CHAPTER SEVEN
"Here, eat up kiddo." The boy said, trying to stuff the fried plantain into Kinsley's mouth. He moved his head away lazily as he cast a glare the boys way.
"I said I'm not hungry – " Hmm.. what was his name again? " –Hammed."
Hammed shrug before throwing the fried plantain in the air to catch it with his mouth skillfully. "You know you have to eat something, you do not know when next you will be given anything to eat."
"I'd rather starve." Kinsley harrumphed. He lay still on the discomforting wooden floor with his hands as a pillow behind his head. His right knee raised to balance his right feet flat on the ground where he lay as he stared bewilderedly at the boring rusty metal ceiling.
Hammed let out an exasperated sigh. "It's because of her, isn't it?. Your girlfriend."
"What?!" Kinsley shut up to a sitting position caught off guard. "How many times do I have to tell you that she is my sister?!" he squeezed his face in disgust.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." Hameed waved him off lazily with his hand and a satisfied smirk on his lips. "Is she hot?"
"Hameeeed!" Kinsley face palmed as Hameed cracked up as he fell on the wooden floor with an uncontrollable laughter. "It is obvious you have only two functioning brain cells."
"Be quiet there!" A man approached with an irritated scowl on his face.
"You be quiet!" Hameed retorted standing tall with an air of intimidation. His face rid of the previous amusement it held.
"You kids better behave or else – "
"Or else what, huh?" Hameed growled, coming head to head with the bulky man who has veins visibly popping on his forehead.
Kinsley stood in awe as he observed the cold stare battle unfold. Praying silently it doesn't escalate any further. And truth be told, for a person who claims to be just ten years old, Hameed does look quite intimidating. Or he could be lying about his age. Matter of fact, he could be fourteen for someone his height and his bronze skin is slightly built. His nearly hairless head did him no justice for a ten years old, either.
The man retreated with an exasperated growl. "I did not sign up for this." He murmured, "I can't believe I am in this position dealing with two kids who cannot shut their mouth for two seconds." He grumbled his way back to his stand. He fumingly covered his face with his hat as he lay still.
Kinsley let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding before as he watched Hameed smirked triumphantly at him.
"What?" Hameed asked with the upward tug of his left lips unchanged.
"W…Wow. Just. Wow." Kinsley smiled. " Do you th –"
"Wake up George!" Another guard approached, panic evident on his face. "Two Girls has escaped from their cell!"
On hearing this, George flew up from where he lay, eyes budging. "What?!"
"We don't have time. We need to find them as soon as possible before anything else goes wrong." With that they both sped off to the exit.
"Who could that be?" Kinsley asked
"I don't know." Hameed answered in thought. "We need to get out of here while they are still distracted."
"How? We don't even have the key."
"There must be another way. Urh! I wish we had the key."
"You mean this key?"
"Dian!" Kinsley cheered as the two girls approached from the open door and a key dangling from Dian's finger. The blonde girl carrying a wood two times the size of her hands.
"Wait, don't tell me that it was you that knocked out a guard." Hameed said amused as Dian proceeded to unlock the cell door.
"Well… two more to the list now." The blonde girl smirked. "Keep counting though, 'cause it's going to be a long list tonight."
"Wow." Hameed and Kinsley said in unison.
"We need to hurry out of this place as soon as possible before they surround all exits." Dian said hurriedly. "Therefore we need a plan?"
"What?" Hameed hush-screamed in alarm. "You mean to tell me that you both came about all this without a plan."
"We have a plan, of course." Dian rolled her eyes. "We just need to make few adjustments."
"Which is?" Kinsley asked in anticipation.
"Well, we never imagined this place to be as large as it is. So, we are having a little trouble finding the sailor's map."
Hameed harrumphed. "The maps are always in the great cabin, of course."
"Can you take us to the great cabin?" Dian asked expectantly.
"Weellll… yes and no."
"What is that supposed to mean." The blonde girl asked, clearly irritated.
"My father is a sailor too, so I know my way around ships. But…"
Kinsley groaned. "But what? Just take us to the great cabin."
"It will be hard. I'm trying to think, okay?" Hameed snapped. He continued after regaining composure. "Why do you need the map anyway?"
"Because we need to find our way around this ship. I know that ships always have a safety boat in it somewhere." Dian clarified.
