*Aahh,' he sighed. Then he slung the rifle over his shoulder.

*Danny.' Reuben signalled to him. *You'd better come and help me with this.'

*Huh?'

*This bugger here needs to be carried in. I can't do it alone.'

Danny pulled a face. He pointed out that Gary could be dragged by the feet and not notice, but Reuben stood firm. Together, he and Danny wrestled Gary's limp form out of the car, while I hopped ahead of them into the kitchen, leaning heavily on Sergio. It was a difficult trip for everyone. By the time Reuben had shuffled backwards over the kitchen threshold, Sergio and I were draped across the table, puffing and groaning.

Sergio had bumped his broken arm on a doorjamb. I had badly jarred my foot.

*Come on,' said Reuben, pausing to address us both. *Up you get, I need you.'

*Wha . . .?' I couldn't see why, since Danny had a firm grip on Gary's legs. *My foot hurts,' I complained.

*Yeah, well, my chest hurts!' Reuben snapped. Then he adjusted his position, freeing up one hand so he could jerk the pistol out of his waistband. *Here,' he said, offering the gun to me. *You've gotta watch Gary, in case he's faking it.'

I didn't understand, at first. I just stared dumbly at the pistol. Danny remarked that there was one sure way of figuring out if someone was really unconscious or not (*just stick a bloody knife in his leg'), but Reuben ignored him.

*Take the damn gun,' said Reuben, fixing me with a hard green glare. So I took the damn gun.

*Why can't I have it?' Sergio whined. *How come Toby always gets the guns?'

*Because he doesn't wanna fire 'em,' said Reuben. Sergio immediately began to sulk. He stuck out his bottom lip and wouldn't move.

I had to make my own way out of the kitchen, using walls and cupboards for support. Reuben and Danny couldn't help. They were having a hard enough time with Gary, who had to be carefully manoeuvred through narrow openings and around tight corners. At last, however, they reached the first bedroom, where they dropped Gary onto the mattress that I'd been using earlier that day.

When I finally caught up with them, Danny was flexing his shoulders, Reuben was bent double with his hands on his knees, and Gary was lying on a tangle of dirty bedclothes, dead to the world.

*His breathing sounds bad,' I muttered.

Danny sniffed. I could somehow tell that, in Danny's opinion, Gary was lucky to be breathing at all.

As for Reuben, I don't think he even heard me.

*Right,' he said, straightening up. One hand was pressed against his ribcage. *You stay here, Toby. Keep an eye on this one while we go get that other one outta the pool. It won't take long. We'll use the tunnel.'

*And then you'll drive to Cobar?' I asked.

*And then I'll drive to Cobar.' Reuben shot a quick glance at Gary, whose eyes had sunk deep into bruised-looking hollows. *This one will be okay in the meantime.'

*You think?' I couldn't agree. But since I wasn't feeling strong enough to argue, I just slid down the wall and parked myself opposite Gary. No one tossed me a pillow for my bad foot, or offered to bring me something that I could wear on my top half. Reuben just followed Danny out of the room, leaving me empty-handed a" except, of course, for the pistol.

The pistol that I wasn't going to need.

Reuben, I thought, was being paranoid again. No way was Gary putting on an act. His face was the colour of putty. His breathing sounded like something heavy being dragged over wet gravel. As the minutes slowly passed, he didn't stir a" not even when a fly crawled across his bottom lip.

It was awful, having to sit with him in the gathering dusk. The longer I waited, the worse I felt. What if he wet the bed? What if he choked and I had to give him mouth-to-mouth?

What if he died right there in front of me?

If this bloke dies, we're in big trouble, I decided . And then, all at once, I remembered Reuben's phone.

It was under the mattress, he'd said. Under the mattress in the opposite room. Surely it must still be there? Reuben and Danny had marched straight down the hall into the kitchen; they hadn't paused along the way. I'd listened to their footsteps recede, hoping that someone might double back with a drink of water. But no one had.

Cautiously I pushed myself upright, using the wall as a crutch. As long as you have something to lean against, it's easy enough to move along on one foot; you just have to keep swivelling from heel to toe. My other foot dangled in the air as I edged towards the doorway a" heel, toe, heel, toe. When I reached the empty corridor, however, I had to cross it. And I couldn't do that without letting go of the wall.

