Genius Squad by Catherine Jinks Page B

Cadel, because he continued in a more jaunty and confident manner. ‘Security is always shaky in a new operation – as you probably know,’ he said. ‘That’s why we’re concentrating on the Australian subsidiary. That’s why we’ve set up a special investigative team down under.’
    ‘ And-they-don’t-mind-having-kids-like-us-on-the-team ,’ Sonja finally interjected.
    The fact that she’d managed to communicate at all was something of a relief to Cadel; it meant that she was calming down. Before he could comment on this, however, Judith reached over and patted her arm.
    ‘Of course we don’t mind,’ she said robustly. And Trader jumped in with his own contribution.
    ‘What we’ve discovered is that some of the people we need for this job are under eighteen,’ he pointed out. ‘I don’t know why; maybe you just have to grow up with computers to really understand them.’ He winked at Cadel. ‘But it makes things rather difficult for us, because we’re trying to keep a low profile. This is an unofficial investigation, you see. On the one hand, we don’t trust the police to keep their mouths shut, and on the other hand . . .’ He spread his hands, in a roguish sort of way. ‘Well, let’s just say that certain surveillance activities aren’t legal unless you have a warrant. And how can you get the evidence you need for a warrant, unless you go poking around a bit first?’
    ‘So – ’
    ‘So,’ Trader went on, ‘if we have to use spyware, or illegal hacking techniques, or anything of that nature, we don’t want to be worrying about police interference. That’s why we need to keep our operations private.’
    But this was more easily said than done. According to Trader, employing ‘a bunch of kids’ for top secret activities had caused any number of problems. It had soon become apparent that a house full of teenagers would attract the attention of neighbours and social workers. Questions would be asked. Objections would be raised.
    ‘So we came up with a clever idea,’ Trader revealed. ‘We thought that if we disguised our headquarters as a youth refuge called Clearview House, and our adult team as social workers, no one would start wondering what we were up to.’
    ‘And it’s worked,’ Judith interposed.
    ‘And it’s worked.’ A satisfied nod from Trader. ‘Our kids can live at Clearview House. They can spend all the time they want in the basement – which is where we keep our technology. We call it the War Room.’ He leaned forward, and his smile became positively alluring as he rubbed his hands together. ‘You won’t believe what we can do, Cadel. We’ve got the biggest collection of gigabytes you’ve ever seen.’
    Cadel swallowed. His mouth was almost watering at the prospect of all that computer hardware; he longed to see it. Yet he was determined not to be sweet-talked into anything dangerous. Certainly not if it involved Sonja.
    He searched Trader’s finely modelled features for any hint of deceit. The good-humoured smile and friendly laugh lines were reassuring enough, but what about that supremely confident intelligence lurking behind the brilliant green eyes? Could that be trusted?
    ‘The police follow me, you know,’ Cadel finally announced. ‘They sit outside Hazel’s house in unmarked cars.’
    ‘I realise that.’ Trader remained serene. ‘Like I told you before, we’ve been trawling through their network.’
    ‘And that wouldn’t be a problem? Having the police around all the time?’
    ‘It’s been factored into our arrangements.’
    ‘Why?’ Cadel’s scrutiny shifted to Judith. He surveyed her with a frankly sceptical look. ‘Why put up with that kind of risk, just for my sake?’
    Taken by surprise, Judith blinked, and glanced at her colleague. Then she uttered a shaky little laugh and said, ‘I guess you’re worth the trouble.’
    ‘Because of what I can do? Or because of who I am?’ Cadel rounded on Trader. ‘I’ve told you, I hardly