Page 63 of A Princess, Stolen
“And if you can’t get rid of him tomorrow morning?”
Sparta didn’t react and continued talking. “Just before five, I’ll switch our transponder to receive, contact Buxton, and send an SOS. Then, I’ll switch it off again immediately. Nobody will be the wiser, and even if someone else is there, they won’t knowenough about it, and the Coast Guard will conclude the cutter has sunk.”
“Then what? It’ll take the Coast Guard forever to get out that far.”
“Coast Guard ships are on constant patrol, but every sailor is also obliged to provide assistance in an emergency. Every captain must constantly monitor the maritime distress radio frequencies. In our case, the tourist boats are certainly the ones that can reach us the fastest. It shouldn’t take long, but in any case, we’ll use the raft in the meantime.”
I was tempted to remind him that he vetoed the raft, but his plan sounded too sensible for me to upset him. And he saidwe. He would accompany me and he would only do that if he weren’t concerned about his plan. Nevertheless, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he might push me off the raft and drown me.
“So, how are you going to get the raft into the water unnoticed? Even if you do it tonight, someone will notice!” I added.
Sparta grinned mirthlessly. “The raft is already floating in the water, tied to a rope, being towed by the Agamemnon. I finished it this afternoon and told Nathan I wanted to test it.”
“He didn’t suspect anything?”
“No.”
Why had he built a raft in the first place?
Sparta looked past me. He wasn’t telling me everything, which meant, I was getting involved in something I didn’t fully understand. On the other hand, according to Troy, Sparta had been to sea many times. He was a fisherman who knew everything about navigation, sea conditions, and probably the maritime distress radio frequency. Everything suggested that his plan was well thought out, even the raft suggested that. And I didn’t want to wait for a tour boat surrounded by sharks. Iwouldn’t get a better opportunity… If only I could be certain he wouldn’t hurt me.
“Why are you helping me?” I asked bluntly. “You hate me.”
He looked at me with his hungry eyes and threw back his dreadlocks. “I no longer believe in the plan. I always believed that the men underestimated your father, that he’d find ways and means… I think these men will fail, and then we and our families will receive no compensation, no damages. That ring on your hand will provide for my wife and son.”
“You have a family?” I asked, perplexed, not knowing why it confused me so much.
“Imagine that, yes. But without a job, I can’t give them what they deserve.”
Perhaps Sparta wasn’t such a bad guy after all if he cared so much about his wife and son. I also remembered the moment when he insisted on giving Nathan his life jacket and how Nathan reacted.
I chewed my lip thoughtfully. “But you won’t get the ring until I’m sitting alive in a tourist boat,” I finally said, braver than I felt. “Before that, I’ll hold it in my hand, and should you attack me, I’ll drop it. Then it’ll sink to the bottom of the sea, never to be seen again. Is that clear?”
Sparta pulled down one corner of her mouth. “Crystal, princess.”
“So, when do we start?”
“Tomorrow morning, five o’clock sharp, at the railing, amidships, starboard.” He grinned broadly, and for the first time, I saw that two teeth were missing further back, something that was unthinkable where I came from. Now he nodded toward the water. “The early morning fog will be on our side and we’ll only have a slight swell.”
I swallowed because the plan was now in place and seemed so final. “What is starboard?”
Sparta ran his hands through his hair as if in disbelief. “The right side of a ship, princess. Good Lord, I should go without you! Do you even have a watch?”
“There’s one in the room.”
“Be on time!”
As he left, I watched him and a sense of menace grew within me. A hundred things could go wrong, only the raft gave me security.
Wanting to distract myself, I helped Pan and Icarus paint the railing on the port side since the storm waves had knocked the paint off. When they fought each other, pretending their brushes were lightsabers, I couldn’t help but smile despite my agitated state.
Afterward, I watched Troy and Taurus as they attempted to repair the crane again and became tangled in the fishing nets, much to everyone’s amusement. Sparta finally helped them untangle the two trawling nets.
Toward evening, I prepared a pot of goulash with Troy, which meant I could also eat and gain some strength. While we were cooking, he gave me a few strange glances as I studied the ingredients of all the spice mixtures, but even if he suspected that I might be allergic to something, it didn’t matter. I would soon be gone.
Sparta was absent from dinner.
“He wasn’t hungry,” Nathan explained, scooping a three-man portion onto his plate. The others nodded as if it was normal, Nathan, though, strangely only looked at me.