Hopping was out of the question, since it would have made too much noise. I had to crawl. Once I was in the other bedroom, it didn't take me long to reach the mattress, or to find Reuben's phone. But I had to spend about a minute trying to figure out how the phone actually worked. And then I was really stupid, because the first person I called was Mum. On our home number.

I guess I was just distracted. It's hard to concentrate when your ears are pricked for the sound of approaching footsteps.

As soon as our voicemail answered, I realised what a fool I'd been. Of course! She was on her way here! So I hung up and tried her mobile, which proved to be out of range. * The number you have dialled . . .' said the recorded message, before I cut it off. Though my heart sank, I decided that not being able to reach her was probably good news. It probably meant that she was quite close, since I was in an area with no mobile phone reception.

Suddenly a voice cried, *I knew it!'

Looking up, I saw that Sergio had appeared in the doorway. He'd taken off his shoes, for some reason a" maybe because they weren't his. I guess that's why I hadn't heard him coming.

*You slimy bastard! ' he exclaimed, lunging at me. I squirmed away, desperately trying to key in an emergency number. But it was no good. When he kicked my arm, I dropped the phone.

*Ow! Jesus!'

I didn't stand a chance. He pounced on the phone while I was still rubbing my wrist. By this time the whole house was shaking from the impact of a heavy, urgent footfall. Someone was thundering down the hallway.

*Who did you call?' Sergio demanded shrilly. *Who was it?'

And then Danny burst into the room.

His face and bare chest were still smeared with dry blood. His raincoat flapped out behind him like bat's wings. He was big and filthy and covered in scars, and the whites of his eyes were tomato-red. Around his ankles swarmed a pack of barking, baying dogs.

But he wasn't carrying his gun, for some reason.

* who did you call? ' he bellowed. * Huh? huh? '

*N-no one,' I stammered. It was the wrong thing to say. Next thing I knew, he'd grabbed me by the hair.

*Ouch! Yeow!'

* Who did you call? ' His broken nose and bushy brows swam in front of me; I could hardly see them through the tears that had sprung to my eyes. * Didja call the copth? Didja? '

*No!'

whump! He drove my head into the floor. It happened so fast that I only realised what he'd done a second or two after he'd done it. The pain wasn't as bad as the shock, at first. I felt a weird sensation, as if my eyeballs were bouncing off the inside of my skull (which they were, I suppose). But then the pain hit while Danny was hauling me up again. I think he may have wanted to hammer my head against the floor. And all the time he was shouting questions, which I couldn't possibly have answered. Not with my brain sloshing around like a heap of wet clothes in a tumble dryer.

I was lucky that Reuben appeared. If he hadn't, I probably would have ended up like that poor sod across the hall.

* Stop it! ' Reuben shrieked. He must have jumped on Danny, though I didn't see it. I had my eyes shut. There was a tug at my hair and then Danny let go. I heard thuds and shouts as the floorboards quaked beneath me. I was close enough to smell the sweat and feel the vibrations. Someone hit a wall: cr-r-runch . The dogs were barking hysterically. Then one of them gave a startled yip, followed by a whimper.

I curled into a ball, shielding myself from the swaying, staggering bodies.

* You want me to? Huh? ' Reuben yelled. * I'll do it! I will! '

Something went click a" and suddenly the fighting stopped. There were no more creaks or grunts. All I could hear was the sound of panting. Even the dogs were silent.

I opened my eyes and saw Reuben. He was clinging to Danny's back, looking like a shell on a tortoise. Danny was bent almost double, clawing at the arm that was wrapped around his neck from behind. In his right hand Reuben held the pistol, which was rammed against Danny's skull, just above the ear. They were both gasping for breath.

*He wath calling the cops,' Danny croaked. But Reuben just tightened his grip, so that Danny grimaced.

* You wanna make me do it? ' Reuben screeched. * Do ya? Is that it? '

*No . . .'

* Because I bloody will! Because you're a mad bastard! '

*Okay, okay!'

* Because you're outta control, and I'm sick of it! ' As Reuben slid to the ground, he kept his arm clamped firmly around Danny's throat. This meant that the bigger man was pulled sideways, almost losing his balance. But the dogs didn't leap to his defence. Though they were pacing like wolves a" hackles raised, ears back, fangs bared a" they were also keeping their distance.

