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side. The tractor almost filled the whole road.
    â€œWe made it,” said Rich. “Amazing.”
    â€œWell done,” Jade told McCain. “Now perhaps you’ll
tell us what’s going on.”
    â€œGot some bad guys after me,” said McCain.
    â€œWe’d never have guessed,” said Rich.
    â€œ Really bad guys. The worst. I was hoping John
—your dad—could help me out.”
    â€œI’m sure he would,” said Jade, “but he’s away
on…business.”
    â€œI can imagine,” said McCain, with a tight smile. The
smile faded as he glanced over his shoulder, past Jade and Rich standing
by the driver’s seat. “Sorry—looks like we spoke too soon.”
    Jade turned to look. A pair of powerful headlightswas scything through the darkness behind them.
    â€œCould just be
someone out for a drive,” said Rich.
    The car clipped a hedge as it
took a corner too fast
and too wide. A bullet slammed into the back of the tractor.
    â€œOr
not,” Rich conceded, ducking down with Jade into as much cover as
they could find.
    â€œThey must have had a second car,” said
McCain. “And it looks like this one is going to catch us.”

3
    The car was weaving back and forth across the road as it came up
behind them. But the tractor was so wide and the lane so narrow that there
was no way past.
    â€œOnly a matter of time before they hit a tyre,” said
Rich. “Or one of us.”
    â€œAny suggestions?” asked Jade, her voice cracking.
They’d been in trouble before—several times, in fact, since they’d come
to live with their dad. But this was every bit as serious as it got.
    A bullet ripped into the metal cage surrounding the cab, making them
both duck down even further. McCain was hunched over the steering wheel.
    Up ahead, at the limit of the headlights, Rich could make out a dark
patch in the high hedge. It might bean opening. “Go right!”
he yelled, as he saw it was a single-track lane leading off at right
angles.
    McCain spun the heavy wheel, the tractor squealed as it turned. There
was a smell of burning rubber as the tyres bit into the roadway. For a
moment it looked like they weren’t going to make it. Then the tractor
punched through the side of the hedge. Branches and leaves raked through
the cab, scratching Rich’s face.
    In a moment, they were through. The tractor roared as fast as it
would go along the even narrower track. There was grass growing in the
middle, and the gravel had worn away. The track was cratered with
potholes.
    In the road behind, the pursuing car screeched, engine protesting as
it tried to follow. And failed. There was an ear-splitting crash as it
buried itself in the hedge.
    But at once it was reversing, lining up and hurtling down the track
after them.
    â€œFarm buildings,” Jade shouted, pointing off to the
left.
    The track swung in a shallow curve round towards the farm. But McCain
headed straight for the buildings—across a ploughed field. The tractor
lurched and bumped. There was no way the car could followthem—it would
have to take the long route. McCain
killed the headlights.
    â€œNo point in telling them exactly where we are.”
    But even as he finished speaking, there was a flash of lightning,
illuminating the scene brightly.
    â€œEven the gods are on their side,” Rich complained.
“And any second we’re going to get soaked.”
    â€œBetter than getting shot,” Jade told him.
    The buildings loomed closer, silhouetted against the deep grey sky.
There was a farmhouse, several barns, outbuildings and a cattle shed.
    â€œCan we double back?” Jade wondered. “Get back to
the road?”
    â€œThey might have another car, waiting,” said McCain.
“And it’ll take too long to turn round.”
    The tractor bumped up on to a paved courtyard outside the farmhouse.
Chickens flew up in surprise and fright as the