5

 

Lou sat on the couch on the bridge with Staci, watching as the various boats, ships and catamarans passed them by.

A big naval vessel lay tied up at one dock. A helicopter landed on its deck and several men in flight suits jumped out to be met by officers in uniform. Lou sighed.

“There’s just something about a man in uniform, isn’t there?” she said wistfully.

“If you insist. I’ve never seen the attraction myself,” Jim said.

Lou laughed. “I should hope not.”

A huge cruise liner at another dock completely dwarfed them as they sailed past. Full of holidaymakers hanging over her sides, she gracefully floated as men loaded cargo aboard her.

Lou heard a siren and turned to look behind them. A flashing light identified the fast approaching boat as police. Four armed officers stood on deck and the loud hailer instructed them to pull over.

“Jim? What are you going to do?”

“Do what they want.”

“You can’t.”

“I have to.” Jim began to slow the boat and moved it to rest at the side of the waterway.

The police boat shot past and one of the officers waved his thanks.

Lou released a sigh of relief.

“For a moment I thought...”

“We all did,” Jim said. He pulled out into the main waterway again and followed in the wake of the police boat.

“Wonder where they’re going?” Staci said.

“Somewhere in a hurry. Maybe they’re late for lunch,” Lou said.

“With guns?”

“Maybe they’ve had lunch, and they’re off to kill the cook,” Jim said grinning.

“There it is,” Staci pointed. “It’s slowing down.”

Suddenly an almighty explosion fragmented the police boat into a mass of flames and smoke. Shattered timbers and twisted metal flew everywhere.

Staci screamed.

Jim swerved to avoid the debris.

“Jim, there are people out there. We have to help them.” Lou said.

“There are other people to help.” Jim said. “We’d be caught. My parents…”

“We’re closest. We can’t just leave them.”

“There are people on the quay, look, they’re already stripping down.” Jim’s face showed his indecision. He angled the boat towards the mess.

“Jim, those men are dying out there. Slow down. I’m going to help.”

“I know. Law of the sea, we have to help. Go on, then.” His expression was grim. “I’ll hold Avon steady. Staci doesn’t swim well enough. It’s up to you.”

As Avon slowed to a crawl, Lou dived over the side. A strong swimmer, she soon reached the site of the accident. She was the first person there, as she had correctly told Jim they were nearer than the people on shore. She reached the first body. Turning him over, she realized immediately that he was dead.

Swallowing hard, she turned away and swam across to the next one. His arm very obviously broken, he was treading water in a great deal of pain. Grabbing hold of him, she put her arm around him and swimming one handed, she towed him over to the quay. She pushed him into the waiting arms of the bystanders.

Turning around she swam back towards the inferno. Noticing a hand amidst the flames, she took a deep breath and dived under the water.

The water was illuminated with an eerie glow.

Something gleamed beneath her, possibly a face, but she wasn’t sure. I’ll be back she promised. Surfacing, she grabbed the unconscious officer and dragged him below the water. As soon as they were past the fire she surfaced and once again pulled a victim towards the quay.

Strong arms reached down and pulled him ashore.

Quickly, Lou turned and swam back towards the fire. Diving below, she went back to where she’d seen something. She stroked her arms down and touched the officer’s face.

His eyes opened.

Lou pulled at the timbers on him. They gave slightly.

Knowing he would die if he didn’t breathe soon, she pressed her mouth to his, and filled his lungs with the last of her air. She surfaced and took a huge breath. Diving down again she pulled at the timbers and they moved almost enough. Again, she gave him the last of her air before surfacing.

For a third time, she took a deep breath and dived down. She pulled as hard as she could. This time they shifted enough for her to pull the officer free. She grabbed him tightly and hauled him to the surface. There she adjusted her grip and swam. Once he was ashore Lou turned to go back again, but was stopped. She struggled against the man.

A strong vice-like grip held her arms. “There are others there now, miss,” a voice told her.

Lou shivered. She looked down at the last man she’d pulled out. “Is he OK?” she asked.

“He’ll be fine,” answered the man in uniform kneeling next to him. He looked up from tending to him and continued, “Thanks to you. What’s your name?”

Lou shivered again and someone put a blanket round her. “Louisa Benson,” she said automatically. “I couldn’t leave them to die. I had to do something. It was pure chance I found him. He was trapped under the water. I had to do something.”

She looked round, searching for Avon. There were so many people she couldn’t see the water, never mind a friendly face. “I have to go.” She pushed the blanket off and shook free of the arms around her.

“Where are you going?” someone asked her.

“I have to go. The others are waiting.” She pushed her way through the crowd to the edge of the dock and looked for any sign of Jim, Staci or Avon. She couldn’t see it anywhere and for one awful moment, she thought they left her. Everything spun round and then went dark. Lou lost her balance and just before she hit the ground, two strong arms caught her.

