When he had joined the Sunfish, he’d hoped all that was behind him. Yet now here he was, lying in wait, with a gun in his hand.
He could hear them all moving around above, shouting to one another. He’d heard the second group of pirates come aboard—more feet, more shouting. Any moment now, he knew, they would come downstairs. And then he’d have to decide what to do.
‘Pod ready?’ Graham croaked. He was perched on the bed, watching him. ‘Kill pirates?’
‘I’d rather not have to kill anyone,’ Pod said. ‘You stay out of the way, okay? I don’t want you getting caught in the crossfire.’
‘Graham fast.’
‘Yeah, but bullets are faster.’
Something creaked.
‘This is it,’ Pod whispered.
He peered through the crack between the cabin door and the wall.
A pirate in a yellow shirt was coming down the stairs and into the saloon; a second pirate in green right behind him. They crept down cautiously, guns at the ready, sizing up the place. Pod studied them; they were armed with hunting knives as well as guns, and they were barefoot. Yellow Shirt pointed to the cabin door opposite; Green Shirt quickly slammed it open and looked in. Empty. Green Shirt threw open the door to the heads next. Empty. Then he turned to the last cabin door. Pod’s door.
Pod got his gun into position; his finger on the trigger. He took a step back from the door, knowing they would smash it open.
Slam! The door opened.
Bang! Pod fired.
Bullets blasted in a ghastly spray and the pirates crashed to the floor. Pod jumped over them and ran into the saloon, not really wanting to know what his gun had done to them. He could already hear shouting and screaming from above. He took a big glass coffee pot from a locker in the galley and smashed it on the floor so that glass went everywhere. Then he turned back to the pirates. Green Shirt wasn’t moving at all. Yellow Shirt was moaning and writhing. Pod looked around for something to tie them up with, but couldn’t find anything easily to hand and he was afraid that more pirates could come down the stairs at any moment. Giving up on that idea—for now, at least—he fought grimly with Yellow Shirt for his weapons. Yellow Shirt fought hard, but he was bleeding a lot and he seemed confused. Pod got hold of both guns, both knives, then pushed both pirates into the cabin, slammed the door and locked it from the outside. The cabin doors had been designed to be sealable in the case of a hull breach, so he knew they were pretty securely locked away, at least until someone came along to let them out.
He took the confiscated guns and knives and hid them. Then he went behind the cabin door again to wait for the next wave.
‘You said no more people!’ Blue Hat shouted, running at Annalie. Red Bandana had his gun pointed right up in her face. ‘How many? How many?’
Annalie scrinched away from the gun, still tied to the mast, and at last Will saw his moment.
‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ he shouted, jumping to his feet. He pointed his gun at Red Bandana and pulled the trigger. The gun’s powerful action caught him by surprise and it jerked in his hands, spraying bullets haphazardly across the deck. Red Bandana spun and fell, clipped by a bullet, but Blue Hat and Beardy were unharmed.
Beardy pointed his own gun at Will.
‘Drop the gun, kid!’ Blue Hat said, but Will wasn’t done yet. He took a better grip on his weapon and tried again—but this time, nothing happened. He squeezed the trigger again. Still nothing happened. The gun had jammed.
Panic flooded through Will in a black tide, and Blue Hat grinned. ‘Tie him up, too,’ he ordered.
Beardy came towards Will, who backed away all the way up to the railing. Then an idea struck him—and he flipped himself over the railing and into the water.
Blue Hat shouted in fury and ran to the railing to see where Will had gone.
‘What is he doing?’ Essie whispered to Annalie.
‘I have no idea,’ Annalie said.
An argument broke out between Blue Hat and the last of the second wave of pirates, who was wearing a faded football shirt. They seemed to be shouting about whether they should be chasing after Will or going down to the saloon to find out what had happened. Blue Hat, it appeared, wanted to go after Will, but Football Shirt was more interested in finding out whether his men were okay. After more shouting and arguing than seemed entirely necessary, Football Shirt took Beardy and went below, while Blue Hat went back to looking for Will.
Pod waited, his gun at the ready.
There. Now. Feet descending—two more of them.
He let them both get down into the saloon. Shattered glass lay everywhere. The first one, a bearded man, stepped on some and swore. The second man spotted the blood on the floor, and his eyes widened.
Pod fired.
Will came up from underwater cautiously. He’d been hiding under the boat, holding his breath for as long as he could. Now he swam to one of the empty
