Kidnap Island (2 page)

“
Wow, that sounds fun,
”
mumbled Will
through
a
mouthful of cheese and onion crisps.
“
My
dad
’
s always too busy working to do anything like that
with me. He just buys me new things all the
time.
”

“
Sounds good to me,
”
said Jonny as he blew bubbles into
his coke.
“
How come he
’
s got so much money?
That Porsche of his is well-cool.
”

“
He
’
s an architect. You know the new museum in town?
His company designed that.
”

“
Wow, that
’
s an amazing place,
I
’
d love to be an architect when I
’
m
older
.
”

“
Don
’
t you believe it. He
’
s always grumbling
about red-tape and meetings stopping him from being
‘
creative
’
,”
said Will with an air of sarcasm.
“
What does your old man
do, anyway?
”

“
He
’
s a maths teacher at the high school. You
don
’
t go there, do you?
”

“
No,
I go to Oakmount
.
”

“
Ya
posh git!
”
said Jonny, pushing Will.

“
Pleb!”
replied Will, grabbing
Jonny
’
s leg and pulling him over.

The wrestling match
was just getting going and Ainslie was barking his encouragement
when there was a shout from the clubhouse:
“
Jonny, what the hell are
you up to?
”

“
Just mucking around, dad,
”
yelled Jonny.
“
Any chance of a coke and
some crisps?
”

“
You
’
ve just had some by the look of it. Come on, we
need to get home, your mother
’
s got a meeting to go
to tonight, and I promised to pick up fish
‘n
’
chips on the way home,
”
replied the scruffy,
slightly distracted-looking man.

“
OK
dad. Will, I
’
ve got to go.
See ya again
sometime,
”
said Jonny as he got up and brushed the grass off
himself.

“
Sure thing, mate, bye,
”
replied Will with a wave as he
retrieved his sunglasses from the ground and headed off in search
of his father.

“
Good
sail?”
asked his dad as Jonny
climbed into the old Citroen.
“
Yeah, guess
so,
”
replied Jonny as he tried to summon up the courage to tell
his dad about his accident. Was that really a face I saw on the
island? Jonny wondered again to himself as Brian Wild reversed his
creaking jalopy out of the car park.

Dinner was, as usual,
a rushed but subdued affair at Jonny
’
s. His dad had taken
the news about the boat pretty well, considering, but had given
Jonny a lecture about safety at sea and how he should respect his
boat, which had cost a lot of money.
“
Yeah, all of
£200,”
thought Jonny to himself, thinking of
Will
’
s brand-new dinghy.

“
Come on, eat up,
”
mumbled his mother through a mouthful
of chips.
“
I need to be out of here by seven.
”
Angela Wild (or Angie,
as she liked to be called, much to her son’s embarrassment) was a
social worker and was always in a rush. Jonny thought she always
seemed to have plenty of time for everyone but her family. He
sighed inwardly as he glanced at her spiky red hair and dangly
earrings, and then at his quiet nervous father who was dutifully
eating his food.
“
It must be neat to have cool parents like
Will
’
s,”
he thought, assuming
that Will
’
s mum
must be as trendy
as his dad.

Just then the front
door slammed, making the whole house shake, and in came
Jonny
’
s teenage brother.
“
Where have you been,
Tom? You knew we were eating early tonight,
”
said his mother, in an
annoyingly calm voice. Mrs Wild never lost her temper.

“
Football,
”
grunted the burly and slightly spotty
fifteen-year-old, grabbing a bag of chips from the cluttered
worktop. Tom was nothing like his brother, he
didn
’
t like sailing for a start, preferring to play
football, rugby and had even, much to Jonny
’
s disgust,
started to play golf.

“
Can
I have a lift to Becky
’
s?”
grunted Tom.

“
Done your homework?
”
asked his father without looking up
from his dinner.

“
No,”
sneered
To
m
.

Jonny quietly left the room with
Ainslie, sensing an argument coming on. His brother could be such a
pain sometimes he thought as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom,
leaving Tom to give his father yet more grief.

Jonny
’
s room was, as ever,
a mess. His bed was unmade, and the floor was strewn with cast-off
clothes and sailing magazines. The walls were covered with photos
of boats torn from magazines and, at their centre, was a big poster
of one of record-breaking sailor Ellen MacArthur
’
s racing
catamarans. Jonny threw himself on the bed and looked at the
poster, dreaming of the day he would return from sailing
single-handed around the world.
“
Jonny Wild, Sports
Personality of the Year.
”
Hey, that would show his
brother!

