Maddy's Dolphin (11 page)

Up on the cliffs, CJ was on the phone to James, telling him where Lucy was now, and that Maddy was on the jet ski. Both helicopters headed over towards the boat. ‘What about Maddy?' shouted CJ.

‘Next, I promise,' said James. ‘Keep an eye on them.' And the phone went dead.

Indigo followed the boat, too, as Maddy had told him to. She said he had to make sure Lucy was safe. He sent Stone, Pebble and Star off after the jet ski so that they wouldn't lose Maddy and he headed off after the speedboat.

The helicopters came in low above the boat, and the men in the boat shot up at them, forcing them to move back. It was a stalemate. Indigo asked all the dolphins around to make themselves visible in the water in front; the men wouldn't want to hit into them as it would cause the boat to crash. The plan was that if they had to move to avoid the dolphins then they would have to slow down. It worked. The dolphins were very brave to go in front of the boat. They all made themselves as visible as possible, keeping as much of themselves out of the water as they could and the boat had to slow down and keep turning to avoid them.

Indigo took his chance on one turn of the boat and he jumped; it was a massive jump and he sailed over the boat, knocking one of the men right out of the boat and into the sea. This caused the boat to slow to an abrupt stop, as the man Indigo had knocked out was the man who had been driving.

Lucy, who had been standing up at the back of the boat when it suddenly stopped, was knocked from the boat into the water and plunged right down under and out of sight.

The President, in the helicopter above, looked on in horror. He noticed that Lucy had her hands tied as she fell into the water. The helicopter dropped down and James and two soldiers jumped into the water.

Indigo, under the waves, saw Lucy going down, unable to swim and keep herself above the surface with her hands tied. He swam up to her and got his dorsal fin between her arms, then he returned to the surface with Lucy on his back, her tied arms holding her to his fin. As they surfaced Indigo headed straight for Lunar, who was close by. She had been a great obstacle for the speedboat, but now she made a perfect landing station for Lucy. Indigo got Lucy onto Lunar's back, made sure she was OK and swam off at speed.

From the helicopter, the President was heard to simply say, ‘Wow!'

Maddy was scared. The big man was going so fast that they were crashing into the waves and banging back down onto the surface of the sea. He had skirted the coast and now it looked like he might be heading back in to the shore. She could see three dolphins swimming alongside and that made her feel a lot better. She knew, though, that if the man took her ashore she was going to be in trouble.

She had to think of something to get away from this man; she had been still for a while now, not struggling so that he would be off his guard when she tried something. She then heard Indigo: ‘Lucy is safe; I'm coming for you, Maddy.' That raised her hopes. She was going to be OK; Indigo was going to come and save her.

‘Indigo, tell Stone and the others to jump up and startle the man, I need to get off the ski before he gets to the shore. Indigo said he would and then called out to the dolphins. Within minutes first Stone, then Star, then Riddle were jumping up close to the jet ski as high as they could. They startled the man. He was flinching and losing control slightly, then he overcompensated, turning too quickly, and they came tumbling off into the sea with the jet ski tumbling over on top of them.

Maddy didn't quite know what was happening as she tumbled through the air then collided with the sea. The jet ski only just missed her, but hitting the surface was nearly as bad. All the air in her lungs was knocked out and she was knocked unconscious as her head collided with the waves.

Maddy was sinking down beneath the surface. She was unconscious. ‘That's it. You are swimming like a dolphin, Maddy.' It was her auntie, when Maddy had been taken swimming by her in England when she was two. ‘Why did you have to get me a brother, Mum?' she was asking her mum when she was about three in Greece one day. ‘I thought you would like a brother to play with.' ‘No, Mummy,' she replied. Then she was riding her first ever bicycle in Paros. Memories were floating through her mind as she was floating in the sea. ‘You are safe; you are in my world now. I will keep you safe.' It was Indigo, the first time she had met him when she was just two. ‘You are safe Maddy.' No, it was Indigo now.

