Faster Than Lightning (7 page)

Gabby and Ling were waiting at the door for Angus. Gabby smiled broadly at him, then winked at Hannah. ‘Come in,’ she said.

‘Hi, Ling,’ Hannah said. ‘Are you getting used to staying in the Palace?’

‘Just about,’ said Ling, smiling. ‘I’m glad you’re staying tonight—a sleepover was a good idea.’

Gabby had her bedroom set up with mattresses and pillows. The pillows were all pink. Angus blanched. ‘Am I sleeping in here with you lot?’

‘Hardly,’ said Hannah, frowning at him.

Angus sighed with relief. He sat in a corner chair and pretended to read a magazine.

That’s where he stayed for the rest of the evening. Gabby sat on the floor and offered him pizza and chips, while Ling and Hannah lay on
their stomachs playing Monopoly. Angus kept looking at his watch. The hours went by very slowly.

Finally, he said, ‘Do you think we could go to bed now? Fool your parents into thinking we’re asleep?’

Gabby shrugged. ‘They won’t care. It’s not like they’ll check on us or anything.’

‘Still, if we turn the lights out and pretend, then they won’t notice if we aren’t here when we go.’

Angus went into the room next to Gabby’s, and for half an hour everyone lay in the dark on top of their sleeping bags. They heard Gabby’s parents go to bed, without checking on them. ‘Is it time?’ said Gabby.

‘Not yet,’ whispered Hannah.

‘What are you waiting for?’

Hannah didn’t answer, but in the distance the sound of a very noisy motorbike started coming closer. She grinned to herself. ‘Lucky your mum and dad are heavy sleepers. Here comes Emilio Dingbat,’ she said.

‘What is
he
doing here?’ Gabby stood up in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips.

‘Quiet, Gabby. He’s going to drive us to the farm.’ Angus looked out the window. E.D.’s
motorbike headlight had stopped just outside the front gate.

‘We’re all going on that?’ Gabby came over and peered out.

‘No, he’s got a car somewhere. The motorbike was less obvious. He’s letting us know he’s ready.’

‘The bike was
less
obvious?’

Everyone listened to its loud revving.

‘Anyway,’ said Angus, ‘we’ve got to go.’ He pulled his shoes on. ‘Are you coming, Ling?’

Ling smiled at him. ‘Of course.’

‘Well, I’m coming too!’ said Gabby. Hannah rolled her eyes.

They crept down the stairs and out the front door. E.D. revved when he saw them, and headed off into the darkness. They ran to follow him, Hannah stumbling in the dark on a stone.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Gabby.

‘Yeah,’ panted Hannah.

E.D. had parked his dad’s ute on the fire track that cut through the bush. His bike was beside it, ticking as it cooled down. E.D. was leaning on it, waiting impatiently, tapping his foot, when they arrived. ‘What held you up, guys? We’ve got clues to chase up and places to snoop.’

‘Thanks for the lift, E.D.,’ said Angus.

E.D. grinned. ‘I know a short cut.’

‘You aren’t allowed to drive a car!’ said Gabby.

‘I’m not allowed to drive on the
road,’
E.D. replied, staring at her. ‘That’s why we’re going through the
bush.’

‘I don’t think you’re allowed to drive through the bush, either.’

‘Gabby,’ said Hannah. ‘Shut up and get in.’

Angus opened the passenger door. ‘You go first, Ling.’ He slid in after her, leaving Hannah and Gabby to climb into the tray.

‘Great,’ said Gabby. ‘It’s disgusting in here!’

Hannah didn’t say anything. She stared hard at the back of Angus and Ling’s heads.

They crawled along the bush road in second gear. ‘Can’t you go any faster, mate?’ asked Angus.

‘Sorry,’ said E.D. ‘Gearbox is stuffed. It’s my next job to fix it.’

Going very slowly had its advantages. As they got closer to the farm, E.D. switched the lights off. The car crept, nearly invisible, right up to the fence line. ‘We’d better do the rest on foot,’ whispered Angus.

‘Whatever, chief,’ said E.D. He jumped out of the car, slamming the door noisily. Angus grimaced. He held the door open for Ling,
feeling her hair on his face as she brushed past him, and closed it softly.

‘Straight to the lab?’ E.D. asked Hannah.

