Chasing Danger

by Sara Grant

  I didn’t know what to say. She’d already survived multiple attacks on her life.

  “My mum was on Prince Arthur’s protection detail and had an affair with him before he was married,” Mackenzie continued. “She broke it off and got herself reassigned when she realized she was pregnant. He didn’t object to her move. They both knew he was never going to marry my mum. They were from different classes, different cultures. Mum never told him she was pregnant. He didn’t know about me for ages. When he figured it out, he was furious. We received threats.”

  “Why didn’t your mom have him arrested?” I asked.

  “No one would have believed us. He never threatened us directly. It was always veiled threats through back channels.” Mackenzie adjusted a few dials on the control panel. “None of this matters any more. He’s going to be king one day, and he and his family can’t really afford to have me hanging around.”

  “You can’t go through with this,” I said.

  “What choice do we have?” She kept her eyes focused forward.

  “Slow down,” I urged. “I’ll think of something.”

  “We don’t have time.” She kept fiddling with the buttons and knobs. I didn’t know how to run this thing or stop her from doing it. “Chase, find a way to call for help. He might be monitoring the radio, so see if there’s a computer or mobile phone or something. I’ll keep moving.”

  Maybe help could reach us before I had to choose between Mackenzie and Ariadne.

  I raced through the ship and checked every room. I found a laptop in one of the bedrooms on the lower deck at the back of the yacht.

  HELP!! I wrote in the email’s subject line. I didn’t have time to explain everything so I kept the message simple. Dad, I have been kidnapped and am being held on a yacht right off the island. Please send help! Love, Charlotte

  Charlotte was our code word if either of us was ever in real trouble. He knew I hated being called Charlotte. It was a subtle signal that this was a real threat. Would he see the message quickly enough to make any difference? Would the message even be sent from out here? It was a long shot.

  My dad always had a strategy for every situation. As I raced back to the bridge, I wished I knew what he would do if faced with this deadly no-win situation. I didn’t care what Mackenzie said, I wasn’t going to trade her life for Ariadne’s.

  I stumbled over something and ended up face down on the deck. I kicked at what had tripped me – scuba diving gear.

  And then a wild idea popped into my mind like kettle corn over a campfire. We’d find a way to make it work. I would have to convince Mackenzie that it was worth the risk. I usually loved a risk, whether it was a jump on my bike or a prank on a teacher. But this was different. I was risking other people’s lives. It may be the stupidest idea in the history of crazy, wacky ideas – but it just might work!

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Mackenzie asked for the millionth time. I’d told her my idea and she’d come up with this brilliant plan. She’d sketched out a diagram on the wall of the bridge and wrote up a timeline.

  “Yes!” I snatched the pen away from her. “Stop talking about it, and start doing it.”

  “You know what you need to do?”

  “Yes!” I shouted again, and gripped the yacht’s steering wheel until my knuckles bleached white. I had to concentrate on my part of the plan. “You’ve told me what I need to know to operate the yacht.”

  “You realize that our plan is risking Ariadne’s life, right?”

  “Argh!” I groaned. “Yes, but it could also save both your lives. It’s what Ariadne would want us to do.” I didn’t know Ariadne well, so I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure that was true. Mackenzie knew her better than I did.

  The phone rang and we jumped.

  “Hello,” Mackenzie answered flatly. She held the phone between us.

  “What’s taking so long?” Artie barked.

  “You think we know how to drive this thing?” I said. “We’re doing the best we can.”

  “Well, speed it up!” he shouted.

  “We can see the island,” Mackenzie added.

  “Head for the boat dock,” Artie said. “Got it?”

  “Got it,” I repeated. The phone went dead.

  “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “As I will ever be. In case this goes…” She gulped. “You know, I want you to know that you are the maddest, most brilliant person I’ve ever met. I would have never survived or had the courage to go through with this without you.” She dive-bomb hugged me. I didn’t have time to hug her back before she darted away.

  “Hey!” I shouted. I wanted to stop her. This plan of ours was mental. Was I really willing to bet their lives on one of my crazy ideas?

