Untouchable (15 page)

‘Used to?’ said Alex, as he pulled the door shut. Suddenly the handle was wrenched out of his hand. The door slammed and there was a click as it was locked – from the outside.

Paulo ran to the window. He saw a moving figure, then flames flying through the air. A Molotov cocktail.

Alex launched himself at Paulo and the man and pushed them away from the window. There was a smash and glass showered down around them. A gout of flame shot up to the ceiling. The heat was fierce, like a flamethrower, and flaming liquid was spreading towards Alex’s hands on the ground. He rolled away. The fumes caught in his throat: petrol.

Paulo pulled the walker to his feet. At the other end of the room the petrol river touched the wooden benches. Flames began to climb them, sizzling and spitting. They had to get out quickly. Once the benches went up the heat would be unbearable. But the window was cut off by a river of flame. The only way out was the door.

Paulo and Alex had the same thought. Together they launched themselves at it, putting all their weight against it, but it didn’t budge.

The man started coughing, his eyes wide with panic. Alex took Paulo’s arm and gestured towards the hiker, then fell to his knees in front of the door. Paulo stripped his black jumper off and wrenched the lid off his water bottle with his teeth. He tipped the contents over the sleeves and put one to the man’s mouth. ‘Breathe,’ he yelled. He took the other sleeve himself.

Alex was trying to get the lock-picking probes out of his pocket but his body was racked by spasms of coughing.

‘Hurry, Alex!’ screamed Paulo.

‘Help!’ screamed the man. His cry ended in coughing.

Alex had the probe in the lock. His hands were shaking, and when he wasn’t shaking, he was coughing. He couldn’t feel the tumblers moving. Sweat was pouring off him and the probe was slipping in his fingers. It was becoming hot. Alex was coughing so hard he couldn’t see; couldn’t feel anything inside the lock; couldn’t hear the tumblers.

Concentrate, he told himself. This is the only way out. Focus.

Paulo held onto the man and stared at Alex’s shaking back. How could he hope to pick the lock in these conditions? It had been hard enough coming in. They were trapped. The walls of the bothy were solid and the windows were cut off by a wall of crackling flame.

There was a roar from the other end of the room. The heat increased. One of the benches had gone up in flames. Then the door swung open.

Alex fell outside, coughing. Paulo pulled the hiker out of the bothy.

It was almost as hot outside. The heather was burning and the air was thick with smoke. Had they escaped the fire inside only to burn outside?

Alex grabbed the man’s arm. He fixed him and Paulo with a purposeful look. ‘Run, as fast as you can, after me.’

He turned and took off through the burning heather. If he kept moving swiftly he might avoid being caught. The heather spat and crackled around him and he felt its heat. He had to keep running. Ahead was a clear area, where the heather had already been burned and the fire had died down. The flames couldn’t reach him here. He bent over, dragging air into his ravaged lungs. He was safe. Where were the others?

Paulo was running hard. The man was behind him, his binoculars swinging, his red jacket flying out behind him. He was keeping up – surprising considering he was well into his fifties. But that was what panic did to you.

Paulo realized Alex had stopped. He fell to his knees and for a few moments just stayed there, breathing, thankful that he was alive. Behind him the hiker dropped to the ground and rolled to and fro on his back. Paulo started towards him, but the man was soon sitting up, brushing at a burned hole in his jacket and coughing. He’d been on fire but he’d managed to put it out.

‘Nice one,’ coughed Paulo.

Alex was looking carefully at the man. Inhaling smoke and fumes could be almost as dangerous as burn injuries. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked.

The hiker nodded. ‘Just catching my breath.’ He coughed again, but his face was pink and his lips were a healthy colour – not the bluish pallor of someone poisoned by smoke.

Behind, through the smoke and the crackling heather, they saw orange flames leaping out of the window and open door of the bothy and licking through one of the roof trusses. Alex swallowed, realizing they had got out just in time.

‘Is everyone all right?’ said Paulo.

Alex nodded, and coughed; the hiker was coughing again too.

‘Should we try to contain the fire?’ asked Paulo.

The flames near them were dying, leaving twisted clumps of black heather.

‘I think it’ll sort itself out,’ said Alex. ‘It’s a natural process.’

