J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you for reading and/or reviewing! The next chapter will be up tomorrow. God bless!

June 20 – Tuesday

Finding rooms at this time of night wasn't easy, especially for such a group of six. In the end, they had no choice but to get rooms at two different hotels. Frank and Joe shared a room at one place while the other four boys had found a room that allowed four people at another place. It was a quarter past four in the morning when they were all finally settled, and none of them stirred before ten.

Frank was the first to wake up in the Hardys' room. He was still tired from the night before, but he got up as soon as he saw the time and awakened Joe.

"Just a few more minutes," Joe pleaded, burying his head under his pillow.

Frank pulled the pillow away. "Come on. We've got to go pick up the other guys so we can get to work on this case."

That perked Joe up, but he still had to say, "They're not going to be too happy about being woken up, either."

"We've got to solve this mystery," Frank went on, ignoring Joe's comment. "Whoever killed that Reese guy went to a lot of trouble to hide the fact that a murder had even been committed. They can't be too pleased that they wound up with six witnesses, so we can't exactly get back to vacationing until this is solved. For that matter, I wouldn't count on it being too safe to go home as long as these people are out and about, whoever they are."

"You know, I've been thinking about it," Joe said, putting his shoes on. He hadn't bothered to take his clothes off when he'd gone to bed.

"When did you have time to think?" Frank teased him. "You've been sleeping the whole time."

"Maybe I just don't need as much time to think as you do," Joe teased him back. "Anyway, I had one idea of how they might have done it. I didn't get a good look at their guns. Did you?"

"No, I wasn't taking the time to look too hard."

"We assumed they were regular handguns with silencers on them, right? But what if they were actually stun guns?"

Frank nodded slowly, turning this idea over in his mind. "That would explain why there were no bullets and no blood."

"And why they didn't bother trying to shoot at us from a distance," Joe added. "I had assumed it was because they didn't want to leave evidence, but it could also be because they knew their tasers couldn't reach."

"They did shoot at us up on the balcony, but that was right away when they noticed us," Frank pointed out. "They could have forgotten for a second that they didn't have regular guns."

"It's not an airtight theory," Joe admitted, "but it does make sense. It also means what we saw was a kidnapping rather than a murder."

"Let's talk to the police after we pick up the other guys," Frank suggested. "They're probably taking another look around the crime scene in the daylight. They might have some more ideas by now."

"Not to mention, they could have learned something from the car," Joe added. "Let's go."

Frank sent a group text to their friends to give them a heads-up that he and Joe were on their way, just in case any of them happened to be awake already. The Hardys had kept the rental car with them, so they climbed in and headed toward the other hotel. It had taken about twenty minutes to drive from one to the other at four in the morning, so with the extra traffic in the daytime, the Hardys expected it to take closer to thirty.

They had gotten no more than two minutes away from their hotel when Frank noticed a blue SUV in the rearview mirror. Frank didn't think anything of it at first, but when it took every turn they did and stayed right behind them, he was beginning to get suspicious.

"I think we might have a tail, Joe," he said, glancing in the mirror as often as he dared.

Joe shifted in his seat so that he could get a glimpse of the SUV in the passenger side mirror. "Try to lose him. Then we'll know for sure."

"I'll take it easy at first," Frank replied. "I don't want him to realize we're onto him."

Frank made several turns at random. The SUV followed them around every single one. Then Frank became more aggressive in trying to shake their tail, switching lanes at the last moment and neither using his turn signal nor slowing down more than absolutely necessary before making a turn.. Still the SUV continued to follow them doggedly.

"He's definitely after us," Joe said. "And now he knows we know that."

Frank gripped the steering wheel tighter. "No kidding. And he's not easy to shake, either."

As long as they were in a populated area, both Hardys knew the people following them wouldn't dare to try anything. The trouble was that neither of them were familiar with the area, and so staying where there were people could prove difficult. The city was already showing signs of thinning out. Joe tried placing a call to the police, but just before he'd finished dialing, the SUV behind them began speeding up.