Maddy coughed out water and choked, then took a huge breath of air. Indigo was looking at her with great concern as she lay on the backs of two other dolphins, who were holding her up. She was OK. She coughed again and took more breaths before she could speak. Indigo kept saying, ‘You are safe. You are OK, Maddy.'

They then heard a helicopter overhead and James dropped into the water beside them; he put a harness around her and Maddy was winched up to the helicopter. Inside was Lucy; she gave Maddy a huge hug and they both hung onto each other, crying and laughing at the same time. The President couldn't stop saying, ‘Well I never. I can't believe what I've seen today.'

The helicopter swung around and both Maddy and Lucy waved to Indigo and the others as it wheeled away and headed back up the coast.

CJ, who had seen most of what had happened, was now on the phone to James, who was telling him they were all OK. James handed the phone over to Maddy and they both spoke at once, neither being heard by the other. By this time, CJ had just reached where Ishbel was. Ishbel stood up on his approach and put her book down. ‘Where's Maddy, CJ? What's been going on?'

Maddy heard that and both CJ and Maddy laughed out loud. Maddy said, ‘You explain, CJ, and bring her back in the boat. We are going to the hotel. Come there too.'

CJ started to explain to a disbelieving mother as the helicopter flew overhead, with Maddy and Lucy waving from the open side door.

It had been two very busy, hectic days. Maddy was still very sore and stiff after being thrown into the water from the jet ski, but she had no broken bones, just some nasty bruises.

There had been a press frenzy at first, with Lucy being found safe and well and the three kidnappers being arrested. Tales of how Lucy was rescued were flying around, but no one believed the real story. The officials had decided that no one would ever believe that the dolphins and a whale could have acted with such organisation and bravery as they had, or that they alone had saved Lucy and Maddy. In fact everyone who had witnessed it was starting to think that they couldn't have seen what they saw. Although in their minds they knew the truth, after getting back to the hotel they found that they couldn't speak about it. It had been amazing.

The press came up with a version of the rescue where a dolphin's presence was mentioned, but everything had been done by the Americans. The President's daughter was safe; the three kidnappers were under arrest. Questions were asked about how the daughter of the President could have been kidnapped, with security at its highest around the country. That led to further discussion on the news channels about the sonar being used and the amount of sea life hurt by its use. Was it effective? Was it worth the damage to the seas?

The President had gone for a swim on the day after the rescue, with Lucy, who was recovering quickly. They met up with Maddy, CJ and Indigo, and the President spent quite a while with Indigo, stroking his side and saying thank you for saving his daughter. Indigo wished that he could speak to this man, who had the power to turn off all the dangerous sonar. He wanted to tell him all about the beautiful seas, and the creatures in the seas, and to show to him the price of keeping the sonar going… But instead all he could do was to look into the President's eyes with his own eyes and try to convey this with a look. The President was touched by the look in Indigo's eyes. You cannot look into a dolphin's eyes without being touched, but this was so intense a look that, for a moment, the President actually saw Indigo's thoughts.

That night they had all been invited to dinner in the hotel's Presidential suite. Ishbel had been in a panic when they got the invitation that day. What should they wear? Would Jorgos behave? He had no table manners. Would the children behave? CJ was as bad as Jorgos at shovelling food into his mouth. What could she wear!

The meal turned out to be very informal and everyone enjoyed themselves. Maddy took the opportunity to speak to the President about the dangers whales and dolphins encounter on a daily basis, and mostly about what happens to them with the low- and mid-frequency sonar. Lucy was a great help too, and the President found that he had a very hard time justifying the use of sonar on his submarines. Jorgos and CJ had four helpings and were far too busy eating to speak much. Jorgos was very pleased he had decided to go, the food was so good.

