“Stop fighting,” the masked man whispered in my ear. “Or I will end you.”

He struggled to keep hold of me as I squirmed in his grasp. The man who had thrown Mackenzie off the deck calmly walked down the ladder. My captor dumped me on to the floor. The shattered glass from the door and Mackenzie’s computers ground into my skin. I ignored the hundreds of cuts and scrapes as I rolled to all fours, determined to go after Mackenzie.

He kicked me in the ribs. “Stay down.” I crumpled to the floor in agony.

As he disappeared down the ladder, I heard an engine roar to life. I crawled through the broken glass to the deck’s edge. I stifled a gasp.

Two masked men were huddled in the dinghy below me. Mackenzie’s body bobbed face down a few feet away. Was she dead? She couldn’t be dead.

A fight broke out in the boat. The men were shouting. One even threw a punch.

“We can’t leave her here like that,” one man screamed and manoeuvred the boat closer to Mackenzie.

“What does it matter?” the other guy yelled. Was he going to watch her drown?

“I’m not killing a kid,” the guy said as he dragged Mackenzie into the boat.

With every passing second, my panic multiplied until I saw her swing wide and bash one of the pirates in the face. She was putting up one heck of a fight. I’m pretty sure I’d taught her that. As the dinghy zipped away, the other pirate seized her by the hair and shoved her to the bottom of the boat. They may not want to kill her, but they sure didn’t mind hurting her.

As Mackenzie’s dinghy skidded over the reef, I spotted the flashing red lights of another dinghy waiting outside the lagoon. Both boats whipped out to the open sea. The bad guys were getting away, and they were taking Mackenzie with them.

I didn’t think. I raced out of the bungalow towards the island. I had to do something to save Mackenzie. I kept my eye on the vanishing boats. From my vantage point on the elevated pier, I spotted two of the pirates’ dinghies banked on the beach. I hurdled over anything in my way.

It didn’t matter that it was me against at least four bad guys. I didn’t have a clue what I would do when I caught up to them. I would think of something. I was part soldier and part criminal, after all.

I ran to one of the remaining dinghies and pushed it into the water. Every muscle in my body hurt, but I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. I leapt in. The dinghy skidded forward. A sharp and swift tug on the pull cord and the engine roared to life.

I scanned the horizon. A cluster of tiny red lights twinkled up ahead. That had to be the bad guys. The light grew dimmer by the second. I jetted off after them.

I cut the motor when the dinghies’ red dots slowed and clustered. I floated forward on the momentum of the chase. My eyes adjusted to the moonlight. The outline of a huge luxury yacht took shape – the same yacht Mackenzie and I had nearly rammed with a Jet Ski. If only I’d known then what the guy with the binoculars was planning… It wasn’t the first time I’d wished for a time machine.

I used the oars that were snapped to the boat to slow myself. I couldn’t risk getting too close. The dinghies were anchored to the back deck of the yacht. A Mackenzie-sized shape was being forced up the stairs that lead to the main deck. It took three of the four men to carry the squirming, shouting girl away. The other baddie disappeared on to the yacht.

I watched and listened. I was sure the baddies would make a swift escape. They had their money and a hostage. Why would they stick around? But the yacht didn’t move. Then someone must have pulled the master switch because the ship’s lights came on. There were running lights dotted around the boat as well as lights in the portholes. A spotlight illuminated the ship’s name: King’s Ransom. If I got within twenty feet of the boat, I would be spotted.

I waited, hand on the pull cord, ready to follow the yacht. Nothing happened. I could see dark figures cross the windows on the upper deck, but the yacht was quiet.

The longer I waited, the more horrible images popped into my brain. They were of Mackenzie and the terrible things they could be doing to her. Maybe they’d discovered she was a geeky genius and wanted her help with techy stuff? If they found out she was the daughter of an officer in the Royalty Protection Command, maybe they would torture her for information? I couldn’t sit here any longer.

I floated closer, ducking as low as I could while still being able to row with the oars. I felt as if the rest of the world had vanished, and all that remained was me, four bad guys and Mackenzie. I scanned each deck as I drew closer.

Think like a bad guy, I told myself. My mom was a criminal. Her blood ran through my veins. I’d pretend I was a thief. I was going to have to sneak on to the yacht. What did thieves in the old movies always say – case the joint? I needed to figure out the layout of the ship. I counted four floors – one at sea level, two decks that stretched the length of the yacht, and a smaller level at the top. My best shot of helping Mackenzie was if they dumped her in some room and forgot about her. If someone was guarding her, all I had to defeat him with was the element of surprise. Not as good as a gun or a Taser or even a big stick.

I made myself very small as my boat shot into the circle of light surrounding the yacht. Something moved on the upper deck. I flattened myself to the bottom of the boat. There it was again. I wrenched the oars back to stop my forward motion. Shadows flickered on one of the middle decks. Had someone seen me? I slowly began to row in reverse. My eyes ached to blink, but I had to stay vigilant. Maybe they hadn’t spotted me. I stopped and bobbed on the surf.

A nasty stench crashed over me. Fish! Not the kind Dad made with garlic and lemon. This was that gross smell of fish guts. Dad and I went fishing, but I never ever cleaned the fish we caught. I hated the smell of fish innards. The smell overwhelmed me as something splashed into the water near the yacht. Two men were on the top deck tossing buckets of something overboard. Were they dumping evidence?

I studied the men and the waterfall of gunk splashing into the ocean. I was so busy focusing on the yacht that I didn’t notice my boat drifting back into the light. Oh no! I collapsed on to the floor of the boat, covering my head with my hands in a lame attempt to hide. I sneaked a quick look.

Both men were staring right at me. I leapt back into the seat and fumbled for the pull cord. The engine wouldn’t start. I kept my eyes glued to the men. Something in one of their hands flashed in the moonlight. The man was holding a knife. The glare of his smile matched the glimmer of the light on the blade. He whipped his arm back. The knife spun through the air. It was heading straight for me. I ducked.

The knife stabbed the inflatable boat. Air whooshed out making a loud raspberry sound. I opened my eyes. Another knife whipped through the air. I sprang to the other side as it dug into the boat only inches from my head.

I glanced up at the yacht, expecting to dodge another knife or bullets or rocks, but the two men were gone. I didn’t understand. Why didn’t they finish me off? I counted my blessings, but only for a second. Water gushed over the deflating sides. My dinghy was sinking. I tried to balance on what was now an oversized surfboard, but it was no use. The air hissed out and rocked me back and forth. I toppled over. My feet tangled with the rope, oars and floppy sides. I pushed myself away, afraid I’d be dragged down with the dinghy. I kicked at the boat’s debris until I was clear of the wreckage.

I trod water. If I swam to the boat, they would capture me for sure. No element of surprise. No hope of saving Mackenzie or myself. There was no way I could swim back to the island. I was as good as dead.

I didn’t want to drown. I took one strong stroke towards the yacht. My hand struck something and then something else knocked into my side. The rancid raw fish smell overwhelmed me again. Bits pinged against my arms and chest. I had floated into the slick of blood and fish bits that the bad guys had tossed into the water. I gagged and choked back the bile rising in my throat. I was coated in fish guts.

I screamed not only because I was the centre of a disgusting sushi roll but also because I sensed movement below me. Then I saw it – a fin cutting through the water. It wasn’t the frolicking fin of a dolphin this time.

SHARK!!!

No, not just one shark. I could feel the water boiling below me.

Terror crackled through my body in a way I had never felt before. My body went limp, and I was pretty sure in that second my heart stopped beating. The bad guys weren’t going to stab or drown or shoot me. They’d thought of something much worse. They were going to let the sharks kill the kid.