"What are they trying to do?" Frank asked, a moment before the SUV moved into a different lane and sped past them.

The brothers stared after it in surprise.

"I know our tail giving up on us should be good news…" Joe started.

"But I don't like this one bit," Frank concluded.

"We'd better turn off first chance we get," Joe said.

Frank nodded.

Turning off was easier said than done. They had gotten onto a six-lane thoroughfare with a higher speed limit and infrequent exits. The Hardys had to drive over half a mile before they reached the next one, and by then they couldn't be sure whether it would be safe to take it or if their former pursuers had also done so. After a brief consultation, they decided to try turning off anyway. The sooner they could get back to the busier parts of town, the better.

Frank drove down the exit and came to the intersection that passed underneath the overpass on the main highway. No one was around, which made the boys a bit nervous. At least it meant that their pursuers weren't around. Frank turned left and headed toward the entrance on the other side of the overpass. It was then that they saw a blue SUV parked in the entrance, blocking it.

"Great," Joe muttered.

Frank didn't say anything, but he set his jaw as he continued straight. They were in a residential part of town which looked quiet. Surely, whoever was pursuing them wouldn't try anything here. Nevertheless, the SUV backed out of the entrance and began following them again.

"We should have just kept on the highway," Joe said, looking over his shoulder at the car behind them. There was no point pretending that they hadn't noticed their pursuers now.

"What we should do is call the police," Frank replied.

Joe grabbed his phone again and placed the call. The dispatcher who answered was quick to understand the seriousness of the situation and began asking Joe questions about the car following them and their location. Joe had to wait until they crossed an intersection to know what street they were on.

"Keep traveling west on that street," the dispatcher instructed him. "We have a patrol car in the area. They'll be able to intercept you."

"Good." Joe turned around and looked behind him. Then he turned to look forward again. "Uh-oh."

They were descending into a gully with no houses on either side. The street took a sharp turn to wind down one side until it reached a bridge at the bottom and began heading back up the other side. As soon as the other driver saw what kind of terrain they were in, he sped up and began to edge around the Hardys' car.

"He's trying to run us off the road," Frank said through gritted teeth.

He tried to keep ahead of the other car, but it edged in front of him. Frank knew he mustn't give up any of the road to the other car. They were close to the bottom of the gully, but it was still a steep enough drop that they would probably roll if they went off the road.

Then the other car nosed ahead and swerved its front end into Frank's path. Frank had no choice but to hit the brakes, and even then, the two cars hit one another with a loud crash of breaking headlights and crumpling fenders. The impact hadn't been too hard, and neither of the Hardys were injured. Neither were the occupants of the other car, apparently. Three of them climbed out with guns drawn.

"Back up! Back up!" Joe advised his brother frantically.

Frank tried to take his brother's advice, but as soon as he pressed the gas pedal, there was a horrible scraping sound from under the car and Frank could see sparks flying from his side. He braked, knowing that they would never get away this way.

Bailing out of the car wasn't an option either and there was no time to come up with anything else. The gunmen already had their weapons trained on the boys.

"Nobody's going to get hurt if you just come out," one of the men ordered them. The boys recognized his voice as the one who had spoken to Reese the night before.

Frank and Joe glanced at one another. They didn't believe the man for a moment, but they could see they had no choice.

As the boys climbed out of the car, one of the men holstered his gun and pulled out two pairs of handcuffs, which he placed on each of the boys.

"Where did you guys get handcuffs?" Joe asked, partly just to keep his captors from seeing that he was nervous.

Instead of answering him, the man who seemed to be the leader said to his companions, "You see? You guys are paranoid. If these two were who you think they are, they would have never pulled off the highway and walked right into that trap, and they wouldn't be asking dumb questions either."

"I'm telling you, they are," one of the others protested. "I've seen pictures of them on the news. Check their IDs if you don't believe me."

