'Look over here,' Angelo said. He was looking at something on one of the walls. Ben and Danny approached and they saw what it was: a map of the park. Towards the bottom of it there was a yellow arrow marked with the words 'YOU ARE HERE'.
Ben studied the map. The road they were on led to the eastern edge of the park, but to go that way they would have to pass the burning debris of the plane. As the road carried on west, it just seemed to peter out into the marshland. It looked to Ben very much like they were stranded.
It was as they were staring at the map that a sudden gust of wind shrieked overhead. There was a loud crash as one of the wide windows dramatically shattered. Shards of glass crashed over the inside of the room like a shower of diamonds; the three of them pressed against the opposite wall, thankful that they weren't in range of the exploding window.
'It's not safe here,' Ben muttered.
'I don't see that we have much option,' Danny told him. 'It looks like we're cut off on both sides.'
An ominous silence fell over their little group. Ben edged away from the map and looked at another poster. 'WILDLIFE OF THE EVERGLADES' it read in big, sunny letters across the top; below, there were pictures of different animals. Ben's eyes fell upon the image of an alligator. He read the words under the image of that ugly-looking beast. 'Gators are everywhere in the Everglades,' it read. 'If you see one, keep your distance. You never know if it's had its lunch yet!'
Under the picture of the alligator was what looked like a big cat. Its fur was a light brown colour, it had sharp, pointed ears and a ferocious look in its eyes. Ben read what the poster had to say about it. '
The Florida Panther is a critically endangered species. There are only thought to be between 80 and 100 panthers left in this part of the world and they avoid humans, so if you see one, you're incredibly lucky.' The panther seemed to stare out of the picture at Ben, who wasn't sure quite how lucky he would feel if he came face to face with one of the animals.
His eyes only skirted over the third picture. Ever since his trip to the Congo, Ben had had a thing about snakes, and the snake that was depicted here was a big one. '
The Burmese Python,' the text underneath it explained, 'is not native to the United States. Many people, however, keep them as pets. Unfortunately, when they grow too big to be manageable, these snakes are let out into the wild. The Everglades provides a perfect breeding environment for them, and they have thrived and multiplied here. Burmese Pythons can grow up to seven metres long. Even when they are smaller than this, they are perfectly capable of overpowering and killing a fully grown adult!
Ben shuddered slightly. The very thought of it made him feel a bit faint. He sensed Danny stepping up to him. 'Bit of a day,' his companion observed.
'Yeah,' Ben said. 'You could say that.'
'You did an amazing thing in that plane, Ben. If it wasn't for you, everyone would have been killed.'
Ben shrugged. 'Just fluke,' he said. 'That hijacker was pretty determined.'
At the thought of the hijacker, something crossed Ben's mind. Since they had escaped the plane, everything had happened so quickly — too quickly, certainly, for him to think too deeply about the events of the last few hours. But as he stood there, he remembered what the hijacker had said before they left the plane. You think you have beaten me, but you haven't.
He looked over at Angelo, who was sitting on the floor now, hugging his legs. 'Angelo,' he said sharply. 'What do think he meant?'
Angelo looked at him quizzically. 'Cosa?'
'The hijacker. All that stuff about not having beaten him.'
His Italian friend looked thoughtful. 'I don't know,' he mused. 'Maybe—' His eyes widened. 'Maybe there's another plane. Another attack.'
Ben thought about that for a moment. 'I don't think so,' he said. 'Don't forget, there was a special reason for him targeting that plane.' He didn't say any more — Angelo had begged him not to reveal to anyone that his dad was the owner of the oil refinery, and he wasn't about to betray that confidence even in front of Danny. 'Do you remember what Brad said, before he—' Ben hesitated. 'Before he died,' he said finally. 'You know, about hijackers working in groups and how it was weird there was just one of them.'
Angelo looked at him sharply, and so did Danny. 'What do you mean?' the man said.
Ben took a deep breath as all sorts of thoughts whizzed round his brain. 'Think about it,' he said. 'If you were trying to hijack a plane, would you do it alone?'
A look of confusion crossed Danny's face. 'Probably not,' he said. 'But if there was someone else, why didn't they do something to help him when it all started to go wrong?'
'What could they have done?' Angelo butted in. 'They'd have had to take on all of us.'
They fell silent for a moment as the implication of what they had just said hit them. 'The others,' Ben said a bit breathlessly. 'They could still have one of the hijackers among them. Who knows what they're going to try and do — the other passengers could be in a lot of danger.'
CRASH! As he spoke, a second window burst in, sending all three of them crouching to the floor for cover. 'What?' Angelo shouted. 'More danger than this?'
'We've got to warn them!' Ben said, ignoring Angelo's comment. 'He could be planning anything.'
'Er, Ben,' Angelo pointed out. 'In case you hadn't noticed, there's a blazing plane wreckage between us and them, and we're in the middle of a hurricane. Haven't you saved enough lives for one day?'
But Ben wasn't listening. He pushed himself up to his feet and rushed over to the counter, his shoes crunching on shards of broken glass as he went. On the counter there were perhaps fifteen different leaflets, all of them advertising something different to do in the Everglades. Ben grabbed them all and started leafing through them. He had skim-read six or seven before he found something that captured his attention.
'Look at this,' he called to the others. He waved the leaflet in the air and hurried back to them.
On the front of the leaflet was a picture of some kind of boat. It was gaudy yellow in colour with a canopy over the top. At the back there was what looked like an enormous circular fan and at the top of the leaflet were some words: 'Airboat Tours of the Everglades.' Ben turned the leaflet over. There was a little map. 'Look,' he said, pointing at it. 'The airboats are moored not far from here. We just need to keep heading west and we'll be able to find one and get round the plane by going on the water.'
Angelo looked at him as if he was mad. 'Ben,' he said. 'Haven't you had enough excitement for one day? Have you seen what it's like out there? If the boats aren't capsized already, they soon will be.'
'Fine, Angelo,' Ben shouted, his frustration showing in his voice. 'You stay here if you want to. I'm going to warn the others.'
Chapter Nine
The two others looked at him in silence. Angelo glanced out into the howling winds outside. 'All right, Ben,' he said finally. 'You win.'
The minute he said that, Danny was on the move. Behind the counter there was a door. Danny hurried towards it, opened it up and disappeared into the room beyond. Angelo and Ben exchanged a look, then followed.
It looked like a changing room. There were pegs on the walls and a few metal cabinets. A few items of clothing were strewn all around. 'Wardens need somewhere to change,' Danny said curtly. 'But I bet, somewhere round here—' He stood in the centre of the room looking around until his eyes fell upon the metal cabinets. Striding towards them, he tried to open one, but it was locked. He searched around again. Standing up against one corner was an umbrella, which he swiftly grabbed.