“Just try to be quiet,” I said, peeking over the edge of the pool to see if anyone had followed us.
Luke was on the phone again and I could hear the conversation from his end.
“Uh-huh…yeah, those are our friends…okay, good…thanks for letting us know.” Luke hung up and turned to me. “She said they have police on the ship now, and they’re going to ring the alarm for everyone to evacuate so they can catch this guy. She’s got Cori and Trey with her.”
“We should get out of here,” I said, starting to stand.
“No wait.” Luke pulled me back down. “There’s our guy.”
There he was all right.
“I don’t think he sees us.” Baldie stood by the narrow gangway leading to the stairs, underneath a row of hanging lifeboats. He had his back to us and was looking out over the water as he talked on his phone.
“Carl—dude!” Baldie said into his phone. “I know the drop went bad last time with that other scuba diver but this new guy is legit. I’m telling you, man, this guy is the best diver in Florida—the stuff should have been there by now. Are you sure you’re looking on the big yellow hook? Off the pier below Señor Frog’s?”
Carl? I rang to Luke. Why does that name sound familiar? I racked my brain, trying to come up with the answer.
Is it someone you met this week? Luke asked.
I thought back but couldn’t make the connection then I nudged Luke. Can I have the phone?
I found the phone’s email program and hoped I remembered Rayelle’s email.
Hi Rayelle, this is Jade emailing from another phone. Just wanted to let you know we found Dillon and the police have everything under control. PS Do you know anyone named Carl?
—Jade
It only took about two minutes for Rayelle to respond.
Hooray! I hope he’s okay!! PS I’m not sure but isn’t Officer Ensel’s first name Carl?
—Rayelle
Moments later, the alarm sounded. Baldie looked around, trying to piece together what was happening. He yelled into his phone.
“No! You listen to me, Carl!” Baldie continued. “If you ratted me out to your police friends, I’ll be the first one to point the finger back at you. One way or another, you owe me a hundred grand. Either for the goods or my silence.”
Police. Carl. Carl Ensel.
Officer Ensel must have been in on this the whole time! I rang to Luke.
That’s when I decided that I needed to get evidence to nail Ensel too.
We need to get this on video. I remembered how Cori had recorded Taylor ’n Tyler, trying to get them to confess that they’d stolen our hotel reservation. If we could get Baldie on video talking to Ensel, it would be proof they were in on it together.
Then we had to get out of there—and fast! I held up Mr. Martin’s phone. Do you know how this works?
Here, Luke said, taking the phone from me. We stayed low and circled around the big pool with the massive waterslide to try and get a little closer. Baldie turned our way but not before we ducked behind the waterslide just in time.
Baldie kept talking into his phone, but we couldn’t risk getting video. Luke just tried to record the audio, but I doubted the phone was picking up anything with the sound of the alarm blaring overhead.
Then, all of a sudden, Mr. Martin’s phone rang. It was Dad’s number. He probably caught wind of what was happening and was freaking. Not the best time to ream me out, Dad!
Oh no! I rang. Can you mute it?
Luke punched a few buttons to try to silence the ringer but it was too late. Baldie had heard.
I peered over the edge of the slide and caught Baldie’s eye. Darn. He smiled evilly and headed our way while he spoke into his phone. “One way or another, sit tight. This deal isn’t over until I say it’s over.”
We need to split up to confuse him, I rang to Luke and cocked my head for him to head in the other direction.
Are you sure? Luke asked.
It’s the only way.
Luke headed one way and I circled the pool going in the other direction. Baldie watched us both, holding his phone in one hand and pulling a wrench out of his pocket with the other.
“That alarm is for you by the way!” I called out, trying to rattle him. “There are policemen freeing that kid from cabin 1078 as we speak.”
Baldie squinted his eyes and sneered. “That kid should’na been nosing around. Served him right for sneaking onto the ship like that.”
“They’re coming for you next,” Luke called out from the other direction.
Baldie turned to Luke then snapped his head back toward me to keep an eye on us both.
