Sharp Shot

“What if there’s no way out?” said Jade.

“Let’s hope there is.”

“Good 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.

“Don’t think much of the farmer’s security,” McCain shouted above the sound of the tractor echoing round the barn.

“He’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.

“Out—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, Rich grabbed a brick from a pile holding the barn doors open.

“This 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.

“They’ll soon find it’s empty,” said Jade.

“But 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.”

“But they’ll come looking,” said Rich. “We need a really good hiding place, and we need it fast.”

The farmhouse would have been the most comfortable, 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 cautious. “Not the house. Unless you want to wake up with someone’s gun to your head.”

There was a small hayloft above the barn. Rich was lucky to find the ladder up to it in the dark. The only light was from his mobile phone, and the battery wouldn’t last much longer. He needed to preserve it till he could get a signal and call for help. They climbed up the rickety wooden ladder, pulling it up behind them.

It didn’t seem that the hayloft was used any more. But there was enough straw and old sacking to gather together into three makeshift mattresses. They positioned themselves so they had a good view down over the farm machinery below. The rain was hammering on the bare tiles just above them. Water trickled in where the roof needed mending.

“What if they come back?” said Jade.

“Stay hidden,” said McCain. “There’s no way they can know where we are. When it’s light, and we can see what we’re doing, we’ll make a break for it. Maybe flag down a car in the lane outside. But I don’t fancy trying to find civilisation in this.” His words were punctuated by another flash of lightning.

“The farmhouse is being renovated,” said Rich. “There must be builders, workmen, someone to look after those chickens if nothing else.”

“And if they come back and do find us?” Jade insisted.

Rich pointed to the combine harvester below. “We’ll use that. It’s a step up from a tractor, and we can give them a damned good threshing!”

Jade stifled a smile. “Let’s hope they don’t come back then, if bad jokes are all we’ve got going for us.”

“We should get some sleep,” said McCain. “I’ve a feeling it’s going to be a busy and tiring day tomorrow.”

Despite the situation, Rich managed to doze. He woke with straw poking painfully into his ear, and the first light of day creeping through the holes in the roof where the water had come through during the night. The rain had stopped and the morning was bright and clear.

Rich’s phone still had no signal, but there was enough light to get a decent picture with the camera. So he pulled out the photograph of Dad, Dex Halford, Ferdy McCain and the other soldier, and smoothed it out. The rain hadn’t been kind to it, and the edges were ragged. But he managed to get a decent photo of the snapshot on his phone camera.

Then he wrote a quick text message to Dex Halford and sent it together with the photo: “jade & me with mccain big trouble help!” Of course, it didn’t get sent as there was no signal. But as soon as there was, he knew it would go. Not that it would do much good if he couldn’t talk to Halford, but with luck Halford would call him back and the call would get through. Although Rich had no idea where they were, so asking for help might not be so useful…

McCain was already awake, sitting behind a bale of hay looking out down into the barn. As Rich joined him, he put his finger to his lips and pointed down into the barn. Rich could see the silhouette of a man against the open doors, the low morning sunlight streaming past him.

“Farmer?” Rich whispered.

McCain shook his head. The figure moved slightly, looking round the barn, and Rich could see now that he was holding a handgun.

“Perhaps he’s out shooting rabbits,” Jade’s voice whispered in Rich’s ear. She took shelter behind the hay bale with Rich and McCain, and together they watched the man making his way slowly through the maze of farm machinery.

He moved with practised ease, gun at the ready. His movements were slow and measured, with sudden bursts of speed as he checked each and every possible hiding place methodically and with professional care.

At one point, as he stepped back from inspecting the combine harvester, the man glanced up. Rich was pretty sure they were hidden in the shadows, but even so he drew back. Beside him Jade mirrored his movement. But McCain stayed exactly where he was, as if daring the man to see him.

The man was wearing an expensive-looking dark suit with a white shirt and modest tie. His hair was black, slicked back and oiled. His face was pale brown, and weathered like old stone. One of his eyebrows ended abruptly above the eye, continuing as a pale scar that curled down his left cheek.

For several moments he stared up at the hay loft. Rich was sure he could see McCain, but abruptly the man turned away and continued his search of the barn below.

After what seemed an age, the man left the barn. Rich could hear voices outside, then the distant sound of a car.

“Think we’re OK?” asked Jade.

“Think we had a lucky escape,” Rich told her. “But we should get out of here.”

“Agreed,” said McCain. “And despite what Rich thinks, I don’t fancy making a break for it on a combine harvester, so let’s see what the alternatives are.”

There was a garage behind the farmhouse. Rich thought it would probably be filled with more farm machinery, but instead there as a dirty green Range Rover. They all climbed inside. Rich and Jade got in the back, leaving McCain alone in the front.

“You still haven’t told us who these people are and what they want,” said Jade to McCain as he got the engine started. She was leaning forward, over the back of the passenger seat.

“Not much to tell,” he admitted. “They’re not nice people, as you’ve probably gathered. And they want money. Simple as that.”

“What did you do to upset them?” Rich wondered.

“They paid me to do a job. I was unable to complete it, through no fault of my own. They want their money back.”

He put the Range Rover into gear and reversed it out of the garage on to the courtyard.

“Maybe you should just pay them their money,” said Jade as they started down the track to the lane.

“Maybe I should. But I’ve spent it. They’re not very happy about that.”

“We could tell,” said Rich. “So why come to Dad?”

“He’s a useful guy when you’re in a tight spot. And he has connections that might help. I was hoping he could bargain for me, get me more time.”