The leader waved him off. "I still say you're paranoid. Even if they are the Hardys, the news has obviously exaggerated their abilities. Anyway, you two, get in the car."

"What about the others?" the third man asked.

"They'll be joining their friends before long," the leader said.

HBNDHBNDHB

Phil stifled a yawn behind his head as he peered between the blinds in the window. The room looked right over the parking lot, and so he would be able to see when Frank and Joe pulled in. It had already been forty-five minutes since Frank had texted to say they were on their way.

"What do you think is taking them so long?" he asked, turning back toward his three companions in the room.

Despite the morning almost being gone, Chet was still half-asleep. Tony was taking a shower, since as he said, it was hard to say when he would get another opportunity to take one now that they were caught up in a mystery. That left only Biff to answer Phil's question. Biff was currently doing push-ups on the floor, but he stopped to make his reply.

"I hope they didn't get lost or anything."

"I hope it's nothing worse than that," Phil countered.

"You think those guys from last night might have caught up with them?"

"I think it's a strong possibility."

They were both silent for a few minutes, thinking over this grim possibility. Phil was still peering out the window when an SUV pulled into the parking lot. It was dark gray and nothing about it would have normally caught Phil's attention under other circumstances. At least, not until four men climbed out of it. They weren't dressed in dark suits, but something about them raised Phil's hackles.

"Hey, Biff, I could be imagining things, but I think we're about to get some uninvited guests," he said, speaking low even though there was no possibility of them being overheard.

Biff hurried to the window to look out as well. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was about the men that made them look so sinister, but Biff agreed with Phil.

"What should we do?" he asked. "If they know what room we're in, we'll be trapped."

"If they know what room we're in," Phil reminded him. "They might know the hotel without the room number. If we try to leave, then we'll make it easier for them to find us."

"There are several ways out of this hotel," Biff argued. "We might be able to get out while avoiding them. We can get away that way whether they know the room or not, but if we wait here and they know the room number…"

"Right," Phil conceded. "We'd better try it." He grabbed a pillow and threw it at Chet. "Wake up!"

While Chet was sleepily demanding what was up, Biff ran to the bathroom door and pounded on it. "Hurry up, Tony! We've got to go!"

The shower instantly turned off. "Just a second!"

"Make it faster than that!" Biff warned him.

While Chet was putting on his shoes, Phil went back to the window. The four men had already entered the hotel.

"We'd better not even bother getting our stuff," he decided. "Let's just get out of here."

Something longer than a second but shorter than a minute later, Tony rushed out of the bathroom with his hair still dripping and his clothes wet from being thrown on without bothering to dry off. He and Chet were quickly apprised of the situation, and they agreed that trying to sneak out was the best plan.

With the other three crowded close behind him, Phil opened the door a crack and looked out. No one was in the hallway. Wordlessly, Phil gestured for the others to follow him and they crept out of the room. The nearer stairwell and the elevator were to the left, but those seemed the most likely way for the men to come up if they were heading directly for the boys' room. The boys went to the right.

They didn't dare to run for fear they would make too much noise, but they walked as quickly as they could. It was miserable being out in the hallway, exposed so that the men would easily see them if they came here. It made the hall seem to triple in length, and each of the boys glanced over his shoulder numerous times.

Finally, they reached a corner where a parallel hallway intersected their own. Phil held up a hand to signal his friends to stop. Then he peered down the hall. Two men were down it to the right, and even though their backs were turned, Phil instantly recognized them as some of the men from the SUV. He jerked his head back out of sight in case they turned around and then whispered the information to the other boys.

For a few seconds, they were nonplussed. They each realized that their options were to try to sneak through the intersection without being seen, to go back to their room, or to try one of the other ways downstairs. They hesitated a moment too long. Chet peered over his shoulder and let out a soft cry. The others were about to shush him, but then they saw what had alarmed him. The other two men were coming up behind them without saying a word.

"Run!" Tony said.