She nodded, her face white in the moonlight.

They ran up the driveway in single file. The house was dark except for a spotlight outside the front door. ‘Go around the back,’ hissed Angus.

E.D. led the way to the rear of the house. ‘Whoa, those big boys are still here,’ he said as they reached the back door.

‘Shhhh!’ hissed Hannah.

Angus glanced over to see what E.D. meant. The tractors. Of course. He tugged at his friend’s sleeve. ‘Not now. We have to get in the house.’

‘Easy,’ said E.D. He tried the door, giving it a hefty push. It crashed open. They froze.

‘Good one, Tarzan,’ said Hannah, sarcastically.

Angus listened, but couldn’t hear any voices.

‘I’m going in.’ Hannah moved forward. ‘We probably don’t have much time. Angus!’ she called quietly from inside the house. ‘Where is this lab?’

She was opening every door she could find. ‘This way,’ said Angus. He led her down the
stairs to the door of the lab and shone his torch. They all peered through the window.

‘There, what was that?’ Hannah whispered.

The beam of light swung back. Pairs of startled rabbits stared back at them.

‘Look at them. They’re all the same,’ said Hannah.

‘Geez, you’re right,’ E.D. said, amazed.

‘They’re clones. They must be doing the DNA stuff here.’

‘This is gross!’ Gabby exclaimed.

For once, everyone agreed with her. The torch lit up bottles containing animal body parts standing on shelves, swimming lifelessly in chemicals.

‘It looks suspiciously like they’re doing things with DNA. Otherwise, why would this stuff be here?’

‘But if they’re doing important secret work,’ said E.D., reaching out to push the metal bar to open the door, ‘why haven’t they got better security?’

‘Don’t touch that!’ said Hannah.

Too late.

The laboratory lit up like the biggest Christmas tree ever decorated. A siren squealed like an airraid signal. ‘Out!’ Angus yelled. ‘Get going!’

They threw themselves up the stairs, E.D. knocking Gabby, who pushed hard at Hannah to try and keep her balance. Hannah fell.

‘Hannah!’ yelled Angus.

‘I’m alright!’ She scrambled up.

They could have been sprint champions at the speed they ran down the driveway. E.D. got to the ute just as a car drove up from the other end of the property. Angus saw two men jump out and unlock the front door. ‘Quick! While they’re inside.’

Without thinking, everyone climbed into the front seat of the ute, squashing E.D. into a corner.

‘Can’t see real well, guys,’ he said as he steered the car back up the fire track. The car lurched as he drove.

‘What?’ said Hannah loudly. ‘Gabby, would you get your bony elbows out of my stomach?’

‘Move over then.’ Gabby wriggled over, pushing Hannah into Ling.

‘Steady, guys. Don’t hurt the duco.’ E.D. grinned.

Somehow, they got back to Gabby’s without suffocating. E.D. let the girls out.

‘Boy, that was close,’ said Gabby. ‘I never thought I’d be so happy to see my house again. Coming, Angus?’

‘Actually, I think I’ll go to E.D.‘s,’ he said, looking at E.D. ‘It’s been a big night.’

‘Cool! Let’s go, then.’

Gabby stood with her hands on her hips as the boys drove away across the paddocks.

‘Hmph,’ she said.

‘Come on, Gab,’ said Hannah, taking her friend’s arm. ‘We don’t need them to have a good time.’

Ling took her cousin’s other arm. ‘We’ll go and get a midnight snack.’

Gabby looked one last time across the paddock where the ute was just a speck in the distance, and turned towards her house. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. ‘Those boys wouldn’t know a good time if it hit them on the head.’

Angus woke up, breathing hard. He’d been having a terrible nightmare. Something to do with King…trapped with hundreds, maybe thousands of other horses…being herded towards a barn…or was it a glue factory…he’d yelled for King to stop, to try and save him, but the noise was deafening…he’d yelled and yelled, but felt so helpless…

He shivered, reminding himself it was just a dream. Then he glanced at the clock. 8 am! His dad must have let him sleep in. He sat bolt upright as a scraping noise filled the room.

‘Angus! Wake up,’ a small voice called from outside his bedroom window.

Something scraped on the glass. Someone’s grubby
fingernails
scraped on the glass. Rubbing his
eyes, Angus scrambled out of bed and shuffled over to the window.

