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realized you were right. I can't look after you when I'm traveling back and forth to Leeds all the time. So I threw the job in. . . ."
    "What?" Matt knew how much the job meant to Richard. He wasn't quite sure what to say.
    "I just don't want you to go back to the LEAF Project," Richard continued. "I said I'd look after you and that's what I'm going to do. I can always find a job in York." The thought made Richard sigh.
    "Anyway, you're lucky I was here tonight. Did you really want to be left alone with Mr. and Mrs. Creepy?"
    "Do you really think it was okay to say no?" Matt asked.
    "Of course it was. If you didn't want to go, then why should you? It's your choice, Matt. You must do what you want."
    "That's not what she said."
    "She was wrong. You're safe here. Nothing's going to happen while you're in York except — possibly — food poisoning. I'm cooking Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star tonight!"

    ************************************
Seventy miles away, on the Ml motorway, a man named Harry Shepherd was just coming out of a service station. He had started earlier in the day at Felixstowe and was on his way to Sheffield. As darkness had fallen, he had stopped for a bite and a cup of tea. He was only allowed to drive a certain distance without a break. And he liked this service station. There was a waitress he always chatted with. He was thinking of asking her out.
    It was getting dark as he drove out, and it had begun to rain. He could see the streaks of water lighting up as they slanted across his headlamps. He slammed the engine into second gear, preparing to rejoin the motorway — and that was when he saw her, standing on the slip road, one thumb out. The universal symbol of the hitchhiker.
    It wasn't something he saw very often these days. Hitch-hiking was considered too dangerous. Nobody in his right mind would get into a car or a truck with a stranger. Not with so many weirdos around.
    And here was something else that was odd. The hitchhiker was a woman. She looked middle-aged, too. She was wrapped up in a coat that wasn't doing much to protect her from the rain. Her hair was dragging over her collar, and he could see the water run-ning down the sides of her cheeks. Harry felt sorry for her. Somehow she reminded him of his mother, who was living on her own in a bed-sit in Dublin. On an impulse, he took his foot off the accelerator and pressed the brake. The woman ran forward.
    Henry knew he was breaking every regulation in the book. He wasn't allowed to give lifts. Especially when he was carrying fuel.
    But something had persuaded him. An impulse. He couldn't really explain it.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Gwenda Davis saw the petrol tanker as it slowed down. The motorway lights reflected off the great silver cylinder with the word shell in bright yellow letters. She should have been farther north by now. It had definitely been a mistake leaving Eastfield Terrace without any money, and she had almost given up trying to hitchhike.
    She knew she had let Rex McKenna down. She hoped he wouldn't be angry with her.
    But now her luck had changed. She wiped the rain out of her eyes and ran forward to the passenger door. It was a big step up but she managed it, her handbag swinging from her arm. The driver was a man in his thirties. He had fair hair and a silly schoolboy smile. He was wearing overalls with the Shell logo on his chest.
    "Where are you going, love?" he asked.
    "North," Gwenda said.
    "A bit late to be out on your own."
    "Where are you heading?"
    "Sheffield."
    "Thanks for stopping." Gwenda closed the door. "I thought I was going to be there all night."
    "Well. . . put your seat belt on." The man smiled at her. "My name's Harry."
    "Mine's Gwenda."
    Gwenda did as she was told. But she made sure that the seat belt didn't restrict her movements. She had her hand-bag next to her with the ax handle sticking out of it. She'd decided she was going to use it as soon as they slowed