Faster Than Lightning (6 page)

The morning had dawned black and gloomy. Hannah grumped out of bed, ate breakfast without talking to anyone, and went back into her room. Natasha’s email lay on her desk and she picked it up warily as if it was a poison dart.

Hannah, I don’t know what you’re trying to do! I’ve tested the sample of horse hair that you sent me against our data base of all registered racehorses and it came up negative. It’s probably from an ordinary thoroughbred that a trainer is trying to get ready for the big time. I think you’re letting your imagination run away with you. Perhaps you ought to stick to boys, not science, until you are older! Sincerely, Natasha Miller.

Hannah flung the email away. It drifted under the desk as she headed back towards the kitchen.

‘I’m going to see Angus,’ she yelled at her mother.

‘But you haven’t had breakfast! And why are you yelling?’

‘I’m not hungry. And I’m not yelling,’ Hannah yelled, running out of the house.

Angus wasn’t home. Neither was Mr Mac. Hannah stood in the back yard as the first raindrops fell. ‘Angus,’ she muttered, ‘where are you when I need you?’

The early morning had been going along in the usual way, Angus taking the young horses onto the track for his dad, going for a gentle gallop to get them used to it. And then, just as he was finishing the last horse, Jack and his mates came up beside him.

‘The star of the track!’ Jack said. ‘The one everyone talks about, even though he’s never ridden in a race.’

Angus didn’t quite know why he had a reputation for being a good rider. It was true: he’d never ridden in a race, he wasn’t old enough. People just saw him riding around the
practice track like he’d done for years, handling his father’s horses, not saying much to anyone. He wished Jack would leave him alone. ‘You’ve never ridden in a race, either.’

He saw Jack sit up. ‘Not an official race. But I’ve had a few goes around the track against other riders. Like we could, now.’ He pushed his horse along faster and came close to Angus’s, the two animals touching at the shoulder.

‘Careful, Jack.’ Angus checked his horse. ‘I’m not racing you. This colt isn’t ready for it.’

‘You’re chicken, Gussy. Don’t be such a wuss.’

Angus gritted his teeth. There was no way he was racing one of his father’s young horses, no matter what Jack said.

‘Okay, Gussy. If you don’t feel like shining like the superstar they say you are, just forget it.’

‘Wait!’ Angus called as Jack went to gallop away. Jack stopped his horse, pulling in close to Angus again. ‘I’ll race you.’

Jack grinned. ‘From the next furlong post?’

‘No, not now. I’ll race you later.’

‘Later? What do you mean? Don’t you have to go to school?’

‘It’s the holidays. I’ll meet you at the park at 10 o’clock.’

‘Yeah, right. As if your dad would let you take one of his horses to the park.’

‘I won’t take a young horse. I’ll bring my own.’

Jack spent a long time laughing, but at the end of it, Angus was still waiting for an answer. Jack had no choice. ‘You’re on. See you at ten.’

Percival Park wasn’t a proper park. It had once been the sale yards until they’d been shifted out of town. When the fences were pulled down, trees had been allowed to grow in the flattened soil. The council had put a rough path around the outside of the area so maintenance trucks could come in to mow. It wasn’t much of a park, but it wasn’t a bad mock racecourse.

Angus was on King. He’d told his father he was just going for a ride. His dad had nodded. There was nothing unusual about Angus going for a ride on his horse. Usually.

The big chestnut gelding snorted. ‘It’s okay, King,’ whispered Angus. ‘We’ll show them.’

Next to him, mounted on an equally large bay gelding, was Jack. Around both of them was a small crowd of people.

‘This is it, Gussy.’ Jack grinned at him. Angus wasn’t fooled, though. He could see how
Jack’s hands were tight on the reins. Jack was nervous.

‘I guess it is.’ Angus looked away. I must be crazy, he thought. Why am I racing Jack when he’s on a three-year-old racehorse and I’m on a ten-year-old ex-racehorse? I haven’t got a chance. He ran his fingers along King’s neck, and the horse lifted his head at the boy’s touch. Sometimes you just seem to get yourself into these things.

Angus moved King up to the starting point as the rain really started coming down. Lightning flashed in the distance and low growls of thunder grumbled across the sky. King shook his head up and down but didn’t really look worried. Jack’s young horse did, though. It skittered sideways, scattering the crowd of onlookers.

Suddenly, Angus heard a voice at his feet.

‘Angus, what are you
doing?’