‘About time,’ Sean called, stepping back from the glass.

‘What?’ Angus hissed, lifting the window up.

‘It’s King,’ Sean said.

‘What about him?’

‘Well, I came over, you know, just to say hello to King and, um…’

‘Go on,’ Angus said more sharply, wishing Sean would get to the point.

‘Well, he’s not here.’

Suddenly Angus was wide awake.

‘He’s not in his stable,’ Sean said. ‘Or his paddock.’

‘Have you looked anywhere else?’

‘Well, I…’

Angus didn’t wait to hear his answer. Pulling on some clothes, he bolted for the back door, calling out ‘Dad’ a couple of times. He rushed outside and saw the truck was gone—his dad was probably out getting hay.

He knew straight away there was trouble. The gate to King’s paddock was gently swinging. Sean ran up behind him, out of breath. Angus grabbed his arm. ‘When did you get here?’

‘About ten minutes ago. Where’s King gone?’ Sean’s face turned pale at the panic in Angus’s voice.

‘Did you see anything? Was there anyone hanging around here?’

‘Um, no. I don’t think so. There was a horse float that—’

‘What? What colour? Where? When?’ Angus was shouting. Sean’s bottom lip quivered. Angus put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Sean, tell me everything, okay?’

As it turned out, there wasn’t much more for Angus to learn. A horse float was a horse float, according to Sean.

Angus rang the police. The policeman on duty at the station sounded bored, but promised he’d send a van around later in the afternoon—Sarge was tied up at the moment with a car accident on the other side of town.

‘Sean, go and get Hannah. Quick!’

Angus grabbed the phone from the kitchen bench and rang his father. No answer. Then he called E.D., who promised he’d be over in five minutes. Angus spent that time searching the paddock and gate area looking for clues. There were none. Just the open gate.

The smell of car oil made Angus turn around. E.D. had walked up behind him, wiping dirty hands on even dirtier overalls.

‘What’s up?’ E.D. asked.

‘King’s gone,’ Angus said. ‘They’ve got him.’

E.D. looked at his friend’s distraught face.

‘Hang on a minute. It might’ve been that dude—Jock, Jack, whatever his name is,’ E.D. said. ‘He’d be really annoyed that you beat him in that race. Especially in front of a crowd.’

Angus was quiet. He wasn’t convinced.

‘Let’s go pay him a visit.’ E.D. strode off. ‘Then we’ll know for sure.’

‘Do you know where he lives?’ Angus called. E.D. stopped, looking slightly sheepish. ‘Didn’t think so. I do—c’mon.’ Angus jogged back round to the front of the house, E.D. following close behind. ‘It’s down by the track. But let’s do this quickly.’

E.D. ran past him and jumped on his trail bike. ‘What’s keeping you, dude?’ he called, revving his bike.

‘Just go steady,’ Angus muttered as they sped off.

E.D. kept to the grassy areas beside the main road. Angus searched left and right as they went, scanning every paddock, road and track for a
runaway horse or a float, but saw nothing unusual.

‘Take a right and follow the track around,’ he shouted, pointing to a small gate tucked away between two enormous hedges. ‘Jack lives in that big white house with the other strappers.’ E.D. slowed and turned into the driveway. As soon as Angus saw Jack, he knew they were on the wrong trail.

‘Hey!’ Jack called, taking his feet off the verandah rail and standing up. He plonked a mug of something hot onto the wooden boards and walked down to the motorbike. ‘Listen, Angus, I have to admit you were great out there in the park. And sorry for acting like a bit of a jerk.’ Jack paused, looking from one kid to the other. ‘What’s up?’

‘King’s gone and we reckon you know where he is,’ E.D. said, taking a step towards Jack. Jack didn’t budge.

‘What do you mean, King’s gone?’

‘Do you want me to write it down for you, Jock Strap?’ E.D. was losing his patience. Quickly.

‘It’s Jack, not Jock.’

Angus put a hand up to stop E.D. ‘Thanks for your compliment, Jack. I was a bit lucky though, what with the storm and everything…’

‘So where’s King?’ E.D. interrupted.

