"Apollo's Gold" by Antoinette Moses. Chapter 6

On the yacht

The yacht was very big. It wasn't a pretty yacht. It was just big and fast. I hated it. I like yachts that look like the Greek fishing boats.

At first I only saw the main room downstairs. Mike said that there were some very nice bedrooms, but I didn't want to see them. Not with Mike. Apart from Mike and Takis, there was the boss.

The boss was called Mr John. He was also the captain of the yacht. Mr John didn't say very much. So I didn't know where he came from. And he looked at me as if I wasn't there. I didn't like him. In fact, I didn't like any of them.

We left Kamares and sailed north. I lay in the sun and closed my eyes. 'Perhaps they'll think that I'm asleep,' I thought. 'Then I can listen to what they are saying.'

The first voice I heard was Takis. 'We'll be close to a beach soon, Mike,' he said. 'Why don't you get off there with the woman? You can have some fun. We can come back for you later.'

'You never stop, Takis, do you?' answered Mike. 'What's your problem? Don't you like women?'

'I like women,' said Takis. 'But not when I'm working. What happens if she sees ... ?'

I couldn't hear the next bit. They were speaking very quietly. 'She won't see anything,' said Mike. 'She's just a stupid tourist.'

'How do you know she's stupid?' asked Takis.

'Well,' said Mike. 'She's pretty. And pretty girls are all stupid.'

'Pretty girls are stupid,' I thought. 'So that's what you think. How wrong you are. But if you want to think that I'm stupid, that's fine.'

We had lunch. The yacht was going round the island. We passed a village and a beach. There were people swimming. Then there was nothing and no-one. Just grey rock. It was very, very quiet. Mr John was talking to someone but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The yacht was closer to the land now, very close. There were no beaches here. It wasn't like Poulati. The yacht stopped.

I looked up and all I could see was rock. About twenty metres high, I thought. And it wasn't the kind of rock that you could climb. It was straight, like the wall of a house.

I was beginning to feel very afraid. I was alone on a boat and there was nothing but sea and rock. If I shouted, no-one could hear me. Why didn't I listen to Stavros?

Mike came up. 'Would you like to go downstairs for a rest, Liz?' he asked me. 'I'm sure that you're tired.'

'I'm OK here,' I said.

'That's not very friendly,' said Mike. 'And I thought that you were my friend.'

'Can't we just sit and talk here?' I asked him.

'What do you want to talk about?' he asked me.

'Oh, I don't know,' I said. I smiled and tried to sound stupid. 'You must be very clever to have a big yacht like this. What do you do?' I asked him.

He smiled and put his hand on my knee. 'This and that. We buy and sell. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about.'

I smiled at him. 'Buy and sell,' I thought. 'Buy and sell what?'

'You make it sound very easy,' I said. 'But I'm sure I couldn't do it.'

'A pretty girl like you doesn't have to work,' said Mike. 'I could look after you. If you were nice to me.'

'Nice to you,' I thought. 'I can't think of anything worse.'

'Come here,' said Mike. 'Give me a kiss.'

'No! Please,' I said. 'No. I'm not like that.'

'Then what are you doing here?' asked Mike.

I jumped up. 'Go away,' I said. 'Go away and leave me alone.'

'Go away where?' Mike laughed. 'There's only the yacht. And you and me.'

He put his arm around my shoulders. I pulled his arm away and ran downstairs.

'Help me!' I shouted. 'Somebody help me!' But I knew that there was no-one on the yacht who could help me.

I ran through the main room and opened the first door I saw. It was a bedroom. And there was a lock on the door. I ran inside and locked the door. Mike was following me. I opened another door. I didn't know what I was doing. It was a cupboard and it was full of guns.

'Oh, no,' I said when I saw the guns. 'Oh, no. Who are these people?'

At that moment Mike came in. He was smiling.

'There is more than one key to every lock,' he said. Then he saw the open cupboard.

'Oh dear,' he said. 'That was very stupid. Why did you open that cupboard? Now we will have to kill you.' He pulled out a gun.

'Hey Mike!' It was Takis. 'Wait!'

'Now what's your problem?' asked Mike.

'I don't have a problem,' said Takis. 'But Mr John wants you in his office. And why hurry? Why kill her now? Why don't I tie her up and then we can have some fun with her? You can kill her later.'

Mike smiled. 'I like that,' he said. 'Tie her up.'

Takis came towards me. In his hand was a gun.