Kidnap Island (13 page)

“
I
wouldn
’
t want to go out in a heavy sea in that
bathtub,
”
said Jonny.

“
Well you don
’
t have
to,
”
said Louisa.
“
We just need to find out if
Eric
’
s dad is on board.
”

“
And
how do we do that?
”
asked Will.

“
We
call out for him, of course,
”
said Eric, eager to find out if his
dad really was just a few feet from him.

“
No!”
Jonny hissed.
“We can
’
t do that, there
could be other people on the boat or nearby. One of those houses
may be linked to the mooring, too. Besides, your dad could be
gagged or drugged and unable to answer us. No, the only answer is
to sneak on board and have a look.
”

“
I
know,
”
said Louisa.
“
These woods can
’
t be very deep as the
main part of the harbour is on the other side.
Let
’
s go out of this creek and land on the other side
where no one will question what we
’
re doing. We can then
sneak through the woods and creep up on the boat
unseen.
”

“
Good plan,
”
said Jonny looking admiringly at Louisa, and
immediately pulled on the tiller to sail the dinghy back out into
the open water of the harbour.

Chapter
F
if
teen

What Louisa had
realised was that the woods where the motorboat was moored were on
what was effectively a small peninsula with the water of the creek
on one side and the main harbour on the other. Landing their dinghy
on the pebbly shore of the harbour wouldn
’
t attract any
attention, so that
’
s just what the
children did.

“
We
don’
t need to pull it far up
the beach,
”
said Jonny,
“
the tide
’
s turning now.
That
’
ll do us.
”

“
We
’
d best be dead quiet,
”
said Eric.
“
What about
the dog? Will he make a noise?
”

“
Not
if we tell him to be quiet. You
’
re a good boy
aren
’
t you, Ainslie?
”
Jonny ruffled his
dog
’
s ears lovingly.
“
Come on,
let
’
s
go.”

Thankfully, the woods
weren
’
t too thick, certainly not like those on Folney
Island, and the children found it easy to sneak through to where
they thought the boat was.

“
It
’
s not here,
”
whispered Will, as they found
themselves coming out of the wood at the creek side.
“
We need to
go further upstream I think.
”

“
Ok,
in that case let
’
s go back into the
woods so no one’ll see us from the big houses,
”
suggested
Jonny.

They crept into the woods and
circled round so they would come out close to where they now
estimated the motor cruiser to be.

“
Look, there she is,
”
whispered Louisa. And, sure enough,
there was the dirty white hull just visible through the trees and
looking very out of place in a wood.

“
Let
’
s sneak up quietly and listen if we can hear
anyone on board,
”
said Jonny.
“No noise,
ok?”

They crept up to the
boat
’
s bow and then walked around the muddy edge of the
inlet to the cockpit. There was no sign of life on
board
.

“
Gosh, what a mess this thing
’
s in,”
said Jonny in disgust; he believed that boats, of
whatever kind, should be looked after. The white fibreglass hull
and topsides were scratched and smeared with green slime, and the
cockpit floor was covered in rotting leaves. It was obvious that
the boat had been lying under the trees for a long
time.

“
Damn, the curtains are all closed
. H
ow can we find
out if Eric
’
s dad is
inside?
”
asked Will.

“
We
could knock on the window,
”
Louisa suggested.

“
But what if the bad
guys are in there? whispered Eric, who was looking very
nervous.

“
We
could just pretend we were lost or something,
”
said
Louisa.

“
Look, the noise you lot are making would have brought out
anyone if they were in there,
”
pointed out Jonny.
“
Besides,
look at that dirty great padlock on the door; it
’
s been
locked from the outside so it
’
s pretty obvious that
if anyone
’
s in there they can
’
t get
out.
”

Will was climbing into
the cockpit.
“
What are you doing,
”
asked Eric in surprise.

“
Knocking on the door to see if anyone
’
s in
there.
”
And with that Will rapped loudly on the glass door.
“
Listen,
what
’
s that?
”

There was a dull thud
from inside the boat.
“
Dad, is that you?
”
shouted Eric, who
’
d also
jumped onto the boat. The thudding got more frantic.
“
It is you,
we
’
ve come to rescue you!
”

Will, meanwhile, had
climbed the steps to the flying bridge, where there was a wheel for
steering the boat in good weather.
“
What are you
doing?
”
asked Louisa.

