Chapter 5
JC woke up to the golden sun pouring into his room. He squinted at the bright light and rolled over to get away from the invasion to his eyes. As he slowly adjusted to the light he searched for his girlfriend. Slightly confused as to where Cari could be, he sat up in bed to get a better look around the room. Still not finding her he got up and walked into the living area. He looked into the kitchen and around the living room until his eyes settled on the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony. He made his way over to the door and opened it quietly. Cari didn’t even notice as she was joined on the balcony that overlooked the ocean. JC stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he leaned his head on her shoulder.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Cari said as she turned to kiss JC. He pulled back, smiled and looked directly in her eyes.
“Yes, it is,” he replied as he kissed her nose. She turned red at the compliment. Her eyes quickly lowered before they were raised once again to the rolling blue-green water.
“So what did you want to do today?” he asked as he turned around to lean against the rail, now facing Cari.
“Let’s just relax.” Finally they would have a chance to hang out, just the two of them. She missed getting to do that when their schedules got crazy. She smiled at him as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.
“Why don’t we have a nice lunch just the two of us, and meet up with everyone down by the pool later.”
“Sounds perfect.”
Justin and Keeley woke up to the sound of someone pounding on the door.
“Mom, I don’t want to go to school,” Justin mumbled as he pulled his pillow over his head. The insistent pounding continued. Keeley slowly awoke from her perfect slumber and looked over at Justin.
“J, someone’s at the door. Go get it.”
“Huh?” he replied as he looked up with a confusion in his eyes. Keeley giggled as she pointed to the mop known as his hair. It was sticking out at just about every possible angle. He rolled his eyes and slammed his pillow over his head.
“Oh my gosh, thanks for the help,” Keeley huffed as she got out of bed and walked to the door. She threw the door open to find Lance and Monica standing there in their bathing suits. They both beamed at her as she stared back at them crossly.
“Damn you guys, what do you want? It’s too early for you to be banging on people’s doors.”
“First of all it’s 12:30 in the afternoon! And secondly, we wanted to see if the two of you wanted to go down to the pool,” Monica replied. She looked expectantly at her friend as she waited for an answer.
“Um, hold on a sec.” She looked over her shoulder and called into the room, “Baby, do you want to go to the pool with Lance and Mon?”
“Shrrrf,” was her reply. She turned back to her friends and nodded her head.
“We’ll meet you in the hall in thirty minutes,” Keeley told them as she started to close the door.
“How in the world did you just understand him?” Monica asked. She looked at Keeley with her eyebrows raised expectantly.
“I’ve been around him for so long I can speak Justinese.” She smiled at her friends and gave a small wave before shutting the door.
“Get up babe, we’re going to the pool.” She tossed the covers back and grabbed Justin’s arm and dragged him out of bed.
They made their way to the pool and were happy to find it fairly unoccupied. They walked over to a set of empty pool chairs and angled them so that they were getting the best sun. Keeley unwrapped her skirt from her waist that covered her bikini bottoms and eased herself down onto her chair. Justin sat down in the seat to her left and pulled out his sunglasses and slipped them on to his face before leaning back on his chair. Monica took the seat to her right and situated herself with ease as she pulled out her new Entertainment Weekly magazine. Lance sat to Monica’s right. He was busily pulling out a bottle of sunscreen and lathered himself up before passing the bottle down the line. He helped Monica put the sunscreen on her back and when she was satisfied with her coverage she passed the bottle to Keeley. She squeezed some of the lotion in her hand and began to smooth it over her stomach.
“Can I give you a hand?” Justin said as he reached over and placed a hand on Keeley’s tummy. She turned and rolled her eyes as she handed him the bottle.
“I think I can handle it,” she said as she turned her back to him. “But you can help me back there.” He took the bottle from her and rubbed some lotion into her back. He massaged her shoulders and she let out a groan as her worked a knot out of her shoulder. “Thanks baby.”
They all settled back to soak up some sun. It was about 85 degrees and the sky was cloudless. There was a light breeze that played over them as they lay back and relaxed.
“This is Heaven,” Keeley sighed as she reached for her water bottle. She took a long sip before she handed it to Justin.
“Yeah, this is just what the doctor ordered,” he replied.
After lying in the sun for a few minutes Cari and JC suddenly appeared. They pulled two chairs up next to the group and got situated. Everyone chatted for a little bit and then settled back to relax. That did not last long though.
