Chapter 33
Laura slowly made her way to the other side of the island. She walked carefully along the shoreline taking care to avoid the guards. Finally she saw what she was looking for. In the distance was a boat tied just off shore. From where she was standing it was almost totally hidden from view.
She watched the lone guard as he patrolled the area. Jessica had filled her in on the amount of ground each guard covered in his patrol, so she knew he would be out of sight of this area for a brief time while he patrolled farther down shore. Laura knew that once the guard was out of sight, she would have less than five minutes to get the boat untied and set adrift before he returned.
Finally the guard disappeared behind the bushes. Laura checked to make sure no one was watching. There was no one in sight so she ran the short distance to the boat. She quickly got the boat untied and waded into the water pushing the boat in front of her. When she was about ten feet from shore, she gave the boat a hard shove and waded back in. She ducked into the bushes to wait. She wanted to make sure everything went according to plan before she left to meet Lucky and Jessica.
The guard came back in sight. Laura crossed her fingers that he wouldn't notice the boat before it reached the radar band for the alarm. The boat was still close enough to shore to tell that it was empty. If he reported an empty boat drifting towards the radar band, the other guards might not come out when the alarm went off and their plans would be ruined. She let out a sigh of relief when he disappeared behind the bushes again.
Laura looked out onto the ocean and saw that the boat had not drifted very far after she pushed it. In fact, it appeared to be drifting back towards shore. She only had a few minutes to make a decision before the guard returned. She knew that she only had one option. It was dangerous, but it was the only way Lucky and Jessica were going to get off the island. She was going to have to risk getting caught to save them.
She came out from behind the bushes and checked to see if the guard was in sight. She could see him way down the beach. She had to move fast. She ran to the edge of the water and waded out to the boat which was almost back on the beach. Laura carefully climbed into the boat, picked up the oars and began to row towards the radar band. It took her a minute to get the rhythm, but she was finally able to get the boat moving steadily.
***
Meanwhile on the other side of the island, Lucky was pacing back and forth. Every few minutes, a guard would come to patrol the area and Jessica had to pull Lucky out of sight.
"Do you want to get caught?" she asked him.
"I'm nervous. I pace when I get nervous."
"I'm sure everything will be all right," Jessica said. Her voice didn't sound very sure though.
"What if my mom gets caught?" he asked.
"Then we get off this island and find your father… I mean our father."
Lucky nodded. "You're right. He'll know what to do." He glanced at his watch. "What's taking her so long? She's had plenty of time to get there. We should have heard that alarm a long time ago."
"I'm sure she's fine. If we don't hear anything in the next five minutes, we'll go look for…" She never got to finish her sentence, because she was interrupted by the sound of the alarm going off. "This is it. I hope she makes it back in time."