The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (21 page)

“Sir, do you think you can walk?” Jeeter asked. “We should get to the other boat and get out of here in case those other men come back.”

“What other men?” Grace's dad asked, frowning.

“The Sandstar people. They could come back any minute.”

“They were here?” he asked. He took Jeeter's arm and tried to stand. He wavered and gripped Grace's shoulder for support.

“Take it easy, Jonathan,” Jeeter said.

“I'm a bit dehydrated, I think,” he said. “This has taken a toll on—Marcus, my word, what are you doing here, son?” he broke in, suddenly recognizing Jeeter. “I didn't recognize you without the long hair.”

“Roger came out here to check on the tar ponds project. He had planned to come even before anything happened to you. He let me come, too—I wanted to see you again. But you had…disappeared…by the time we got here.”

“Didn't he get my email about Rick Stanley? I hoped he might put two and two together and figure out what was going on.”

Jeeter nodded. “He did, but you'd never said anything about Stanley working for Sandstar, just that he was acting strangely.”

Grace's dad frowned. “I guess that makes sense. I didn't know for sure that there was any connection myself until I saw the barrels out at the PA4. But by then it was too late. Rick followed me there that day. He captured me and brought me here before I had a chance to tell anyone about the dumping.”

“I tried to get Roger to look into your car crash,” Jeeter explained. “But he wouldn't listen…he said he'd checked with the police and it was ruled an accident. But I…I couldn't let it go. I knew there was something wrong. So I tried to find out about Stanley on my own. Well, with Grace, I mean.”

“Well, the important thing is that you found me,” Grace's dad said, shaking his head. “I don't know how you managed to do it. I'm sure there is an explanation as to how you and Grace ended up here together. However, we have more pressing things to deal with at the moment. Has anyone contacted the police or the Coast Guard?”

“I tried to find a radio, sir,” Jeeter said. “But Stanley showed up and I had to hide.”

“Well, we'll have to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Grace's dad said.

“Yeah,” Grace added. “We don't want to be here when those Sandstar guys come back.”

Fred and Jeeter duct-taped Stanley's wrists in front of him. At first, he refused to climb the ladder. But when Jeeter threatened to lock him up and leave him in the belly of the boat, he scurried up the ladder without another word of protest.

After Fred and Jeeter had tied Stanley up on deck, they returned to help Grace with her dad. It took a while to get him loaded onto the other boat as they had to stop every minute or so for him to rest. Eventually, they managed to get him aboard. Thankfully, there was no sign of the Sandstar yacht yet.

Grace's dad collapsed on a small bench on the deck. Sweat was running down his face and he was breathing fast. “My word,” he gasped. He held a hand against his chest and closed his eyes. “You'd swear I had just climbed Mount Everest.”

“Take it easy, Dad,” Grace said.

He didn't answer. His face had gone white. Grace put her hand on his forehead. It was cold and clammy. “Mai, there's something wrong with him,” Grace said. “He's unconscious!” Who knew what months of captivity and little food and drink had done to him?

Mai knelt down beside Grace's father and held his wrist. “His pulse is
really
fast,” she said.

“What's wrong with him?” Grace asked.

“I don't know, Grace,” Mai replied. “But I think he needs a doctor.” She handed her bottle of water to Grace, and placed her jacket around Grace's dad's shoulders. “Let's keep him warm and see if he'll drink any water.”

“Who knows how to drive?” Fred called from the door of the wheelhouse.

They all exchanged looks. Nobody spoke up.

Stanley snickered at them. “Not one of you knows how to drive a boat? This should be good. Do you have any idea what the currents are like around here?”

“Well if we drown, so do you!” Jeeter snarled.

“Fred, your dad owns a dive shop,” Mai said. “Don't you know how?”

Fred shook his head. “My dad won't teach me. He says I have to wait 'til I'm older. Besides, he doesn't have time to show me—he's always either working or out diving.”

“I've sailed a small boat on a lake before,” Jeeter said. “It can't be that different, can it? I'll give it a try.” He disappeared into the wheelhouse and a few seconds later the engine roared to life.

“Way to go, Jeeter!” Mai cheered.

“You'd better get us moving!” Fred said, pointing out to sea. The
Sandstar
was headed toward them—fast!

“I'm trying!” Jeeter called back.

Suddenly, the boat jolted backward.

“No, no, no!” Fred screamed. “The other way! You're going to hit the other—”

SMACK!

“…boat.”

“Whoops!” Jeeter said. “Okay, okay, I think I've got it now.”

The boat jerked forward. Grace almost fell off her seat on the bench. She lurched over to grab her dad and keep him from toppling onto the deck as the boat continued to pitch in place. “Jeeter!” she screamed.

“I don't know what's wrong!” he called back.

“We're still tied on!” Fred said. He raced to the side and grabbed the rope, fumbling to untie it.

“They're going to catch us!” Mai cried. She pointed at the
Sandstar
yacht, which had almost reached the wharf.

Fred pulled at the stubborn knot, but it wouldn't come undone. “I can't get it!” he cried.

WHOMP!

Grace chopped the rope in half with a small axe she'd found onboard. The axe sunk into the boat railing and the vibrations shot up Grace's arm, making her teeth chatter.