They were jerked from their paradise as the boat dramatically slowed down. They could hear the engine whirring to a stop. They’d been so used to the constant moving that now that they were stopping it felt awkward. They braced themselves as the boat continued to slow.
“Whoa, what in the world was that?” Justin said as he looked around in confusion. He noticed the same looks of confusion on his friends’ faces as they looked at their surroundings trying to figure out what had happened.
“We’re stopping, why are we stopping?” Lance spoke up. “We aren’t supposed to make any stops until we reach the Caribbean.
“This is really weird,” Keeley added as her eyes narrowed in concern. The whole thing was too weird. She wondered if they were having engine trouble. Images of the Titanic floated through her mind as she thought about their situation. She quickly shook her head. She was not going to overreact. She was always very level headed when it came to difficult situations and emergencies, and that was not going to change now. “Hey guys, why don’t we go find the others, and then we can go find someone who knows what’s going on.”
“Good idea,” Monica replied as she placed her magazine in her bag. The rest of them packed their things and quickly made their way back to their room.
Chris and Joey walked down the hall as they made their way towards the exercise deck. The two were going to see what kind of activities the cruise had for singles. They figured starting at the gym was a great place. As they walked past some suites they heard a shout come out from one. Joey looked at Chris with a wide-eyed glance. The two stopped in the hallway and moved closer to the door. They felt bad about spying, it wasn’t something they would usually do to someone they didn’t know, but they weren’t sure if someone might be in trouble. If that was the case, they couldn’t just leave them there. Chris raised his finger to his lips motioning for them to keep quiet. Joey nodded and they placed their ears near the door so they could hear a little better. They could hear voices coming from inside.
“Did you take care of the captain,” they heard a man say. A low laugh emerged from the room as another man responded. “Oh yes, I filled him in on exactly what was going on. We have his full cooperation.”
“How did it go?” they heard a third voice reply.
“I simply informed him of the consequences if he decided not to follow my instructions. I also let him know that we have their communication lines tapped, so if he makes any attempt to notify anyone we’d know, and it is in his best interest to not try anything stupid. He’s a smart man, he’ll do what he’s told.”
“What is he going to say about the boat stopping?” They could hear someone pacing with in the room. The footsteps grew closer to the door. Chris looked at Joey. He feared they would be caught spying. They weren’t sure what these men were talking about, but he knew it wasn’t good.
“I told him to try to keep the passengers calm. Tell them that it was scheduled. The plan is now in motion.”
Joey looked down at the handle of the door just as it started to turn. He grabbed Chris by the arm and pulled him around the corner just as the door opened and three men walked out of the room. They waited until the men had left before turning back to go find the others; they wanted to tell them what they’d heard.
Just as the group from the pool was starting to enter the hall that lead to their rooms, people were running up from both directions. Joey and Chris were running up from the right and Trisha and Tam were running from the left. All three groups slammed into each other when the two running groups could not stop in time.
“Uf,” could be heard grunted from just about everyone in the group. Several of them fell to the floor, including Monica. She laid on the floor, her world spinning, thinking to herself that the day just kept getting better and better. Justin who had also gotten knocked down looked over at Monica who was rubbing her head. He tried to figure out whether to laugh at her or cry from the pain he was feeling. He was also wondering why the stars were suddenly out. Chris who was one of the lucky ones left standing decided that there was not any time to waste in telling everyone what was going on. Apparently he was not the only one. Chris, Joey, Trisha, and Tamara all started talking at the same time. The silent ones couldn't understand a word any of them were saying. Lance, who was currently helping Monica stand up, looked at the four speakers like they were crazy.
“What in the world are you four going on about? No one can understand what you’re saying with all of you talking at once!” A chorus of “me first” was heard. Keeley had finally decided that they had all lost it. Somehow when the boat stopped the four of them lost their minds. Was there some unknown force at work? People in the Bermuda Triangle disappear…do people who get stopped on a ship in the middle of the ocean on the way to the Caribbean lose their minds? Keeley almost laughed out loud at her thoughts, but decided she better not.
“You,” she said and pointed to Joey, “speak.” Joey looked at her with a strange expression on his face.
“Look, something really bad is going on,” Joey started but was interrupted by Trisha.