“
Just having a look. I reckon this
’
d be a laugh to
drive at high speed.
”
Will was now sitting at the helm gripping the
small steering wheel and pushing the throttle
lever.
”

“
Quick guys, get out,
”
hissed Louisa,
“A boat
’
s
coming.
”
Eric hopped smartly out of the boat but Will was too
absorbed with the boat
’
s controls and
navigation instruments and didn
’
t hear his cousin. By
the time he heard the sound of the approaching speedboat it was too
late to come down the steps and off the boat, so he dropped to the
floor of the bridge out of sight.

The other children hid
in the undergrowth, Jonny with a calming hand on Ainslie, and
watched helplessly as the small speedboat came up alongside the
large cruiser. There were two men on board.
“
That
’
s
them,
”
whispered a horrified Eric.
“
The ones who took my
dad!
”

“
They
’
re going to catch
Will,
”
breathed Louisa. The men had tied up their small boat and
climbed into the cockpit of the larger one.

“
Right, let
’
s crack on and get
out of here quickly, it takes a few hours to cross the
Channel,
”
said one of the men as he undid the padlock on the door to
the cabin. The other man was starting to untie the mooring ropes;
Jonny could see that the boat wasn
’
t going to drift away
in the quiet creek.

Then the children
heard the sound of a large engine being started. It turned over
slowly and then burst into action, chugging softly and deeply.
Louisa clutched Jonny
’
s arm in alarm;
“
They
’
re going to
motor off with Will on
board!”

“
And
my dad too,
” groaned Eric.
“
What are we gonna
do?
”
The boat was now backing slowly out of the backwater into
the creek. It then turned and headed slowly out
of the narrow channel
into the main harbour.
“
What do they mean by
crossing the channel?
”

“
It
’
s the English Channel between here and
France,
”
Jonny explained.

“
So
they
’
re taking my dad to France?
”

“
I
guess so, or maybe the Channel Islands. Damn, what a
mess!
”

“
Look!
”
exclaimed Louisa,
“It
’
s Will!”
Sure enough,
Will was waving frantically at them from the bridge of the
slow-moving cruiser.

“
Right, we can
’
t do anything here,
so let
’
s head back to Folney before the tide drops too far.
We don
’
t want to stuck here for the night,
”
said
Jonny.

“
OK,
that
’
s a good plan,
”
agreed Louisa.
“I
’
m worried about Will, though, he has a habit of
getting himself into trouble.
”

Chapter
Six
teen

Will was, he had to
admit, bricking himself. He
’
d spotted the
speedboat arriving and had quickly ducked down behind the built-in
seat at the back of the flying bridge, and was horrified to hear
the men coming aboard. Even more so when the engine was started! He
thought about climbing down and giving himself up but
didn
’
t like the sound of the two men; one was well spoken
but cold, the other was rough and aggressive and obviously
didn
’
t like taking orders. Will waved madly at his friends
as he found himself being taken away into the harbour. The well
spoken man had mentioned crossing the Channel; he
couldn
’
t stay hidden for that long and, besides, it was
getting cold as the sun dropped and the boat headed towards the
open sea. Will snuggled down out of the wind, not caring that it
the fibreglass floor was slimy and smelly. He thought hard; what
could he do?

With no plan in mind,
he bravely stuck his head over the back of the bridge and, looking
down, could see that the cockpit was deserted. The two men were in
the cabin steering the boat from the inside helm, which seemed
sensible as the weather was certainly turning and it
wasn
’
t flying bridge conditions. Eric
’
s father
must be in there somewhere too. Will spotted the large padlock
lying on on the floor and his heart leapt as he had a crazy idea.
Surely it wouldn
’
t work but maybe,
just maybe, it would. If he could sneak down and padlock the door
shut he could trap the men inside. It was starting to get dark, the
engine was roaring and the door into the cabin was closed
–
the odds
were on his side. Without stopping to think any more about it, Will
quietly slipped down the steep steps, keeping to one side of the
cockpit. He crouched down and picked up the padlock, his heart in
his mouth. Keeping low, Will moved to the closed door. He could see
one of the men sitting at the helm, holding the steering wheel and
looking forward through the windscreen. The other man was nowhere
in sight; he must been down in the lower cabin, thought Will. He
closed the clasp, slipped the padlock over it and tried to lock it
but it wouldn
’
t snap closed
–
it was just
too stiff for the boy
’
s cold fingers to
operate. But did it matter? So long as the clasp was closed and the
padlock in place, there was no way the door could be opened from
the inside. Will quickly climbed back to his hiding place on the
flying bridge. He
’
d done it!