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away. Okay?’
    Okay! I had never heard a more insane plan in my life. But not Stinger.
    ‘Okay! Let’s go!’
    Once more up the stairs – I was really getting pretty tired of this – and tired all over as well. I climbed the rungs, opened the trapdoor, and pushed the blankets through onto the roof when he passed them up to me. He didn’tsay a word until I had closed and sealed the door again.
    ‘What happened? I heard you got away and I was going to kill you if they ever brought you back.’
    ‘It’s not that simple. I’ll tell you when we get clear. Now let’s start tying. Opposite corners lengthwise, we need all the length I we can get. Use a square knot like you learned in the Boy Sprouts. Like this.’
    We knotted and tied like crazyuntil they were all connected, then took the ends and pulled and grunted and that was that. I tied one end to a solid looking pipe and threw a bundle of I blankets over the side.
    ‘At least twenty feet short,’ Stinger said scowling down at the ground. ‘You go first because you’re lighter. If it breaks with meat least you got a chance. Get moving.’
    The logic of this could not be argued with. Iclimbed up on the parapet and seized the top blanket. Stinger squeezed my arm with an unexpected show of emotion. Then I was climbing down.
    It was not easy. My hands were tired and the blanket fabric hard to grip. I went down as quickly as I could because I knew that my strength was running out.
    Then my legs scrabbled at empty air and I had reached the end. The hard floor of the courtyard appearedto be very far below. It was difficult to let go – or rather really very easy. I could hold on no longer. My fingers opened and I fell –
    – Hit and rolled and sat on the ground gasping for breath. I had done it. High above I could see the dark figure of Stinger swarming down the rope, hand over hand. Within seconds he was on the ground, landing light as a cat beside me, helping me to my feet.Half supporting me as I stumbled to the gate.
    My fingers were trembling and I couldn’t get the lock open. We were painfully visible here under the light and if any of the guards glanced out of a window above we were trapped …
    I took in a long, shuddering breath – then inserted the picklock once again. Slowly and carefully feeling the grooves on the interior, turning and pushing.
    It clickedopen and we hurled ourselves through. Stinger pushed it silently shut, then turned and ran out into the night with me right at his heels.
    We were free!

CHAPTER FIVE

    ‘Wait!’ I called after Stinger as he pelted down the road. ‘Not that way. I’ve got a better plan. I worked it out before I was sent up.’
    He slowed to a halt and thought about this and slowly made up his mind. ‘You called the shots OK so far. So what we gonna do?’
    ‘For openers – leave a trail that they can follow with sniffer robots. This way.’
    We left the road and cut throughthe grass and down to the nearby stream. It was shallow but cold and I could not suppress a shiver as we waded across. The main highway ran close by and we headed that way. Crouching low as a heavy transporter thundered by. For the moment there was no other traffic in sight.
    ‘Now!’ I called out. ‘Straight up to the road – then right back down walking in your own footprints.’
    Stinger did whathe was told, backtracking with me to the stream and into the frigid water again.
    ‘That’s smart,’ he said. ‘The sniffers find where we went into the water, where we came out – and follow us to the road. Then they think that a groundcar maybe picked us up. So what comes next?’
    ‘We go upstream – staying in the water – to the nearest farm. Which happens to be a porcuswine farm …’
    ‘No way! I hatethem mothers. Got bit by one when I was a kid.’
    ‘We have no other choice. Anything else we do the fuzz will pick us up at daybreak. I can’t say I love the porkers either. But I grew up on a farm and I know how to get along with