He looked down. Hannah was standing with her arms crossed. Her hair was wet with the rain and her fringe stuck to her forehead. She’d never looked so angry.

‘I’m racing Jack.’

‘This is stupid, Angus. It could be dangerous. What if your dad finds out you’ve been racing?’

‘How’s he going to find out?’

‘Ha!’ said Hannah, pointing with both hands at the crowd. ‘How’s he
not
going to find out?’

Angus looked around. If he hadn’t known it was impossible, he’d have thought he was still at the track. Strappers, trainers and racing officials were all gathered to watch the race. News of it had spread like wildfire. Even Sergeant Malroy was there. Angus gulped. But the Sarge just gave him a wave. He’s come to watch too! thought Angus.

‘Ready for starting!’ called Pete, a lanky, bearded strapper who seemed to have the job of getting the race under way.

‘I’ll catch you afterwards,’ said Angus to Hannah, and he rode King forward, trying not to think of the way Hannah was scowling.

Jack urged his horse up beside King. He didn’t look at Angus but stared down the park. The circuit they were racing on was a wide gravelly bicycle track. There wasn’t much room—they’d have to be single file all the way.

‘Ready!’ called Pete. The crowd went quiet.
‘Racing!’

King jumped but Jack’s horse was first away. It bolted down the path, Jack urging it on. Angus kept King back, close to the other horse’s heels but not so he could be kicked. The rain came
down in sheets, making it hard to see the young horse. Angus waited. It was nearly two kilometres around the track: Jack’s horse was bound to get tired.

They went around the first bend. The ground was slippery at the turn and Angus held King in, afraid that he’d come crashing down. The other horse pulled away in front, sending clods of dirt up into Angus’s face.

The storm was right overhead. Lightning flashed and thunder came on top of it, scaring both horses. Jack’s horse faltered. Angus caught a glimpse of the whites of its eyes as it tried to leap away. Jack sawed at its mouth but the horse wasn’t listening. It put its head down and bucked.

Angus urged King past. They flew around the next corner. In the flashes of light, Angus could see the crowd waving their arms and punching their fists into the air. He put his head down on his horse’s neck. ‘Let’s go, King. Come on, boy.’

Behind them, Jack was gaining. Angus heard the frantic scrabble of the other horse’s hooves and knew it was bolting. He looked around quickly, just in time to see Jack sweep past, totally out of control. The young horse got to
the last corner first, but didn’t turn. It kept going straight ahead, disappearing into the trees.

King took the corner easily. His strong legs carried Angus around without a stumble. In seconds, they were past the finishing line. Angus let the reins go and stood in his stirrups, arms outstretched. The crowd cheered. Thunder crashed. There was no sign of Jack.

It took a while for everything to calm down. Strappers and trainers and racing officials patted Angus on the knee and King on the neck, and then they quickly left, eager to be out of the rain. Eventually, Jack came back, his horse still crazy. He had his hands full trying to calm his horse, but he looked at Angus and smiled ruefully before dismounting, taking the horse into his truck and leaving with his trainer. Then it was just Angus and King left in the wet. And Hannah.

‘You still here,’ Angus said.

‘I’m waiting to tell you something.’ Hannah was drenched. Angus could see she was shivering.

‘Well, I’ve got to get King home and dry. Come on.’ He moved back in the saddle.

‘What?’

‘Get on.’

Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but Angus had reached down and was pulling her up. She scrambled up the horse’s side and sat nervously in the saddle in front of Angus. ‘This is ridiculous.’

‘Not as stupid as catching pneumonia.’ Angus walked King on. The horse stepped quickly, eager to be home. ‘Now, what do you have to tell me?’

‘The results came back. The sample was negative. That horse isn’t a clone.’

‘Geez, that was quick.’ Angus looked at the back of Hannah’s head. He had a feeling she had more to say.

She did. ‘And do you know what that woman said? She told me to “stick to boys, not science”.’

If Angus hadn’t been trying to steer a horse, he would’ve laughed. He felt Hannah stiffen in front of him, so he bit his lip. ‘What would she know?’ he said finally as they made it to his place. He slid off King and waited for Hannah to do the same. ‘She’s only a geneticist.’

Hannah half fell off the chestnut horse. When her feet hit the ground, she stood up tall and looked at Angus. ‘You’re right. What would
she
know?’

