“What do we do?” Pharrell strained his eyes. “I can’t see a thing!”
“We follow the sound of his engine!” Flynn lowered his binoculars and sat back behind the pedals. “C’mon!”
He began to pedal hard and steered to the left, trailing after the roar of Duncan’s motor boat. Pharrell and Clay followed. Flynn tried to keep to the same speed as before, not too fast and not too slow. Without seeing Duncan’s boat, and only using their ears, it was hard to guess how close they were to the boat ahead. They pedaled in silence for a while, when suddenly Duncan’s engine died! Flynn instantly lifted his feet off the pedals to cut out the splashing noise of the Seeker.
“What the hell…” Pharrell muttered under his breath, as he tried to kill the speed of his own raft.
Flynn stood up and listened for a moment. Nothing! No other sound, apart from that of water lapping against their two vessels. He raised the binoculars and pointed the lenses in the direction where he had last heard the motor. It was a blind search, but there was nothing else he could do.
“See anything?” Madison whispered.
“No!” he answered after a while, and lowered his binoculars.
“They can’t just disappear into thin air!” Madison hopelessly scanned the darkness ahead. She wasn’t going to give up so easily… “There!” said Madison, pointing her hand to the left.
“Where?” Flynn jerked his head, peering into the darkness… And then he saw them… the black outlines of four huge smokestacks, rising out of the water no more than a hundred feet ahead. He had missed seeing them because he was using the binoculars… and they were too close… Flynn had been looking for something much farther away. The smokestacks were so dark they had merged with the black sky. And grimy enough, for the moonlight not to bounce off them… making them virtually invisible. Duncan’s boat and the Departure raft had stopped by the fence that encircled the old Power Plant.
“Don’t make a sound!” Flynn hissed. “We’re right behind them now!” He raised his binoculars again and adjusted the focus. There was enough moonlight now for him to clearly see Duncan Roth standing up in his boat…. What the hell was he doing, Flynn wondered and then he saw the man unbuckle his gun belt and drop it inside the boat… Unarmed, the man was taking his jacket off, undressing himself in a great hurry… Duncan Roth was also saying something to the people on the Departure raft… The Seeker was now close enough for Flynn to hear the Rottweiler’s voice. He strained his ears and caught the words “get in the water!”
“Shit!” Flynn dropped his binoculars. “He’s going to drown them, right here, right now!”
“What?” Pharrell jumped up, his eyes full of horror.
“You heard me!” Flynn’s hand was clasping the hilt of his diving knife.
“Then we’re too late,” Clay moaned.
“No, we’re not!” Flynn shook his head… If ever there was an opportunity to strike down Duncan Roth, it was now… He sprang into action, slipping quietly into the water. “Pharrell, you ready?”
“Let’s do it, bro!”
Pharrell was next to Flynn in a flash. Both of them took a deep breath and dived silently in the direction of Duncan’s boat. Moments later, they found themselves underneath the hull and parted ways. Pharrell swam toward the stern. Flynn surfaced just under the bow, fighting the urge to gasp for air.
“So, this is how it ends, Mr. Roth? You’re going to drown us here, like rats?”
Flynn heard a familiar voice ring out from the Departure raft. Craning his neck out of the water, he saw that it belonged to his father… Alan Perry was the only one standing up on the raft. The rest of the group was huddled together in their seats. Although the man was just an outline in the dark, Flynn could see the defiance in his father’s pose.
“You won’t even give us the chance to die with dignity?” Alan Perry’s voice was getting louder, angrier.
“Hey, Roth, you sick bastard!” Another shadow rose next to Alan Perry. “Is that how you killed all the others before us, eh?”
“Quiet!” Duncan Roth said. “Keep your voices down!”
There was a low rumble on the raft now, as more people began to stand up.
Flynn wasn’t going to wait any longer! He grasped the side of the boat with one hand, knife in the other, and swung himself over. He landed with a thud and sprang on his feet. Pharrell was at the other end of the deck, already lunging at Duncan Roth. Flynn watched as the man moved swiftly, his foot connecting with Pharrell’s head, sending the boy back in the water.
In a flash, the Rottweiler had turned to face Flynn, his eyes narrowing on the knife in Flynn’s hand. Flynn saw a blur of rapid movement, and then Duncan Roth was on top of him. He felt the bones in his wrist shift, as the man squeezed and twisted his arm behind his back! The knife fell out of Flynn’s hand, and Duncan Roth punched him once, hard in the stomach. Flynn doubled over and dropped to his knees, gasping for air…
The sound of splashing water made Duncan Roth turn. He saw a raft coming at him, and before he knew it, it had rammed itself into the side of his boat. The jolt of the impact sent the Rottweiler sprawling across the deck. A second later, Madison had clambered on board and had thrown herself on top of Duncan Roth, sinking her teeth into his neck, with both hands clawing at his eyes. The man cursed loudly. Grabbing the girl round the waist, he flung her away from him like a rag doll. She landed with a cry, rolled up next to Flynn and sprang back up on her feet. Madison crouched and was ready to pounce again when she spotted the gun belt. It was just a few feet from where she was standing. Madison threw a quick glance back at Duncan Roth. He was coming toward her, blood running down his neck… Without thinking, she reached for the gun.
“Be still!” Duncan Roth roared. He was pointing a small revolver at her head.
Madison froze, her hand inches from the gun’s holster.
“No one’s going to die here tonight!” the man said and kicked the gun away from Madison. He turned his head and looked at the Departure raft. Everyone had gone quiet. “Listen carefully you lot!” Duncan Roth spoke in a low voice. “Do as I say. Get in the water like I told you, and it’ll be all over soon! No one’s going to get hurt… I’ll explain later…”
A few gasps came from the group and then there was silence. Madison and Flynn looked at each other, not sure if they had heard the man right.
TWENTY THREE
No one moved on the Departure raft. Everyone was staring at Duncan Roth, some with fear, others with defiance and suspicion.
“I repeat…,” the man said quietly, “…I’ve no intention of killing anyone! All of you’ll be safe soon, but we need to get going!” He glanced at the lights of the Archipelago, flickering in the far distance and scowled. Then he turned to Flynn and Madison with great urgency. “Flynn, can you stand up?”
Flynn? Duncan Roth had never called Flynn by his first name before… What was wrong with the Rottweiler, wondered Flynn, rubbing his sore wrist. He managed to get up on his feet, but felt dizzy. Madison sprang up and grabbed his elbow to keep him steady.
“I wasn’t planning on your company tonight…” Duncan Roth continued as he tied his boat to Flynn and Pharrell’s rafts, “…but since you’re here, I can do with some help… I believe you’ve got your diving bells with you?”
“Err… yes!” Flynn managed to speak at last.
“How about you, Pharrell?” Duncan Roth called out, looking for the boy. He found him standing with Clay on the Departure raft.