‘That Molotov cocktail wasn’t a natural process,’ said the hiker. ‘That was arson. We’d better report it to the police. I never thought you’d get vandalism out here.’

Alex got out his mobile. He was surprised to see it wasn’t damaged. But there was no signal here. He looked again at the bothy.

Beside him Paulo sighed. His breath wheezed slightly.

All the evidence was going up in smoke.

Hex walked slowly through the wiry grass of the moor, looking at his palmtop screen. He took a final pace and stopped. ‘It’s here somewhere.’

Amber took something out of her rucksack and unfolded it. It was a pole with a disc on one end: a metal detector. Paulo had found it in the loft at the hostel. It hadn’t been working, but he had dismantled it and found a loose connection. Then he asked Li if he could borrow her opal ring. He tossed it away onto the gravel drive, then gleefully found it with the machine. Li was only mildly grateful.

Li looked at the open moor. She remembered very well the faint outline of light around her hands and knees but she couldn’t see any sign of the trapdoor now. ‘I can’t see it,’ she sighed. ‘Try the gizmo.’

Amber switched the metal detector on. It made a low humming noise and a red LED winked. As she walked towards Hex it started to bleep. ‘There’s metal here,’ she said. She swung it away; it still bleeped. ‘It seems to think there’s metal everywhere.’

Hex frowned. ‘Maybe there is. Try it over there.’

Amber took it to where the ground sloped away. The beeping stopped.

‘OK, I’ve got to the edge.’ Amber began to walk in a straight line away from the other two. The bleeping started again. ‘There’s something buried here,’ she said. ‘Something big.’ The bleeping stopped, then started again at a right angle to the first line.

In the distance, just over one of the hills, a plume of black smoke was rising. ‘Funny,’ said Li, ‘they’re out burning the heather early today.’

Hex followed her gaze. ‘I didn’t think heather made as much smoke as that.’ He looked at Amber.

Li giggled.

Amber came back brandishing the metal detector like a weapon. ‘There’s something big and metal under here. I’d say it’s about twenty metres by ten.’ She switched off the machine and folded it up again.

‘And it’s metal?’ said Li. ‘Why would it be metal?’

‘Shh – what’s that?’ said Hex.

It was the sound of an engine.

‘I’m no expert,’ said Amber, ‘but that sounds like a quad bike.’

‘The gamekeepers,’ said Hex. ‘We’d better get out of here.’

The six-wheel ATV crested the hill. A figure stood upright behind the driver. His posture was unmistakable – head to one side, looking along a barrel. A shot rang out.

Li felt the ground explode by her heel. She did the only thing she could – run.

Hex and Amber took off in zigzagging lines behind her. If they gave the shooter several targets, it might slow him up. Amber rolled into a gulley. She heard shouts and a rifle bolt being pulled back. She started to pull herself along in the water in case they’d seen her go in. Hex followed her down, then Li quickly tumbled in after him. They were all like soldiers in a trench.

The stream bed made a narrow channel like a miniature canyon. Hex began to pull himself along on his elbows. The others followed, crawling as fast as possible. They might as well move while they could.

They heard the ATV’s engine rev. Good, that would cover any sound they made. Hex got up on hands and knees and stepped up the pace. Amber and Li were right behind him.

Suddenly he stopped as he saw the end of the stream bed. ‘It’s a dead end,’ he hissed. ‘They know we’re in here. We need to get out.’

Li cautiously peered out and nearly had heart failure. Right by her nose was a pair of sturdy walking boots and argyle socks. The gamekeepers weren’t both on the ATV any more. The one with the gun was right here.

Too late to retreat. Li took her courage in her hands. She exploded out of the gulley and knocked the gamekeeper over. His gun went off and she twisted it out of his hands and threw it away like a javelin. He grabbed at her leg but she gave him a vicious kick on the chin.

The others darted out of the trench. The gamekeeper on the ATV gave chase. Amber saw a steep slope and headed down it. Hex hared after her and Li followed close behind.

Another shot whistled past Hex’s ear. He caught a glimpse of a man at the top of the slope, ready to fire. The gamekeeper must have retrieved his gun. The ATV droned behind him. Maybe the man wouldn’t fire with the ATV in the way. But now the vehicle was their main problem, not the gun.

