Sorry this was delayed…I moved back to uni …toasters and microwaves are a lot more expensive than what I remember them being lol

A month ago I turned 20 and looking back I realised that I started this when I was 18…wow…I have been taking my time…it doesn't feel like it's been that long to me but maybe it has to you guys who have had to wait for me…I'm sorry…I will finish this before I am 21…..promise…maybe 22 lol

I am so late with this chapter that Uncharted 3 has actually come out lol…has anyone got it yet? Any good? I would have bought it already if it weren't for my lousy student budget lol

Huh…no longer a teenager…I should grow up…if I actually did that this story would suddenly become very boring..it probably already is lol…I relied greatly on my characters being very stupid lol...and people who talk to monkeys

In the last chapter the past was dealt with and everyone was happy…in the last present-day chapter…the crew found out that somebody had stolen Nate's son and it looked like the culprit might be Phil. Who am I kidding…it was definitely Phil…


Chapter 27

Present day

Phil stared at the baby before him. It was crying loudly.

If it wasn't for the fact that the baby was integral to the plot Phil would have probably thrown it into the sea by now.

No matter what he did the thing just refused to shut up. Phil stomped off to the end of the jetty wishing that the boat that was meant to pick them up arrived early. Even here the calming sound of waves lapping against the aged wood was drowned out by that annoying brat.

There was nothing he could do but get as far away as he could from the tiny human.

Things were going according to plan though. So far the only resistance they had come up against was some lax airport security but they had been dealt with easily.

Phil also had the location of the final jawbone. A location only he knew about. It was unfortunate that Nathan Drake held the last piece of the puzzle. Phil would have much preferred to do this without involving him. Drake had a nasty habit of thwarting his plans. Phil, understandably, did not like this but it was a risk he was forced to take.

This time Phil had something that would guarantee his success and Drake's compliance.

He had his son. The perfect bargaining chip.

Ted took off his headset and looked at his friends who had assembled in the cramped cockpit.

'We have a problem,' he said finally.

Sully raised an eyebrow, 'We got several of those already.'

The others looked at Ted expectantly. He cleared his throat.

'It seems that we don't have clearance to land at any airport in Turkey.'

The group took a moment to absorb this information.

'Why not?' Barry asked nervously eyes darting around the room.

'Apparently, this plane is owned by a certain British man who-,' Ted didn't get to finish as Barry lost his composure.

'I'm sorry! I didn't know this was going to happen. I thought they had forgiven me. It was a giant misunderstanding. Please don't hate me.'

'Barry, what the hell are you talking about?' Chloe cut in. Barry calmed down a little and took a breath.

'A couple of years ago I went to a state dinner with my dad. It was held by the Turkish prime minister. During the starters, I dropped my fork and it happened to land right under the prime minister's wife's chair and I definitely did not look up her skirt while getting it back and when the wife dropped her spoon and caught me head between her legs trying to reach my fork the prime minister just assumed the worst. To be honest I don't think the wife minded all that much.'

There was silence as everyone digested this interesting piece of information.

'Huh,' Sully said wondering whether he should believe this. Chloe meanwhile wondered why people couldn't keep a hold of their cutlery during a meal.

'Yeah, the man on the radio said this plane was owned by a British man who was an international terrorist,' Ted said finally, inadvertently creating a very awkward moment for Barry who froze, aware that everyone was staring at him. Not kindly either.

There was a sudden explosion outside the cockpit window. The floor shook a little. In the cabin a few over-head lockers were thrown open. Barry relaxed a little now that the attention wasn't all on him.

'Oh yeah,' Ted continued, 'The authorities also said they would blow us out of the sky if we didn't leave their air space.'

Chloe looked at him, 'Don't you think that was a bigger problem than having nowhere to land?'

Ted struggled with the controls, 'Well I didn't want to send everyone into a wild panic.'

