Free Sharp Shot by Jack Higgins Page B

the ground as she
could, and making as little noise as possible. With hindsight, maybe she’d
have done better to stay on board—the woman must have seen her getting
out and followed. Her best option now was to follow the carriages to the
way out of this smoky deathtrap.
    Suddenly, the ground that Jade was on moved. It was heaving itself
upwards—tilting and turning. She gasped out loud in fear and surprise as
she was rolled aside. The wooden lid of a coffin sprang up and fell to one
side. The pale form of a skeleton sat up. Its head turned and it stared
sightlessly at Jade. Then the jaw dropped open and it started to cackle
with unearthly laughter.
    Jade rolled quickly away, shaking with fear. “Just for
kids,” she muttered to herself over and over. Anotherdark
tombstone loomed out of the swirling mist. “It’s just for kids. It’s
not real. It’s not real.”
    â€œIt may not be real,” an American voice said. “But this is. And believe me, you’re in big trouble.”
    What Jade had taken for a tombstone was the woman. As Jade looked up,
she reached into her jacket. She was taking something out—not the gun,
something from her pocket. It looked like a leather wallet.
    Jade froze. The woman was staring down at her. There was nowhere to
go, nowhere to hide.
    Then a spade split through the misty air and slammed into the woman’s
back. She staggered forwards, her face a mask of surprise and pain. The
spade flashed again. It caught her only a glancing blow on the head, but
it was enough to send the woman crashing to the floor. McCain chucked the
spade down after her, and hauled Jade to her feet.
    â€œCome on,” he said. “Let’s get out of
here.”
    Together they ran after one of the carriages that was disappearing
into the side of a cobwebbed mausoleum.
    The rails dipped into a dark tunnel. There was a dim light at the end
of it. McCain and Jade ran towards the light. Another of the carriages
turned intothe tunnel behind them, picking up speed as it started
down the slope.
    â€œIt’s going to catch us!” said Jade.
    Ahead of them, the dim light suddenly flared and brightened. Then,
just as abruptly it faded again.
    Jade was racing down the slope now. She almost twisted her ankle as
it caught on one of the rails. She could hear the rumble of the carriage
close behind her. McCain was a silhouette sprinting ahead, but any moment,
the carriage would roll into both of them.
    Then finally, they emerged from the tunnel. McCain leaped to one
side, Jade dived to the other, and the carriage shot past them. It started
to slow immediately, the rails rising uphill again to take the carriages
through the next part of the haunted house tour.
    The mad scientist’s laboratory.
    It looked like the converted dungeons of a medieval castle. The
place was lit up brightly by another flash of lightning. A wooden
workbench was covered with glassware—test tubes and flasks, bubbling
liquids and a brain in a jar. Huge metal coils ran up into a vaulted stone
roof. Cables andpipes hung down. A large body lay on an operating
table—mercifully covered by an oil-stained sheet. Thankfully, there
was no sign their pursuer. McCain picked himself up and grinned at Jade as
she too got to her feet. But then she saw his grin fade
as he stared over her shoulder.
    Jade whirled round.
    A figure stepped
from the shadowy alcove behind
her and a tall man dressed in a dark suit reached out for Jade. He was
just inches away from her, and there was no way she could escape. His lips
parted in a horrible smile.

7
    Though he tried not to show it, Rich was impressed. An area of the car
park had been cordoned off, and a black helicopter stood in the middle of
it. The side door was open and the pilot sat there, his legs dangling over
the side. It was a big helicopter—bigger than the one McCain had driven
into, and large enough to carry half a dozen people easily.
    â€œCome