We both emerged and began our search for alifeboat icon again. I had to walk in the direction the men hadcome, but stayed near the railing instead of entering the cargoarea. About a quarter of the way down the almost 220 foot walkway,I found the icon painted on the wall of the ship. I pulled on thelever and started to yank the boat out.
A screaming alarm sounded. The removal ofthe boat must have triggered it. Jeremy came barreling toward me,dropping all effort at silence. He stopped at the alcove andreached in, bodily pulling the kids out of the hiding place.
“Come on! Run!” He pointed to the boat, andthen ran to help me carry the heavy boat to the side. He jumped upon the railing. “Jump, or we all die!”
We jumped, hearing the sounds of shoutingand yelling as we propelled ourselves as far out as possible.Mikado and the rest jumped seconds after we did.
As I fell, I kept telling myself that when Ihit the water, I had to swim hard, away from the ship. All mythoughts left me, however, when I hit the water. Cold shock slammedinto me. It forced me to take a breath of the salty ocean water. Igagged as I kicked my way up to the surface and what I hoped wasout and away from the ship. I sputtered and coughed as I hit thesurface, trying to stay above the waves, but failing as I gaspedfor air.
In a pop of bright yellow, the boat inflatedabout ten feet from me. Jeremy appeared at my side and pushed metoward it. He grabbed hold of the boat and shoved me hard up intoit. I felt helpless, unable to control my coughing. I couldn’t getthe air into my lungs that I needed to relax and calm down.
When my face hit the bottom of the boat, Ithrew up, an extremely watery mess that pooled at the side of theboat. I sucked air after that. Other bodies fell into the boat allaround me. Jeremy and Mikado were helping all the rescued kids intothe boat. I couldn’t seem to lift myself up to help. Finally,Jeremy’s hands grabbed me, helping me get as much exposure to freshair as possible.
The ship was so close to us, I feared itmight hit us or suck us under. Jeremy and Mikado started rowing. Wewere slowly but surely moving away from the ship. I coughed andsputtered, unable to be excited about our escape yet. The fourescaped prisoners looked worse than I felt, clutching the sides ofthe lifeboat and struggling for air.
Suddenly, buzzing filled the air and twoboats appeared, surrounding us. As my eyes rounded in fear, Jeremysaw what I already had. He took a deep breath and said, “You stillhave that gun?”
I felt around my waistband, neither gun hadsurvived the plunge. I shook my head. I was just getting my airback, when one of the boats pulled up right next to ours and twobig, buff men leapt aboard our boat.
One man tried to grab Mikado, but Mikadokicked out, sending the man overboard. The other headed for Jeremy.“Watch out!” I croaked, but my voice wasn’t loud enough to warnJeremy. The man punched Jeremy in the head, and he swayed, butmanaged to stay on his feet. Jeremy ducked, the momentum of thestrike throwing the attacker over the puffed up edge of the boatand into the water. Without a moment’s pause, another solid andlarge man flew into the boat, taking Jeremy at his waist. I wantedto help more than anything, but I barely had the strength to move,much less fight. I did the only thing I could. I crawled over towhere the four kids were sitting, watching the fight withdumbfounded expressions. I reached out and wrenched them down oneby one.
“Duck,” I squawked. “Get low!”
Mikado fought another man who had comeaboard our ship. Suddenly, he fell and the man overtook him. Isucked for breath again, trying to get myself ready to be useful toJeremy. As Jeremy and the man struggled, I felt the unmistakableclick of someone cocking a gun and the cold, hard feel of onetouching my temple. “Call him off, Amber. Now.” That cold, cruelvoice could only belong to one person: Jericho. He yanked my handsbehind me and fastened them with plastic ties that cut into myskin.
“Jeremy,” I called in a weak voice. I hackeda few more times before I could try again. And by that time, Jeremyhad taken the knife of the man who had attacked him and slit histhroat, throwing him overboard. I’m sure the man had been awell-trained guard, but going against Jeremy was never a goodidea.
“Jeremy!” I called, finally finding a voicethat could be heard over the rushing water and the struggle.
He turned, a swift, even movement. When hiseyes took in the scene, they changed from being on fire to a smokyash pit. He could see that he was beat. He dropped the knife.
Jericho laughed out. “We’ll save ourintroductions until after we get back on the ship.”
A boat with another three hulking men withsquare jaws, motored up to us, and the men boarded our lifeboat androunded up the other kids. Two other guards crossed over to ourboat and threw Jeremy down, securing both his hands and feet withplastic ties. They moved us to the metal boat and secured it tolarge carabineers attached to winches to haul the boat up. Theseven of us were attached to rings on the boats with more zip ties.Four of the guards, along with Jericho, joined us. We weren’t goinganywhere.
After the guards attached four ropes to theboat, winches pulled us up to the deck. Jericho emerged from theboat first. Two guards cut our hands free and then re-tied thembehind our backs with new zip ties. I stood shivering on the deck,continually clearing my throat. I still had water in places itdidn’t belong.
“First
