Read Online Laura Marlin Mysteries 2: Kidnap in the Caribbean by Lauren St John - Free Book Online
Authors: Lauren St John
Ads: Link
with us?’
Jimmy was pale but he nodded vigorously. ‘As long as you let me go first.’
An hour earlier, his cheeky bravado would have made Laura want to throttle him, but now she recognised it for what it was and smiled warmly at him. ‘Good for you. It takes real courage to overcome a fear of heights. Here, take my harness. Ernesto can find me another one.’
What the children didn’t know about Russ, and what he didn’t advertise, was that he was a former member of the SAS, had climbed Everest three times and, two decades before, had been one of the world’s elite mountaineers.
Yet all of that experience was of no use to him when Jimmy Gannet reached the highest, most treacherous part of the climbing wall, sat down in his harness in preparation for being lowered back to the ground, and let out a yell of pure terror. ‘My rope, I felt it slip. It’s breaking, it’s breaking.’
Ordinarily, Russ would have the last, and most vital person in the human chain of safety, on the ground. First in line was Tariq. He was the belayer. He had a belay device clipped to his harness and he’d been shortening the rope as Jimmy climbed. The rope went through Jimmy’s harness, up to a metal loop called a karibiner at the top of the wall, which acted as an anchor, and back down to Tariq.
Jimmy had climbed without assistance, using his hands and feet. Laura had watched him with her heart in her mouth. He’d insisted on going first, despite being so scared he was trembling, but even so she worried that his mind was not on what he was doing. He’d been so affected by the chapters of the Matt Walker book he’d read that he’d been talking non-stop, pressing Laura for every detail about the detective’s methods.
‘What’s the best ever tip you learned from Detective Inspector Walker?’ he’d pressed.
It was a difficult question because Detective Inspector Walker had hundreds of ingenious tips and tricks, but Laura had finally decided that one of her favourites came from The Case of the Missing Heiress . Matt had observed that a common weakness of criminals in general and kidnappers in particular was that they were so preoccupied with trying to get the details right that they often overlooked the ordinary, mundane things. They messed up because they didn’t notice the things that were staring them in the face.
‘Like what?’ Jimmy had pressed. ‘Give me an example.’
But right then Russ had interrupted them. They were ready for Jimmy to climb the wall.
When Jimmy reached the top Russ had explained that he was to indicate he was ready to descend and Tariq would lower him with the help of the belay device, something which reduced a climber’s weight to a couple of kilograms. Laura was second in the chain. She held the dead rope – rope that had already been paid out – and was there to help Tariq if Jimmy fell. Russ was there for professional backup. When working with children, he always held the very end of the rope so that he could step in quickly in an emergency.
Unfortunately, at the instant that Jimmy’s rope was sliced through almost to its kern, as its core was known, the instructor was on the other side of the centre attending to a woman who had fainted.
‘Help!’ Jimmy yelled, but as he did the spindly twists of nylon that held him snapped so that only one remained. The sudden jolt caused him to pitch backwards into space.
Tariq and Laura had a split second to act. They used it. Russ was already sprinting towards them, but he’d taught them well. Before he reached them they’d halted Jimmy’s fall in mid-air. The boy crashed against the wall and swung like a human pendulum, but after that they were able to lower him gently to the ground.
Back on solid earth, Ernesto examined Jimmy’s ropes with incredulity. ‘Is impossible, I check thees rope myself,’ he told Laura and Tariq while the ten-year-old was being treated for shock by the ship doctor. Skye, who seemed to sense that Jimmy was in
Jimmy was pale but he nodded vigorously. ‘As long as you let me go first.’
An hour earlier, his cheeky bravado would have made Laura want to throttle him, but now she recognised it for what it was and smiled warmly at him. ‘Good for you. It takes real courage to overcome a fear of heights. Here, take my harness. Ernesto can find me another one.’
What the children didn’t know about Russ, and what he didn’t advertise, was that he was a former member of the SAS, had climbed Everest three times and, two decades before, had been one of the world’s elite mountaineers.
Yet all of that experience was of no use to him when Jimmy Gannet reached the highest, most treacherous part of the climbing wall, sat down in his harness in preparation for being lowered back to the ground, and let out a yell of pure terror. ‘My rope, I felt it slip. It’s breaking, it’s breaking.’
Ordinarily, Russ would have the last, and most vital person in the human chain of safety, on the ground. First in line was Tariq. He was the belayer. He had a belay device clipped to his harness and he’d been shortening the rope as Jimmy climbed. The rope went through Jimmy’s harness, up to a metal loop called a karibiner at the top of the wall, which acted as an anchor, and back down to Tariq.
Jimmy had climbed without assistance, using his hands and feet. Laura had watched him with her heart in her mouth. He’d insisted on going first, despite being so scared he was trembling, but even so she worried that his mind was not on what he was doing. He’d been so affected by the chapters of the Matt Walker book he’d read that he’d been talking non-stop, pressing Laura for every detail about the detective’s methods.
‘What’s the best ever tip you learned from Detective Inspector Walker?’ he’d pressed.
It was a difficult question because Detective Inspector Walker had hundreds of ingenious tips and tricks, but Laura had finally decided that one of her favourites came from The Case of the Missing Heiress . Matt had observed that a common weakness of criminals in general and kidnappers in particular was that they were so preoccupied with trying to get the details right that they often overlooked the ordinary, mundane things. They messed up because they didn’t notice the things that were staring them in the face.
‘Like what?’ Jimmy had pressed. ‘Give me an example.’
But right then Russ had interrupted them. They were ready for Jimmy to climb the wall.
When Jimmy reached the top Russ had explained that he was to indicate he was ready to descend and Tariq would lower him with the help of the belay device, something which reduced a climber’s weight to a couple of kilograms. Laura was second in the chain. She held the dead rope – rope that had already been paid out – and was there to help Tariq if Jimmy fell. Russ was there for professional backup. When working with children, he always held the very end of the rope so that he could step in quickly in an emergency.
Unfortunately, at the instant that Jimmy’s rope was sliced through almost to its kern, as its core was known, the instructor was on the other side of the centre attending to a woman who had fainted.
‘Help!’ Jimmy yelled, but as he did the spindly twists of nylon that held him snapped so that only one remained. The sudden jolt caused him to pitch backwards into space.
Tariq and Laura had a split second to act. They used it. Russ was already sprinting towards them, but he’d taught them well. Before he reached them they’d halted Jimmy’s fall in mid-air. The boy crashed against the wall and swung like a human pendulum, but after that they were able to lower him gently to the ground.
Back on solid earth, Ernesto examined Jimmy’s ropes with incredulity. ‘Is impossible, I check thees rope myself,’ he told Laura and Tariq while the ten-year-old was being treated for shock by the ship doctor. Skye, who seemed to sense that Jimmy was in
Similar Books
