Maddy's Dolphin (7 page)

Eventually James slowed down. ‘I guess you want to fish then, Lucy?'

Lucy looked around. They were well out to sea. The location looked perfect. ‘Yes, let's fish, and see who can catch the most.'

Lucy hadn't done any fishing before and so James took his time taking her over the rod and talking about bait. Lucy became quite interested and when she made her first attempt at casting the line whooped for joy as the weight and hook flew through the air and then plopped into the sea. ‘Nice one, Lucy, you're a real pro,' said James as he cast his line; it went flying past where Lucy's had hit water and just went on and on.

They were quiet for a while as they cast the lines out a few times and wound them back, before sending them out once again. After about half an hour, when they had caught nothing, Lucy started to get distracted and looked around to see where James had put the radio and mobile phone down.

‘Lucy, you've got a bite.' Lucy felt the tug on her rod and, as she wasn't concentrating fully, she nearly let it fall from her grip. She grabbed hold and braced herself just in time. James put his own rod down and moved in behind Lucy, who was shouting, ‘What do I do, what do I do?'

‘First things first, you calm down.' James took hold of Lucy's arms with his hands. ‘Then you pull the rod up gently and then wind in the slack, nice and easy.' And they did this together. ‘You just keep doing the same; the secret is to keep the pressure on so that the fish doesn't get a chance to break free.'

After pulling up and winding in the reel four times, Lucy was beginning to think that she must have caught a really big fish. Wow! It could even be a shark! How good would that be!

After winding in about ten times, she saw a flick of silver break the surface momentarily. Well, maybe it wasn't a shark, but the fishing game was pretty hard work. She was glad James was there to help. Then she thought, I wonder if Dad can fish. She had never done anything fun like this with her dad. It always seemed to be James she had fun with and who taught her new and exciting things.

A final pull and the fish jumped right out of the water; but as it came back down the line, which was hooked into its mouth, it wasn't long enough for the fish to reach the water again. Instead he hung there, flapping his tail, as James reached with the net and brought the fish in to the boat.

Lucy was well pleased with herself, but then immediately afterwards felt cruel and guilty. The poor fish! It had been swimming around, happy as you like, then this girl, on a whim, throws a hook over the bow of a boat and hooks its mouth, pulling it out of its environment into hers, where it could not breathe and was about to die. ‘Can we put it back?'

James looked up at her with the fish in his hand, having pulled it from the net. He took hold of the hook and carefully pulled it from the fish's mouth, saying, ‘Of course we can, Lucy.' And he dropped the fish into the water over the side of the boat.

Lucy quickly stepped up to the side and leaned over, to see the fish that had so recently been fighting against her at the other end of the line swim off, back down into the depths of the sea from where it had come. Lucy stood up and, with a huge smile on her face, jumped up at James, throwing her arms around his shoulders saying, ‘Thank you! Thank you, that was great.'

They both heard another plop. Lucy's feet, as she was being swung around by James, had hit the handheld radio and knocked it from the dashboard, where it had been, and into the sea.

James was not so happy now, but it was no big deal. He still had a mobile and Lucy should have one as well. But still, he had better head back to shore just in case. He was responsible for Lucy and he didn't want anything to happen to her.

Lucy had left her mobile behind in the hotel. The radio had gone, so that just left James's phone. It was in his jacket pocket. It was really too hot for a jacket in Greece, but James had to wear one to conceal his gun which was always in his chest holster. Out in the boat, with no one around, he had taken his jacket off. Lucy dropped it over the side as James looked over the back of the boat; he was looking at the engine, which had not started when he pushed the button. He didn't notice her, or the jacket as it slowly sank beneath the surface.

James leaned further over the back and saw that some rope had become tangled up in the rotor blades of the engine. This was not good. He didn't like to be so vulnerable. He was suspicious by nature and took his time to look around carefully.

There was a flash up in the hills on the shore. Was he imagining it? No, there it was again. Was it a signal to someone? He turned to get his phone; he wasn't going to take a chance. He would call for back-up; help would be with them in five minutes. ‘Lucy, have you seen my jacket?'

