Pretty

It turned out the internet was full of helpful advice on obtaining cars without actually paying for them, and it took the three only about twenty minutes to identify a suitable older car that had been left unlocked by its owner. 

‘You two get in the back, I just need to-’

With his new knowledge, Alain stripped some wires beneath the dashboard and twisted them together.

‘It’s simply a matter of completing the circuits,’ he said, as the engine coughed and then caught. ‘Okay, which way Brontë?’

Fortunately, this early in the morning the roads were pretty much deserted while Alain grappled with the unfamiliar controls.

‘We should have chosen an automatic car,’ he said, wrestling with the gear stick.

The gearbox was making loud grinding noises as the car hiccoughed its way along, jerking as Alain pressed first one lever on the floor and then another. 

‘This is harder to master than I expected.’

‘You’re going to draw attention to us at this rate, which is the last thing we need. Stop here and I’ll try and find another hub to identify the correct way to manage this machine.’

Brontë slid out of the car as it came to an abrupt stop and ran along the street until she found an open wifi setup. She stood, leaning into the shadows cast by the eaves, giving all her attention to something the others could not hear. She returned to the car.

‘It’s not just controlling how the car moves,’ she reported. ‘There’s a huge catalogue of rules and regulations about driving - something called the Highway Code. I’ve absorbed it but as I can’t share that with you on our network right now, I’d better drive.’

Alain was more than happy to relinquish the driving and moved over to the other front seat as Brontë got in. She depressed the correct lever, selected a gear, and changed pedals, to move away from the kerb in one smooth movement.

‘Just like Kim drives. It’s clear females have a natural propensity to be good drivers,’ remarked Hugo.