Before long, though,
as he lay there stroking Ainslie
’
s soft ears, his
thoughts drifted from fame and fortune to Folney Island and his
bump with Will. He
’
d never done anything
so stupid before while sailing
–
something
had
distracted him.
Jonny decided there and then he had to get to the bottom of the
mystery face on the island.

Chapter
Two

The next morning,
Jonny woke up to the sound of his mother slamming the front door,
as she did every day as she left for work. He crawled out of bed
and, as
he
did every day, opened the curtains to check the weather.
The sun was shining and the wind was blowing a steady force four.
Perfect sailing weather, thought Jonny with a smile.

And then his heart sank as he
remembered; his boat was damaged. His dad said they could mend it
at the weekend; although Brian Wild was a teacher, he was still
working over the holiday, at some summer school. Jonny actually
quite liked it like that, though, because it meant he could do his
own thing during the week. But now it meant no sailing until next
week.

Oh well, he could at least go down
to the club and watch other people on the water and chat to fellow
members, who were always keen to discuss boats with the
enthusiastic boy. Jonny was always at his happiest near the sea and
away from the house and his annoying family.

After a quick shower,
he dressed in his usual board-shorts and tee-shirt, opened a tin of
dog food for Ainslie then gulped down some cereal and toast to the
sound of Radio One blaring from the kitchen radio. Jonny made a
point of playing music loud in the mornings to wake his lazy
brother, who
’
d stay in bed until
midday if he got the chance.

Slamming the door
loudly behind him, just in case Tom was still asleep, Jonny left
the house, pulled his rusty old mountain bike out of the garage and
hopped on it for the short cycle to the sailing club, just half a
mile from their home. He
’
d lived in the same
house since he was a baby and, for as long as he could remember,
loved being with boats, ever since his uncle had taken him out in
his yacht. Jonny
’
s own little boat had
been an eleventh birthday present, and he
’
d enjoyed every
minute of sanding, filling and painting the old wooden hull, with
his dad helping out whenever he could. Maybe Will had a point, it
had been good working together, giving the sad-looking dinghy a new
lease of life. That said, a brand-new racing dinghy would be
nice
…

As Jonny turned the corner to the
club, Ainslie trotting alongside, he was surprised to see a sail up
in the boat park; usually he was the first person there in a
morning. He left his bike in the usual place by the kitchen door,
and strolled round to see whose boat the sail belonged
to.

“
Hi Will,”
he called as he recognised his new
friend struggling to rig his sleek dinghy.

“
Hey, Jonny, how
’
s it
going?
”
Will grinned and made a fuss of Ainslie
who
’
d taken quite a shine to him.

“
Good, going sailing?”

“
Nah,
I
’
m about to have puppies. What does it look
like?
”

“
Ah,
how sweet, can I have one of them?
”
Jonny said, putting on a slushy
voice.

“
No,
but you can help me get this mainsheet sorted, I still
can
’
t work out how it goes together.
”

Jonny glanced his
experienced eye over Will
’
s hopeless muddle of
ropes.

“
Dunno about having puppies, this looks more like a
dog
’
s
breakfast,”
laughed Jonny as
he started to untangle the rope that controlled the
mainsail.

“
My
dad usually helps me rig, but he had to go to a meeting this
morning,
”
explained Will.
“
And
don
’
t talk to me about breakfast, I
’
ve not had
any
– dog
’
s or
otherwise.

“
Oooh, poor lil puppy,
”
teased Jonny.
“I
’
ll get you a nice can of
Woofo.
”

“
Sod
off and get this boat sorted for me. If you
’
re good, I may
take you out for a blast,
” grinned Will,
thumping Jonny
’
s
arm.

Jonny was just about to thump Will
back when a shout interrupted him.

“
Hey, Will, are you ready yet?
”

Jonny looked up to see a tall,
pretty girl with long brown hair come out of the clubhouse. About
his age, she was wearing shorts, a spray top, baseball cap and a
lifejacket.

“
Oh no,”
breathed Will, under his
breath.
“
No, not yet, you can go back and sort your hair out for a
bit longer, if you want.
”

“
There
’
s no need to be like
that, Will,
”
she replied haughtily, strolling over to
them.

The well-spoken girl
smiled at Jonny.
“Hi, I
’
m Louisa,
Will
’
s cousin.
”