The warning was not necessary. The others were already running. Instantly, the four men began chasing them. The boys reached the stairwell before their pursuers, but it was behind a door. When Biff grabbed the handle to open it, it wouldn't budge.

"The door's locked!" he announced in both astonishment and desperation.

The boys looked around them for some other avenue of escape, but the end of the hallway and rows of locked room doors were all that was offered. The pursuers closed in on them.

"All right, guys, let's not make this any messier than it needs to be," one of the men said. They all had their hands in their pockets, but this one pulled his out slightly to show the small gun he had concealed there. "We'd appreciate it if you'd come with us and not make any noise."

"I guess we don't have much of a choice," Phil replied, glancing at his friends.

"On the other hand, if we did make noise, there are bound to be people in some of these rooms," Chet pointed out.

"And you'll be dead and we'll be gone by the time they bother to look out."

"But we're not going to live very long if we do go with you," Tony said.

A mirthless smile crossed the gunman's face. "That depends entirely on you."

The boys hesitated, looking at one another. None of them believed for a moment that they would be released in any case. Still, as long as they were alive, there was a chance of escape. They would have to do as they were told for the moment.

One of the men produced a key card from his pocket which unlocked the door to the stairwell, much to the boys' consternation. They were then escorted to the ground floor. A door led directly out of the building into the parking lot. The gray SUV was parked midway between the exterior doors on this side of the hotel. Apparently, bringing the boys out one of the stairwells had been the plan all along.

The SUV hadn't been intended for eight passengers, but it did have a large cargo area. The boys were forced to sit back here, despite it being much too crowded. Once they were inside the vehicle, the men weren't shy about displaying their weapons. The two sitting in the back seat kept themselves half-turned so that they could watch the boys every moment, their guns trained on them. None of the prisoners dared to say a word during the car ride.

They were brought to a marina full of fishing boats and once there, their captors escorted them to one with the name Pearl Diver on the side. Wordlessly, they were taken up the gangway and then down below. There were two sailors working on it as if they were preparing to take it out, but neither of them paid any attention to the group of newcomers.

The first thing the boys saw when they were below the deck was Frank and Joe sitting side by side on a bunk with their hands cuffed. Three men were standing guard over them.

"I see they found you guys, too," Joe commented.

"Pretty daring to kidnap six people in broad daylight," Frank added, glaring at the captors.

The man laughed. "But none of you managed to signal for help, did you? It wouldn't have helped much if you had. Now, you four, empty your pockets."

The boys had dressed in such a hurry that there wasn't much in their pockets. They each had their phones, except for Tony, who had been rushed so much that he had not had the chance to grab anything at all. Phil and Biff also had their wallets. Otherwise, they had nothing with them.

The leader tried to open Phil's phone, but found that it was fingerprint protected. "Give me your thumb," he demanded.

When Phil hesitated a few seconds too long for the men, one of the others grabbed his wrist and forced him to allow his thumbprint to be scanned. Biff only had a PIN on his phone, which he was forced to give them and Chet had no protection on his. The men scanned through the recent calls list on each phone and were satisfied to see no calls had been placed since the incident the night before. They also searched the text messages without finding anything of consequence.

"Good," the man said. "You haven't been causing us any more trouble." He handed the phones and wallets to one of his men. "Dispose of these. The rest of you, get cuffs on these other four. We don't want them making trouble for the captain."

"So you're not letting us go," Tony said as the men picked up handcuffs off a low table and began putting them on each of the boys.

"No," the leader replied. "There weren't supposed to be witnesses last night. We would have offered to pay for your silence, but you had already talked to the cops. You might have a hard time sticking to whatever story we give you. It's safest this way."

"If you're so worried about witnesses, why grab us during the day?" Joe retorted.

"Unfortunate necessity," the man replied. "It took some time to find you after last night and then some more time to set our plans in order. We didn't want to wait until tonight because we couldn't take a chance on you getting away. You're all from the mainland. You might have decided to cut your vacation short after something so upsetting happened." He turned to one of his men. "Tell the captain his load is ready. He'll be paid when he comes back, and a bonus if he can bring proof that he followed orders."