“Easy does it, love. Just sit here for a minute. Let’s have some room here people.”

Someone sat her down and pushed her head between her knees. Cool fingers grasped her wrist and checked her pulse.

“You’ll be fine,” the voice told her. “My name’s Lieutenant Jacobs. I’m a naval doctor. Just sit quietly for a minute. Then, I’ll check you out properly in the ambulance. What’s your name?”

“Louisa.”

“OK, Louisa. What day is it?”

“Monday June second.”

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen,” Lou lied. She wasn’t so out of it as to give her true age. “I have to go.” She tried to get up but her legs wouldn’t obey.

Lieutenant Jacobs pushed her back down. “Not so fast.”

“They’ll be wondering where I am. I must go.”

“Let me check you over first. What’s the name of your boat?”

“Avon.”

“I’ll have someone tell them where you are. What’s their call sign?”

“Alpha Juliet Tango Kilo.”

“Consider it done.”

Lou let him carry her into the ambulance. She endured the tests, hoping she would be allowed to go.

“You’re fine,” Lieutenant Jacobs told her. “I would prefer to take you into hospital though.”

“I can’t,” Lou insisted. “You said I was all right. I really do have to go.”

“OK,” Lieutenant Jacobs said. He helped her out of the ambulance and turned to one of his other patients.

Lou stood on the quay wondering where she went from here. A voice behind her made her turn.

“Miss Benson?” A police officer stood behind her and her heart fell into her boots.

“Yes, officer?” she managed to reply. She started to shake, part with the cold and part with fear of being stopped and sent back home.

“Your boat is moored further down. I’ll take you to it, but first there is someone who’d like a word with you.” He put a blanket round her and guided her through the crowd to another ambulance. A stretcher was being loaded into it. At their approach, the paramedics paused. The figure turned slightly and Lou recognized the face as the third man she had pulled from the wreck of the boat.

He pulled down his oxygen mask and smiled at her. “I just wanted to say thank you to the person who saved my life.”

“I just did what anyone would have done.”

“If you hadn’t found me when you did, I’d be dead right now. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Lou shivered again.

“Better get you into dry clothes, miss.” Her escort turned her away and guided her towards the end of the quay. “You are a very brave girl. Those men owe you their lives.”

“Anyone would have done it,” Lou insisted.

“You did it. Those on the dock were still calling the emergency services when you brought the first man out. They could have died had it not been for you.”

They reached the spot where Avon waited, and Jim stood on deck.

“Thanks.” Lou said as the policeman helped her aboard.

He smiled. “It’s us who should be thanking you. You saved three lives out there today.” He looked at Jim. “I’d get her warmed up quickly, sir. She’s a brave girl. The medics have checked her over and she’s fine.”

“Will do. Thanks for bringing her back, Officer. Go and get changed, Lou.” Jim’s brusque tone stifled her joy.

Lou hurried inside and down to her cabin. She had risked this whole venture. But those men were probably fathers and brothers, wasn’t this a rescue mission?

The boat began moving before she’d even stripped off her wet things. She changed quickly, returned to the bridge, and gratefully accepted the hot coffee Staci offered, wrapping her hands around it. Despite her jeans and jumper, she was still cold.

Jim glared at her and then turned his attention back to the controls. “How can I trust you when you go do stupid things like that?”

“I couldn’t watch those people die. You of all people should understand that.”

He shook his head. “You have no idea why I’m mad, do you? You could have been killed.”

“At least I did something.” Lou yelled back.

“You just didn’t think, did you, Lou? You never do. Just dive straight in and never mind the consequences or anybody else. I couldn’t just leave the boat to drift and dive in!”

“There wasn’t time to think. Those men were dying. I had to go and help. No one else did, Jim. No one.”

Staci started to cry. “Please, don’t argue. Nothing bad happened did it?”

“More by luck than judgment,” Jim muttered. He looked across at Lou. “I’m sorry. It’s just we were so close to getting away and, well, you know how I feel about you...”

“Yeah, hate my guts.”

“Sometimes…actually you’re like a sister to me,” he said gruffly.

“Definitely hate my guts.” A sister? I don’t want to be your sister…

“Friends?”

Lou nodded. “Yeah, friends. I’m going outside.” She climbed down the ladder to the deck.

Deefer found the outside ladder impossible and so he bounded down the steps to the galley and out that way. He flopped down next to Lou. As Jim increased speed, the wind blew in her face, drying her hair. The last of the docks slipped away and Avon slid smoothly into the open sea.

Lou stroked the dog. “We’ve left port. This is the sea.”

Staci joined them. “We made it. We are at sea,” she said excitedly.

“Yeah, all at sea,” Lou said glumly.

Staci gave her a strange look. “Are you OK?”

“Fine,” Lou said, hugging her knees and looking out to sea as her eyes started to fill with tears. Jim was right. She was an idiot.

