Kidnap Island (15 page)

“
You should have been
a detective, laughed Jonny.

“
Maybe I should have,
”
replied Bert thoughtfully.
“
But you
don
’
t want to know about me, this is all about Eric and
his fortune.
”

“
Fortune? What do you mean?
”
Eric was shocked.

“
Well young man, you
’
re
rich.
”

“
Er,
yes, I guess I am but that
’
s no big
secret.
”

“
No,
I mean
you
are rich, not your family. You see,
your granddad left you rather more than just an
island.
”

“
Just an island?
”
interrupted Jonny.
“I
’
d be very happy with
that!
”

“
I
’
d be happier with none of it,
”
declared
Eric.

Bert looked puzzled at
this comment but continued his story:
“
Your granddad and his
family left England during the war because they were scared the
Germans would invade and cause trouble for them because they were
Jews. They were also worried that the Nazis would steal their
fortune. They managed to take some money to the States with them
but had to leave most of it here. You see, there were all sorts of
concerns about the security of banks and what would happen to
currencies if the Germans won the war, which seemed likely for a
while. Your granddad believed that the safest thing to do was to
buy gold, so he used his business contacts to get as much as he
could find and then hid it here on the island.

“
So
that
’
s what the men were after!
”
exclaimed
Eric.

“
Men? What men?
”
Bert sounded worried. Eric quickly related the
story of the men searching the island and kidnapping his
father.

Bert was
shocked.
“
My word, this is serious. I did have my suspicions when a
man came snooping around a couple of weeks back asking questions
about the island and who owned it. Why didn
’
t you go to the
police?
”

“
Eric
’
s dad didn
’
t want
publicity,
”
explained Jonny.
“He
’
s a well-known politician in the
US.
”

“
Ah
yes, I know about his career, he
’
s doing well for
himself but I
’m sure
he’
d have wanted you to get
the police to help.
”

“
Maybe, but would the police have believed three kids who
said one of their dads had been kidnapped from a deserted
island?
”
Jonny pointed out.

“
Umm, you may have a point there. The police
don
’
t tend to be very imaginative when it comes to unusual
problems.
”

Louisa glanced
sideways at Bert. He sounded like a man who knew what he was
talking about. She wondered what he
’
d done in his life
before he looked after the sailing club.

“
So
where is the treasure hidden,
”
asked Eric.
“
Those men had a pretty
good hunt around, and pops and I explored the house and island when
we first came here last week.
”

“
I
’
ll show you in daylight,
”
promised Bert.
“
For now,
though, we need to decide what to do about rescuing your friend and
Mr Goldsmith. I wonder why Will
’
s not replied to your
text.
”

Chapter
Eigh
teen

Will pulled his phone
from his pocket and read the short message from his cousin
– “ru ok? xx” –
and wondered why she
’
d not said more.
Still, he also wondered why he
’
d not already thought
of using his phone to call for help, and then he noticed
he
’
d no signal
–
that text must have just arrived
before the phone was out of range of the mainland. He was too
late.

Then he noticed a new
sound. In addition to the low roar of the engine, there was a
higher pitched hum coming from above. He looked up and saw the
radar antenna rotating. Will was sure that wasn
’
t running
earlier but it made sense to use radar when crossing the busy
shipping lanes that dissected the English Channel, especially at
night. He climbed up onto the helm
’
s seat and looked at
the instruments in front of him, which looked surprisingly new and
expensive compared to the rest of the boat, and Will guessed
there
’
d be an identical set at the indoor helm below. Sure
enough, there was a radar screen lit up but, although Will had seen
the one on Louisa
’
s family
’
s yacht, he
didn
’
t really know how to use radar. He then spotted that
another device was active
–
it was the autopilot which, again, he
was slightly familiar with. Surely the men hadn
’
t left the
boat to drive itself with just the radar keeping watch? Even at
twelve, Will knew that was a crazy thing to do in the
English
Channel
, the world’s busiest shipping lane. He climbed down
the ladder and peeped into the cabin
–
it was empty! The men
must have gone to sleep hoping that the radar
’
s alarm
would warn them of any approaching boats. Madness.