Jack spun round and called back towards the house. ‘Benny, get Davo and come out here a sec, would you?’ He turned to Angus. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Don’t go pretending—’

‘Shut up!’ Angus and Jack said together. Angus added, ‘Look, E.D., I don’t reckon Jack had anything to do with King going missing, okay?’

‘All right, all right,’ E.D. conceded, ‘I just thought we should, you know, suss everyone out.’

‘No problem,’ said Jack, ‘I can see why you might have been suspicious.’

Angus explained the morning’s events. By the time he’d finished, the other strappers, Benny and Davo, had joined the group.

‘Back in the saddle, guys,’ Jack explained. ‘These guys would do the same for us. Well, maybe not the Mr Mechanic git here with the grease on his face.’ He grinned, looking at E.D. ‘We’ll check down at the track and around a couple of places I know. We’ll get him back, okay?’

‘Thanks, Jack,’ Angus said, feeling a little more optimistic. He watched the three strappers head quickly back into the house.

‘You wanna go to McCann’s now?’ E.D. asked.

‘No, not yet. Let’s go see if Sarge has turned up.’

E.D. took it easier on the return trip, taking more of the back roads.

Halfway home, Angus spotted a horse float parked outside a small house about 200 metres down Foggers Lane.

‘E.D!’ he shouted, pointing to the float.

‘You wanna check it out?’ E.D. slowed the motorbike and turned into the dirt road.

‘You know who lives down here?’ Angus asked.

‘No idea.’ E.D. kicked the bike’s stand down. ‘You recognise it?’

They stopped suddenly as an engine roared into life. The boys scrambled into a ditch as the float swung out onto the road.

‘Get your head down, idiot!’ hissed Angus, dragging E.D. further down into the long grass.

‘C’mon, Angus. We’ve got ourselves a chase,’ E.D. said, leaping out of the dampness and running back to the bike. Angus groaned. A cloud of dust was all that remained as the car and float disappeared further down Foggers Lane.

‘Hang on!’ E.D. called, as the bike spat into action. In a flash they had hurtled past the
house where the float had been parked. Angus had a vague impression of a couple of chooks and a barking dog as they sped by.

‘E.D.?’ Angus called, holding his friend’s shirt tightly.

‘We’re gaining!’ E.D. shouted, leaning a little lower in the seat, and gunning the bike for even more speed. ‘Pull your visor down.’ The bike careered into the storm of brown dust and grit being thrown out by the vehicles in front of them.

‘You want to jump on?’ E.D. called out to his friend as they pulled up alongside the float. But Angus knew there wasn’t a horse inside. They were wasting their time.

‘No!’ Angus shouted. ‘There’s nothing—’

Suddenly the float swung violently to the right. Its left wheel had thudded into a large pothole. E.D. braked, the float moving ahead.

‘Look out!’ Angus yelled, ducking instinctively as the nearer of the float’s rear doors came swinging towards them, bumped loose by the jolt.

Angus threw up an arm to protect himself. E.D. slammed his right foot down, making the bike skid and slide over the loose stones and gravel. The bike stopped a few metres short of
the float, close enough for both boys to see that it was completely empty. The car door in front of them opened.

‘Empty,’ E.D. grumbled.

‘I’ve been trying to tell you that for the last five minutes.’

E.D. didn’t appear to have heard him.

‘They’re getting out to shut the float door. Time to go,’ E.D. whispered, turning the bike around.

‘Let’s head to my place and see if the police have arrived,’ Angus said.

They screamed back to the house and were met by a pair of hopeful faces that quickly turned glum when they saw Angus and E.D. had no news.

‘Anything?’ Angus asked, tearing off his helmet. Hannah shook her head.

The phone rang. It took Angus a moment to realise that it was coming from inside the house. He raced in to answer it. The others followed.

‘It could be Jack!’ he said.

The others watched his face keenly.

‘Hello?’

It was the only word Angus spoke. After a few moments, his face going paler by the second, he hung up the phone.

‘Well?’ Hannah asked.

For almost a minute he said nothing.

‘Angus?’ This time, E.D. spoke.

Angus looked up as if hearing them for the first time.

‘“You were warned. Now you’re going to suffer,”’ Angus quoted, his face stark. He swallowed. ‘“Not as much as your precious horse”,’ he added.

Immediately his mind flashed back to the dream—the nightmare—that had started the day. Could it get any worse?