before the wild goat race was announced as the next event.
âShoulda brought your coloured hairspray,â said Luke, and Jess punched him on the shoulder.
They left the main arena and mingled with the crowds. There were trade booths filled with sumptuous leather horse gear and country clothing. Agricultural advisors had information tables, and produce companies spruiked their products. The friends strolled between rides and showâbag stalls until they came to a line of bunting flags fencing them off from the trucks and the animals. Men in black T-shirts stood, arms folded, at intervals along the barrier.
Shara scanned the surrounds. âHow are we going to get out the back?â
âLetâs come in from that park behind,â said Luke. âMaybe we can find a section that theyâve left unguarded.â
They slipped out of the arena perimeters and through some empty pavilions. The showgrounds were immense and the roping finals only filled a small corner of them. As they left the brightly lit commotion behind, trucks and vans formed strange shapes in the darkness, with the occasional human silhouette moving between them. It became quiet and creepy.
âYou guys stay here while I try to find somewhere to get in,â said Luke, staring up at the two-metre cyclone wire fence that stood between them and the competitorsâ area.
âHow about we check up this way?â Shara pointed in the opposite direction.
âOkay, meet you back here in ten minutes.â Luke slipped through some shrubs and darted off towards the back of the arena.
Jess and Shara continued along the fence in the direction of a block of stables.
âLook through there!â said Jess, stopping outside the huge open doorway. âThereâs nothing to stop us walking straight through and out into the competitorsâ area.â
Shara stared in at the horses tied in the aisle and the riders sitting on buckets cleaning bridles. Jess was right; there was no barrier at all. She looked down at her red skirt and wished sheâd worn her old riding jeans. âIâm not exactly dressed like a competitor. Iâll stand out like stallionsâ balls.â
âWonât matter if weâre quick.â
âShould we go and get Luke?â
Jess looked at her watch. âHe wonât be back yet. Letâs just have a quick squiz before we meet up with him.â
They walked directly through the stable block, heads high, as if they owned the place. No one seemed to take much notice of them â they just carried on with brushing and watering and feeding horses.
âNow where?â said Shara as they exited the rear of the building.
âThis way,â said Jess.
Shara followed her across a small exercise arena and continued through dimly lit rows of vehicles, listening to the muffled voices and clinking of cutlery and plates from inside the caravans.
âLetâs keep it low-key,â Jess breathed. âIf we get busted out here without a pass, weâll get kicked out and then weâll never get the hair sample.â
âIs that the Connemansâ truck?â Shara pointed to the outer rim of the car park, where the top of a semitrailer with livestock crates on the back loomed above the smaller trucks.
âSure looks like it,â said Jess. âLetâs go!â
âOh, God,â groaned Shara, uncertainty hitting her like a wave of cement. âI really donât know if we should be doing this.â
âBit late now,â said Jess, and before Shara could voice any more doubts, she was being led through a dark labyrinth of trailers.
âShara?â
Shara froze. That was Coreyâs voice! He walked towards them in his big black hat and a burgundy red shirt with a roping saddle and a tangle of leather straps in his arms.
âHi!â Shara plastered on a huge, nervous smile. âWhat are you doing here?â
He gave her a shrewd look.