Shocked, Will climbed
back up to his post on the flying bridge, shivering as the cold
wind hit him once again. He studied the
autopilot
’
s control panel as a new plan formed in his mind.
With a touch of a button he disengaged the autopilot and used the
wheel to slowly turn the boat around. Another freshly installed
screen was a GPS navigation unit that displayed a chart of the
English Channel and Will could see from the flashing cursor that
they were about 30 miles from home. The bright boy was comfortable
with computers and mathematics and had enjoyed helping with the
navigation on his uncle
’
s yacht, so he was
soon able to set a course back to the harbour entrance and he even
managed to reset the autopilot to steer the boat in for him. He
realised what was wrong with dinghy sailing
–
there just
weren
’
t enough gadgets to play with!

Unlike the sleeping
men below, though, Will was worried about other boats in the
vicinity so he pulled his knees to his chin and sat up keeping a
watch for navigation lights piercing the inky darkness. He also
kept an eye on the radar screen although he wasn
’
t confident
he knew what the various blips on it were. Then he remembered the
radar
’
s alarm and realised that if it sounded, the men would
wake up and notice that the course had changed, so he clicked
through the various settings and managed to disable it.

Will was feeling
rather pleased with himself and thought that all he needed now was
a warm coat and a mug of hot chocolate to be content. The latter he
couldn
’
t manage but he did find a tattered
–
and rather
smelly
–
piece of boat cover on the floor which he thankfully
wrapped around him to keep the wind off. He grinned and kept
peering into the darkness, almost enjoying himself.

He checked his phone;
it had a signal again, so he sent Louisa a message:
“
on way back,
get police in
”
. He knew Eric hadn
’
t wanted the police
involved but he figured they
’
d have to be now that
he was going to deliver the kidnappers straight into their
arms
.
Gosh he was smart!

A flashing light broke
the darkness
–
a lighthouse. Will looked at the electronic chart on
the screen in front of him. Of course, it must be St
George
’
s Point just to the west of the harbour entrance. He
remembered seeing that during his recent Channel crossing with
Louisa
’
s family. He was bang on course. Before long, the red
and green lights which marked the entrance to the harbour became
visible. Will had entered the harbour several times on yachts
during the day but only once in the dark, and that was with his
uncle at the helm, and Will remembered him saying it was a tricky
approach as there are sandbanks each side and a strong current
flowing in and out of the narrow entrance. He figured that the tide
would be on its way in which should be helpful.

Once the channel
markers were within sight, Will switched off the autopilot and took
the wheel, adrenaline pumping through his veins. His phone buzzed
again, it was Louisa:
“
what do u mean? xx
”
. He replied
quickly:
“
taken control of boat and coming into harbour with
prisoners
”
. He grinned; that would get them thinking.

As the boat came
alongside the first of the buoys which marked the way into the
harbour
–
red on the left and green on the right
–
Will began to feel it
being pulled forwards by the strong tide running in. He needed to
slow down but was worried that a sudden change in engine note would
waken the men below, so he just gently eased off the throttle a bit
at a time, but still the big motor yacht was flying along, caught
up in the current. There was nothing Will could do but hang on and
do his best to keep on course. There were no other boats around so
he went straight up the middle of the channel rather than keeping
to the right as boats are meant to. The motorboat was being tossed
about by the churning water but Will knew that once he was inside
the harbour entrance, it would be much calmer.

Then he jumped
–
there was a
loud banging and yelling coming from below him. The men must have
been woken by the rough water. Now what?

The harbour had a
speed limit of eight knots which meant that it normally took about
20 minutes to get up to the marina at its head and Folney Island
was about five minutes before that. The men were bound to escape
before then. There was nothing else for it. Will pushed the
throttle right forward and the big boat roared ahead and lifted
onto the plane sending a massive wake towards the shores.
This
’
ll annoy a few people thought Will as he reached for
his phone.

Chapter
Nine
teen

“
Right, the police are on their way,
”
said Bert as he put his
phone into his pocket. Louisa had noticed that the old man
hadn
’
t dialled 999 as she
’
d expected but had
instead used another number and asked to speak to
“
Perkins
”
who seemed to be someone Bert knew, by the chatty tone
of old man’s
voice.

Then
Louisa
’
s phone rang. She answered it and could hear Will
shouting at her over a loud noise.
“I
’
m on my way but I need help,
they
’re gonna get
out!
”

“
Where are you and what
’
s
happening?
”

“
I
can
’
t hear you. Damn, I think they
’
re
out.
”
The line went dead.

“
That was Will. It sounds as if he
’
s in trouble but
I
’
m not sure what
’
s going
on,
”
Louisa explained.