‘No.'

James picked up the binoculars and, looking around, saw two jet skis heading towards them at speed. ‘Lucy, give me your phone.'

‘I left it in the hotel,' Lucy replied.

At that moment, the boat lurched backwards, jolting them both off their feet; they landed in a huddle at the back of the boat. The boat was moving backwards and was picking up speed; as well as that, it was getting lower in the water, which was climbing fast and then coming over the back. Lucy was quite scared, although she knew it was only Lunar pulling them under and that Indigo was around to make sure they were safe.

The jet skis were nearly on them before Lucy noticed them. As she did, the boat went under, leaving her and James swimming. He had taken his gun out of its holster and was keeping it above water.

Then she noticed that the men on the jet skis also had guns and they shot at them! James fired back and pushed Lucy under the surface. James was hit in the arm and he dropped his gun, but he kept moving himself in front of Lucy, keeping the men's hands away from her as they tried to grab her.

He was kicked in the face and knocked away. One of the men grabbed hold of Lucy and dragged her out of the water and onto the jet ski in front of him; they both sped away, leaving James unconscious behind them.

Suddenly Indigo jumped up alongside the jet ski with Lucy on and she looked into his eye; Lucy was very scared and Indigo could see that, but with that one look she felt that he would look after her. He quickly vanished back into the sea.

She next saw Indigo as he jumped from the side towards the man who was holding her, knocking the man a glancing blow as he flew through the air. Lucy thought he had done it. The blow knocked the man from the jet ski, but he just managed to hold on. There was a massive bang and she saw that as Indigo landed the second jet ski had crashed into him.

Indigo was hurt, his breath was knocked right out of him and he screamed, ‘Indigo, Indigo, Indigo', over and over again. It was instinct, what dolphins do when they are in trouble. They call their name out over and over again, and that's what Indigo was doing now as the two men on their jet skis rode off with the President's daughter.

‘Indigo, Indigo, Indigo'; Maddy was driving the boat, with her dad waterskiing behind, when Indigo called out his name in distress. The shock of his call caused her to momentarily bring the pressure off the boat's accelerator and the boat dramatically slowed. Jorgos suddenly lost momentum and, being way out to the side of the boat and executing a sharp turn, needed all his skill to pull himself up to vertical and not fall into the sea.

Maddy then forced the accelerator down to push the boat to its limit, surging forward as fast as she could in the direction of Indigo. Jorgos, who had only just readjusted to the slowing down of the boat, then nearly lost his grip on the rope as the boat accelerated away, almost pulling his arms out of their sockets. ‘Hey, hey, what are you doing?' he shouted.

At the same time, CJ was in the boat hanging on to his seat. He was also shouting at Maddy, ‘What's up, what's happened?'

All Maddy could say was, ‘Indigo! He's in trouble' and she gritted her teeth, pushing the boat forward to its limit. Jorgos had to use all his skill to hang onto the rope and stay up on his ski.

‘There, in front, there's Lunar and a few dolphins, Maddy,' shouted CJ.

Maddy had seen them too and raced to them, but now started cutting back on the speed. The last thing she wanted to do now was to hit a dolphin with the boat.

Lunar was up on the surface. Having pulled the boat under, she had been surfacing when she became aware that something was wrong. There were two jet skis above her, then something very small whizzed past her head, and then she saw a man floating there on the surface. On taking a closer look she noticed that he wasn't moving and he was face down in the water. There was also blood coming from him. Then she heard the jet skis speed off and, shortly after, she heard Indigo calling his name over and over again.

Lunar knew that things had gone badly wrong. The man was still just floating there, so she surfaced, coming up from underneath him and, with the man on her back, she lifted his face and whole body from the water. She knew that if he stayed in the water he would drown and she couldn't let that happen.

A group of about ten dolphins swam past Lunar then, heading towards Indigo, which made her feel much better. Indigo was still calling his name out over and over again.

Indigo was in trouble. The second jet ski had hit into his side hard. The man on the jet ski had seen Indigo jump into his accomplice and had turned his ski to hit into Indigo as he landed. Indigo had seen the jet ski turn, but had been helpless to do anything. The blow had knocked all his breath from him and he was now having difficulty breathing and staying above the surface, his side was so painful. He was calling out his name; it was all he could do.