Then, the following afternoon, when Maddy and CJ were eating their lunch, they saw on the news that the President had held a press conference and had announced that, as of today, America had stopped the use of its low-frequency sonar and he was appealing to all other nations to do the same. He said that it was time that the human race took a step back to look at what cost their lives were having on other species. He had been speaking to various experts and had decided that there was no doubt that using the low-frequency sonar was causing more harm to the animals that lived in the sea than benefit to the human race. Over the next few weeks, he would be looking into the use of the mid-frequency sonar, and if the result was the same he would be stopping its use too.

Maddy and CJ stood up and jumped for joy, and Maddy was crying when Ishbel came through to see what was going on. Maddy explained what the President had just said, and then added that on jumping up and being hugged by CJ, her bruised body had hurt. Ishbel gave Maddy a hug, but carefully so as not to hurt her more, and CJ joined them.

It was evening now and Maddy and CJ were at the dock with Indigo, telling him about what had gone on. He told them that Stone and Star had ventured out of the Gulf of Corinth and had heard no loud sonar, just a faint vibration through the water continuing at a steady interval. Maddy said that the submarines were moving away from Greece now as the NATO summit had finished a few days ago. Indigo said that he was going out in the morning, and if it was OK in the Ionian Sea then the dolphins who had come into the Gulf to get away from the noise were going to head out into the sea, and off to their home waters. Lunar was also going to head off tomorrow. The fish were pretty scarce now, as there had been lots of extra mouths to feed.

CJ was sad that Lunar would be going. He loved her and had had a great time swimming and playing with her. She was missing her pod, though, and had to go back to see if any of them had escaped. She also needed to get back to her proper diet. She needed deeper seas so that she could dive deep and find squid. She had lost a lot of weight.

Lucy turned up at this point. She was heading off back to America in an hour, but she had wanted to say goodbye to them all. There were hugs all round and promises to keep in touch. ‘Indigo, I will do everything I can to help whales and dolphins and I will make sure my dad doesn't forget what you all did for me,' said Lucy before giving Indigo a big kiss on the top of his head. She then put her hand on the top of CJ's head and tousled his hair. ‘You're a great kid, CJ. Look after your sister.' She turned to Maddy and gave her a big hug and handed her a folded piece of paper. ‘I thought I'd let you have your letter back. I think it worked out in the end, don't you?'

Maddy took the paper and opened it. It was the letter she and CJ had sent to the President. She had forgotten they had sent it, what with everything going on. ‘Yes, I guess it did work, didn't it.' Lucy walked away, but they would all meet again. Maddy was sure of it.

The next day they said goodbye to Lunar, Stone, Star, Riddle and a few other dolphins from the pod they had got to know during their morning swims. It was sad to say goodbye, but they had to go back, out of the Gulf into the open sea. CJ climbed onto Lunar's back to give her a hug, and as he was clinging on she dived down. He held on until she surfaced. He loved that feeling and he gave her a big kiss before waving goodbye with a big tear in his eye. They all hoped that she would find her pod. Indigo swam off with them. He would leave them at the end of the Gulf to go off on their separate ways.

Indigo had a very happy feeling inside. The Keeper would be proud of him. He and Maddy had proved to be a great team. They had made a big difference. The human race was thinking a lot more about their actions. The humans and dolphins would not be working together on a level pegging as they had in Atlantis for a long while yet, but they had made a little step in the right direction together, and he was happy.

Maddy was thinking the same thing as she headed into their flat for breakfast with her brother. They had done well, and she was happy. She put her arm around her little brother's shoulder as they walked back quietly together.

He was lying on his back on the wooden float which was moored out in the sea. It was a very hot, calm day and the news had just finished on the radio. The old man had been listening intently to what had been happening in Greece and the surprising announcement made by the President of America. He had passed on everything to his companion, Lucaya.

Lucaya was floating in the sea beside the old man. He was very pleased that Indigo and his little friend had achieved so much and the dolphin said as much to the old man. ‘Yes, they have achieved more than we have, Lucaya. Now I know where they are, should we need to get in touch and work together.' The man was very hot and so he rolled off the float into the sea and joined Lucaya for a gentle swim.