Alice-Miranda at Sea (20 page)

Jacinta and Henderson entered the library. First Officer Whitley Prendergast strode into the room and stood directly behind the pair.

‘Jacinta!' Alice-Miranda rushed towards her friend.

‘Stop right there!' Prendergast commanded.

Alice-Miranda stood her ground. ‘You've got no right.'

‘No, but I've got this little baby and I'm certainly not afraid to use it.' Prendergast produced a shiny black handgun from inside his coat.

Alice-Miranda stopped.

Henderson looked at Neville.
I'm sorry
, he mouthed to his small charge.

‘All of you, sit down. Henderson, tie them up and do it properly.' Prendergast threw his unwitting assistant a handful of plastic bag ties.

Millie looked at the ties and then at Sep. The pair exchanged puzzled glances.

‘Haven't you heard, kids? They're quite the latest thing in tie-up technology.' Prendergast flashed a terrifying grin.

‘And don't get any ideas about great escapes, Lush. It's quite my good fortune that you're here with the children. This way you won't be able to embark on any heroic rescue missions.'

‘What are you talking about?' Lush demanded.

‘My dear, dear doctor.' Prendergast leered like a shark in a school of baitfish. ‘You don't think I'd have been foolish enough not to have some additional diversions sorted? You know the medication you took up to Her Majesty this afternoon? The one to keep her allergies at bay? Poor woman, always coming out in those hideous welts, struggling to breathe. Well, I switched the tablets this afternoon. And so, in about ten minutes time, when her batty old lady-in-waiting, Mrs Marmalade, hands her the pills, as she does every day like clockwork, I'm afraid the old girl won't be doing anything very helpful about those allergies. And you, my dear man, will have killed the Queen. No one will care a zot about what happened to the loot.'

‘What have you done, you monster?' Lush roared. He wriggled in his seat, rocking the chair wildly on its back legs.

‘Don't you want to know what will kill our beloved monarch? Well, we all know she's allergic to crustaceans, don't we? I believe there's a wonderful new joint remedy on the market – made from, well, what do you know, crustaceans. Imagine that? A perfectly harmless little tablet . . . for most.'

The children could hardly believe what they were hearing. Prendergast
was
a monster.

‘So settle down. All of you,' Prendergast demanded.

‘What are you going to do with Jacinta?' Millie demanded.

‘Keep your hair on, little one. She's just some extra security. We'll give her back. But I hope she's a strong swimmer.'

‘You brute.' Millie's face looked as if her freckles had caught alight.

‘Mr Prendergast,' Alice-Miranda began. ‘I'm sure that you don't really want to do any of this, do you?'

‘Of course I do. Do you think this is my first job? Hardly.'

‘But you've been a reliable member of this crew for years now. Everyone thinks you're a good fellow,' said Dr Lush. ‘The admiral treats you like a son.'

‘Yes, well, that was the old Whitley, you see.'

Dr Lush was trying to work out whether Prendergast was pure evil or if he was suffering some sort of multiple personality disorder.

‘Are you unwell, Mr Prendergast?' Alice-Miranda soothed. ‘Because I'm sure that we can get you the right help and you'll be better in no time.'

‘Save it, Pollyanna,' Prendergast sneered. ‘Anyway, must fly. Boat to launch, plane to catch, money to spend, life to live and all that. And by the way, my twin brother, Whitley Prendergast, won't be returning to his old post anytime soon.'

Lush drew in a sharp breath. ‘What do you mean, your twin brother?'

The children looked at each other. ‘If you're not Whitley, then who are you?' Alice-Miranda asked.

‘Arthur. Arthur Prendergast, at your service. Now, out!' Prendergast motioned at Henderson. ‘And take her with you.'

The trio slipped through the door into the drawing room. The sound of Jacinta's muffled screams felt like a knife twisting in Alice-Miranda's stomach.

‘What will he do with her and poor Mr Henderson?' Neville gasped.

‘I'm sure Jacinta will be fine,' said Alice-Miranda firmly. ‘She's very fit and much tougher than she looks. And Mr Henderson's a strong man. We just have to hope he has an opportunity to get away.' But Alice-Miranda was worried. It seemed that Arthur Prendergast was not a man to be underestimated.

‘Where is everyone?' Lucas frowned. ‘I would have thought someone would be down to look for us by now.'

