few years ago, we kept getting this horrible stench whenever there were a lot of people inside the Ark. They had to dig it up and put in a bigger tank. I saw it arrive, it’s huge. I mean you could walk through it standing up.’
‘So?’ Lauren said. ‘What good does that do us?’
Rat smiled. ‘The truck comes in twice a week and pumps our sewage and waste water out of the tank. It backs up to a metal hatch on the outside and they attach a pipe to suck it out. You see the hatch when we do our morning run. It’s just past the fourth turret.’
‘I think I know the one you mean,’ said James. ‘It’s easily big enough to climb through.’
‘Hang on,’ Lauren said, raising her hands. ‘We’re talking about a sewer here, right? We’re talking about escaping by wading through the stuff that gets flushed down the toilet?’
James shrugged. ‘Lauren, there’s two sets of people with guns and we’re stuck between them. If there’s really a way out, I’m taking it.’
‘Well … I suppose,’ Lauren said uneasily.
‘What’s better?’ James asked. ‘Doing something gross or getting a bullet through your head?’
The three kids turned towards the door as a key clattered in the lock.
‘What are you three plotting?’ Georgie asked sarcastically, as she plunged a fat finger up her nose and slumped in a chair.
*
Dana got a fright as she stepped out of the bathroom. Nina was right outside the door.
‘Are you OK?’ Nina asked. ‘I keep hearing you moving around.’
Dana put a hand over her stomach. ‘Nervous tummy.’
Nina nodded. ‘What’s with the cord?’
This really put Dana on the spot. She considered laying Nina out, but her plan worked best if she had Barry’s gun in her hands before showing her true colours.
‘It fell out of the cupboard when we hit that big wave,’ Dana said, convinced she was giving the crappest excuse in history. ‘I thought I’d stick it in one of the cupboards in the mess so that no one trips over it.’
‘Right,’ Nina said. She clearly found this explanation odd. Fortunately her desire to pee was greater than her curiosity and she hurried into the bathroom.
Dana rushed out, cutting through the galley and the luxurious mess room. A blast of noise and sea air hit her as she slid open the glass door at the back of the mess and stepped on to the rear deck. There was light coming from inside, but it was still a fiddle getting the key into the lock and turning it. Eve and Nina would be able to climb out through one of the windows if they got suspicious, but the locked door would slow them down.
Dana headed briskly up a flight of stairs, ditching the bundle of cord at the top of the staircase before stepping on to the bridge. The small space was as luxurious as the rest of the boat, with leather seating along three sides and a chrome steering wheel set in the control panel at the front. The main lights were off and Barry stood in silhouette, bathed in the blue light coming off the instruments.
‘Hiya,’ Barry said cheerfully. ‘Come to pay me a visit?’
Dana smiled. ‘You don’t mind do you? I’m too wound up to sleep.’
‘Not much to see up here at night,’ Barry said. ‘You set the coordinates on the GPS and this baby finds its own way. You just have to keep an eye on the radar screen to make sure you don’t hit anything.’
‘It’s a fantastic boat,’ Dana said, as she stepped up to the steeply raked front screen and stared at the spray ripping up around the two hulls.
Barry shrugged. ‘It’s a good tool for our mission, but to be honest I find this kind of thing repulsive.’
‘Really?’
‘A media big shot owned this boat. Spent millions building it. After a few years he got a better one and sold it on. Now, anyone with ten thousand bucks in their pocket can hire it for a day. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, there’s a little continent called Africa where millions of people die every year because they can’t get a few cents’ worth of medicine.’
‘I guess …’ Dana said, eyeing the gun tucked into Barry’s shorts and trying to think up the best way to get close. ‘I kept thinking about those two cops in the car earlier. I know they’re only devils, but they were just doing their job … You know?’
‘That’s the trouble with