Wanted (Flick Carter Book 1) (31 page)

‘Thank you,’ said Jules quietly, then she shouted, ‘…for
Amelia
, will you. And a bowl of hot water and some soap!’

‘Thank you,’ Flick whispered.

Jules turned back to Flick. ‘Now why don’t you ride along with us for a while? It’ll give Hannah some company her own age, and I shouldn’t wonder if we don’t see those Kingsmen again before too long; we can hide you in the vardo, they won’t find you there.’

Flick sniffed and smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she said again.

‘That’s better,’ Jules said.

Hannah appeared with the steaming bowl of water and a large towel. ‘Come round the back of the van,’ she said. ‘It’s out of the way and we’ll soon get you cleaned up. I’m Hannah.’

‘Flick,’ said Flick, getting up, ‘er, no, Amelia! Your mum’s right, I’m not very good at this!’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Hannah, ‘we’ll remember what to call you.’
 

When Flick emerged a short while later, she was wearing a green and white gingham dress and fresh suede moccasins.

‘Well, look at you!’ exclaimed Jules, ‘I would hardly have recognised you!’

‘That’s the idea, mum!’ Hannah shot back.

‘Do you want some fresh bandages for your hands? I’m sure we’ve got some inside…’

Flick examined her hands, front and back. ‘No thanks. They’re still a bit sore, but they’re much better, so I’d rather be without. And anyway, they’re looking for someone with bandaged hands.’

Jules smiled and nodded. The older pair had struck camp while Hannah had been giving Flick her makeover, and they were now ready to go.

‘It’s best if you two stay in the back,’ Jules said, ‘in case we meet the Kingsmen again.’ The two girls nodded and disappeared into the vardo.

Inside, it turned out to be very cosy. At the back, a curtain stretched across the entire width. Hannah pulled it back to reveal a small double bed. ‘That’s where Mum and Dad sleep,’ she said, tying the curtain back against the wall. ‘The curtain isn’t usually shut, except at night, so we get the light in through the window.’

‘This is where I sleep,’ she said, indicating a plush red sofa that stretched along one side wall. ‘It pulls out so it’s quite comfy. We can share if you want, or you can sleep on the floor.’

‘The bed sounds lovely,’ said Flick. ‘Last night I slept up a tree for some of it, and hid under a bush for the rest, and before that I had a jail cell with just a stone floor, so anything else would be heaven.’

On the other side of the vardo there was a small stove, with a chimney that went up at a jaunty angle and out through the roof.

‘Everything else is cupboards and drawers,’ Hannah said. ‘If there was an empty space there’s a cupboard in it, or over it, or under it. There’s more cupboards outside too!’

Flick yawned. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘it’s been a tough few days, and now I’ve stopped running and hiding, and had something to eat I’m feeling sleepy all of a sudden. Would you mind if I lie down for a few minutes?’

‘Oh how thoughtless of me,’ Hannah said, ‘you must be exhausted. Why don’t you lie down on the sofa? I’ll go and sit out front for a bit.’

When Flick woke, it was still daylight and the vardo was not moving. She stretched and looked around her. Someone had covered her with a blanket; that was thoughtful. Flick wrinkled her nostrils and sniffed;
bacon
. She got up and opened the door, blinking in the daylight; the dull weather from earlier was gone and it was bright and sunny.

Jules was tending a pan over the small cooking fire when she looked up. ‘Hello Amelia, did you sleep well?’

Flick looked round to see who she was talking to, before it clicked. ‘Oh, right, yes thanks. How long was I asleep? Have we come far?’

‘We’re just outside Avebury,’ said Jules. ‘We’ve been here since we stopped last night. I’m just making breakfast.’

‘So how long was I asleep? I thought I was just having a quick nap!’

‘Sound asleep you were, all day yesterday and all night too. You must have been exhausted.’

‘I said she was, Mum, didn’t I say she was!’ Hanna had come around from the back of the wagon clutching an armful of hay, which she fed to the horse.

‘I’m sorry I took up your bed,’ Flick said.

‘You needed it more than I did,’ Hannah replied, ‘but I did have to sleep on the floor, and that sucked, so you’ll have to make it up to me, okay?’

‘Sure,’ said Flick. ‘Whatever you want.’

Hannah disappeared into the vardo.

‘Has there been any sight of the Kingsmen?’ Flick asked Chas cautiously. ‘Or anyone else?’