The ship had become eerily quiet in the past few minutes. Alice-Miranda had a very bad feeling.

‘Come on, we've got to get out of here.' She wriggled around in her seat. ‘Are there any scissors in here?'

Dr Lush came to the rescue. ‘Yes, there's a cupboard over there behind the couch and a first aid kit in there too.'

Lucas stood up and, although he was still tied to his chair, he managed to walk and hop over to the cupboard and prise open the door with his foot. In another minute he'd located the scissors and freed himself and everyone else in the room.

‘Dr Lush, you must get to Aunty Gee before she takes that pill,' Alice-Miranda instructed.

‘I bet they're heading for the dock at the rear of the ship,' Sep spoke.

‘The boats – that's how he's planning to get the jewels off the ship,' Lucas added.

‘Come on, we know how to get there.' Alice-Miranda led the charge. ‘We can't let them take Jacinta.'

‘What about the jewels?' Sep called.

‘Who cares about the jewels? But if anything happens to Jacinta I'll never forgive myself,' Alice-Miranda called back over her shoulder.

N
icholas Lush soon realised why no one else had left the ballroom to look for the children. Prendergast and his unwitting accomplice had barricaded the doors. It sounded like an angry mob on the other side. Lush could only hope that in the chaos, Mrs Marmalade had forgotten all about the Queen's medication.

It seemed he arrived just in time. Lush threw open the doors as Aunty Gee raised a glass to her lips. ‘Noooooo!' he called as he raced across the room and launched himself at her over the table.

‘For heaven's sake, man, what are you doing?' Queen Georgiana yelled as the doctor knocked the glass from her hand and showered her with water. ‘Are you trying to kill me?'

‘Medication,' Nicholas gasped. ‘Poison.
They
were going to kill you.'

Queen Georgiana looked as if she'd been stung. ‘Oh, dear me. I suppose I should say thank you then.'

Alice-Miranda's immediate family gathered around Lush as he picked himself up from the floor.

‘Have you seen the children?' Hugh Kennington- Jones demanded.

‘Yes, they've gone after them. Prendergast has the blonde girl. And Henderson's with him but I don't think he's there by choice.' Lush was still gasping for air after his heroics.

‘Jacinta?' Ambrosia Headlington-Bear had been sitting with Mrs Oliver, who was trying to console the silly woman about her missing necklace. ‘Did you say they have my Jacinta?'

‘Yes,' Lush replied.

‘Noooo,' Ambrosia wailed. She felt like she couldn't breathe. ‘My baby, please don't let them hurt my little girl.' Fat, frightened tears erupted from her eyes and streamed down her blotchy face.

‘There's no time to lose,' Lawrence muttered. ‘Come on, Hugh. Lush, get over here. You need to show us where they've gone.'

‘T
here they are!' Alice-Miranda whispered as she caught sight of Prendergast attempting to lower the small vessel into the water. ‘We've got to stop him.'

The children scurried down the steps as quietly as they could. Alice-Miranda spied a pile of laundry bags sitting on the dock.

‘I've got a plan,' she said. ‘We need to get to those bags before they load them.'

‘But how?' asked Lucas.

Henderson and Prendergast were standing near a switchboard arguing.

‘Hurry up. We need to get off this tub,' Prendergast snapped.

‘I'm doing my best,' Henderson sniffed.

‘I thought you said that you'd trained on every inch of this ship,' Prendergast hissed.

Henderson's voice quivered. ‘Well, almost.'

Jacinta was standing near the laundry bags whimpering – she was bound and gagged and tied to a long piece of rope that Henderson was hanging onto.

‘Shut up, you!' Prendergast was losing any shred of patience he had left. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Henderson.

‘Get that boat in the water!' he roared. ‘NOW!'

Henderson hit a yellow button on the control panel. The small powerboat hanging from its mechanical arm shot up towards the top of the rigging.

‘What are you doing, man? Give it to me.' Prendergast elbowed the steward out of the way. He reached out with his spindly fingers. ‘Eeny, meeny, miny, mo.' He hit another button and the mechanical arm swung out over the sea in preparation to lower the boat. ‘See, it wasn't that hard now, was it?' he smirked.

‘Look,' Neville whispered. ‘I think that's another control panel over there. It looks the same.'

‘Can you operate it, Neville?' Alice-Miranda looked hopeful.

