“Not with that, you won’t. It’s for a grown man, not a pipsqueak like you. You need a skinky like mine. I looked, there ain’t nothing else here of use to a desperado. That great chopper will only slow you down.”

Sam tried to lift it, but the Kid was right. He’d barely be able to swing it in a fight. He dropped it to the floor with a clatter.

And then he saw something else. Lying in a box of skewers.

His butterfly pin.

He snatched it up. He felt strong again.

“I’ve got my own skinky now,” he said. “Let’s go.”

“Please,” said Rhiannon. “I need to rest. I can’t go on.”

“In here?” said the Kid. “You gotta be pulling my plonker. Up and at ’em, Tiger Lil.”

The Kid took them to the door, opened it, and dropped down to the tracks. Rhiannon sighed and grumbled, but she followed him while Sam brought up the rear, his heart racing.

“Why do we need to go back to the platform?” he said.

“We can’t go no farther this way,” said the Kid. “Tunnel’s blocked. All we got to do is go back under-the-neath of the train, to the join between the cars. There’s space to get out there.”

“I know,” said Sam. “I’ve done it before.”

“Then let’s do it.” The Kid gripped Rhiannon by the shoulders. “Do you feel up to some Olympic sneaking, my girl?”

Rhiannon swallowed. She was breathing heavily and could barely nod her head.

They scrambled along in the gulley underneath the train. The Kid didn’t dare use the lighter anymore, so they had to feel their way, just as Sam had done when he’d first escaped from the grown-ups in Camden Town.

How long ago was that?

He had no idea.

It didn’t take them long to get to the gap, and Sam peered out.

The nightlights still bathed the area with a yellow glow.

He looked along the platform to the right. It wasn’t far to the way out at the end. The length of one car. But they would be exposed all the way and would have to climb over the bed frame that was blocking the exit.

“This is the hard part,” whispered the Kid, poking his head out next to Sam’s. “Open ground. There’s no way around it.”

The boys ducked back under the train.

“We got to dash across there like froggers,” the Kid told Rhiannon. “If we make it unseen, we’re home free. We’ll slimper up topside and be gone. If they spot us, it’s a different story, morning glory. Curtains I reckon, and blinds and shutters as well, maybe, probably carpets too. What do you say, girl?”

“Her name’s Rhiannon,” said Sam. “I’m called Sam.”