The men left the cabin, closing the hatch behind them so that the boys were trapped below deck. They all sat there a moment or two, taking in the seriousness of the situation.

"So…you guys have a plan, right?" Chet asked finally, breaking the silence.

"Working on it," Frank replied.

"I only saw two sailors on this tub," Joe said. "Did anybody else see more than that?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"On a boat this size, two is probably all the more crew needed," Frank commented. "That means we have them outnumbered three to one. Are you thinking a mutiny, Joe?"

"Once we get out of the marina," Joe replied. "Sooner than that would be nice, but those guys who grabbed us might stick around until the boat pulls out. I'd rather wait long enough to be sure we can really get away."

"One problem," Biff said, moving his arms to remind the others of the handcuffs. "I know three to one are pretty good odds, but having their hands free probably does give them an advantage."

"Not to mention, those guys might be armed," Phil added.

"The handcuffs, we can manage," Frank said. "As for whether these guys are armed, we'll have to take our chances. Joe, do you think you can get your hands in front of you?"

"No problem."

Joe rocked back onto the bunk and slid his cuffed hands around his legs so that they were in front of him. Then he got up and went to look around the room. Frank did the same thing and joined in the search. There was a refrigerator, sink, and a few cupboards in one corner. Another corner had a desk and some instruments. It only took a few minutes of searching for Joe to find a paperclip. He bent it into a makeshift lockpick and soon had the cuffs off his wrists. Then he picked the locks on Frank's restraints and went around to release each of their friends.

"Should have known you guys wouldn't have any trouble getting out of that," Tony commented.

"We're not completely out yet," Frank pointed out. He took all the handcuffs and shoved them under the bunk. "Everybody, sit down like you were before with your hands behind your backs. If anyone comes down here, we don't want them to realize we got loose until we definitely have a chance to jump them."

No one came to check on them. A few minutes later, they heard the boat's engine turn on and soon after that, they could feel the motion as they headed out of the marina. Hours passed, but no one opened the hatch. The boys grew weary of sitting still and they had long since given up on holding their hands behind their backs.

"Maybe we should break through the hatch," Biff suggested finally.

"That would just give those guys a chance to get their weapons," Frank pointed out. "If they're really taking us out into the ocean to kill us, they have to come down here eventually. That will be a much better chance to jump them."

To pass the time, the boys exchanged stories of how they had been captured. None of them felt that it had been a proud moment for them, and so talking about it only put them into an even worse mood. They felt their chances of escape were good, but it was only that: a chance, and that was a long way from a guarantee.

"So, once we've gotten control of the boat, what are we going to do?" Phil asked. "Does anyone know how to run a boat like this?"

"We can manage," Frank assured him. "If nothing else, we can anchor it and call for help on the radio. I'm sure they have a GPS on board so we can give our location."

There was another pause and then Joe said, "I just don't get those guys. They go to all this length getting rid of witnesses, but they do it in a way that there's bound to be even more witnesses now. Maybe not so much when they grabbed Frank and me—they at least waited until we were somewhere with nobody else around—but grabbing the four of you out of a hotel in broad daylight…Someone had to have noticed."

Frank shrugged. "At that time of day, anyone who was checking out would be gone and most people who were staying on would be out. If anyone was in their room, they wouldn't have seen anything unless they happened to look out. They would only have the staff to worry about, and since they had keys to the stairwells, they must have bought the staff off."

"They could have at least tried to buy us off," Chet grumbled.

Frank chuckled. "If they bought off the hotel staff, they would have just told them to keep off that floor for a half hour. The staff wouldn't have had any idea what happened. They would have had an easier time keeping quiet than we would, having witnessed a murder and all."

