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tractor woke them.
    â€œNo lights in the house,” Rich realised. Now they were
closer he could see it was in the process of being rebuilt. “Nobody
home.”
    â€œProbably no phone either,” Jade complained. “Can
you get a signal?”
    Rich had been trying. He’d called Ardman, theirdad’s boss, but the phone
wasn’t connecting. Maybe it was being jammed somehow, but most likely it
was just rubbish coverage in the countryside. He checked again.
“Nothing. You getting anything?”
    â€œWho knows,” Jade told him. “My phone’s charging
up back at the cottage.”
    Rich didn’t like to think about when he’d last charged his phone.
    The lights from the car seemed a long way back. They’d gained some
time, but the car would soon catch them up. Rain was falling heavily now—
large drops angled in and quickly drenched Rich.
    â€œRight,” McCain announced. “Time to lose
ourselves.” He turned the tractor towards the group of
outbuildings.
    The nearest building was a Dutch barn—barely more than a roof
supported by metal pillars. Hay and bags of fertilizer were stacked
inside, but there was room for the tractor between them. Once through the
barn, Rich could see the lights from the car crossing the courtyard behind
them, picking out the bales of hay.
    McCain turned the tractor towards another barn. This one was a proper
building, the doors standing open.
    â€œWhat if there’s no way out?” said Jade.
    â€œLet’s hope there is.”
    â€œGood plan,” she muttered.
    The barn was full of farm machinery. The tractor scraped past ploughs
and seed drills; a combine harvester. There were doors at the back—
mercifully standing open like those at the front.
    â€œDon’t think much of the farmer’s security,” McCain
shouted above the sound of the tractor echoing round the barn.
    â€œHe’s in the middle of nowhere,” Rich pointed out.
    Outside the barn, a grassy bank led down steeply into a large field.
The edges were lost in darkness. Water was already running off the paved
area and down the slope as the rain got even heavier. As soon as they were
out of the back of the barn, McCain turned the tractor so it was hidden
behind the building. The car’s lights spilled out of the barn as it
approached.
    â€œOut—quick!” McCain ordered. He had to shout over the
sound of the engine, the thunder, and the pounding of the rain.
    As soon as they were out of the tractor, McCain spun the wheel,
pointing the tractor down the slope into the field. Guessing what he was
doing, Richgrabbed a brick from a pile holding the barn doors
open.
    â€œThis any good?”
    McCain smiled a thank you, and took the brick. He braced himself
against the door of the cab as he wedged the brick down on the
accelerator. The tractor started to move off, gathering speed, and McCain
jumped clear. He rolled like a paratrooper, coming up quickly and running
with Rich and Jade for the next building.
    Seconds later, the car emerged from the barn behind them, speeding
after the tractor as it careered down the hill into the field, skidding
and slewing in the mud.
    â€œThey’ll soon find it’s empty,” said Jade.
    â€œBut they won’t know where we jumped ship, or even if we all
got out at the same time,” McCain pointed out. “With luck
they’ll assume we bailed out in the field somewhere and legged it. The
rain will make it hard for them to find any tracks or see very
far.”
    â€œBut they’ll come looking,” said Rich. “We need a
really good hiding place, and we need it fast.”
    The farmhouse would have been the mostcomfortable, but also the most
obvious hiding place. Rich was getting tired and he was willing to risk it
—their pursuers would probably assume they had jumped off the tractor in
the field and escaped into the darkness. But McCain was more