Do you think he has a gun? I rang out to Luke.
I doubt he’d be waving a wrench around if he had a gun, Luke rang back.
Get the police up here, I rang to Luke.
I’m texting Trey on Bobbie’s phone right now. He says they’re on their way but are getting slowed down by the evacuating passengers.
“What’s that sound?” Baldie shook his head. He must have caught a bit of our rings in between the intermittent alarm.
“Maybe you should get your ears checked once they put you in jail,” Luke said.
“I hear they have great dental too,” I added, giving Luke a chance to slip toward the gangway leading to the elevator doors. “And you can get a jail-yard tattoo of a merman while you’re at it!”
Baldie’s eyes popped open in surprise.
“What do you know about that?” he asked. Then a look of realization crossed his face. “That noise you two were making. That’s the same noise Henry was making to his pals when I figured out his secret. You two little punks are mers too.”
The guy is bright enough, I rang to Luke. Too bad he hasn’t used it for the power of good.
Imagine what he could accomplish, Luke rang back with a laugh. By then, he’d made it to the gangway by the lifeboats, but he stayed put, texting something on his father’s phone.
“What?” Baldie demanded. “What are you saying?”
“We’re just saying how clever you are,” I said, edging around the pool to keep a safe distance from his wrench. “Only you’re not so clever because I’m the one who knows where that green backpack is and you don’t.”
Baldie’s face hardened into an evil expression. He stalked toward me. “Why, you little brat. You’re going to tell me where that backpack is or—”
“Or what?” I asked, circling the pool as he approached. “You’re going to tell everyone my mer secret? You’re about to get nailed for kidnapping a minor, buddy. Who’s going to believe anything coming out of your mouth?”
“It sounds a little crazy and desperate if you ask me,” Luke called out from across the deck to distract him.
Baldie turned toward Luke then back to me, trying to keep track of where we were. The sound of the alarm seemed to have him seriously spooked, though, because he turned toward the lifeboats to make his escape.
“I’m outta here,” he yelled and grabbed Luke along the way. “And I’m taking you with me for insurance.”
Mr. Martin’s phone popped out of Luke’s hand and skittered across the deck toward me. I ran to grab it.
“Wait!” I yelled. Adrenaline shot through my veins as I saw Luke struggle against Baldie. I tried to dial someone’s number (anyone’s!) but my fingers fumbled over the phone’s screen. “Don’t!”
But Baldie had already released the lever to lower the lifeboat to deck level and was forcing Luke inside.
“I told you! I know where the backpack is!” I yelled, stashing the phone in my bag and hoping Baldie wouldn’t see. “Take me instead. I can show you!”
I knew it wasn’t the smartest thing, trading one hostage for another, but I was the reason Luke was there in the first place. He’d said we should get the police right away back on the pier and I didn�
��t listen. It was my fault Luke was in trouble.
“Maybe I should take both of you,” Baldie said once he’d tied Luke’s hands behind his back with rope from the lifeboat. “Yeah. That’s what I’ll do. Get in!”
“All right, all right,” I said. “Just let him go.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” he asked. “I said get in!”
I had to get Baldie away from Luke and give the police time to make it to the upper deck.
“You’ll have to catch me first,” I said, clutching my bag to my chest.
Jade, watch out! Luke rang.
Baldie lunged toward me with the wrench but slipped on the wet deck in the process. He gained his balance and chased me toward the bow. I ducked, avoiding the wrench as Baldie swung it my way. My only escape was to jump in the pool and run for the waterslide, trying not to get my bag and Mr. Martin’s phone wet just in case I’d need it.
“Come back here,” Baldie yelled, jumping into the pool to catch me. I didn’t have a choice but to jump into the waterslide opening. I climbed up, up, up, trying to brace my feet and hands along the sides of the slide so I wouldn’t slip back down. The tube slide was see-through so I could see Baldie fold his arms over his chest and laugh at me, thinking there was no way I was going to escape.
