The explosion could be heard in the bungalow across the lagoon. No one dared lift their head to see what caused it though. For the past ten minutes everyone was laid flat on the ground taking cover from bullets that were ripping through the thin wall of the building.

There was a raging street battle going on outside. Help had arrived and they weren't being sparing with the bullets.

"When will it stop." screamed Emma, her hands covering her ears.

Ryan was trying to shield her with as much of his body as possible, by glass and splinters were still raining into the room.

"Shh." he soothed. "It will be over soon, I swear."

Emma wasn't the only one crying with fear. Francois and Opal had surrounded Miranda, Gabby and AJ with their bodies and Griffin and Jackson had as one pulled Kendall and the boys away from where they rested against the window and lay flat with them.

There was a sudden male scream from under the same window, and the screaming didn't stop until there was a gunshot right outside.

Slowly the sound of gunfire drifted away from their position. Then the door burst open. Three soldiers were screaming words they couldn't understand and pointing rifles at everyone in the room. They rounded on Reggie, Griffin and Ryan and pointed the guns at their heads.

"It's your guns." Kendall called.

Reggie and Griffin pushed them away and put their hands on their heads. Ryan still had his arms around his daughter and she was too terrified to let him let go.

The soldier yelling at him clicked off his safety.

"We're hostages!" Opal screamed. "We're the hostages."

One of his colleagues seeing what was happening grabbed the muzzle of the rifle just as the other soldier fired. The bullet hit the floors boards inches from Ryan's head. The soldier who came to their rescue recoiled with a burnt hand and then set upon his colleague.

Everyone scrambled away from the arguing soldiers. This wasn't really the rescue they were expecting.

"You the hostages?" the third soldier asked, ignoring his colleagues.

"We are." said Opal, getting up from the floor. "Um… Thank you for saving us."

Griffin scrambled to his feet too, shaken by being held at gunpoint.

"My sister and others are over there." he said pointing through the shattered window to the reception building. It was just as bullet ridden as the walls of their bungalow. "Is it safe to get them?"

The soldier, who had spoken, pushed apart the others and shouted orders at them.

They looked suitably admonished and took up posts at the window.

"Two come with me." he said, turning to speak into his radio.

Griffin gave Kendall a look before volunteering. Jackson and Reggie stepped forward too.

"I said two." said the soldier.

"I need to find Erica." said Jackson, "And I have other family on the island over there." He pointed toward the honeymoon cabin and for the first time he noticed a plume of black smoke billowed into the sky.

The soldier nodded his resigned approval and led them out across the street.

…

Two more soldiers met them outside the bungalow and escorted them across the square. They could still hear distant gun fire; the skirmishes were still going on. The reception building was as much of a wreck as the bungalow. They picked their way through the damage with Griffin calling out his sister's name. Cara cautiously peered around the edge of the reception counter that had somehow escaped the damage from the hail of bullets.

Scott and another man who Griffin finally recognised as one of the resort stewards, stood up slowly.

"She's hurt." said Scott.

Griffin ran to his sister. Her left leg had ballooned to almost three times its normal size.

"What happened?" he asked trying to examine the joint through all the swelling.

"I thought it was just a sprain. But we've been running and…" she began, but couldn't finish. She looked exhausted and close to tears

Griffin stroked his sister's cheek so relieved to see her alive.

"But this is your only injury?"

"I think so."

Griffin looked up at Scott. He had a bruise on his cheek and his fists were bloody.

"And you?"

"I'll live." said Scott.

Jackson stepped up and grabbed Scott by the arm.

"Have you seen Erica? Did you see where they took her?"

Scott shook his head.

"We've been running through the wood all night. We got captured, but got away and came here." he patted their other companion on the back. "We found Howard hiding in a cupboard. He's the one who called the navy… But I certainly didn't expect things to get quite so dangerous so quickly." He gave the soldier who accompanied Jackson and the others a toothy grin so as not to offend, but he was clearly shaken by the amount of fighting that had taken place.

Griffin picked up his sister and straightened up.

"I need to get her back to the others." he said.

Jackson turned back to the soldier that had accompanied them.

"I need to search the rest of the resort. There are still people missing."

Reggie had been stood by the window the whole time. He was watching the column of black smoke coming from across the lagoon.

"And we need to get over there." he said. "Bianca and Marissa were all alone over there."

"Marissa?" said Scott he noticed the smoke now too and realised the danger.

It took some persuading and a long radio conversation before the soldier agreed for them to split up.

While Griffin took Cara and Howard back to the others, Jackson went off to search the remaining bungalows with an escort and Reggie and Scott followed their soldier friend down to the jetty where they found one of the pirate's motor boats waiting.

…

The battle on the beach by the honeymoon cabin was long over. There were more bodies, bullet holes and scorch marks across the sand but everyone's eyes were on the burning wreck of a helicopter wedged into the beach. The most alarming part was the chopper blades slicing into the roof of the small cabin.

Reggie and Scott raced across the sand to the cabin. Scott tore through to the back room but Reggie paused when he noticed a chair wedged against a door.

Cautiously he pulled the chair free and opened the door.

Marissa was curled up into a ball on the bathroom floor.

"Marissa?" he whispered, kneeling down and shaking her by the shoulder. "Marissa, are you hurt?"

She looked up slowly, like it was taking a long time to come back from where her mind had been.

"Reggie?" she said, recognising him.

"It's okay." he said, recognising the fact that she was in shook. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room.

"I found Marissa." he called, as Scott reappeared from his search of the bedroom.

Scott's eyes gazed beyond him.

"Where's Bianca?"

At the sound of her girlfriend's name Marissa suddenly awoke from her stupor. She wriggled out of Reggie's arms.

"They took her." she said. "They took her to the chopper."

She ran outside to see for herself the sight she most feared. She skidded to a halt when she saw the burning wreck.

She screamed Bianca's name and sank to her knees in the sand.

Scott who had chased her outside and seeing her grief, knelt beside her, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

Reggie's footsteps were slower as he followed them out of the cabin.

"She was in the chopper." he whispered.

"Do we know that for sure?" Scott asked.

"They came here for Bianca." said Reggie. "That man in the suit kept asking for her. The chopper was their only way off the island."

"What about their boat?" Scott asked.

Reggie blinked.

"What boat?"

"At the beach there was boat. And who's to say it was the only one."

"There was a boat." said Marissa. She gripped Scott's sleeve and turned to him, hope returning to her eyes. "Maybe she was on the boat?"

…