Still Waters

Melia doesn't understand. Mickey is trying to explain where he's been and what he's been up to, but it makes no sense to her. They are both secret agents. Why would the police call Mickey in to meet a couple of teenagers on the run from Care Homes? This is England. This is the Twenty First Century. It's not as though the kids are Bonnie and Clyde!

No, but they are deliquents. They are hooligans and, on their journey, they have become murderers. What makes it Mickey's business is that they have somehow become entangled in a bunch of spies. The youngsters like to collect 'souvenirs, and the piece of computer they have saved has precious files on it, news and numbers that could make or break National Security.

Mickey recruits Melia to the task. They need to work together, he says, to protect the two children from the gangsters and professional hit men out to target them. Melia, again, isn't sure. Could this really be their responsibility? And, after all, aren't the pair able to look after themselves? In the weeks that follow she is proved right. The rank amateurs run rings around the spooks, making them all look silly.

Mickey needn't have worried. Whatever secrets the kids have found, they are safe with them. No one, it seems, no matter how experienced and well trained, can compete with their sheer enthusiasm. It's the beginners who end up looking good, the grizzled old wrecks who look bad.