My head began to spin as I traveled through the tube, moving across the ship’s railing until I was hanging out over the side of the deck and looking down into the watery depths of the ocean. I stopped and braced myself against the slide, ignoring the fact that I was basically hovering hundreds of feet above the Atlantic Ocean.
Hurl alert!
It was true—I was trapped. But the smug look on Baldie’s face made my blood boil. The guy had to pay for what he did. And Ensel too. Hopefully I’d stalled Baldie long enough for the cops to get here in time. What about Ensel, though? He couldn’t walk free!
I took a deep breath and was focused on Baldie’s terrible, self-satisfied face when I got an idea. I fished in my bag and pulled out Mr. Martin’s phone and Ensel’s business card. I punched in the number and started a new message.
I’m the guy with the stuff. Be at the drop site in half an hour.
Seconds later, a message popped up from Ensel.
You better not be messing with me. Got a lot riding on this deal.
I looked down the slide and saw that Baldie had decided I wasn’t worth it because he was back at the lifeboat, lowering it with him and Luke inside. Oh no! He couldn’t escape. Where were the cops?
I texted Trey and Cori at Bobbie’s number.
almost here?
Seconds later, they texted back.
holdno! almst trhe!!
gr8! & get the cops to señor frg’s in half an hour. anthr bad guy to arrest!
I was about to slide down the waterslide to try and stop Baldie when two policemen rushed onto the deck. They stopped the lifeboat’s descent and nabbed Baldie. Trey and Cori arrived moments later with the lady officer. While she helped get Luke untied, he looked my way and flashed an adorable “We did it!” smile.
I held a finger up to my lips so he wouldn’t let on I was there.
I had a backpack to deliver.
Once Baldie was arrested and they took him away, I waited until everyone was long gone and then slid back down the waterslide. I rushed down the stairs and back onto the dock, far away from prying eyes, then took a huge swan dive into the harbor.
I hit the water so hard that I saw white. Then my legs exploded into a tail as my sundress swirled around me.
I spun around toward the pier, working the muscles of my newly formed tail, and swept my arms behind me to get some momentum. It was completely dark by then—I guessed it was about 10 p.m.—making it hard to see through the gloomy water, but my eyes had adjusted to the dark by the time I reached the pier.
The backpack. Where was it? I traveled up and down along the pier, trying to remember exactly where I’d stashed it. Then I remembered that Henry was toward the bow of the cruise ship when I found him, not the stern, so I swam under the ship’s hull to the other side and kept swimming, hunting around the framework of the pier.
After ten minutes or so of searching, I started to panic. What if I couldn’t find the backpack? What if Ensel got away with his dirty tricks? He’d probably make up some kind of story about Dillon and pin everything on Baldie. Who would believe a proven kidnapper like Baldie over a police officer like Ensel? I couldn’t let Ensel just walk away.
Finally, I saw a flash of green a few dozen feet down the pier. The backpack!
I swam to it and pulled it off the spike where I’d left it, scraping my hand in the process.
Yeowch! Pain sliced across my palm, and my arm almost snapped off as the backpack sank like a boulder to the bottom of the ocean.
I swam after it and struggled to slip the bag onto my back along with my own backpack, and then I remembered I still had Mr. Martin’s phone in there. Oops. Being a mermaid definitely wasn’t electronics friendly.
My hand ached from scraping it on the sharp spike, and the weight of Baldie’s backpack pulled me down to the ocean floor. I pushed my swaying hair away from my face and struggled to keep moving, but I felt like I was carrying a hundred-pound sack of potatoes. One way or another, though, I had to get to Señor Frog’s.
I swam with all my might, but the weight of the backpack slowed me to the speed of a one-armed dog paddle.
By then, I was sure I’d been in the water for at least twenty minutes and I was barely skimming the bottom of the ocean floor with my feeble swimming attempts. At the rate I was going, it would take me well into next week to get to the drop-off.