I couldn't understand why until one of them growled. That was enough to galvanise Reuben. His head whipped round, his teeth snapped, and he hissed like a crocodile.

The dogs all flinched. They slunk even further away, looking thoroughly squashed.

I couldn't believe it.

*Now. You gunna toe the line, or what?' Reuben asked, in a slightly calmer tone. He was talking to Danny, who had bent his knees and twisted his spine to accommodate Reuben's hold on his neck. *Because I'm fed up , Danny. I've had it with you!'

*It was Toby's fault,' Sergio cut in. *Toby was calling somebodya"'

*Shuddup.' Reuben flashed him a look that made Sergio cringe like the dogs. Then Danny said hoarsely, *Okay. All right. I thcrewed up.'

*Damn right, you screwed up!'

*I know. I lotht it. Just leggo, will ya?'

To my surprise, Reuben did let go. But he kept the gun trained on Danny.

*This isn't gunna work,' Reuben declared. *You can't stay here. It's messing with your head.'

Danny stiffened. *Nah,' he rumbled, hunching his shoulders in a shifty kind of way as he massaged his neck muscles. *I had one too many beerth . . .'

*And let someone escape. And bashed a kid.'

*I made a mithtake. I'm thorry.' Danny pointed to where I was cowering. *But if that little bugger called the coptha"'

*Then I'll deal with 'em.' Reuben interrupted. Lowering his gun, he gestured at the door. *If the cops are coming, you've gotta get out. You know what you're like with the police.' Seeing Danny hesitate, he took a deep breath and continued in a more measured, persuasive manner. *Mate, you did a good job. But it's over now. You can't stay here.'

Danny was looking disgruntled.

*I like to finish what I thtart,' he said.

Reuben scowled impatiently. *What's to finish, for Chrissake? The kids are out. The villains are trashed. One's brain-dead and the other has first-degree sunburna"'

*Yeah, but what about number three?' Danny objected. *We haven't found him , yet.'

*So why don't you track 'im down, then?' Reuben asked. It was a good question. It certainly had an impact on Danny, who blinked and raised his eyebrows.

*Me?' he said.

*Go home, get cleaned up, and head for Broken Hill. Because that's where the bugger is.' Reuben must have realised that he'd struck a chord with this argument, because he kept plugging away at it. *Sergio can tell me what he looks like, and we'll take it from there. In fact I'll call you. I might even join you, if I can get the time off.'

*Really?' Danny seemed to have been won over. His voice, though gruff, was also resigned. *Well . . . okay.'

*You've gotta go, Danny. When this kid's mother shows up and sees what you've done to hima"'

*Yeah, yeah. I know.' Danny waved a weary hand. *Anyway,' he remarked, *I need to get me truck fixed. I can do that in Broken Hill.'

*And I'll pay for the panel beating,' Reuben offered, clinching the deal. All at once Danny folded. He came to a decision and acted on it.

*I'll go,' he confirmed, clicking his tongue at the dogs. *I can tell when I'm not welcome.'

*Thanks, mate.'

*If I hang around, I'll end up hitting people.' Danny glared at me as he moved towards the door. *You wanna watch your back with thith one, though. I would.'

Reuben didn't comment. He just said, *Your truck should be fine. But if it's not, gimme a yell. I can always take a look at it.'

Danny nodded. Then he vanished a" and his dogs vanished too. I heard him stomping down the hallway, heading for the kitchen.

* You can take the rest of the beer, if you want! ' Reuben called after him.

There was no reply. After a minute or so, however, the fridge door slammed.

I looked up at Reuben, who was listening intently.

*Where's his rifle?' I quavered.

Reuben didn't answer until Danny had left the house. When the back door creaked, it was like a signal. Reuben sighed. His muscles relaxed. His gaze dropped.

He fixed me with a hard, fierce, icy stare and said, *If he was gunna shoot you, he'da done it already.'

*Yeah, buta"'

*You dunno how lucky you are, mate. You have no idea how lucky you are.'

He reached for the phone just as an engine sputtered outside. It was a second or two before that ominous ugga-ugga-ugga was swallowed up by a throaty roar a" and I don't think I was the only one who heaved a sigh of relief when it happened.

Reuben shoved the phone into his pocket. *Didja call the police?' he asked me.

*No.'