  “What?” She turned back to me. Tears glistened in her eyes.

  “I will see you later,” I told her. I swallowed to shift the egg-size gumball of fear that was lodged in my throat.

  “Yeah,” she said as one tear rolled down her cheek. “If not, tell my mum,” she wiped at her eyes, “you know.”

  I shook off the sadness. “We’ve got to think positive. We won’t survive if we don’t toughen up.”

  She puffed up. “Yes, sir, captain, sir!” She saluted me.

  I saluted right back, and Mackenzie raced away.

  *

  I stood on the back deck of the yacht. The same place where only an hour earlier I’d nearly been a shark snack. Artie had called again when he spotted the yacht and told me to stop right where I was. Waiting and watching was way worse than being attacked. All night I could at least fight to survive. Now there was nothing I could do, and this helplessness was killing me.

  I zoomed in with the binoculars that I’d found on the bridge and checked on Mackenzie and Ariadne. They were both in dinghies speeding in opposite directions – Mackenzie to the island and Ariadne to me.

  I trained the binoculars on Ariadne. Artie had placed her at the front of the dinghy and then set the boat in motion. The waves were knocking her about, and she was springing up and down as if she was in a bouncy castle.

  Ariadne’s and Mackenzie’s boats passed each other. This was the point of no return. Mackenzie kept her focus forward. Ariadne swivelled in her seat to watch Mackenzie. She was screaming something.

  “What’s she doing?” I shouted even though no one was around to hear me. Ariadne was trying to stand. I adjusted the binoculars so I could see her more clearly. Her hands were tied. She was reaching for the motor. Was she trying to turn her boat around and go after Mackenzie? She didn’t know we had a plan. She stood up but the wind and the waves sent her crashing into the side of the boat. If she bounced out, she would drown for sure.

  I waved my arms over my head trying to get Ariadne’s attention. “Stop it! Stay still!”

  Ariadne spotted me right as her dinghy was rocked by the wake from Mackenzie’s boat. She knocked the motor, changing her course. She was slammed to the bottom of the boat, which was now heading out to sea.

  I untied the remaining dinghy. I had to go after Ariadne. Mackenzie was still rocketing towards the island and Artie. Mackenzie could take care of herself, I reassured myself as I raced after Ariadne.

  Ariadne had hauled herself to a sitting position. Her eyes widened in surprise when she spotted me.

  She frantically waved at me. “Go back! Save Mackenzie!” she yelled.

  Argh! That woman was stubborn. I drew my boat alongside hers. If she didn’t stop it, she was going to be tossed out of the boat. “Hit the kill switch!” I screamed at her.

  “He’s sabotaged it!” she called to me. Artie must have made sure that Ariadne couldn’t do anything but jet helplessly out to sea. “I can’t shut it down. What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to save you,” I shouted back. I reached for her boat, but the moment my hand left the motor, my boat veered away.

  I pulled up alongside her again. She’d crawled back to her engine too. “Hold it steady!”

  She nodded.<
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  I had to time this right. If I missed, I would end up in the sea, drowned by the waves of the runaway boats – or worse yet, sliced and diced in the blades of the propellers.

  Dad always said picture the landing not the fall. I focused on Ariadne and launched myself at her boat. She screamed as my body thumped on to the side of her dinghy. She grabbed for me while my hands scrambled for something to hold. I wrapped my fists around the rope that was strung around the perimeter of the boat. The salty sea was smacking my face while the waves bashed my feet. I skimmed alongside the boat and held on for dear life.

  Ariadne grasped one leg. The woman may be old, but she had muscles. She tugged the lower half of my body while I lifted the top half. One final burst from us both and I slipped into the boat.

  I tried to catch my breath as my head was repeatedly slammed against the bottom of the boat. It took a second for me to find the rhythm of the waves and steady myself as I crawled to the motor. Something was wedged in the kill switch. I wiggled it free and then flicked the switch. The roar of the engine abruptly stopped, and the boat juddered forward. There was sweet silence, but it only lasted a second.