"Besides that, those guys seemed to know who Frank and I are," Joe said. "The guy in charge didn't seem to buy it necessarily, but they might have figured that we, specifically, definitely wouldn't keep quiet. And they probably figured if they took Frank and me out, you guys wouldn't keep quiet."

"They would have been right about that," Tony said.

"How come you guys left the highway then, anyway?" Biff asked. "Didn't you realize it was going to be a trap?"

Joe tried to hide his face behind his hand and pretend he didn't hear, while Frank shook his head ruefully.

"We should have," he admitted. "I guess we were in too big a hurry to get back."

"Oh, well," Biff said, trying to be philosophical. "I guess it wouldn't have helped us much if you'd gotten away, and—don't take this the wrong way—but if I'm going to be kidnapped by murderers, I'd just as soon have you guys kidnapped along with me."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Joe replied dryly, but with a grin nevertheless.

It was early evening when the boat's engines finally slowed. The boys braced themselves, expecting that this might finally be what they were waiting for. Ten minutes elapsed before the hatch finally opened. A sailor climbed down the ladder.

"Time to lighten our load before we catch any fish," he said cheerily.

Everyone gave Frank and Joe questioning looks. There were supposed to be two of them. Where was the other?

The sailor grabbed Chet by the arm. "Come on, let's go."

Chet hadn't expected to be grabbed, and so he let his hands come farther apart than they would have been able to with handcuffs on. The sailor noticed at once.

"What the…" he began, but he didn't get a chance to finish.

The other boys all pounced on him at once, and with six of them against one, it took them only a moment to subdue him.

"Where's the other one?" Biff asked the question that everyone else was thinking.

"Right here."

They looked up to see the other sailor standing right above the hatch, leveling a shotgun at them. They loosened their grasp on the sailor they had captured and he pulled himself away, rubbing his jaw.

"I didn't want any blood on my boat, but if that's the way it has to be, then I'll do it," the man with the shotgun said. "Bring them up here, Dain."

"Yes, sir," the other replied, giving the boys the impression that the one holding the shotgun was the captain who had been mentioned previously.

One by one, the boys climbed the ladder and then stood on the deck. They were well out into the ocean. Hawaii was long since out of sight, and the prisoners didn't even know in which direction it lay. From here, all they could see was empty ocean. Not even another boat broke the endless expanse of blue. Even the sky overhead was nothing but blue, except for a small patch of clouds to the east.

"Let me do the honors," Dain requested, giving his jaw another rub. "That was a dirty trick, all of them jumping me like that."

"Just go get the weights," the captain ordered him with a touch of annoyance.

Dain slunk back into the hold, grumbling as he went. When he returned, he was lugging a cube of iron with a chain attached to it. A number imprinted on the side gave its weight as thirty pounds.

"How many will it take?" Dain asked.

"Ninety pounds each ought to do it," the captain replied.

Dain counted the boys and then squinted his eyes as he did some mental arithmetic. "That's eighteen of these! You really want me to lug eighteen up that ladder?"

The captain considered for a moment and then said, "They might as well do it themselves." He leveled his shotgun directly at Phil's chest. "You, stay right here. The rest of you, help Dain with those weights. Any funny business, and I'll make you mop your buddy here off the deck."

A little paler than before, the other boys followed Dain down the ladder and helped him carry the weights.

While they were waiting to climb up the ladder, Joe leaned over to Frank and whispered, "You know what these weights are for, right? We've got to think of something fast!"

Frank nodded, considering their options. Every second that passed made escape that much more unlikely. By the time they had brought all the weights onto the deck, nothing had occurred to either Hardy or to any of their friends.

"Okay, go ahead and put the weights on 'em," the captain directed Dain.

The boys glanced at one another. It was literally do-or-die. They had nothing to lose now.

Joe was the first to make a move. He was a few feet away from the captain, who was momentarily distracted so that the barrel of his shotgun was aiming downward more than it had been. Joe jumped at him, grabbing the barrel of the shotgun with his left hand in the same movement. That decision cost him the chance to subdue the captain in one movement, but it did mean that when the trigger was pulled, the entire load of shot went into the deck, ripping a large hole into it. Phil was the other one closest to the captain and he joined in the struggle.