Indigo was then joined by Stone, Star, Riddle and some of the other adults from their pod. They surrounded Indigo and held him up, supporting his body. ‘The girl, they have taken the girl,' he told them and managed, through his laboured breathing, to explain that the two men on the jet skis had grabbed Lucy and sped off. Stone, Star and Riddle swam off at speed in the direction the men had gone. They would find out where they were taking Lucy. The others stayed with Indigo, who was slowly finding his breathing getting easier, but was still in a great deal of pain.

Maddy pulled the boat up alongside Lunar. Jorgos, on the rope behind, was propelled forwards alongside the boat. He had stopped shouting at Maddy about what she was doing when he saw the man on the back of a whale. Although Jorgos was a bit worried about seeing a whale in the water, over the years he had got used to having a dolphin around in the water with him, so he guessed it was just a bigger animal and he would be fine.

James had just come around and was spluttering water from his lungs. But where was he? He couldn't quite work it out. The surface was rough in places, but in others warm and soft. He focused his eyes and lifted his head up slightly. He was looking into a huge eye; a very warm, sensitive-looking eye, which seemed to be full of concern for him. James closed his eyes and opened them again, while he tried to lift his upper body with his arms. There was a shooting pain from his right shoulder and he nearly passed out again.

The next thing James knew, he was being pulled off a whale's back into a boat, and he recognised Maddy, CJ and their dad. He had to keep looking around at the whale to believe that he had actually been lying on its back. Then his mind cleared and he remembered Lucy. There was no sign of her!

Maddy, having helped James into the boat, manoeuvred it over to the group of dolphins and saw Indigo in the middle. He had stopped shouting his name now. Maddy jumped out of the boat and swam among the dolphins up to Indigo. She stroked his head and rostrum gently. ‘I'm OK, Maddy, just winded; I will be fine soon.'

Maddy ran her eye down his side and saw a large raking wound on his right side. Dolphins' skin marks easily and they always have a number of rake marks on their bodies. The surface had not been cut as such, there was no blood, but his side looked very sore and he could have broken his ribs.

Indigo was more concerned about Lucy, though, and he quickly told Maddy what had happened and told her that Stone and his friends were trying to find the jet skis and follow them. Maddy shouted to CJ and told him what had happened.

James asked Jorgos for his mobile phone. Jorgos was calling for an ambulance to meet them, but James needed the phone fast and Jorgos handed it to him. Jorgos was amazed when he heard James on the phone explaining that the daughter of the President of the United States had been kidnapped. Lucy, who had been playing with his kids, was the daughter of the US President!

Within minutes of James's phone call there were helicopters and speedboats all over the place. CJ had been pressing a cloth on James's shoulder wound, trying to stop the bleeding. He was amazed by the helicopters and the amount of boats around.

Maddy was pulled back into the boat by her dad. James had been transferred to another boat and was receiving treatment for his gunshot wound and debriefing security staff. Lunar had made herself scarce and the other dolphins were swimming off with Indigo. It had been decided that they would take him into the lake and look after him there, nursing his wound.

Jorgos started his boat up and slowly headed back to shore. No one had found Lucy yet and everyone was very worried. Maddy sat on the back seat with a towel wrapped around her, staring out in front of her, but seeing nothing. Maddy could turn herself off to a degree and she had done so now. She did it less now than when she was younger; now she would only turn off if she were upset about something. When she turned off, she would just stare ahead, not saying or doing anything. She would not hear anything and would hardly even blink. When she was younger she had done this a lot and it was a bit of a family joke.

CJ just sat beside her. He didn't bother talking to her, he knew there was no point, but he took hold of her hand and held it. He was worried about Indigo and Lucy as well and hoped that they would both be OK. As they pulled up to the beach opposite their home, Ishbel was there and asked what had happened. CJ jumped out of the boat and gave her a big hug, while Jorgos lifted Maddy out of the boat on to the pebble beach.