Tom and the rest of class 1H began cheering, and, although still confused, so did the other classes, except for 1C.
Chapter 35
Sunday lunch was everything Tom and Tristan thought it would be, only much worse. Ms Anderson had planned a French style Sunday ‘dejeuner’ a full eight courses, over five hours. They had both gone into the lunch with a game plan, to fully apologise and throw themselves on her mercy, thinking they might manage to wangle their way out of the lunch. It failed miserably, she thanked them for the gesture and then sat them down to 5 hours of hell. However that was nothing compared to what she had planned for the following week, a full 12 courses.
The rest of the week improved slightly as the tiredness began to lift and the students settled into their new regime. By Thursday, they almost began to admit that they were beginning to enjoy themselves. The upcoming yacht race was the event of the week. Miss Sullivan was a keen sailor and had been running training sessions each evening to get her crew into shape. Each of the yachts was over 90 feet in length and, as usual, every member of the class would be involved in the race. The race course was around a circuit of buoys which circled the island. If any boat failed to circumnavigate each of the buoys, they would be disqualified.
The black figure stole across the school grounds, avoiding the camera sweeps by timing each move to perfection. Within ten minutes, the black figure was busy at work on the yacht. There were only a few modifications required before the big race on Saturday. After thirty minutes, everything was done. Saturday was going to be a very profitable day. It was time to leave.
“Hey, what are you doing?” came a shout from behind.
“Wait a minute, I recognise you! We played bowls last week, why are you dressed like that?” asked the girl as she came closer. But she came too close and a swift movement to the back of her neck had her unconscious.
Reaper’s phone rang.
“Hello?” he answered
“We have a problem, I’ve been spotted and recognised,” said Ling.
“Damn,” replied Reaper, that was not good. “Where are you?”
“I’m hiding on a boat, the girl is unconscious but I’ve not left any marks. Should I kill her and dump her?”
Reaper thought for a second.
“No, too risky. We can’t afford to have jumpy parents. I’ll call you back.”
Reaper made a quick call and then phoned Ling straight back.
“OK, here’s what you need to do.”
He explained the plan. Ling smiled, it was brilliant.
Friday morning started like any other morning but it did not take long to change. Madeleine had not stopped crying during their Maths lesson and no matter how much the girls tried to console her, she just got worse. It got so bad that she was eventually allowed to leave the lesson, her constant drawing in of large breaths to commence her next bawling was driving the teacher insane.
It was not until their break that they heard from Madeleine what had happened. She was waiting for them in their usual spot, next to the beach,
The girls all rushed over to her when they saw her sitting there and immediately began to console her again. The boys were less consoling, they just wanted to know what the hell was wrong.
“Madeleine, what’s wrong? What’s happened?” asked Chen putting his arm around her.
“It’s Erika, she’s been expelled,” she managed between sobs.
“She’s what?” exclaimed a chorus of devastated boys, most of their wilder fantasies had included Erika and Madeleine.
“Expelled for being drunk, they found her on one of the boats and had to pump her stomach.” She started bawling again.
“NO!” said the girls.
Pulling herself together, she continued.
“They think she drank a full bottle of Vodka and they found four full ones in her room.”
“Oh my God, have you seen her? Is she OK now?” asked Mia.
“Briefly, a half hour ago. She’s still quite ill, they’re sending her home as soon as she’s well enough.”
The bawling started again as Madeleine realised her friend would not be with her any more at school.
“Did she say why she did it?” asked Tom, waiting for a break in the sobs.
“She started to say something about catching somebody sabotaging a boat but the nurse sedated her and explained that they had checked the boat just in case, nobody had touched a thing. They think she must have been hallucinating with the alcohol.”
The group of friends were devastated. However, one broke off to make a phone call. They were not devastated, they were terrified.
Erika felt better by evening and had spent the day protesting her innocence but to no avail. She had been well and truly stitched up. She wasn’t even allowed to call Madeleine before she left to tell her what had really happened. She knew Madeleine would believe her. The first thing she would do when she got home would be to call her.
McDonald, Murray
Kidnap (The Billionaire Series)
Chapter 36
It was not the best day for being out in a boat, visibility was poor although the water was fairly calm. Pieter and his crew had been on the water since 5.00 a.m. Their small fishing trawler was perfect cover for the operation. They had spent the week overhauling the engine and were confident that the old pile of junk could manage an amazing 40 knots. If the plan was to work, they would probably need every knot.
Class 1H were top of the Year 1 sports chart and had every intention of growing that lead following the yacht race. However, Team H were sitting third overall. Years 6 and 7 had faired particularly badly the previous week in their swimming and yachting events. If preparation were the key to success, 1H were in with a very good chance. Miss Sullivan had trained them well and had them splicing the main sail and heaving to, like the best of them.
Once on board, the rules of the race were re-iterated for clarity and to avoid silly mistakes. They had to circumnavigate the buoys which circled the island and return to the marina as quickly as possible. It didn’t matter in which direction. The previous week the year 7Hs had lost because they had misjudged the winds and gone anti- clockwise, all the other boats had gone clockwise. However, Miss Sullivan had studied the charts and weather conditions very carefully and suggested they go anti-clockwise again. Chen looked at the rest of the team as the other boats had followed the previous week’s precedent and gone clockwise.
A quick vote was a close call but the decision was made to go anti-clockwise. They turned about and immediately slowed down as the wind died.
“Maybe we should turn back round?” asked Tristan.
“Don’t worry, it all evens out in the end,” replied Lela, who had always loved sailing.
Reaper had received the message from Ling the previous day. By the time the girl landed, it wouldn’t be an