‘I-I-I don't know. I can try.' Neville studied the buttons and wondered if they would work when the other panel was already in use. ‘Here goes.' He hit a green button and the boom that had swung out over the water began to swing back towards the ship.

‘What the . . .' Prendergast seethed. He pushed another button and the arm swung back out over the sea.

Neville pressed his button and the boom swung back again. He pressed another button and the second boat that the children had been out on that afternoon swung over the water. Prendergast fiddled with the control panel below and the boat swung back again. It was like an aerial boat ballet. Prendergast was engrossed in trying to figure out the control panel lest both boats come crashing down. The children were crouched down out of sight behind some large machinery. As the game continued, Sep and Lucas raced down the short flight of stairs onto the lower deck. The whir of the pulley system and hum of the engine room was enough to drown out the sound of them throwing the laundry sacks back up to Millie and Alice-Miranda. Jacinta had seen her friends and stared at them with frightened eyes. Alice-Miranda held her finger to her lips, begging her to stay quiet.

Prendergast looked as if he was set to explode.

‘Get in the water, you stupid boat,' he roared. At that very moment, Neville pressed a big red button and the ropes unravelled at great speed, depositing the smaller vessel into the sea with a loud crash and the jet boat hurtling down alongside it.

‘Get the sacks,' Prendergast yelled at Henderson as he leapt down into the boat. As he did, his gun flew out of his right hand and disappeared into the sea. ‘Curses!' Prendergast looked over the side but the weapon was well and truly gone. He turned his attention to getting the engine started. ‘Hurry up with those sacks,' he growled.

Henderson turned around. ‘They're gone,' he gasped.

‘What do you mean, they're gone?' Prendergast was clearly not much of a sailor and was having a very difficult time keeping the little boat close to the ship, particularly as the larger one was crashing against it.

The two men stood arguing.

‘Is this what you're looking for?' Alice-Miranda stood up from her hiding spot. She held one of the laundry bags aloft. ‘I've got a deal for you, Mr Prendergast. You give us Jacinta and Mr Henderson and I'll give you your bags,' she bargained.

‘This is not a game, princess,' he snarled. ‘I don't care if your little friend ends up as bait.'

Alice-Miranda stood her ground. ‘I'm not playing games either, Mr Prendergast. You give us Jacinta and Mr Henderson and I'll give you your loot. But you'd better decide soon. I'm sure the admiral and the rest of the crew are on their way down here right now.'

‘I have a gun, you foolish child!' he yelled.

‘No, you don't,' Neville called back. ‘I saw it fall in the water. You were looking for it.'

Prendergast's face was the colour of overripe tomatoes. He indicated to Henderson to let Jacinta go, but Henderson had already untied her. ‘Now give me those bags!' Prendergast screamed.

True to Alice-Miranda's word, Lucas and Sep threw the laundry bags down one after the other to Henderson, who promptly hurled them onto the boat.

‘Get in,' Prendergast screamed at Henderson.

‘No! You're a lunatic.'

‘Suit yourself.' Prendergast engaged the gears and the outboard sputtered into life. And just like that, he disappeared into the murky night.

Alice-Miranda tore the gag from Jacinta's mouth.

‘Thank you,' Jacinta blubbered. ‘You saved my life.'

‘No, Alice-Miranda replied. ‘You can thank Neville. He distracted them so we could get the laundry bags.'

‘I hope someone finds him,' Neville spoke.

‘I'm so sorry.' Henderson was shaking. ‘Please believe me. I didn't know what I was doing. Prendergast said that if I didn't help him with some jobs here and there, he'd tell the admiral that the Royal Standard was in my locker. He said that I would be court-martialled and thrown off the
Octavia
for good. I love working on board and I can't think of anything else in the world I'd rather do. So I just looked after his laundry bags. I didn't know . . .'

Neville walked over, reached up and touched the steward on the shoulder.

‘It's all right, Mr Henderson. I believe you,' he said.

‘Of course we believe you,' Alice-Miranda nodded.

‘But the rotten brute still got away with all those lovely jewels,' Jacinta fumed.

‘I don't know about that,' Lucas sniggered. Jacinta spun around to see Lucas and Sep prancing about in diamond tiaras.

‘But how?'

‘Tool kit,' Sep pointed at an empty box. ‘We swapped the tools for the tiaras.'

‘He'll be furious,' Jacinta giggled.