The other four boys were closer to Dain, and they quickly grabbed him, although he put up enough of a fight that he kept their attention occupied. The captain managed to wrench his shotgun away from Joe. It was empty now and no more useful than any other club. The captain swung it back and smacked Phil on the side of the head, causing him to topple over the railing into the water.

Joe shouted and broke away from the captain to rush to the railing and dive over to assist Phil. The captain was quick to follow up his advantage and charged at the others, swinging his shotgun as a club. The boys managed to avoid it, and with their larger numbers, they still managed to wrestle both members of the crew to the deck. While Biff and Chet held them, Frank and Tony hurried to the railing to see how Joe and Phil were faring. Phil seemed to be only semi-conscious, and Joe was using most of his energy just to keep the two of them afloat. Meanwhile, a current was slowly but steadily pulling them away from the boat.

"Find a rope to throw to them!" Frank directed Tony, and they both began to look.

Fortunately, there were plenty of ropes aboard, but by the time Frank and Tony had located a life-preserver to tie to the end of the rope so that Joe would have something to hold onto as he was towed back, Joe and Phil were too far for them to throw the rope to them.

"We'd better take that out to them." Tony pointed out the small boat that the fishermen kept aboard in case of emergency.

He and Frank launched it and began rowing it out to rescue their friends. They would have plenty of room for two more passengers. The current helped them to catch up to Joe and Phil, and so they were soon helping the other two into the boat.

In the meantime, the captain realized that he and Dain now had even odds. He started struggling against Biff, who was holding him, giving the boy a hard time. Without thinking, Chet reached out one hand to help. That gave Dain the chance he was waiting for to break away from his captor. As quick as thought, he wrenched his wrists away from Chet and then gave the boy a rough shove toward the railing. Chet wasn't able to catch his balance before he hit the railing and flipped over it.

Biff realized that he was now the one who was outnumbered. Dain was already reaching for his gun that had been kicked off to one side. Biff only had a few seconds to make a decision and so, whether it was the best decision or not, he thought he would rather take his chances with his friends than get shot here on the boat. He dived over the side.

Dain followed and started shooting toward the water, but Biff and Chet had their wits about them enough to dive under the water to swim toward the rowboat holding their friends. The captain and Dain must have decided that their mission was as good as accomplished, because the shooting stopped and a few minutes later, the engine of the Pearl Diver started up. The boat began to pull away.

Frank and Tony rowed the boat back to Chet and Biff and picked them up. They panted for a minute or two and then Chet asked, "How's Phil?"

Phil had regained consciousness, although he was still lying on the bottom of the boat. He sat up slightly. "I've been worse. Sorry, guys. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me."

"It's not your fault," Biff said with a shrug. "At least we're all still alive."

"Now we've got to figure out how to stay that way," Frank replied grimly. "We don't have any supplies here in this boat. We can only drift so long."

"I don't think we have to worry about that." Tony turned and pointed toward the east. "You see those clouds over there near the horizon? I'll bet anything they're over an island. It's a long way off and it's going to take a long time to row there, but that would be a better option than just drifting."

"Right," Frank agreed, picking up his oar again. "Let's head for it."

It took even longer than Tony thought to row toward the patch of clouds that they suspected to be an island. The clouds remained there, more or less, which made the castaways feel fairly confident that it really was an island. It was that bit of hope that enabled them to keep going throughout the evening. The sun was hot and they were soon suffering from thirst. Fortunately, it was only an hour before sunset, and the coolness was a relief.

A short-lived relief, as it turned out. The darkness hid the patch of cloud that they were steering toward and they didn't know what to do. They couldn't hold still in any case, as the currents would carry them away, and not necessarily in the direction they wanted to go. On the other hand, if they tried to go forward, they could easily veer off from the direction they intended to take.