about his incident at school in Chapter 1, which means he will receive a harsher punishment if he’s found guilty of a crime before he turns 18. That night while he’s out with the gang, James insults one of the members, who orders James to rob a liquor store to make up for it. When James goes inside to grab the beer, the boys hold the door closed until the shopkeeper grabs James and calls the police. The officer is the same one who gave James his caution that morning. He thinks the judge will let James off with a fine but warns him to think about where he’s headed, saying, “If you don’t start making better choices you’ll be spending most of your life in a cell” (65).

The next day, James wakes at a strange place called CHERUB with no memory of how he got there. Dr. Terrence McAfferty (Mac), the chairman of CHERUB, informs James that CHERUB is a facility where kids are trained to be spies for British Intelligence. James asks why CHERUB would want him when he gets into so much trouble, and Mac explains that “the things that get you into trouble in the outside world are the sort of qualities we look for here” (71). There is an entrance exam that lasts the rest of the day, and if James takes it, he’ll be given a few days to decide if he wants to enroll. James agrees.

The first part of the exam is five martial arts sparring matches, where James is beaten badly. Next is a written exam James feels would have been easy if he wasn’t in so much pain from the first test. Next, Mac orders James to kill a chicken, because if someone wants to eat it, someone has to kill it. James argues he’s only a kid and that he isn’t being paid to kill chickens. Mac gives him money and instructs him on how to kill the bird, which James does. Next is an obstacle course that requires James to make jumps at a great height. James is terrified but gets through. Finally, James is asked to dive into a pool and retrieve a brick. After nearly drowning years ago, James refuses and walks away.

Back with Mac, James is sure he failed all the tests, but Mac explains he passed them all at varying levels. James passed the first test because he knew when to give up instead of letting his pride get him badly hurt. He scored exceptionally on the math problems on the third exam and moderately on the language ones. He nearly failed the third test because he let Mac bully him into killing the chicken, and he passed the fourth through sheer force of will and courage. The instructors knew James couldn’t swim, and he passed the last test for understanding his limitations. All in all, Mac is pleased with how James performed and tells him, “I’m happy to offer you a place at CHERUB” (85).