Amber was in front. Hex moved away from Li. If they stayed together they presented an easy target. With several of them moving in different directions, it was more confusing.

The slope was getting steeper. Li needed all her balance not to fall over. Suddenly she heard the whine of the engine and the bounce of the axles right behind her. The ATV had given up on Hex and Amber and was now after her. She felt its wheels pushing the long grass onto her calves and leaped to the side. She was too vulnerable on her own.

The slope fell away even more steeply. Li ran back towards Hex and Amber, using her hand to keep herself upright. The ATV had slowed, but so had they. And what was Amber doing?

Amber veered back up the hill, climbing on all fours. The ATV swerved and the wheels on one side left the ground. As Amber watched it, she could see that the driver’s pockmarked face was pure panic. Abandon ship, she thought. Just step off. If you stay on, it will fall over and crush you.

But the ATV bounced back onto six wheels. Damn, thought Amber. Then the driver stopped and took out a weapon. A sawn-off shotgun.

Hex ran in from the side and elbowed him roughly off the vehicle; the shotgun spun through the air. While Li leaped onto the flat bed at the back, Hex pressed the throttle switch and turned the handlebars so they were pointing straight downhill. Li hooked her arms under Amber’s shoulders and hauled her on.

‘Go go go, Hex!’ shrieked Amber.

A shot rang over their heads but Hex opened the throttle to full. If they went in a straight line they could go at the vehicle’s top speed. He lay back on the seat, his feet on the foot rests, trying to keep his balance. Behind him Li’s and Amber’s heads bumped against his. But they were getting away.

However, the slope wasn’t smooth and Hex wrestled to keep the handlebars pointing straight downhill. The wheels clattered loudly on the chassis; if they started to go at the slightest angle, the machine would tip over for sure. He didn’t know how Li and Amber were staying on but he prayed they wouldn’t let go.

The girls were spread-eagled on the flat bed, hands and feet hooked onto whatever they could get hold of. Amber had an excellent view of the fat tyres, spinning crazily. Li was clinging to her. She was terrified she would slip and knock Hex off. The ground went past in a bouncing, rib-battering blur.

A shot rang out. They weren’t out of danger yet. Hex kept his thumb on the throttle. The speedometer was climbing steadily. Now it said 66 kph. Some small compartment of Hex’s brain that loved numbers gave a little smile: that was about 10 kph above the vehicle’s top speed. With this slope they must be breaking records.

Suddenly Hex realized he couldn’t see the ground ahead. There just seemed to be a kind of shelf, and then some more grass a little further away. They were heading for a sheer drop.

Hex squeezed the brake. It made little difference. After all, they were doing record-breaking speed. The edge came up fast. There was nothing he could do. ‘Hold tight!’ he yelled.

He stood up in the foot rests like a jockey and hoped for the best.

Li and Amber found they were looking down on water. For a moment they seemed to hang there, like a gliding bird.

The impact was like hitting a wall. A great wave of freezing water engulfed them. Hex felt himself going over the handlebars. He clung on and his arms nearly came out of their sockets. There were muffled cries from behind.

Underneath him, the bike slowed and bounced. The tidal wave settled and Hex found himself standing on his foot rests, up to his waist in the icy water of a river, with the engine still running.

He looked behind him. Amber was pulling Li back onto the flat bed. Li’s cheek was bleeding.

‘Nice one, Hex,’ said Li, breathing hard.

Amber was panting. ‘What now?’

Hex looked up at the mountain. They had left wavy tracks like a double pinstripe down the hill, but there was no sign of the gamekeepers. He slowed to a stop and cut the engine. ‘We’ve lost them. Maybe we should leave the bike here and continue on foot.’

He tried to get off, but his legs had turned to jelly after the effort of holding his position on the bike. Amber started to let go of the flat bed, but her fingers wouldn’t obey. She had to uncurl them slowly. Li let out a long, slow breath and tumbled off the ATV.

They splashed through the water onto the river bank.

As soon as they climbed out onto dry land Hex was checking the GPS.

‘Where are we?’ asked Amber.