‘Not a sign,’ Chas replied. ‘We rather expected to see them overtake us again yesterday–if they figured out that you were at that fire, there’s not many ways that you could have gone–but there’s been no sign. Something in my gut makes me think they might be following us, but I’ve got nothing to back that up. Who else do you think might be after you?’

‘The thugs that killed my sister and dad are still after me. I think they might give up before the Kingsmen do, but the Kingsmen are like a dog with a bone. It won’t be so easy to shake them off.’

‘Well, worst comes to the worst, we can always use the reward money,’ said Chas into his tea.

‘Don’t torment the girl so,’ Jules scolded him. ‘We wouldn’t give you up for the reward, now would we!’

‘I didn’t know there was a reward…’

‘Thousand pounds,’ muttered Chas.

‘He said he’d give me to the Kingsmen for a thousand pounds,’ said Hannah indignantly. ‘His own daughter!’

‘And I said I wouldn’t let him,’ Jules replied.

‘No, Mum.
You
said you’d ask for
three
thousand and take
two
!’

‘Only in jest,’ she said, ‘only in jest. I’d hold out for three.’ She winked at Flick.

‘Can I have my pack back?’ Flick asked, changing the subject.

‘I think we’ll hold on to that, if it’s all the same to you,’ said Chas. ‘What are you gonna do with a bunch of knives and rocks and stuff anyway? Murder us all in our beds, I shouldn’t wonder.’

‘Now, Chas, the poor girl has already explained how that was a misunderstanding.’

‘Well, if she’s so innocent, why doesn’t she explain it to the Kingsmen? I’m sure they’d be very understanding.’

‘And you’d be a thousand pounds better off too, eh? Tell me, if they’d already tried to string you up for something you didn’t do, would you want to go back?’

‘Suppose not.’

‘So what are you going to do with it if we do give it back?’

‘It’s not what I want to do with it,’ said Flick, ‘it’s just… it’s just… well, it’s all that I’ve got left in the world, that’s all.’

Chas pulled out the bag from a locker under the vardo and tossed it to Flick. ‘There you go then. We’re taking a big risk trusting you with it, so I hope you remember that.’

Flick rummaged through the bag, checking its contents. ‘Where’s my hunting knife?’ she asked.

‘I’m keeping that,’ said Chas. ‘I don’t trust you
that
much; I’m not entirely stupid.’

‘Where did you get those?’ asked Hannah, looking at the arrows. ‘Can you shoot?’

‘I made these for Rosie,’ Flick said. She pulled the arrows out of her bag and handed one to Hannah.

‘What,
yourself
?’

She nodded. ‘I’m a good shot too, but I don’t have a bow; I lost mine on that ridge.’
 

Hannah handed the arrow back. ‘I know,’ she said, ‘there might be something in the back of the wagon.’ She led Flick into the vardo and pulled the mattress off the bed at the back. Underneath it, set in the boards was a large brass ring which lifted the board up when Hanna pulled on it. The two girls peered down into the depths.

‘This is behind those cupboards you can see at the front of the bed,’ Hannah said. ‘We keep all sorts of stuff down here, especially things we don’t want anyone to know about. Ah, this looks like it.’

She tugged at something, and out came a bow shaped piece of wood.

‘Got it off some bandits a few months ago. I think they got it off a hunter. It hasn’t got a string. Does that matter?’

Flick took the bow and flexed it in her hands. ‘It seems okay,’ she said. ‘I’ve got some strings in my pack, hopefully they’ll fit.’ She rummaged through her things and produced a coiled up length of sinew.

‘I hope it’s long enough,’ she said. ‘These were made for my bow, and they might not fit somebody else’s.’

But she tied each end of the string to the ends of the bow and then gave it a twang. ‘Perfect. We just need something to shoot at.’

‘There’s the hay bale off the back?’

‘That’ll do.’ Flick grinned. Finally she had something exciting to do.

They jumped down and went around to the back of the wagon, where they pulled a hay bale from the rack. As they pulled it out, something dropped to the ground. ‘What’s this?’ Flick asked, picking it up. It was a small black box, about two inches on a side, and maybe an inch thick. She turned it over, but there were no obvious markings.

‘Let’s have a look!’ Hannah said, and Flick tossed it across.
 

‘Dunno, never seen it before. Dad might know; let’s ask him at supper.’ She tossed the box back to Flick.

They were halfway through dragging the bale across the clearing when Jules looked up from the fire, where she was tending the cooking pot.

‘What are you two up to?’ she asked.

