Free Faster Than Lightning by Pam Harvey Page B

Angus around without a stumble. In seconds, they were past the finishing line. Angus let the reins go and stood in his stirrups, arms outstretched. The crowd cheered. Thunder crashed. There was no sign of Jack.
    It took a while for everything to calm down. Strappers and trainers and racing officials patted Angus on the knee and King on the neck, and then they quickly left, eager to be out of the rain. Eventually, Jack came back, his horse still crazy. He had his hands full trying to calm his horse, but he looked at Angus and smiled ruefully before dismounting, taking the horse into his truck and leaving with his trainer. Then it was just Angus and King left in the wet. And Hannah.
    ‘You still here,’ Angus said.
    ‘I’m waiting to tell you something.’ Hannah was drenched. Angus could see she was shivering.
    ‘Well, I’ve got to get King home and dry. Come on.’ He moved back in the saddle.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Get on.’
    Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but Angus had reached down and was pulling her up. She scrambled up the horse’s side and sat nervously in the saddle in front of Angus. ‘This is ridiculous.’
    ‘Not as stupid as catching pneumonia.’ Angus walked King on. The horse stepped quickly, eager to be home. ‘Now, what do you have to tell me?’
    ‘The results came back. The sample was negative. That horse isn’t a clone.’
    ‘Geez, that was quick.’ Angus looked at the back of Hannah’s head. He had a feeling she had more to say.
    She did. ‘And do you know what that woman said? She told me to “stick to boys, not science”.’
    If Angus hadn’t been trying to steer a horse, he would’ve laughed. He felt Hannah stiffen in front of him, so he bit his lip. ‘What would she know?’ he said finally as they made it to his place. He slid off King and waited for Hannah to do the same. ‘She’s only a geneticist.’
    Hannah half fell off the chestnut horse. When her feet hit the ground, she stood up tall and looked at Angus. ‘You’re right. What would she know?’

Chapter 12
Tamworth Street, Teasdale: Saturday morning
    The sun came out bright and strong the next day and Hannah woke up all the more determined to investigate the farm. What was happening there just didn’t make sense. Why would a horse stud have a laboratory?
    ‘Hannah, I’m just going into town.’ Her mum opened the bedroom door a bit and peeped in.
    ‘Okay.’ Hannah sat up. ‘I’m going over to Angus’s. I said I’d meet him at 10 o’clock.’
    ‘Can you take Sean for me? He’ll only get bored down the street.’
    ‘No worries.’
    Sean was in his room, making aeroplanes out of Lego. Hannah was half tempted to leave him there—he probably wouldn’t even know he was by himself. Then she remembered what she’d saidto her mother. ‘Sean,’ she said loudly into his room, making him jump. ‘We’re going to Angus’s.’
    ‘All right!’ Sean scrambled to his feet. ‘Will E.D. be there?’
    ‘I don’t know. Should he be there?’
    Sean shrugged. ‘I hope he is.’ He ran out of the room and out the front door.
    Hannah followed him, running to catch up. Motorcycles and horses: a little kid’s dream, she thought. I’m not that rapt in either.
    Angus was in one of the yards with King when Hannah and Sean arrived. He was grooming the horse carefully, checking him over for any sign of problems from the race the day before. ‘He’s fine,’ he blurted out to Hannah. ‘I’ll just let him have the day off.’
    She raised her eyebrows and Angus realised she didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘King is fine.’
    ‘Great,’ said Hannah. She reached out slowly with one hand to touch the chestnut horse’s nose. ‘Angus, tell me more about the laboratory.’
    ‘You aren’t going to let this go, are you? You don’t think we should lay low for a while?’
    Hannah shrugged. ‘Why should we? Just because of one little letter? We know something’s going on. Tell me what was in the