"Tighten your seat belts!" Phil Bishop pushed the nose of the seaplane down through the thick clouds, and the twins found them selves above a large expanse of blue-grey water.
"There!" Marty pointed. In the distance was a fir covered island shrouded in mist. "You don't suppose Uncle Travis has the island all to himself?"
Grace ignored the question. She leaned forward and tapped Bertha on the shoulder. "There's some body in a small kayak down there."
"What are you talking about, dear?"
"A kayak. It's red."
Bertha looked over at Phil and they both scanned the surface of the water through the windscreen. "I don't see a thing," Bertha said.
"I don't see anything either," Phil added. "No one owns a kayak on the island, and it's more than a hun dred and sixty kilometres from the nearest landfall.
No kayaker in his right mind would be that far from shore."
"If Grace says there's a kayak," Marty said, "there's a kayak!" Grace had eyes like an eagle.
Bertha looked at Phil. "If she's right, the kayaker is in big trouble. It wouldn't hurt to look."
Phil sighed, dipped the left wing and started circling. A few minutes later Bertha pointed and said, "I see it! Grace was right."
Phil looked, then said something that would have had him expelled from the Omega Opportunity Preparatory School. He spoke into the microphone on his headset. The twins could not hear what he was saying, but they assumed he was calling for assistance.
Five minutes later they were skimming the rela tively smooth water of the island's sheltered bay. As they taxied towards shore they passed a concrete dock with a large rusty ship moored to it. The ship was called the Coelacanth.
"Maybe they'll use the Coelacanth to rescue the kayaker," Marty said, pronouncing the name koh-el uh-kanth. Grace shook her head. "It's pronounced see-la kanth."
"I knew that," Marty said (his usual response to something he did not know). "What's a coelacanth?"
"I think it's a fish," Grace answered. "But they won't be using that ship to rescue anyone. It doesn't look seaworthy and it's too big." "But they could use that." Marty pointed to the
helicopter sitting on the forward deck. "I suppose they could," Grace agreed, but the helicopter didn't look much better than the ship it was on.
Phil docked the seaplane, then climbed out and began tying it down. When it was secured, Bertha jumped out of the cockpit and the twins clambered out after her. What about the kayaker?" Marty asked.
"Don't worry, we'll get him," Phil answered, then turned to Bertha. "Why don't you run them up to the fort. We can bring the luggage and groceries up later."
"Fort?" Marty asked.
"You'll see." Bertha led them to a gravel plot above the dock where a lone vehicle was parked.
"Wow!" Marty said. "It's a Humvee." The blocky four-wheel drive was painted in desert camouflage and looked like it had been rolled a time or two. He ran ahead and gave it a quick going-over. When Bertha and Grace joined him, he pointed at a line of large holes across the driver's door. "What are these?"
"Bullet holes," Bertha said. "Fifty calibre."
"No kidding?"
"We have several Humvees on the island," Bertha explained. "Your uncle got them from the Army. They're not much to look at, but once you get them started, they'll go just about anywhere. A lot of our equipment is military surplus."
"Maybe Wolfe is one of those paramilitary para noid wacko types," Grace whispered. "Have you ever thought of that?"
"You're the one that's paranoid," Marty answered. "You think so?" She pointed to a huge sign at the front of the pot with metre-tall red letters.
NO TRESPASSING!
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE!
TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT
"That does seem a bit extreme," Marty admitted. "What's that, dear?" Bertha asked.
"I was just wondering about the sign," he said. "We're very security conscious here."
"Why?"
"There are things on the island that. . ." Bertha hesitated. "Well, your uncle will explain everything when you see him." "Is there a town on the island?" Marty asked. "Heavens, no," Bertha said. "This is your uncle's island."
"The whole thing?" "The whole shebang." Bertha got into the front seat of the Humvee.