‘Target practice,’ Hannah replied, grinning. ‘Today: straw, tomorrow: wild boar!’

‘Well, just be careful,’ Jules said.

Once the bale was in position, they measured forty paces back towards the camp.

‘This is where we’ll shoot from,’ Flick said. ‘If we’re hunting, it’s about as close as we’re likely to get without scaring off the animal, unless we’re very lucky. Really we should have a proper target, but for now let’s just try and hit the bale.’

She took the bow, nocked up an arrow and loosed it at the hay bale. It struck with a thud.

‘There, you try,’ she said, handing Hannah the bow and showing her how to set the arrow against the bow and string, pull back, aim and release. The arrow flew off into the trees.

‘Don’t laugh!’ Hannah said.

‘I’m not laughing, really,’ Flick said. ‘Just remember where that arrow went though, because you’ll have to fetch it later–they don’t grow on trees you know. Now, try again.’

‘Aren’t they made of wood?’ Hannah started to say, but Flick thrust another arrow at her. She nocked it up and aimed at the bale. This one only just missed. The next one hit.

‘Well done!’ Flick exclaimed. ‘Now do it again!’

They’d been at it for a good half an hour, firing the arrows then running into the trees to recover them, before Jules called out breakfast. Flick and Hannah returned to find four plates set on a low portable table. Jules was dishing out the contents of a pan.

‘Come on,’ said Hannah, ‘we’ve got eggs, so it’s a real treat!’

They all sat down and tucked in to their breakfast, and Flick devoured hers without saying a single word.

‘Mmm, that was the best food I’ve eaten in weeks!’ she pronounced as she finally put down her fork.

‘You certainly look like you enjoyed it,’ said Jules, ‘and the colour’s back in your cheeks. The food and the sleep must have done you good!’

When they’d finished, Hannah seemed to remember something, and turned to Flick, ‘Why don’t you show Dad that thing you found?’

‘What’s that?’ Chas asked.

‘When we were pulling the bale off the back of the wagon for target practice, this fell out of the hay. Any idea what it is?’ She handed him the box.

Chas looked at the box, turning it over in his hand. He frowned.

‘Where did you say you got it?’ he asked.

‘It fell out when we pulled the hay bale from the rack on the back of the vardo,’ said Flick. ‘I think it might have been in the hay, maybe?’

‘You sure about that?’ Chas asked suspiciously.

‘Yes, Daddy,’ Hannah chipped in, ‘I was there, I saw it. Stop being so suspicious!’

At once his demeanour changed. ‘Shit! Kingsmen! Pack everything quickly, we need to go. Now.’
 

Everyone just sat there and looked at him, jaws dropping.

‘NOW people!’ he yelled, jumping to his feet. ‘Do I have to say it three times?’

He dropped the box onto the ground and stomped on it. The ground though was quite soft and it didn’t break, so he threw it into the fire. Everyone else scrambled and started collecting things and taking them back to the vardo.

‘Leave the fire,’ Chas called. ‘I want to make sure that thing burns. Now come on, let’s get out of here.’

‘MA’AM, A TRACKER’S gone dead!’
 

Adam looked up to see Mo Fletcher hunched over something at the front of the truck. They had spent the night parked among trees at the side of the road after a fruitless day searching. Dixon poked her head through from the cab and asked what had happened.

‘We had a strong signal, ma’am, just as usual, and then it just stopped.’

‘Do we know which one?’ Dixon asked.

‘Four-six-one-eight, ma’am,’ said Mo. She looked down a hand written list, ‘that’s the red and yellow wagon.’

‘Could it be the batteries, do you suppose?’

‘I don’t think so, ma’am. If the batteries go, there’s usually a bit of warning, but there was nothing: I had signal then it was gone.’

‘Damn, they’ve found it!’ she exclaimed, ‘How far away are they? Do we have their position?’

Mo pointed to a position on the map. ‘About half an hour, ma’am.’
 

Dixon leaned back into the cab. ‘Morgan, what’s our status?’

Brian Morgan leaned in through the open front window. His face was smeared with oil and he was wiping his hands with a dirty rag.

‘Tanks are full and everything else is all checked out, ma’am’

‘Power us up, Morgan,’ Dixon ordered. ‘We’ll be moving out just as soon as we break camp. Sorry everyone, breakfast’s cancelled.’

There were groans all round, but everyone set to, and fifteen minutes later the truck was back on the road.

‘So what’s this tracker then?’ Adam asked.

‘You forgotten everything they taught you in training already?’ sneered Bill Young.