The Ferry Read Free Page B

never to come back, you’re still the best I’ve ever worked with.”
    “I can’t,” I whisper.
    “Plus, we made a deal,” he adds. “We agreed that if we ever had another shot at this ferry, you’d come back.”
    “I don’t have clearances.”
    “You don’t need them. I’m your clearance. I still have enough clout around this place to bring you on as a consultant, and you’re more than qualified, even after taking time out.”
    “I’m out of shape,” I tell him, desperately trying to think of an excuse. “I haven’t kept up with the latest techniques, I’m out of practice, I don’t -”
    “Sophie -”
    “I’m a teacher now. The last time I was even on a boat -”
    “Sophie -”
    “I’d be a liability,” I add, staring at the screen. “I’d be dangerous out there, I’d be…” I pause, watching the video of the storm. “I’m a teacher now. I teach English at the local comp.”
    “I know,” he says firmly, “all those things are true, but you’re still better at this kind of rescue operation than anyone else I’ve got down here. And you know this ferry, or at least you know it as well as anyone can. You know its history. Please, Sophie, there are lives at stake, lots of lives and -” He stops suddenly, and for a moment I hear him talking to someone else. “I don’t have time to stand here and argue with you,” he continues finally. “Sophie, I need you to get down here to Cornwall right now! You always said you’d come back if this happened. I can try to do it alone, but I really need you with me.”
    “But -”
    Sitting in my dressing gown in the dark kitchen, watching the laptop’s screen as it displays images of the storm-lashed ferry, I feel as if I’m looking at a window to another world. It’s as if the Sophie Carpenter who worked for the coastguard five years ago was someone else entirely, and I honestly don’t think I can step back into those shoes. When I promised to go back if the ferry ever showed up again, I never really thought it would happen.
    “Mark,” I start to say, “I really don’t -”
    “I know you can do this,” he continues, with a sense of real urgency in his voice. “Please, Sophie, I’m telling you, it’s the same ferry. Don’t you want to finally get the damn thing?”
    “I -”
    For a moment, I sit in silence as I realize I’ve run out of excuses. I either agree to go, or I admit I’m a coward.
    “I could get the first train,” I say finally, “but it’d take me five hours to get down there, and by then -”
    “No train,” he replies. “I’ve already got a helicopter coming to pick you up from the roof of your apartment building.”
    “You’re kidding, right? You -”
    Before I can finish, I spot flashing lights in the sky outside the window, and I turn just in time to see a helicopter heading this way. A moment later, I hear movement over my shoulder, and I realize that Rob has come through to see what’s taking me so long. Looking back at the laptop screen, I watch as another huge wave crashes into the side of the stricken ferry, tilting it so far that it almost overturns.
    “So are you in?” Mark asks, with the sound of people shouting in the background. “Sophie? We made a deal five years ago, you said you’d come back if the ferry returned. So can I count on you?”

Chapter Two
     
    “It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” the pilot shouts as the helicopter rises up from the roof. “Don’t worry, though, I’ll get you there in one piece! Flying time should be about ninety minutes!”
    “Okay!” I shout back, fumbling to get myself strapped into the seat. To be honest, the past fifteen minutes have rushed past so fast, I’ve barely had time to even register what’s happening. I threw some clothes into a bag, but I’ve got no idea what I actually brought apart from the old work boots I never threw away, and as the helicopter swings out over the side of the building and races out across the dark city, I realize