“You’re not kidding, we have been looking since early this morning for you guys. We have looked everywhere! We were on our way to camp out in front of your rooms until one of you came back,” Joey held up his hand to silence her.
“Wait, let me finish,” Joey started again. Trisha and Tam both tried to protest but it was useless. “You guys, we just over heard these three guys talking about hijacking the ship. I don’t know why, but something is definitely going on.”
“That is what Trish was trying to tell you!” Tam said frustrated. “We know what’s going on!” A worried look was exchanged through the group of young adults.
“Then tell us what,” JC said as he tried to keep his cool. He was losing his patience fast. Cari reached over and grabbed his hand and squeezed it, hoping to calm him down.
“You aren’t going to like this but I think you guys are the reason this is happening,” Trisha said in a quiet voice.
“WHAT?!?” Justin exclaimed.
“Dear Lord…the fans found us…we’re fixing to be kicked off the ship aren’t we?” Lance said as his shook his head. He had been hoping to get away from everything, the press, the bright lights, and the fans. He loved their fans, but he just wanted some quiet time to himself to spend with his friends and his girlfriend. He didn't think was too much to ask.
“No, no! You don’t understand,” Tam began. “Last night we were at the jazz club.” JC let out a soft sigh. Cari just squeezed his hand again. Tamara, who was clueless as to what was going on, decided not to ask and kept telling her story. “Anyway, Trisha and I sat down to catch our breath and these three guys were sitting in the booth behind us. These guys were big brawny guys, real built and all.” Suddenly a look of fear washed over Monica’s face. She reached over and grabbed Lance’s hand. Keeley saw this and looked at her friend questioningly. It did not seem to phase Tam at all. “They were talking about hijacking the ship. Then they were talking about a ransom note and then we heard the word Nsync. We don’t know what else was said. It was really loud in there.”
“What does all this mean?” Justin asked, trying to comprehend what was being said.
“Um…I think these guys are trying to kidnap you,” Trisha said even quieter than before. Cari looked like she was about to faint. Everyone else looked terrified. Monica looked like she was about to cry.
“It's them,” Monica said barely loud enough for anyone to hear.
“Them?” Lance asked as he turned to look at his girlfriend. He had no clue what she was talking about.
“Those guys…the ones I told you about. You wouldn’t listen to me. You told me not to worry about it.” Lance still looked confused. Monica turned to look at her friend, “Keeley! The guy that I bumped into at the club.”
“Mony you don’t know that,” Lance said and tried to hug her in hopes of calming her down. She just pushed him away.
“No? Let’s go and find them, we’ll ask them!” Monica practically screamed at him. The tears that were welling up in her eyes began to spill over.
“Mony you’re talking nonsense. What’s come over you?” Justin asked, concerned. He had never seen Monica so upset and he had definitely never seen her yell at Lance or push away from him like that. Usually he was the one she went to when something was wrong.
“She’s scared,” Lance simply stated and tried to pull her into a hug again. She let him this time and she clung to him as she sobbed.
“What are we going to do?” JC said as he pried his eyes off of Monica and Lance. Cari was practically shaking; she was beyond scared.
“Why the guys? What have they ever done to anyone?” Keeley asked to no one in particular. She was scared to death, but this was just making her mad. It was pointless and insane.
“I honestly don’t know.” Tam said. It saddened her that she and Trisha had to be the barer of bad news.
“Ok, well first of all everyone calm down,” Keeley said as she looked around at the frightened crowd in front of her. “We need to figure out exactly what’s going on so we can make a plan. We need to find out what we are up against.”
“Keeley’s right you guys, we aren’t going to accomplish anything if we’re all freaking out,” Justin said. He knew they would all be more useful when everyone was calm. They’d experienced tons of crazy fans before, but this was different. They were on a boat in the ocean with no bodyguards and three large men were after them. They could hold their own against little girls throwing themselves at them, but they’d never experienced anything like this, and they were very worried.
“Any suggestions?” Lance said. They all looked at each other with defeat. They had no clue what to do.
“Well, we’ll help you guys any way we can,” Tam said.
“Definitely,” added Trisha. “You know, they are after you guys, but not two sisters from Texas. They have no clue we know you, so we can be around them without seeming suspicious.”
“Thanks you guys,” Monica said. She was finally starting to get ahold of herself and was starting to calm down.