"In that case you do not need to go to the great cabin. I know my way around ships." Hameed boasted.
"We also need a map and a compass to find our way home." The blonde girl countered with an eye roll.
"True. But to get to the great cabin can be a little challenging. We might get caught."
"We will take our chances." Dian replied, taking her time to weight their fecal expression. They all nod in unison as she took a deep breath. "Lead the way."
***----------------------------------------------****----------------------------------------***
"Sir, we finally got Intel from the ongoing investigation in Mr. Bamuyiwa's Abode." He said matter-of-factly to Mr. Kolawole at the other side of the line as he adjusted his thick-rimmed glasses. "We got spies inside and we found out that Mike has been held captive by the guards.
"It is brought to our notice that the girl is been shipped to Egypt twenty-one hours ago."
"Prepare the secret armies for attack. Deploy spy drones immediately." Mr. Kolawole instructed sharply.
"We got in touch with Mr. Temilade. He said the science team has only 130 drones at our disposal."
"Then deploy them all. I need that girl alive." Mr. Kolawole commanded impatiently. "The sooner we have the young girl the better."
"Yes sir." He quickly said before the line went dead.
***-------------------------------------------****-----------------------------------------***
"Are you sure about this?" Kinsley asked as he glued to the wall of the great cabin. The blonde girl loots the guard lying lifelessly at the corner.
"Do you have any better idea?" Hameed snapped as he paused his search in the cabinet at the left corner of the cabin to glare at Kinsley.
"No –"
"I thought as much." Hameed countered. "You know you can make yourself more useful around here?"
"I found something, I think it is a blueprint of the ship." Dian announced.
"Let me see." Hammed quickly lay the paper on the control panel. "You are right. It is the blueprint used for the construction of the ship."
"And it will enable us find our way around this giant ship?" Dian asked.
"It should. But let's keep searching. We need the actual map too."
"But is he dead?" Kinsley asked pointing at the guard who the blonde girl was ridding of his assets and weapons.
"No. He is just out for a while." She smirked. "Are you scarred of me?"
Kinsley forced out a nervous laugh. "You wish. I'm – "
"Shh, guys." Dian warned gaining their attention. "Someone is coming."
They all glued to the wall with Kinsley, ready for an anticipated attack as the footsteps approached. The blonde girl who stood next to the door braced herself with a gun pointing to the door. She gently released the safety, anticipating the entrance of a guard as they all held their breath.
Just as hurried as the footstep approached, it faded out the other direction as the Captain kept hollering commands in his British assent. "Search every root and cranny of this ship! Turn it up side down if you must! We must find those four kids! Kids for crying out loud! Find them. Your lives depend on it!"
"Bingo." Hammed quietly charred as he raised a large folded paper in the air, crawling his way out of the cabinet. "I found it."
"Very good." Dian said. "Now we need to hurry before the captain return."
On cue, the blonde girl cracked the door open enough to poke her head out for a quick survey before signaling them that the coast is clear.
"Quietly" Dian cringed when the wooden floor groaned under Hammed's foot as they tiptoed their way out of the cabin. They all paused in sync looking around to make sure they are not being heard before trading, but more cautiously this time.
"Wait" Hammed halt suddenly, "Something is not right."
"Like what?" Kinsley asked with curious eyes.
"Up there at the monkey island, there should be someone there at all times." Hammed continued as they ducked behind the main deck wooden stairs. "It is very odd to find it vacant."
"Yes, you are right." Dian observed, "There was a red-head man up there who we narrowly avoided on our way into the great cabin."
"It could be that they needed more men for the search that he was compelled to vacate his post for a while, right?" Kinsley asked.
"My father is also a captain and I know the rules enough to know that that is close to impossible." Hammed pointed out.
"Either way, guys we need to get out of here as soon as possible." The blonde girl stated the obvious, "and don't worry Kinsley," she smirked as she flaunt her pistol for all to see, "I am ready to take any obstacle down with this bad boy."
"Let's go." Hammed commanded.
They quietly made their way down the main deck to the lifeboat tied safely at the mainmast. They gently yet hurriedly tried to untie the lifeboat with difficulty.
"Not so fast." A mocking voice said from behind accompanied by a sound of a gun being removed from safety.