The sun came out bright and strong the next day and Hannah woke up all the more determined to investigate the farm. What was happening there just didn’t make sense. Why would a horse stud have a laboratory?

‘Hannah, I’m just going into town.’ Her mum opened the bedroom door a bit and peeped in.

‘Okay.’ Hannah sat up. ‘I’m going over to Angus’s. I said I’d meet him at 10 o’clock.’

‘Can you take Sean for me? He’ll only get bored down the street.’

‘No worries.’

Sean was in his room, making aeroplanes out of Lego. Hannah was half tempted to leave him there—he probably wouldn’t even know he was by himself. Then she remembered what she’d said
to her mother. ‘Sean,’ she said loudly into his room, making him jump. ‘We’re going to Angus’s.’

‘All right!’ Sean scrambled to his feet. ‘Will E.D. be there?’

‘I don’t know. Should he be there?’

Sean shrugged. ‘I hope he is.’ He ran out of the room and out the front door.

Hannah followed him, running to catch up. Motorcycles and horses: a little kid’s dream, she thought. I’m not that rapt in either.

Angus was in one of the yards with King when Hannah and Sean arrived. He was grooming the horse carefully, checking him over for any sign of problems from the race the day before. ‘He’s fine,’ he blurted out to Hannah. ‘I’ll just let him have the day off.’

She raised her eyebrows and Angus realised she didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘King is fine.’

‘Great,’ said Hannah. She reached out slowly with one hand to touch the chestnut horse’s nose. ‘Angus, tell me more about the laboratory.’

‘You aren’t going to let this go, are you? You don’t think we should lay low for a while?’

Hannah shrugged. ‘Why should we? Just because of one little letter? We know something’s going on. Tell me what was in the laboratory.’

Angus climbed through the fence to stand next to her. ‘Glass beakers and test tubes and technical stuff. I don’t know.’

‘What else was there?’

‘I dunno, just stuff.’

Hannah ground the dirt with her foot. ‘I need to go and see it for myself.’

‘Well, I’ll just ring them up and say that we’re coming for a visit.’

‘Very funny. No, we need to sneak in.’

Angus didn’t seem convinced. ‘I really don’t think it’s a good idea that I turn up there again.’

‘No, probably not—it could be dangerous. But I really want to know what’s going on. And we’d only be looking.’

Angus could tell by the determined expression on Hannah’s face that he wouldn’t be able to talk her out of it. ‘It would have to be when they weren’t expecting us. I reckon there’s plenty of things happening up there that they don’t want us to know about.’

‘Night time,’ said Hannah.

‘Hannah, you can’t go out at night!’ said Sean, taking a brush from Angus and carefully grooming King’s back.

‘I can. If no one knows.’

‘Mum’ll know. She knows everything.’

‘Yeah.’ Hannah nodded. ‘You’re right about that. Maybe we could stay here, Angus.’

‘It’s a bit hard to move around our house without Dad noticing. It’s too small.’

‘We need to be somewhere where no one will notice us leaving.’

Hannah and Angus looked at each other.

‘Gabby’s,’ said Hannah.

‘Yep,’ said Angus, nodding slowly.

‘We’ll have a sleepover at Gabby’s tonight.’

‘Don’t you have to be
invited
to a sleepover?’ Sean said, genuinely puzzled.

Hannah grinned at Angus. ‘Why don’t you ask her? She’ll do anything for you. Let’s get the phone.’

‘But…’ Angus protested all the way to the house, but Hannah wasn’t listening. She dialled Gabby’s number and handed him the phone.

‘Hello, Gabby? It’s Angus. Yeah. Gabby, we need your help.’ He looked at Hannah and then turned away. ‘It’s about the black racehorse…’

It didn’t take long for Gabby to agree to a sleepover. Not when Angus was asking. ‘There’s one condition,’ she told him. ‘I’m not having Emilio Dingbat. He is
not
staying at my house—he doesn’t ever wash the grease off his hands.’

‘Sure. No E.D.’ Angus looked at Hannah.

‘We have to have him,’ mouthed Hannah. ‘He’s got transport.’

‘We’ll see you tonight.’ Angus put the phone on the hook. ‘She said, no E.D.’

‘Ha! We’ll see about that. Come on, Sean. We’ve got things to organise. Like giving you a ride on King for not mentioning anything to Mum about the sleepover tonight.’

Angus grinned. ‘Yeah, Sean. Want to go for a ride on a racehorse?’

Sean couldn’t get out the door quick enough.