‘I should be able to manage that. But what are you going to do?’

‘You’ll see. Or rather you won’t. Shut your eyes.’

‘Why?!’ she hissed.

‘Just do it. And keep them shut. It’ll make sense in a minute.’

‘OK.’

We were crouched low on the verge behind the van, on scrubby wasteland. I fingered the dirt blindly in search of a decent-sized stone, thinking, You’ve got one shot. The floodlight was on a pole in the middle of the forecourt. Miss it and the stone, thrown from here, would slam into the front of the warehouse. A guard wouldn’t have to be a genius to work out where it had come from.

So don’t miss.

My hand closed over a solid chunk of something that felt like broken brick. It would do. I couldn’t risk stepping out from the cover of the van. Flinging a rock takes an explosive movement, which the guards might spot. Instead I moved carefully backwards until the security light rose above the top of the van. It looked alien, a one-eyed monster rearing up. I was a good ten metres further from the target back here, putting it at the very limit of my range. Was there a less risky solution to this problem? I couldn’t think of one, didn’t want to think of anything in fact, just took a deep breath and imagined myself in the yard at school, taking aim at the top chimney pot. The trick, at this distance, was to aim well above the target. I had hit that pot before, and I would put this monster’s eye out now, or else.

61.

I rocked on my heels, drew back my arm and uncoiled like a whip. Throwing well is all about timing, unleashing from the feet upwards through the core and back and shoulders, snapping the elbow just so, flicking the wrist. The brick-chunk flew. Too high, I thought at first: I’d never thrown anything with such force. The rock was airborne forever. It sailed above the cone of brightness cast by the security light, black against the night sky. I lost sight of it for an instant. Then there was a crash, as loud as if someone had smashed a wine bottle against a wall, and the light vanished. Night slammed in from all sides, a wave of darkness closing over all of us.

‘Nice!’ whispered Amelia, opening her eyes.