'How thoughtful of you,' Chloe muttered darkly and strapped herself into a seat, a picture of calm, but her eyes were rapidly searching for parachutes. She took a moment to glare evilly at Barry as he scrambled past to a seat.

'Isn't this is a tad bit overboard. He just peeked at some woman's underwear. It's hardly a crime,' Sully grumbled, finding his way back to the plush lounge.

Chloe glared at him from the cockpit, 'It is most definitely a crime, you perverted old man.'

Another explosion rocked the small space.

'We're all going to die!' Barry cried out in despair. He ran up and down the cabin till Miguel grabbed his shoulders and slapped him.

'Get a grip,' he said and took the controls from a surprised Ted, 'If there is anyone out here who can land a plane without a runway…it's me.'

'Oh God, we are going to die,' Chloe said, closing her eyes as images of a plane crashed into the canopy of a rainforest popped into her head. She gripped the armrests. Was it bad that she could barely remember the last time she had gone up in a plane and landed on a real runway before?

Nate had been quiet this whole time unable to understand how they had gotten into yet another situation with air transportation. He had been brooding, thinking about his son and Phil but those thoughts had been quickly pushed aside when they started to get shot at.

'What are our options?' he asked Ted.

Ted looked grim, 'We are well into their territory, we could head to either Bulgaria or Greece but it will add a day or so to our trip.'

This did not appeal to Nate, Ted saw this and carried on, 'Or we could try an ocean landing….'

Nate and Chloe looked at Miguel and then at each other again, both thinking similar thoughts. That guy was crazy and while he could land in trees they weren't so sure about seas.

'I don't think that's going to work either,' Nate said hurriedly hoping that Miguel hadn't heard.

The plane suddenly tilted sharply and Nate found himself falling into a control panel. Ted grabbed a hold of Chloe's chair and managed to stay put.

'What hell are you doing?' he shouted at Miguel who was wrestling with the jet to keep it steady.

'We've been hit,' the African said.

There was another scream in the cabin as Barry lost all hope again. This was shortly followed by another slapping sound as Miguel unbuckled his belt, went over to the Brit and hit him again. Miguel went back to his seat and resumed failing to control the plane.

Nate struggled over to where Sully was sitting, 'Are there any parachutes?'

Sully shook his head and went a little pale. If Nate was asking for the parachutes then they were definitely in trouble.

The crew felt an unpleasant feeling as the one end of the plane tipped down in a nose dive.

Nate sat in a seat, closed his eyes, took a breath and put all his faith in a pilot who crashed planes more often than landed them.

Elena opened her eyes.

She had been asleep. Exhaustion seeped from every muscle and Elena wondered how she had even woken up at all.

The Egyptian policeman was sitting in an old visitor's chair. He looked over when he saw her move.

'You should rest some more. Your son is not the only one who has undergone surgery,' he said in a kindly voice.

Elena let her head sink into pillow, recounted the last few hours. She had talked to Nate and then waited. Waited for something. Anything. Any clue about what had happened to her son. Minutes flowed into hours and the nurses came to tell her to rest. She had finally given in after hearing nothing. Elena promised herself that she would nap only for an hour and then she would find her son. She had broken that promise. She had slept for a few hours extra.

It felt somehow wrong that she should be sleeping when her son was missing. She felt like she should be doing something. Turning over every street, every building till they found her child.

Elena asked the policeman for any updates and he hesitated before speaking.

'We found the van that the kidnapper used,' he said. Elena instantly sat up and regretted it as a wave if dizziness coursed through her. She should probably eat something. 'It was empty, but there were some wrappers from medical equipment. Tape, gloves that sort of thing. There was no blood.'

Elena didn't know whether to be relieved or worried upon hearing this. 'Do you have any idea where they went?' she asked.

'The van was found at a private air strip. Apparently the only traffic today has been a helicopter that left with four men and a baby.'

Elena was acutely aware of her heart beating faster, 'And? Where was it going? We should go after it.'