“Geez, Grace, you almost took my head off!” Fred said as he fell backward away from her.

“Yeah, but we're loose,” she answered.

“Hold on!” Jeeter called back to them from the wheelhouse. The boat surged forward, quickly pulling away from the wharf. They picked up speed and veered left, away from the approaching yacht.

But they weren't fast enough. The
Sandstar
was right on their tail!

Chapter
29

JEETER RACED THE FISHING BOAT ALONG THE COAST, TRYING TO
get as much of a lead on the
Sandstar
as possible. Waves crashed against the bow, showering the boat's occupants in cold ocean spray.

The
Sandstar
was getting closer. Grace could see the two men on the boat clearly. They were glaring at her with stone faces. She shuddered.

Grace rested a steadying hand on her dad's shoulder. He was lying on the bench, still unconscious. She'd wrapped her and Mai's jackets around him to keep him warm. “We have to do something to get rid of them,” she said, looking back at the
Sandstar
.

Mai gaped at her with round eyes. “
Us?
Do something to
them
?”

“We're running away, that's something,” Fred chimed in. The wind was whipping his sopping curls in a whirling helicopter around his head.

“But they're going to catch us,” Grace said. “Then what?”

Mai and Fred stared silently back at her.

“Exactly,” Grace said.

“There's nothing we can do,” Fred said. “We don't have any weapons or anything.” He gestured around the deck. “Hey, Jeetman!” he called toward the wheelhouse. “Speed this thing up!”

“I'm going as fast as I can!” came the harried reply.

“What if we could stop their boat somehow?” Grace said.

“How?” Mai asked, her forehead wrinkling as she rubbed her temples.

“I don't know,” Grace replied, looking frantically around her. “Grab everything you can find!”

Mai nodded and immediately began rummaging in the storage boxes lining the side of the deck. She seemed relieved to have a task. Fred joined her, but all they found were a few fishing nets and a pile of old tools.

Grace sighed. What could they do with these? She reached down and picked up a rusted hammer. Frustrated, she turned to watch the approaching
Sandstar
. The man driving the boat smirked at her as the yacht edged closer.

“Leave us alone!” she screamed. Suddenly the hammer was flying through the air toward the yacht. Grace hadn't even realized she'd thrown it.

The driver swore and jerked the wheel. The hammer smacked against the bow and bounced up, hitting the windshield. Spiderweb cracks appeared on the glass.

Grace noticed that the yacht seemed to have slowed down.

“Try this,” Mai said, handing her a screwdriver.

“Take that!” Fred said. He grabbed two wrenches and flung them at the boat.

Grace, Mai, and Fred pummelled the boat in a torrent of rusted and broken screwdrivers, wrenches, and hammers. Grace picked up the axe she'd just used to cut the rope and flung it with all her might. It hit the yacht with a loud smack. The windshield shattered and the men raised their arms protectively over their faces. The boat began swerving wildly.

But it didn't last long. Grace, Mai, and Fred were soon out of tools and the guys from Sandstar looked madder than ever.

They were done for!

“What about this?” Fred held up a lethal-looking claw with fishhooks all over it attached to a long fishing line.

Mai and Grace looked at each other. Grace shook her head. “You'll probably kill us with that thing.”

“Then this is all we have left,” Mai said, tugging at the edge of one of the fishing nets.

Frayed ends of braided twine didn't seem like much use against a giant yacht. Grace reached out and touched the wiry threads.

Well, they
do
catch fish
, she thought. “Fred, you grab one end. Mai, you take the other. When I give you the signal, toss it back at the boat.”

Mai looked confused. “What's that going to do?”

“I don't know, but it's all we've got.” Grace sucked in a deep breath. They really needed something to go right for once. “I'll stand close to the railing and block the view. Maybe if they can't see you, they won't have time to get out of the way.”

“Ohhhh,” Fred said, nodding. “I get it!”

Grace crossed her fingers and whispered to herself, “Please let this work.” She glanced at Mai and Fred. “On the count of three. One, two—”

“Uh, guys?” Jeeter's voice echoed from the wheelhouse. “We've got a problem.”

The engine sputtered and Grace felt the boat slow down. What now?

“Three!” Fred called.

Grace whirled around to see the net sailing through the air. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The men noticed the net too late. One shouted to the other as it fell over both of them.

The men were knocked down, and immediately the
Sandstar
slowed, then stopped. The men thrashed underneath the net, yelling and swearing. They were trapped!

Then suddenly the fishing boat's engine sputtered one last time and quit. Grace couldn't believe it. Now they were dead in the water, too!

They watched in horror as the
Sandstar
began drifting closer to them. What were they going to do now? That net wouldn't hold those guys forever.

“Grace, look!” Mai cried, pointing to a set of flashing lights out on the waves.

“Woohoo!” Fred cried. “The police!” He turned to Stanley. “Now you'll get what's coming to you!”

As the flashing lights came closer, Grace made out the red and white of two Coast Guard vessels speeding toward them. Within moments, one cruiser had pulled alongside the yacht. The two Sandstar men were still trapped and struggling beneath the net.