“You guys, I’d hate to see you cut your vacation short, but I really think you guys need to get off this ship,” Tam said.
“Why don’t we go talk to the captain and see if he can arrange for a helicopter or another boat to come pick us up?” JC asked. Chris looked at him sadly.
“We can’t, they’ve already told the captain their plan. He has no choice but to go along with it. They also are listening into the captain’s communications so they’d know. He’s responsible for the safety of all the passengers; he’s not going to put them at risk for us. If he calls for help there’s no telling what those three will do to the passengers, the ship, or to us.”
Cari looked around the group as she spoke up, “Ok, then it looks like we’re on our own.”
“Why don’t you all come stay in our room for the time being, they won’t be looking for you there,” Tam said.
“Yeah, and that will give us time to figure things out,” Joey said. They all packed up a few things and followed Tam and Trish to their rooms.
Once they were all settled, though a little cramped, Trish turned to them, “We’re gonna go look around and see if we can find anything that will help you guys. You try to be comfortable, and we’ll get back as soon as we can. I’d stay here if I were you though, you don’t need to broadcast where you’re all hiding.”
“Aye aye captain,” Chris said as he saluted them. Shaking their heads they turned and left.
Once the two sisters were out in the hall and out of earshot of the young adults, Tamara let out a sigh and gave her younger sister a worried look. “I bet you never thought our vacation would have ended up like this huh?”
“Never in my wildest dreams. Why don’t they put things like this in the cruise catalog? I’m sure they could get even more customers then! Screw ballroom dancing and laying out in the sun. Who needs it?” Trisha reached up and rubbed her temples. She had an awful headache. Neither she nor Tam had gotten any sleep the night before. Now she was stressed and worried about the eight individuals that were hiding out in she and her sister’s room. She could not even begin to imagine what they were thinking or feeling right now.
Meanwhile, back in the room there were eight worried friends trying to come up with a plan. So far no one had come up with anything useful.
“Oh! Oh! I just had an idea!” Cari exclaimed happily.
“What?” everyone called back.
“We will just call for help,” Cari said matter-of-factly.
“We can’t do that baby. You know they said the radio was tapped,” JC replied.
“No, that isn’t what I was thinking. Monica has her cell phone on board. We could use it to call for help.”
“Cari, that’s a good idea and all, but do you really think her cell phone is going to work all the way out here?” Keeley asked, being the sensible one as usual.
“Better question is why do you have your cell phone with you on a cruise?” Lance asked as he turned to look as his girlfriend. “Were you expecting your other boyfriend to call?” he laughed. He was trying to lighten the mood in the room.
“Funny,” Monica said as she rolled her eyes at him. His attempt had failed miserably.
“But your cell phone has the text messaging thing. Even if we can’t call out maybe we can text your brother for help,” Cari said still hopeful.
“You know Keeley has a point, but what have we got to lose to try it?” Joey said, ignoring Lance and Monica. Monica looked over and shook her head at him.
“We can’t.”
“Why not,” he answered back.
“Because contrary to you people’s beliefs it’s not like I have been carrying my cell phone around except for when we first got here. It’s up our room.”
“So we will just go and get it,” Chris threw in.
“Um, that might be just a itsy bit difficult Mr. Kirkpatrick,” Justin said sarcastically. “In case you’ve forgotten there are three guys that are trying to kidnap us!”
“Then we will have to be careful.”
“JC, please tell me you aren’t going to agree with Chris!” Justin exclaimed in shock.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No I don’t guess so.”
“Ok then. It’s settled. We have to find a way to get to that phone,” JC said.
“Well,” Monica said finally speaking up. “I am the only one that knows where it is. So I guess I will be sneaking up there.”
“Oh no! Baby, there is no way in hell I am letting you go by yourself,” Lance asserted. “I’ll go with you.”
“I’ll go too then. You will need someone to help be on the lookout,” Justin spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him in shock. “What? I am not letting two of my best friends go out there alone.” Keeley leaned over and kissed him on the cheek and told him how sweet that was.
The three made plans to run up the stairs from the eighth floor, where they were now, to the floor were their rooms were. They figured the three hijackers would be on the elevators and not the stairs. The remaining five wished them luck and the three hurried from the room.
They got up to the twelfth floor with no problem. Justin stayed close to the door while Lance and Monica went to look for her phone. It didn’t take long and they were soon on their way back down the stairs. Just as they rounded the corner of the platform where the stairs started to go down the ninth floor they heard voices and they froze.
