“It really would,” Theodosia said.
Tidwell disappeared into the wheelhouse while Theodosia kept watch on deck. Up ahead, to their right, were the lights of Fort Sumter. Once they passed that, there was nothing ahead of them but a dark expanse of Atlantic Ocean.
And still they gave chase. Giant waves beat against the sides of the boat, thundering in her ears, keeping time with her heartbeat.
Theodosia felt like they were going to chase them all the way to the Azores. Or the west coast of Africa. But no, that couldn’t happen. So where was Andros really headed? Up the inland waterway? Down to the Florida Keys or the Caribbean, where he could elude them among thousands of tiny islands? No, the Coast Guard wouldn’t let that happen. She had faith in them.
Tidwell came back out on deck.
“What’s happening at the Heritage Society?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Tidwell said.
“Thank goodness.”
? ? ?
Little by little, they were catching up. Even Drayton clutched at the railing to watch.
“They’re doing it, by george,” he said. “We’re catching up.”
“Pulling closer,” Theodosia said.
When they were little more than fifty yards back, Lieutenant Commander Barley gave a hand signal and a Coast Guardsman standing in the prow of the ship shone a bright spotlight on the boat ahead of them. Then Barley got on the horn and ordered it to pull over, by order of the United States Coast Guard.
The boat carrying Haley kept churning away.
“Try to pull up to their starboard side,” Tidwell yelled above the roar of the engines and the pounding of the rain. “Try to force them over toward shore.”
“We have to be careful,” one of the Coast Guardsmen warned. “There are dangerous shoals over there.”
“Do it anyway,” Tidwell snarled.
The Coast Guard ship cut just right of the boat and then jigged a hard left, almost pulling up alongside.
“Throw some more spots on that ship,” Barley ordered.
Two bright spotlights split the air and then suddenly converged on the back of the boat.
Like a key light bursting on in a stage play, Haley was suddenly silhouetted in the back of the boat. She was waving her arms wildly at them.
“There she is!” Theodosia called out. “We’ve got to get her.”
Suddenly, someone grabbed Haley from behind and tried to pull her down.
“Oh no,” Theodosia said as she watched Haley struggling with a dark figure.
The Coast Guard boat jigged left and smashed up against the yacht.
“Push in a little closer if you can,” Theodosia cried out. She was hoping they could toss a line onto the runaway yacht, try to hook it like an ornery steer.
The spotlights from high atop the Coast Guard ship scoured the darkness and then converged again on the two figures.
“Look at Haley!” Drayton yelled out. “She’s fighting like crazy.”
“Dear Lord,” Theodosia cried, swelling with pride as she watched. “She’s managed to break free.”
Then, suddenly, they saw Haley spin around and run toward the figure she’d just been struggling with. The two figures morphed into one as they grappled with each other at the very back of the boat. Then, slowly, horrifically, they both toppled over the railing and into the ocean!
“Man overboard,” cried one of the Coast Guardsmen.
? ? ?
“There are two people overboard!” Theodosia cried. “We don’t care about the kidnapper, but we’ve got to rescue Haley as fast as possible.”
Now the lights were aimed at the frothing sea where two heads bobbed in the choppy waters.
“There she is,” Theodosia cried as a Coast Guardsman tossed two life preservers directly at the struggling figures.
Haley immediately grabbed one of the rings and wrapped an arm around it. The Coast Guardsman quickly pulled up the slack and began to reel her in.
“I think he’s got her,” Theodosia said.
“Of course he has,” Tidwell said. But he was grinning happily.
“They’ve got her, really?” Drayton asked.
“Here she comes,” Theodosia said. She could see Haley at the side of the boat, reaching a hand up as one of the Coast Guardsmen bent down to grab her.
“Now for Andros,” Tidwell said, as one of the Coast Guardsmen struggled to reel in the second person.
“Andros,” Theodosia spat out. “They ought to just let him flounder out there. Wait for him to swim ashore like a drowned rat and then put the cuffs on him.”
Drayton scurried to the fore of the boat and huddled right behind one of the Coast Guardsmen who was manning the lines. He stared into the choppy waters, did a kind of double take, wiped at his eyes, and then gestured wildly for Theodosia to come up and join him.
Haley was just being hauled up the side and into the boat.