Sharp Shot by Jack Higgins

do
that?”
    â€œIt looks great. Why do we have to go on this duck
thing?” Rich asked.
    â€œBecause it’s free with the ticket,” McCain told him.
“Like the main rides, you get one go each on Hook-a-Duck. And it
gives me a chance to check we’re not being followed.”
    â€œWe should find a phone,” said Rich. “Call Halford
again and tell him where we are.”
    â€œOnce we’re sure it’s safe,” said McCain. He turned
away, scanning the people arriving through the turnstile gates behind
them.
    â€œDon’t know about you,” said Jade quietly to Rich,
“but I usually want to call for help when it isn’t safe.”
    â€œHe knows what he’s doing,” said Rich. “I guess.
Dex Halford seems to think he’s OK, so we should stick with him and do
what he says.”
    â€œI suppose,” Jade agreed, but she wasn’t convinced.
    A broad-shouldered man nudged Rich on the shoulder, startling him.
Jade almost laughed at her brother’s expression. Then the man handed him a
fishing rod.
    â€œYour turn, sonny,” he said.
    McCain was still watching the people coming through the gates when
they’d hooked their ducks. If your duck had a cross painted underneath,
you won a prize.
    â€œI won a beetle,” Rich announced proudly.
    â€œI didn’t,” said Jade.
    â€œHere, look.” Rich’s beetle was only a couple of inches
long and made of thin metal. It was just a painted hollow shape, but there
was another strip of metal welded underneath it. Rich pushed the strip of
metal with his thumb and it clicked in and then sprang out again with a
distinctive ‘click-clack’ noise. He did it again.
    â€œOK, we get the idea,” Jade told him as he kept doing
it. “Well done—you fished a plastic duck out of a paddling
pool.”
    â€œIt takes skill,” Rich told her. “You’re just
jealous.”
    â€œCourse I am. I’ve always wanted a toy beetle.” Jade
smiled. “Used to want to swap my brother for one.”
    â€œHey!”
    â€œChildren,” McCain chided. “Come on, let’s get
further from the gates, I’m not convinced we lost our friends back
there.”
    â€œNeither am I,” said Rich. He pointed at the turnstiles,
where two men in dark suits wearing sunglasses were pushing through a
group of children on a school trip.
    â€œThat way too,” Jade realised. There were two more
suited men in sunglasses approaching along a narrow path from the
direction of one of the big rides.
    â€œTime we were going,” said McCain.
    He pushed into the deepest part of the queue for Lightning
Strike , Rich and Jade following close behind.
    â€œStick together,” McCain called over his shoulder.
“But if we get separated we meet back at Hook-a-Duck in one hour,
right?”
    â€œRight,” Jade called back.
    Rich didn’t answer. And when Jade turned to look for him, she found
he was nowhere in sight. “Typical,” she muttered.
    Before she could waste any more time looking, McCain grabbed her
wrist and pulled her after him. “He’ll find us,” he said.
    â€œHe’d better.”
    A familiar-looking dark-haired woman in a plain trouser suit and
wearing sunglasses was standing to the side of the queue. For a moment,
her shaded eyes seemed to fix on Jade.
    Rich was right behind Jade and McCain. Then a fat man pushed in front
of him, dragging a chubby boy holding an ice cream. The end of the ice
cream broke free and fell. Rich jumped back in time to avoid getting it
down his shirt.
    When the boy and the man moved away, Jade was gone.
    He looked round desperately. She couldn’t be far away. He thought he
caught a glimpse of Jade’s distinctive blonde hair. But it was immediately
lost in the crowd of people pushing towards Lightning
Strike ride as the queue moved forwards. Rich felthimself being
pulled along with the