I wasn’t sure if it was the hopelessness of the situation, knowing there was no way I’d make it to Señor Frog’s on time, but the evening light dimmed even more than usual, casting dark shadows all around me. It didn’t help that my hand was now throbbing. And, ugh, was it bleeding?
I looked up, wondering if a cloud had covered the moon, and saw the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen.
Edges of moonlight glistened around an unmistakable sleek, dark shadow.
Slow moving. Stealthy. Sharp finned.
Shark! I rang out without thinking.
The shark zoomed toward me, sensing my presence, probably sniffing the blood from my hand. I swam with all my might, desperate to get away, with the soundtrack from Cori’s video blaring in my head.
I’m sorry, Cori! I should have gone shark diving with you! Now I have no shark skills, and it’s all my fault! I rang, nearly delirious with fear.
I felt something grip the back of my backpack with such force that it snapped my head back.
Ack! I couldn’t believe it. After months and months as a mermaid, I was about to become a mer-kebab!
The great reef tiger shark (or whatever the monster with the death grip on my backpack was called) shook me back and forth through the water like a toddler swinging a rag doll.
I am SO dead, I rang.
But all of a sudden, I felt a thump from behind. I swung my head around and caught a glimpse of a second shadow. Then a third.
Thump! Thump!
Ocean human! I heard a ring call.
The dolphins!
The water around me filled with the loudest, shriekiest sounds I’d ever heard as the dolphins called to one another. Within seconds, more dolphins appeared all around me, adding to the noise.
Thump! Thump!
The dolphins were attacking the shark! They were trying to save me.
I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut as the noise and force of the fight behind me intensified. The shark kept swinging me around, making my brain scramble inside my skull.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Finally, thankfully, amazingly, the shark let go and I floated down, down, down to the bottom of the ocean, exhausted by the fight
and weighed down by the backpack. I landed face up, looking up at the battle in the water above me as the dolphins rammed into the shark, chasing it away.
I could barely move, barely process what had just happened, barely believe I was still alive!
Seconds later, the same silver-beaked dolphin I’d seen at the marina the night before appeared by my side in the moonlight.
It’s you! I rang, relieved to see a friendly face. Um, beak. I tried to speak as plainly as possible so the dolphin could understand. You saved me! Thank you!
You help ocean human. Make harbor safe for us again. We help you. The dolphin motioned with his beak for his friend to come nearer. At first, the other dolphin was skittish but I must have looked pretty harmless because soon he came to my side.
You mean Henry? I asked. He’s okay now. He’ll be going home soon so you can have your harbor back. But I need to catch the bad human who hurt him.
And by “human” I meant Ensel, though he was pretty subhuman as far as I was concerned. I was fairly sure Ensel didn’t know anything about mers—Baldie had told him his “guy” was a scuba diver, not a mer—but clearly Ensel was as much to blame for Henry’s situation as Baldie was.
Bad human? the dolphin replied.
Yes. I struggled to get moving again, hoping the shark hadn’t torn too big a hole in the backpack. I need to get this bag somewhere very soon or else the bad human will escape.
We help you again, then no more ocean humans? the dolphin asked.
So they wanted me gone too? I guess I was only slightly less irritating to be around than a full-fledged mer, but I tried not to take it personally that I was still rather offensive.
Trust me, I rang back. The sooner I get out of this harbor, the better!
Then, we go! The dolphin and his friend each grabbed a strap of the backpack and pulled me along while their pals formed a dolphin guard all around me in case the shark came back.
Okay, then, if you insist! I rang, letting them drag my limp, tired body in the general direction of the Straw Market. Off to Señor Frog’s!
•••
Thankfully, the big yellow hook attached to the pier below Señor Frog’s was fairly easy to find once we got there, but if Officer Ensel wanted the stash in the backpack, he’d have to get very wet. I attached the bag to the hook and gave the straps a few extra turns and knots, just to make things interesting. The pack had a rip at the top of the bag, thanks to my toothy pal, but none of the load was lost as far as I could tell. Though I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to me if I hadn’t been carrying smuggled goods on my back.
Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells Page 14
