“Short cut,” announced Danny, and whipped the wheel to the left. A building filled the windshield and I screamed—

We shot through an open doorway and suddenly we were indoors, blasting through an abandoned warehouse, missing stacks of crates by inches. He spun the wheel again and the car seemed to float. I stared out of my window as the world rushed towards me. Oh my God, we’re going sideways…

We shot back out onto the street again. Danny effortlessly flicked us out of the skid and now we were right behind the dirt bike. I saw the rider look over his shoulder in disbelief and fear.

We stayed right on the bike’s tail as it roared out of town and up into the hills. It finally came to a stop at an abandoned sawmill halfway up a hillside. There were a bunch of other dirt bikes there, and a van with peeling brown paint. Ten or twelve people were standing around, most of them warming themselves by a bonfire. Music was playing on a wireless speaker and a bottle of vodka was being passed round. A woman sat cross-legged on a blanket, a phone in her hands and a credit card in the other. In front of her, more credit cards formed a gleaming, rainbow pile. As I watched, she tossed the card she was holding over her shoulder and picked up another at random, her fingers tapping the phone screen too fast to follow. Another guy had a whole bunch of phones in front of him, together with some laptops and a few cameras. He seemed to be taking photos of them.

It all fell into place: they were a gang. They traveled to a new area and set up camp, then pairs of them rode out on dirt bikes and stole bags, phones and laptops. Then they came back here, where the stolen credit cards would be maxed out before their owners could cancel them and the electronics could be photographed and auctioned online. Just as the local police realized they had a problem, the gang would move on to another town.

Ahead of us, the pair on the dirt bike jumped off and ran towards the group. As we got out, everyone at the bonfire turned to look at us. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

But Danny just straightened his tie, told me to wait here, and marched straight towards them. I’ve never seen someone so confident.