The policeman put a hand on her shoulder and eased her back onto the bed. Elena hadn't even realised that she was getting out of it in her excitement. 'They are heading to one of the coastal towns. Where they could get a boat to the Greek islands. I have alerted the airport authorities there. Resources are even more depleted than usual because a known enemy of Turkey is currently invading our airspace. The authorities have their priorities.'

Elena didn't think anything could be more important than retrieving her son, 'But they will arrest them, right?. They will find my son?'

The policeman assured them that they would. The helicopter was due to arrive soon. The guards would be ready.

After a while Elena frowned, 'Who is this enemy?'

The policeman shrugged, 'Some terrorists or some such. Don't worry about it. They will be dealt with soon.'

Sully chewed on cigar, deep in thought.

Chloe sat next to him, shaken but more importantly, alive.

The on-going swaying motion had Barry leaning over the edge, hand over mouth.

Not far from him, Miguel emptied a boot filled with water, he did this with grin that stretched from ear to ear. He couldn't wait to tell his mum about this.

Ted held a hand to his forehead and squinted into the horizon which consisted of nothing more than a blue sky and an even bluer sea.

'What are you looking for?' Nate asked.

'The fighter jets saw us go down, they'll be sending the boats soon,' Ted explained grimly, 'Got a plan?'

Nate managed a faint smile, 'When have I ever had a plan?'

Ted returned the smile and went over to sit by Chloe. At that moment, just watching them them both, Nate felt a pang of jealousy. He supposed he should feel happy, relieved even. Miguel had actually landed the plane in the sea without killing anyone and now here they were sitting on top a slowly sinking luxury jet.

Frustration welled up inside of Nate like pain does when you stub a toe against a heavy inanimate object. It builds for a while before passing like nothing had ever happened. For Nate the frustration gave way to misery. He just wanted this to be over.

'So who was this international terrorist?' Sully asked Barry.

'What?'

'Ted said that this plane was owned by a terrorist.'

'Oh, well it was owned by one. The British government captured him recently and sold off all his stuff. My dad bought the jet. I suppose the Turkish authorities haven't found this out yet,' Barry said as if this were completely normal.

Chloe scowled, 'And you thought that peeking at the prime minister's wife's undies was the reason they were shooting rockets at us?' She shook her head in disbelief and Ted smiled.

Barry shrugged, 'I wasn't thinking straight.'

'Clearly,' Chloe muttered sarcastically and then grimaced when she noticed that the water level was significantly higher than it was a few minutes ago. She nudged Ted. 'I hope there's a plan. I don't know how much longer we have,' she whispered as to not agitate Barry who was sensitive about impending death.

'Well, I'm hoping that the authorities are sending boats to pick us up,' Ted replied.

'By 'pick up' you mean capture, don't you?' Chloe grumbled and then sighed at Ted's nod.

Miguel stood silently and pointed. Five pairs of eyes looked out to sea.

'They're coming,' Miguel said with dramatic finality.

In the distance a ship was just about visible. As it became closer its shape became more apparent. Ted noticed the canons mounted on the side while Chloe took in the giant revolving satellite sitting atop the bridge. Barry got distracted by the fact that his toes were now submerged in water. Sully saw that a smaller boat had been deployed and was approaching fast. Nate was silent. Miguel, when the boat full of soldiers pulled up beside them and pointed their guns at him, waved happily. They looked uncertainly at each other but their captain barked an order and the men focussed once again on the small band of heroes.

While they were being herded onto the boat, Chloe looked to Nate for a signal that would inevitably lead to a short scuffle and a liberated boat but it didn't come. To her Nate looked rather resigned. This was not good. Since their main decision maker was out of action Chloe took it upon herself to save the group and tackled the soldier in front of her.

The rest of the group, glad that something had started to happen, joined in. Soon there were six soldiers in the sea and a newly crewed boat powering away to land. With a final glug the tail of the luxury jet disappeared beneath the waves.