“Where in the world are they hiding? I haven’t seen any of them all day!” One of the men proclaimed.
“This ship isn’t that big. We’ll find them eventually. Besides, I don’t even think they know we are looking for them yet. Why would they be hiding?”
A worried look was exchanged between the two guys and Monica. Lance put a finger to his lips indicating for his two companions to stay quiet. He hoped if they stood there long enough they might overhear something or that the hijackers would leave the stairwell. The three men on the lower floor continued talking about where the group could be. Monica decided to lean over the railing to try and see the hijackers. She had to know if it was who she thought it was. Lance noticed what she was doing. He decided to try and help her. He placed one hand on either side of her waist and lifted her up. She leaned over the rail and peered down. She discovered it was indeed the three who she had originally accused. She let out an involuntary gasp. Lance, who’d heard the gasp, tried to pull her back before they could see her. He wasn’t fast enough. The group on the ninth floor heard her and looked up and saw her head disappearing over the edge.
“Hey! That’s one of them!” the blonde man on the lower floor yelled. The three men began to run up the stairs trying to catch up to the group. The younger group ran out onto the tenth floor and started running down the hall. They got to the end and turned to look. The three men had not emerged from the stair well yet, but they knew they did not have much time.
Justin thought fast and turned to his friends. “You two run that way and hide somewhere. I will run the other way and stay in sight. That way they will come after me. Find a way to get back downstairs and try to get help!”
“No J!” Monica protested.
“Don’t argue. There’s no time. Just go!” he said as he pushed them down the hall to the right. Just as he did the three men exited the stairwell and saw Justin standing there. The look on his face was similar to that of a deer in headlights. He finally got hold of his senses when they started running towards him. He turned and ran to the left. He just hoped that Lance and Monica had gotten away. The trio started calling out to Justin telling him that he could run, but they would find him. Lance and Monica heard the yells and knew they had to get somewhere fast. Lance spotted an open door to the left. He pulled her inside and quickly shut the door. They were soon enveloped in complete darkness. Neither had any clue as to where they were.
“Lance?” Monica whispered barely audible. She was reaching out trying to find him to no use.
“Hold still baby. I am trying to find a light switch.” Suddenly the room was flooded with a harsh yellow light. She continued to look around, taking in her surroundings. It looked like they were in some type of janitor’s closet. There were brooms, mops, and various cleaners in the room. She continued to look around. Then she finally saw him. He had a look of sheer fright on his face. She quickly ran over and hugged him.
“What are we going to do about Justin?”
“You know Justin. He can handle himself. In fact he will probably make it back downstairs before we do,” he said as she smoothed her hair down.
“How are we going to get back downstairs?”
“If you listen you can still hear the guys yelling at Justin. When we can’t hear them we will make a run for it and hope for the best.” They continued to hold onto each other and listen for the yells to die down. When it finally got quiet the couple made a mad dash for the stairs and got back down the eighth floor in record time. They burst threw the door to find the same five people they had left there. Justin was no where in sight.
“Oh no,” Monica said softly.
“Where is J?” Keeley asked, worried when she realized it was just the two of them. Lance quickly pushed Monica inside and closed the door. They started telling the story of what had happened when suddenly the door flew open and a very scared looking, out of breath Justin was running into the room and slamming the door.
“Oh dear God!” escaped from Justin lips as he slid down to the floor. Everyone ran over to check on him. “I’m fine I promise. I just have to catch my breath.”
“Justin, what happened?” Keeley asked. She still didn't know the entire story.
“Well those three guys have been chasing me around the ship for awhile. I finally tricked them. I went in to one of the restaurants and hide under a table. After they walked by, I took off running and didn’t stop until I got back down here.”
“They didn’t see you did they?” JC asked.
“No, they were still looking around the back of the place when I left. They weren’t paying me any attention. Now about the cell phone…does it work?”
“I don’t know, we haven’t had time to try it yet,” Monica said. She took it out of her pocket and tried to turn it on, but her hands were shaking so bad she could not hit the right button. Lance took it from her and turned it on. It beeped and turned on. He waited to see if he could get a signal. Nothing. He tried to send a text message to her brother. Still nothing.
“I can’t get it to do anything. We are too far out of range,” he said hopelessly.