“That was a really brave thing you did back there,” Staci told her.

“No, it wasn’t. It was stupid.”

“You saved three lives. That’s not stupid. Lou, you were right. We were the closest to the accident. We had to help. We weren’t caught, were we? Ignore Jim, he’s just a worrywart. Lou, there are three guys back there who would be dead right now if it weren’t for you.”

“I could have been killed. I didn’t think. I just jumped straight in there.” Lou’s voice wobbled, and she buried her face in Deefer’s fur and began to sob. Great big heartrending sobs as the reality of what she had done finally hit her. If she’d died out there, she’d have left her mum alone without anyone. Mum only had her since Dad died and now she didn’t even have that.

Staci wrapped her arms around her, not saying anything.

Finally, Lou sucked in a deep breath. “Should probably do lunch.”

Staci nodded. “Cake. And chocolate. Not healthy, but the best thing when you’re sad.”

“Sounds good to me.” She rubbed her hands over her eyes and followed Staci back inside.

Deefer went straight to his bowl and tucked into his lunch.

Lou grabbed the glasses while Staci picked up the cake and the chocolate.

As they entered the bridge, Jim smiled at Lou. “Fancy a sailing lesson?”

Lou put the glasses on the table. “I didn’t think you trusted me.”

Jim turned and took hold of her arms. “I’m sorry. Lou, you’ve got more guts than I have. You saw people in trouble and you put your own life in danger to help them. You saved three lives this morning. You are one of, if not the, bravest person I know. Of course, I trust you. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I don’t want to lose you, that’s all. I like you too much. And I want to teach you to sail, OK?”

Lou nodded. Perhaps in time like would turn to something else, especially if he was teaching her sailing in this enclosed space. “And I’d like to learn.”

“Good. The autopilot and radar do all the hard work. The only time we really need manual control is while in port or the Panama Canal. But we can’t leave it because it can’t change course to avoid obstacles that it has seen and we haven’t.”

“Such as?” Lou asked.

“Lighthouses.”

Staci snorted. “Oh, come on. Don’t be silly. Even I know a lighthouse when I see one. So what happens when it spots a lighthouse and we don’t?”

“An alarm sounds and you take appropriate action. So, fancy a lesson in sailing, Lou?” He walked over to the helm.

Lou followed and gingerly took the wheel in her hands.

“Hold it firmly,” Jim told her. “It won’t bite.” He stood quietly while she got used to how Avon felt. Then he pointed out the throttle, compass, and the panel with the course-heading dial on it. “The lights are there, foghorn, speedometer for want of a better word, autopilot...”

“Speaking of autopilot when are you turning it off?”

“It’s been off for the past five minutes,” he told her with a laugh. “See, I told you that you could do it.”

Jim switched the autopilot back on and stood at the wheel. “So long as one of us is on the bridge all the time we’ll be fine.”

“What about nights?” Staci asked.

“What I would suggest is a shift system. Three four-hour shifts during the day with the night being split into two six-hour shifts. If necessary I’ll do all night, grabbing sleep when I can.”

“We’ve got a couple of days yet,” Lou said. “Especially if we are stopping overnight while we can. Time to sort things out before we need it.” She looked at Jim. “And don’t even think about sending us home.”

“Look, there are the Needles.”

Noting he’d changed the subject, but not commenting for now, Lou grabbed the camera and took a photo. “The English Channel, and it’s not even lunch time. Are we stopping tonight?”

“I wasn’t planning on stopping before Land’s End. I want to get there as quickly as I possibly can. Mum and Dad need us.”

“OK.” She sipped her juice.

Staci crossed over to Jim and leaned against him.

We did the right thing. She felt a pang of guilt over the way they had upped and gone. She’d seen dozens of appeals on the television from frantic parents whose children had gone missing. The tearful mothers and worried fathers always flanked by the severe faced police officers at the press conferences, pleading for information, for the person who’d taken the children to come forward and return them. Usually they never did and the missing children case turned into a murder hunt.

This was what they were putting her mother through, but what choice did they have? Jim and Staci needed their parents and no one else was doing anything. So it was up to them to go and find them.

 

~*~

 

Jim watched the land slip past on the port side of the boat. He still couldn’t believe the girls had been stupid enough to stow away, or that he was stupid enough not to send them back. Admittedly, he’d almost done so at customs and then again, when the police boat waved them over earlier.

When Lou had thrown herself into the water to save those injured police officers, it had changed things. He didn’t want to get caught and sent home for doing the right and decent thing. He didn’t want to lose someone else whom he loved. He’d lost enough over the past few weeks without losing anymore.

He knew how tough it would be to cross the Atlantic. To the girls it was just a big adventure. In reality, it was anything but. Planning it was one thing, as was sitting on board her safely tied up in the harbor. Taking her to the Philippines was another thing all together.

If they did get there, would they find his parents?

Of course, he’d find get there and find them.