Barry got the feeling he was going to be in a lot of trouble when he got home.

The policeman frowned at his phone. Elena watched, chewing at her lip.

'Is everything all right?' she asked.

The policeman looked up, his brow still furrowed, 'I was talking to a colleague …it seems there was a shooting at the airport where the helicopter was due to land.'

Elena's blood ran cold, 'You mean Phil got away? You told the airport people that he was coming! How could you not stop him? I don't believe this. You call yourself the police? I could do better myself.'

Elena was faintly aware that her voice was rising and by then end of it she knew she was past hysterical. The policeman listened patiently, it wasn't the first time he had been insulted and it probably wouldn't be the last. The woman had been through a lot, she was worried and he had failed her. This got to him more than her rant.

Taking a breath, Elena mumbled an apology, 'I'm sorry-.'

'You don't have to apologise,' the policeman said, 'We should have stopped this Phil when we had the chance.'

There was a moments silence while Elena tried to calm her tired mind order her thoughts.

'What now?' she asked.

'Similar to last time, they travelled by van. It was found in a small coastal town. They are probably waiting for a boat to take them to one of the islands.'

'When did they get there?'

'No more than a few hours ago, they will be stuck in the town till night. Illegal boats don't sail in the day, it makes it a lot easier to catch them,' the policeman explained.

Elena looked out of the small window, her face lit by the pink light of early evening. A wild thought cantered across her brain but as she considered the idea, it didn't seem so bad.

'I want to go there,' she said. It was more of an order than anything else.

The policeman was thrown off his stride for a moment, 'What? That's out of the question. Let me assure you, Miss Fisher, there are trained men out there searching for Phil. You need to stay here and rest.'

Elena steeled her voice, 'Officer, my health is fine, my son's isn't. I need to look for him. I need to help.'

The policeman could see that she wasn't about to change her mind but still felt uneasy. He could get air transport for her. It wouldn't be hard. She could be there before nightfall. He just didn't want her to feel disappointed. The chances of finding Phil were slim at best.

Elena was about to add to her argument when the policeman held up a hand.

'Fine.'

Elena backed up a moment, she didn't realise it was going to be this easy, 'Uh, what? Sorry. Just like that? I thought you were going to talk me out of it.'

'This is a unique situation,' the officer said, 'What kind of man denies a mother a chance to look for her missing child?'

'Um, thanks,' Elena replied.

'But you must listen to me and not tire yourself out,' he continued seriously.

Elena was so full of hope that she would have agreed to almost anything. She watched, excited, as the police officer made some phone calls.

She finally felt like she wasn't being the useless female. She would find her son. Unlike Nate, Elena wasn't even bothered about revenge.

Elena just wanted her family intact at the end of this.

Chloe shivered and rubbed her arms. Evening drew on and it was steadily becoming darker. They had been on the boat for what felt like an age.

'Do you even know where you're going?' she asked Ted irritably.

'I'm heading towards land,' he said.

Chloe rolled her eyes at his vagueness and stamped her feet. She was worried about Nate who hadn't really said anything for some time. She wondered what she could do to help.

Sully gazed at the mass of land getting closer and closer. He could make out pin pricks of light from small towns and villages. Soon, he thought, they would be on solid land and they would be able to get Nate's kid. Not for the first time in his life Sully wondered what he had done to deserve such bad luck. Nothing seemed to be going right. He wouldn't be surprised if the boat suddenly ran out of fuel.

Chloe elbowed him, 'You do know you're speaking out loud. Any louder and Barry will hear you.'

'Crap,' Sully muttered, rubbing an aching rib, 'He's a nutter that one.'

Miguel was completing a word-search puzzle quietly. Sully frowned.

'Did he always have that on him?' he asked Chloe who looked over at the pilot and his mini puzzle book.

'He's been doing that for an hour now. He just got it out of his pocket with a pen,' she answered.