  The air erupted in gunfire. Ariadne and I turned towards the island in time to see Mackenzie’s boat explode.

  “Mackenzie!” I lunged in the direction of the blast. An explosion was not part of our plan. Ariadne locked her arms around me and held me back.

  The flames shot high into the air. Mackenzie’s boat was engulfed in a black cloud of smoke. I couldn’t see her or the boat or the island.

  Ariadne was wailing into my shoulder.

  It was as if the smoke and flames gutted me. I stared at the place Mackenzie and her boat should be. I scanned the water for any sign of her. Our plan had gone horribly wrong. I held Ariadne as she sobbed, too stunned to feel anything.

  “How could you sacrifice Mackenzie to save me?” Ariadne asked.

  “We had a plan,” I explained in a feeble whisper. “Mackenzie had scuba equipment with her. After you were a safe distance from the island, she would flip her boat and use the scuba gear to swim unnoticed to the Aquatic Centre on the far side of the island. She could steal a boat and go for help.”

  We stared at the island and the smoky remains of Mackenzie’s boat. I don’t know how, but Ariadne and I had managed to return to the yacht. We stumbled back to the bridge. Ariadne didn’t even blink when she saw Super Bad tied up on the floor out cold. I cut Ariadne’s hands free, found blankets and wrapped them around our shoulders.

  “Maybe she’s OK,” I said, desperately wanting to believe it. “We didn’t see what happened right before the explosion. We were too busy saving ourselves. Do you think she could have survived?”

  “If there’s even a slight chance, we must head to the Aquatic Centre,” Ariadne said. “Let’s hope for the best.”

  I crossed my fingers and prayed.

  Ariadne smiled at me. “Your mother was fearless – and impulsive too.”

  “Will you tell me more about her?” I asked. If I could survive a heist, bomb, sharks, eels and pirates, I could handle the truth about my mom.

  Ariadne hugged me, and I mean really hugged me. “Someday,” she whispered in my ear. “For right now, all you need to know is that she would be proud of you. You are a truly amazing young lady.”

  My grandma thought I was amazing. That was something. I held on to those words, even though I was feeling the opposite of amazing. “Let’s go get Mackenzie.”

  She ruffled my hair. “Do you know how to run this thing?”

  “Sort of.” I pressed the buttons Mackenzie had showed me to start the yacht. The engines hummed to life.

  I sailed closer to the island, searching sea and sand for any sign of Mackenzie. “There’s Artie!” I shouted as if I’d spotted a T-Rex.

  “He’s heading to the Aquatic Centre too,” Ariadne said. “Can you make this go faster? He needs a getaway boat.”

  Why hadn’t I thought of that? I punched the accelerator, and we lurched forward. “Any sign of Mackenzie?” I asked.

  Ariadne shook her head. “That doesn’t mean anything. She might have made it there already, but if Artie reaches her first…”

  Neither one of us dared to fill in that blank.

  The yacht was difficult to steer, and at its fastest we weren’t outpacing Artie, who was running pretty fast for an old guy. He was going to reach the Aquatic Centre first.

  “Hold this!” I shifted Ariadne in front of me and placed her hands on the wheel. “I have an idea.” I removed the bullhorn that was mounted to the bridge’s wall. It was a lame idea, but I had to do something. I raced on to the deck.

  “Stop!” I shouted at Artie through the bullhorn. He stumbled. I cleared my throat and deepened my voice, making it sound manly and forceful like my dad. “We have called the police and the island is surrounded. It’s over, Artie!” I’d heard versions of this same line in a million cop shows.

  He stopped and turned towards us with a smug grin on his face. Then the strangest thing happened. He raised his hands over his head and dropped to his knees. I was shocked. My stunt had worked!

  Maybe this would give Mackenzie the extra time she needed. We had nearly reached the Aquatic Centre. Artie would hop up any minute when he realized I was bluffing.

  The yacht slowed. Was something wrong with the engine? I raced back to the bridge to check on Ariadne. “What are you doing?” I asked her.

