The Toymaster's Castle

Chapter Thirty-One - The Royal Marines

In all the action, I'd sort of been tumbled back into the bench seat in the stern of the boat with Susan and another lady who had two kids - one toddler and one tiny baby. And, with the way the RIB was basically bouncing flat out across the tops of the waves, she was having real trouble with them. I mean... I don't know the first thing about kids but I still found myself offering to take one of them off her hands.

So I suddenly had a little girl on my lap. She told me her name was Emily and I had just told her my name was Constantia when the rain started - good, heavy, wetting stuff!

"Brilliant!" the guy behind the wheel muttered. At first, I assumed he was being sarky but then I managed to work out that this horrible stuff might make it easier for us to get away from that big boat.

Even though she had a good quality coat on, Emily was starting to get chilly in the streaming rain. So I undid my waterproof onesie, stuffed her inside and then did it back up again. I mean... it might have looked a bit funny but it kept us both warm and reasonably dry.

By now, the sun had set but it was not completely dark and, through the rainy murk, I could just about make out an island looming up ahead of us. Our two RIB boats were basically heading for the tip of a headland... and I guessed that they would be able to cut it a lot finer than the bigger boat that was chasing us. So, if we could get to that corner before they did, we might just be able to get away.

But the big boat must have worked that out too. There was an explosion from behind us... and then another, even bigger, explosion in front of us that threw up an enormous plume of spray.

It took me a couple of seconds to work out that the big boat had to be shooting at us.

But, before I could think about panicking or anything, I was tossed viciously to one side then the other as our driver started throwing our little boat about in wild zigzags. I mean... I knew 'The Emergency Exit' was pretty nimble... Daniel had tried to show me what his girl could do a couple of times... but that had absolutely nothing on the way this guy was throwing her around.

I mean... the way we were being tossed from side to side made it a bit tricky to think but I eventually managed to work out that he was trying to make it harder for the big boat to shoot at us.

And then I noticed that the other RIB boat was dropping back. At first, I thought they might be in trouble but they were still travelling really fast and dodging around wildly - maybe even more wildly than us.

They were deliberately putting themselves between us and that gun.

I suppose their families were on this boat...

And I guess, when it comes down to it, that's what being a Royal Marine is all about.

In spite of all our dodging, our two RIBs were definitely pulling away from the bigger boat as it was forced to follow a much wider line to get around the headland. There were more explosions but it definitely looked like they were aiming at the other boat rather than at us.

And I found myself looking back and holding my breath as we got closer to the headland. You could see the plumes of spray that were being thrown up by their shots and they were frighteningly close to that other RIB.

Suddenly we were flashing past the headland... it felt close enough to touch... and, beyond it, stretching away to the left in the gloom, I could just about make out a long, sandy beach.

And our boat was heading straight towards it.

Just before we hit, the driver killed the engines and, as the boat surged up onto the beach, he dived to the stern, barging us girls out of the way. He tipped the two outboard motors up... so that the propellers didn't go ploughing into the sand, I guess. Then, before I could even think, he and George were out of the boat and pulling the camouflage netting over us.