'He's also a crazy,' Sully muttered. He didn't have anything against people who did word-searches. It was just that it didn't seem appropriate at this particular moment in time.

Taking his mind off the crazy people in the group, Sully turned his attention to Nate who looked a little grey.

The older man stared back out at the sea, deep in thought.

He hoped with every fibre of his being that everything would work out. A broken Nate was something Sully didn't think he could fix.

He didn't think anyone would be able to.

Phil glared impatiently at the sky, willing it to turn dark sooner.

The baby had stopped crying and was now snoozing peacefully. Phil despised it.

One of his men lounged on the dock, cigarette in hand. The other had gone to get food.

The doctor was watching the baby carefully, still unsure of what the plan was.

Police sirens had raced past a few times but other than that there were no disturbances.

After a long time, the other man returned with some interesting news, 'There are teams of policemen searching the docks. The locals say they are searching for a missing baby and a fat American.'

The slur on his weight affected Phil more than the fact they were going to be found out.

'When will they get here?' he asked annoyed.

'Probably within the hour. The locals also said the mother was here too. She's helping the police.'

Phil grunted, this was not ideal, 'Do you know where Nathan Drake is?'

'No. Nobody knows where he is,' the man said.

Phil was about to reply when he saw a boat approaching the docks.

He looked through a pair of binoculars and nearly dropped them in surprise.

This was unexpected.

They were close now.

Ted was navigating towards the docks of what seemed to be small coastal town. Miguel had stopped his puzzles because it was too dark and had resorted to a very boring I-spy game. Nobody but Barry seemed to be taking part.

'…something beginning with 's',' Miguel began another round and looked around hopefully at the sullen group.

'Sea,' Barry said without any real enthusiasm.

'No.'

'Sky.'

'No.'

'Ship.'

There was silence as Barry tried to think of something else beginning with s.

'Shark?' he asked.

Miguel shook his head.

'Uhh…shoe.'

'No.'

'Sand.'

'No'

'Segway.'

Chloe and Sully frowned at Barry.

'There aren't any Segways here,' Chloe said.

'I was getting desperate,' Barry replied.

The boat listed to a stop as it came aside a seemingly empty jetty.

They all clambered up onto the rotting wood via a rickety ladder and stopped.

'Ah, shotgun,' Barry said finally.

'You got it,' Miguel said.

Phil stood before them pointing the business end of a large gun in their faces.

'How come only he saw the gun?' Chloe muttered to Ted.

'I really don't know. The dock was empty when I looked, then I was busy with the parking. Why didn't you see it?'

'Stop arguing,' Phil said and was pleased when they did, 'He probably saw it when I got it out in the first place. After that we hid, that's probably why Ted didn't see it.'

Ted raised an eyebrow, 'Thanks for clearing that up for us.'

'Why didn't you tell anyone about the shotgun?' Chloe asked Miguel, making a real effort not to shout.

'Well, I didn't know it was a bad person holding the shotgun, I just saw a gun and then it disappeared,' Miguel answered.

Barry, who surprisingly didn't seem so bothered about the sticky situation they were in, wasn't having any of this, 'That's not how you play I-spy, Miguel. You have to choose something that everyone can see…all the time.'

'Sorry.'

Phil stopped the conversation with a blast from the gun.

A baby started to cry.

'So does anyone want to tell me where Nathan Drake is?' Phil asked, all smiles.

The group looked confused. They were all sure that Nate had climbed up with them but for some reason he wasn't there.

Nate had disappeared.


I once saw a man riding a Segway down a street…it was really weird…they are not natural lol…I don't like I-spy…but I don't mind word-searches

I am becoming increasingly worried about the consistency of this story…I keep thinking I contradict myself in terms of the time of day and what people are doing…if you spot anything that doesn't make sense please tell me lol…thanks

The other day my brother asked me how old I was…he thought I was still sixteen…genius...

Thanks for you for reading, reviewing and your general continued interest in this story...its gone on a long time