Sharp Shot by Jack Higgins Page B

on the ground.
    Rich turned quickly away. He had to keep his head down until the end
of the ride. With luck he could take his time getting out of the carriage
and let the man leave first, without seeing him.
    The rollercoaster reached the top of the track. The rails seemed
impossibly slender, the slope down incredibly steep. The carriage began to
tip forwards. Rich felt his stomach lurch and the rush of adrenaline as
the rollercoaster fell. He could almost feel the weight of the carriages
behind, pushing him ever faster down the steep slope.
    Then they were rushing up the other side. The girlbeside Rich was
yelling and grabbing his arm. He turned to look at her. And out of the
corner of his eye, he saw that the man in the sunglasses was staring
straight ahead—right at him.
    Still Rich wasn’t too worried. When the previous passengers had got
off, he’d seen that the locking bars released in sequence to make sure
people left in an orderly manner. The front row released first, then the
others in sequence. He’d be out of his seat before the hitman. And he’d be
running as soon as he could. Assuming he could shake off the teenage girl
now clinging to him. He glanced at her, and decided he could.
    How long was the ride? They were rising up another sharp incline. He
had to be ready to go. Mustn’t get dizzy from the height or the twists.
Mustn’t let the hitman know he’d been spotted. How much time would he
have?
    The rollercoaster screamed down again as Rich tried to remember how
long a delay there had been between the locking bars lifting. The ride
twisted suddenly sideways along a banked curve. The sound of the wheels
rumbling on the track was like thunder.
    Rich glanced back as the carriages slowed again,rising up for the
next drop. It was a long slow incline, the carriages locking into a chain
that hauled them slowly upwards, drawing out the tension as the
rollercoaster rose higher and higher. The people in the park below were
little more than dots.
    But Rich wasn’t looking at them. He was staring in horror at the
hitman three carriages behind. He was watching the man haul himself out
from under the locking bar and climb into the carriage in front. He was
coming for Rich.

5
    People yelled and shouted. The man stepped into the next carriage, his
foot between the two people sitting there, as he took another huge step
over the back of the next seat.
    The rollercoaster inched its way up the slope. Would the man get to
Rich before it reached the top and headed down the slope again?
    A woman with a small boy grabbed at the man as he stepped past them.
She was shouting at him, her face red with anger and fear as he jostled
past. The man ignored them and kept going. He reached the front of the
carriage. There was a gap between it and the next one, but the man just
jumped. He landed on the back of the carriage in front, and hauled himself
onwards.
    He was getting into a rhythm now. The metronomic clack of the chain
was slowing by comparison to the man’s movements. He’d reach Rich well
before the rollercoaster arrived at the top of the slope.
    Rich looked down. It must be over twenty metres to the ground. The
ride was built out of linked and braced struts of steel, but they were too
far apart for him to have any hope of climbing down the side.
    There was only one carriage ahead of Rich. He could see an empty seat
right at the back of it. A woman had put her bag beside her to stop anyone
else getting in.
    The girl clung tightly to Rich’s arm. “This is going to be soooo scary,” she wailed happily.
    â€œYou’re telling me,” said Rich, pulling his arm free.
    The girl watched him in open-mouthed astonishment as he heaved the
locking bar up an inch, and prised his legs out from underneath.
    â€œIt was fun,” Rich told her, “but not really scary
enough for me. See you.” And he climbed over into the seat in
front.
    The look on the girl’s face was