“I am so sorry you guys,” Cari said almost in tears. “If I hadn’t said anything none of this would have happened.”
“But you never know, it might have worked. It was worth the risk,” Justin said, his breathing almost back to normal. They were back to square one.
Just then the door opened. Justin was still leaning against it and got flung out of the way. He laid face down on the carpet.
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I didn’t know that you were there,” Trisha said and helped Justin off the floor.
“Ugh, don’t worry about it. I don’t think that anything is broken…besides maybe my nose!”
“You guys, we figured out how to get you off the boat!” Tam cried out happily. This caught the attention of all the people in the room.
“How?” Joey voiced.
“We found the life rafts. Since the boat isn’t moving we can get all of you into a life raft and then lower you down to the water.”
“Then you paddle like hell!” Trisha laughed. “We have to wait until tonight though. We don’t want those brutes seeing you leaving. If they don’t know that you are gone, then they don’t know they need to be looking for you off the ship!”
“Oh my gosh, you two are geniuses!” Chris cried out and jumped up and ran over to hug the siblings.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in hiding. There was not much room to move since there were ten people crammed in the small cabin room. Joey had made a comment earlier about how he felt like a sardine. Then he got hungry.
“Only you would get hungry at a time like this,” Chris said to him and smacked him on the back of head.
“Ow. It isn’t my fault my tummy is growling!” The rest of the group just laughed. Trisha and Tam went to get Joey some food. They asked if anyone else wanted anything, but they were all too frightened to eat.
Night finally rolled around and they decided to put their plan into action. All ten quickly made their way to the life rafts. The guys, being the gentlemen they are, let the girls get in first. While the guys were getting in, Monica made the mistake of looking over the side. They heard her sharp intake of breath. She jumped over towards the middle of the boat and slammed into JC.
“You looked over didn’t you?” JC said when he realized what had happened. Monica meekly nodded and clung onto JC. Her fear of heights had just kicked in again. “Just don’t think about it. Stay towards the center of the boat and you will be fine. Ok?” She nodded her head again and slowly let go of him. The rest of the group finished piling into the boat.
Trisha and Tam began to lower the boat. They were going as slowly as they could as to not jerk the passengers inside too much. Keeley climbed over to the right end of the boat and sat up on the edge. She leaned over. She was communicating with Tam as to how much farther the boat had to go. They were about half way down when all hell broke loose.
The trio of hijackers who were still walking around trying to find their victims saw Trisha and Tam messing with the boat.
“Just what are you two doing?” one of the brown headed men called out. The two women quickly stopped what they were doing and tried to look innocent.
‘Um…nothing. We were just looking out on the water.”
“Riiight, and I believe that too!” the blonde one snorted. The three men started getting closer.
“What do we do Tam?” Trisha whispered only loud enough for Tamara to hear. Tamara shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. The eight in the boat had heard what was going on and looked scared to death. Monica was still sitting in the middle of the boat shaking. Tam did not know whether she was more scared of the heights or of what was going on. Either way she wasn’t holding up too well. Cari was leaning against JC softly sobbing. Justin, Lance, and Keeley, who were still sitting on the ledge, were looking up at Trisha and Tam trying to figure out what to do. Tamara quickly turned back around to find the three men standing right in front of her. They were trying to see what Tam was looking at, but she would not budge. Finally one of them shoved her and Trisha both out of the way and peered down.
“Well looky what we have here!” the other brown-headed one said joyfully. “You know since all of you are together, this will save us a bunch of trouble trying to round all of you up.” The other two hijackers began to try to raise the boat back up. Trisha looked at her sister with a helpless look. They did not know what to do, but they knew they couldn’t just stand there. Tam made the motion to Trisha that they were going to try and attack the man standing closest to them. This was the man on the right side, where Tam had been standing earlier.
“On the count of three,” Tam mouthed. Then began to count off numbers on her fingers. On three they charged the guy. He was much stronger than he looked though. He barely moved. In the process he pushed Tamara and she hit the mechanism that lowers the boat. The right side of the life raft began to plummet. Screams could be heard from all eight. Then suddenly there was a splash.
“KEELEY!!!” Justin screamed.
“NO!” Cari cried and looked over the side of the life raft. Trish and Tam, along with the hijackers looked over the railing as far as they could.
Keeley was no where to be seen.