Lauren completes basic training successfully, to the displeasure of the sadistic Norman Large, whom Lauren injured with a shovel in the previous novel. James and his friends get into a brawl at a bowling alley with a group of chavs after one of them calls Gabrielle a "wog". As punishment, Kyle, Gabrielle and twins Connor and Callum are each given a recruitment mission. Much to his delight, James is instead offered a role on a major mission. He is joined by Dave Moss, a well respected CHERUB agent with a reputation for womanising, and Lauren. The FBI have discovered that Curtis Key, a 14-year-old boy imprisoned in an Arizona maximum security prison for murder, is the son of Jane Oxford, an international arms dealer who has evaded capture for decades. Recently, she has stolen 35 PGSLM, which were supposed to be sent to the British Army. With the help of the FBI, James and Dave go undercover into the prison posing as brothers who accidentally ran over a homeless woman in their getaway car, with the intention of breaking Curtis out in the hope that he will lead the FBI to his mother. Before James and Dave enters the prison, they taught Lauren basic driving skills. When James took the wheel, he recklessly crashed the vehicle while overspeeding. James soon befriends Curtis and a gang of skinheads who are protecting him in prison, but within days of arriving Dave is injured in an altercation with prison officers, leaving James the responsibility of breaking Curtis out. The escape goes smoothly and Curtis and James are picked up by Lauren, posing as James and Dave's sister. The three are stopped by police officers and Curtis attempts to kill himself with an unloaded gun, but James and Lauren overpower the officers. They kidnap a woman and force her to drive them to Los Angeles. Upon arrival, Curtis contacts his father, a major breakthrough as the FBI did not know who he was previously. The trio are taken to a ranch in Idaho to stay with Vaughn Little, a former weapons dealer and associate of Jane Oxford. From there they are taken to Boise, Idaho, where two of Jane Oxford's henchmen give the three new identities. The henchmen explain that Curtis will travel to Brazil while James and Lauren will be given a new life in Canada. However, after Curtis leaves for the airport with one of the henchmen, Lauren is attacked by the other henchmen, who tries to smother her with a pillow. She fights back and overpowers him by stabbing him in the neck with a Biro. The FBI follow Curtis, and discover that instead of going to the airport, they drove to an Inn, where Jane has come for him in person. They capture her, concluding the mission as a success. James, Dave, and Lauren return home to CHERUB campus. James was criticized for the car crash before the mission, and Lauren passed the mission without rebuke, earning her a navy shirt. James returns to his room after a day's lessons and discovers a box on his pillow, containing an Intelligence Star with his name engraved on the back; Dave and Lauren also receive an Intelligence Star.
Characters
Critical reception
Maximum Security received better reviews than its predecessor, Class A and received two awards.
