the hang-glider up to the lip of the water tank? I need both hands to climb the steps.’
‘A thick cord. We’ll haul it up. Or rather you will. You go up there. Where’s Alex? He could help us.’
‘Gone,’ said Chloe simply, climbing the steps. She had turned from Jordy quickly to hide the tears from him. ‘We can’t bother with him now. It’s important to get you home.’
Once she was on the top edge of the water tank Jordy threw up a partially unravelled baton of cord. She caught the baton on the second throw. Jordy tied the end to the nose of the hang-glider which was pretty clever since he only had that one hand. But he managed it.
Chloe then hauled the hang-glider up the side of the tank, finding it surprisingly heavy as a dead weight. Once she’d grasped it, Jordy came up the ladder himself, agilely letting go of one rung to catch the next one up, without any danger of falling whatsoever. He was indeed a very good gymnast and athlete. What was more, he had the three-legged Nelson on one shoulder. The ginger cat was looking rather apprehensively at the drop below them, gripping Jordy with his sharp claws.
‘Ow, Nelson! Pack it in.’
However, when Nelson saw the water, he gripped even harder and Jordy had to peel his claws off, one by one. Then Jordy made a kind of hammock out of his jacket, tucking the bottom into the top of his trousers, and put the ginger tom in there. Nelson obviously felt warm and much safer inside his cloth cave and promptly went to sleep.
Now Jordy was up and alongside Chloe, he sat on the twelve-centimetre-wide board which rimmed the lip of the tank. He gripped the hang-glider and told Chloe to stand up and then take it from him.
It took quite a time before they were ready. Jordy had shown her how to strap herself into the harness. Then she fitted his harness to him. Finally, they stood one behind the other on the narrow ledge with the hang-glider on Chloe’s back. Jordy was in front facing away from the water. Chloe was behind him, also facing away from the tank. When they took off, she would be attached to the glider, face down, and Jordy would be below her, also face down. Everything was set. It just needed a little bolstering of courage, which was not an easy thing to do with such a drop.
‘There’s about ten metres to play with,’ said Jordy, looking down at the boards below, ‘so it’s got to be a good launch.’
At that moment there appeared a group of those who had attacked them earlier but who had been routed by Nelson.
They swarmed over a pile of boxes and headed for the ladder up the side of the tank. The Removal Firm had arrived dressed in thick protective clothing: overcoats, gardening gloves, shin pads. No savage cat was going to stop them now, no matter how many teeth and claws it had. They were set on capturing the incomers before the disaster occurred. Their grey wrinkled faces were intent. They moved with great purpose in their steps.
‘Take no notice of them,’ ordered Jordy, sucking in his breath as he looked down on the dust-coated Atticans. ‘In a few moments we’ll leave them behind. Are you ready? Steady yourself. We’ve got plenty of time. They’ve only just started climbing the ladder.’
‘I’m ready,’ cried Chloe, her knees shaking. ‘I really am.’
‘Let’s do it then!’ cried Jordy.
But Chloe still made no move to push off.
The first of the Removal Firm arrived at the top of the ladder and gripped Jordy’s ankle with strong fingers. Jordy calmly kicked away the creature’s forearm, knocking it off balance. It fell from the top of the ladder with curses on its horrible lips. On its way down it crashed into others climbing up behind it and took them with it down to the boards. There was a terrible commotion among the Removal Firm as they were knocked and scattered over the boards. A screeching went up which would have penetrated Chloe’s head, had she not been desperately trying to screw up enough courage to take off from the tank.
‘All right,’ she whispered in Jordy’s ear. ‘I’m really ready this time.’
Finally the pair kicked off almost in unison and swooped out into the space above the boards. The jolt on take-off caused Jordy to yell in pain, but he quickly assured Chloe he was all