  Tears were streaming down Ariadne’s face. She pointed to the sky. What was she trying to tell me? Her words were mangled in her sobs. She kept pointing.

  At first I didn’t understand, but now I could see. She was pointing at one … no, two, three helicopters zooming closer and closer. One had a sniper hanging off the side with his gun trained on Artie.

  Another helicopter hovered over Artie and two armed men propelled down ropes and dropped to the ground. Within seconds, Artie was face down in the sand with his hands cuffed behind his back.

  I jumped when I heard a thud on the roof of the yacht. Ariadne and I raced on to the deck. The helicopter hovering above us had lowered someone on to our roof. The person was dressed in head-to-toe black and wearing a ski mask. We raced over as he scrambled down from the roof. “Mackenzie. She’s. . . You have to look for Mackenzie,” I babbled at our rescuer. “There was an explosion and she’s missing… Don’t worry about us. Find Mackenzie.”

  Between Ariadne and me, we managed to explain what had happened.

  The guy took off his ski mask to reveal long blonde hair. Our rescuer was a woman.

  “If she’s out there, we’ll find her,” the woman said. She used the radio that was fastened to her uniform to call and explain the situation. The third helicopter peeled off towards the Aquatic Centre, and one of the men guarding Artie raced in the same direction.

  Ariadne and I clung to each other. We were safe at last.

  “I’m Chase, and this is Ariadne,” I told the woman.

  “We know who you are, ma’am,” the woman said. “I’ve been instructed to give you this.” She opened a pocket on her uniform and handed me a phone.

  “Can you help the rest of the hostages?” Ariadne asked.

  The woman pointed out to sea. “More help is coming,” she said.

  I could make out a ship on the horizon. “There’s a bad guy tied up on the bridge and another under the bar at the back of the ship.” I’d almost forgotten him.

  “We captured four on the island, but there might be others still out there,” Ariadne added.

  “We’ll round them up,” she said. “Don’t worry.”

  That’s when I noticed the familiar emblem that was embroidered with black thread on her black jacket. She was United States Navy, like my dad.

  The phone buzzed in my hand.

  “It’s for you,” the woman said, and she raced off.

  “Thanks!” Ariadne called after her.

  “Hello?” I answered the phone.

  “Chase! Thank God.”
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  “Dad?”

  “I got your message,” he said. “Are you and Ariadne OK?”

  Ariadne was blackened from the first explosion. She had bruises all over her body. I was sure I looked worse. “We’re alive.”

  Ariadne took the phone from me. “You should have seen our girl, Jack. I’m so proud of her. She’s fearless. She’s a hero. She saved everyone.”

  When I first arrived on the island, I would have given anything to hear my grandma say she was proud of me. I was her girl. None of that mattered any more.

  “I didn’t save everyone,” I whispered and scanned the sea again. There was no sign of Mackenzie.

  The survivors rushed to the beach and waved to the ship sailing to the rescue. The scene should have made me happy, but all I could think about was that Mackenzie was either dead or alone. We’d only just met, but after everything we’d been through I felt as if I’d lost my best friend. How did you ever get over something like that?

  The next day I felt worse not better. Every bone, muscle, fingernail and hair follicle hurt. We were given a medical check by Navy doctors. Ariadne and I needed a few stitches and painkillers. We were flown back to Malé, the Maldives capital, and put up in a hotel overnight. I scrubbed and scrubbed myself in the shower, but I still felt dirty. The doctors gave me something so I could sleep, but my dreams were filled with yesterday’s nightmares.

  Mackenzie was still missing.

  Now we were waiting in a private lounge at the Malé airport. Ariadne had chartered a jet to take us away from here. With every passing minute, I lost another sliver of hope that I would see Mackenzie again. How could we leave without knowing if Mackenzie was dead or alive? But Ariadne and I weren’t given a choice. The Malé authorities and US military thought it was best if we were out of the way. I was lying on a wicker couch and pretending to sleep. It was easier than seeing everyone staring at me with either pity, sadness or suspicion.