LITMIR.BIZ

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away.

      “This is a dead end,” said Rich. “It doesn’t go anywhere—just a gate and field and the brook.”

      “Now you tell me,” Ferdy said. “Still, she’s a big powerful beast.” He dropped down a gear and the engine roared.

      A metal field gate loomed in the headlights. The lorry shuddered as it slammed into it. The gate squealed and ripped free, flying sideways. The lorry lurched, skidded on the muddy field, but kept going down the shallow incline. Sheep scattered.

      “A brook won’t give it much trouble,” said McCain confidently.

      “ ‘The brook’ is just a name,” Jade told him. “It’s a river. A big river. And we’re heading straight for it!”

      The headlights were bouncing as the lorry bumped across the uneven field. They shimmered on the wide stretch of water beyond the trees ahead. McCain swerved to avoid a tractor parked at the side of the field, before lining up with a gap in the tree line.

      What wasn’t obvious until they were too close to stop was the drop from the field down to the level of the river. Jade felt the moment the front wheels left the ground. The front of the lorry hung in the air for a moment, then crashed down.

      The cab lurched, and the muddy edge of the river rushed towards the windscreen. There was a terrific crunch of metal.

      Jade’s legs jarred painfully against the dashboard. Instinctively she braced with her hands, just stopping her head from hitting the windscreen. Rich wasn’t so lucky—he banged his head hard against the tape deck as the impact threw his body forwards.

      The windscreen crazed, then shattered. Water splashed in. The lorry skidded onwards for a few more metres, sagging to one side as the axle gave way. A wheel bounced ahead of them into the water. The sound of metal on mud, then on stones, then on water, was deafening. Steam erupted from the bonnet of the lorry, rising in front of them.

      Then one of the headlights went out. Silence. For several seconds all was still.

      “You OK?” Jade asked Rich.

      He raised his hand to his head, and felt the blood trickling from a miraculously shallow cut. He winced. “Yeah, just about.”

      “Out—we have to get out!” McCain yelled.

      The door beside Jade had buckled and wouldn’t move. McCain bent round, braced himself against Rich, and kicked at his door with both feet. It fell from the side of the vehicle and clattered and splashed into the river.

      They hauled themselves out. The lights of the pursuing car were sweeping across the field above and behind them.

      “What now?” Rich wondered.

      “Sorry, guys,” said McCain. “We might have to swim for it. But I’m afraid we’ll be sitting ducks.”

      “Swimming ducks,” said Rich. “Ducks don’t sit on the water. It just looks that way.”

      “Oh shut it,” Jade told them both. “We’re getting out of here.” She was already running.

      Rich hurried to catch up. “How?”

      “Tractor!” she yelled back at him.

      It would be close, she could tell. But they could make it to the tractor before the car reached them. The car was moving slowly, cautiously, skidding across the muddy field. The driver must be afraid he’d lose control. And he could see Jade, Rich and McCain running towards him. He must think they were coming to surrender.

      “Hope the keys are in it,” said Rich. He was gasping for breath as they ran.

      “You should get some exercise,” Jade told him.

      “What do you think I’m doing?”

      The tractor was a dark silhouette against the lights from the approaching car. Jade leaped up on to it, Rich close behind. McCain was round the driver’s side. He heaved himself up into the cab. It was tight, but they all just managed to squeeze in. Jade and Rich had to stand, squashed behind the driver’s seat.

      “The keys there?” asked Jade.

      “Who needs keys?” McCain was fumbling under the steering wheel, ripping out wires and twisting them back together. The engine spluttered into life.

      The lights were bright—dazzling Jade when she looked back at the car. She could just see the dark shape of someone leaning out of the passenger window.

      “Down!” she yelled.

      Bullets smashed through the glass of the cab, as the tractor started to move. The car hurtled towards it now as the driver accelerated. The lights disappeared, below the level of the tractor cab and too close for Jade to see.

      But she felt the impact as the car smashed into the back of the tractor.

      “That won’t do them any good,” said McCain grimly.

      The tractor was moving faster now, its massive tyres gripping easily in the muddy ground while the car slewed off to one side. It had lost a headlight and the bonnet was crumpled.

      More gunfire. But it went wide. The car was out of control, sliding across the muddy field.

      The tractor bumped down the bank to the river, its huge wheels managing what the lorry couldn’t. When they passed the shattered remains of the lorry Jade was surprised they’d even got out of the broken cab, let alone without serious injuries. But even as she thought it, she could feel her shoulder throbbing. There was blood on her hands, and she realised she must be bleeding—cut by the glass from the windscreen. Great.

      McCain took the tractor slowly through the river. “It’s wide, but is it deep?” he wondered.

      “We’ll soon find out,” said Rich. His voice was muffled and Jade saw he was eating a bread roll.

      “Where did you get that?” she demanded.

      He pointed back at the crashed lorry.

      “It’s not yours,” she told him.

      “Might be. I ordered some.” He shrugged. “Anyway, no one else will want it now.”

      Further discussion was cut off by more gunfire. The water either side of the tractor was chewed up by bullets. Several pinged off the tractor’s side.

      “Hold on!” McCain shouted.

      The roar of the engine deepened. Water washed across the floor of the tractor’s cab. Jade didn’t like to think what would happen if it reached the engine.

      Then they were climbing, up and out of the river and into the field on the other side.

      “We made it!” said Rich. “They must be awful shots.”

      Jade laughed with relief.

      “Still got to get out of the field,” McCain warned them.

      “Who are those people, and why are they after you?” asked Jade.

      Ahead of them, the tractor’s headlights picked out another gate. McCain stopped the tractor.

      “I’ll tell you once we know we’re in the clear.” He nodded at the gate. “Maybe we should open this one.”

      “I’ll get it,” said Rich. He pushed open the door, though he could probably have climbed through the empty space where the glass had been.

      A minute later they were driving along a country lane with steep hedges either side. The tractor almost filled the whole road.

      “We made it,” said Rich. “Amazing.”

      “Well done,” Jade told McCain. “Now perhaps you’ll tell us what’s going on.”

      “Got some bad guys after me,” said McCain.

      “We’d never have guessed,” said Rich.

      “Really

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