The next morning, Tamara went down to breakfast as usual. She was feeling extremley nervous and could hardly eat her toast and bacon. Finally she decided to bring up the subject of the boat ride that afternoon.
"Hey dad," she started. "I was wondering if we could maybe go out on the boat today." She looked at her dad for his answer.
"Well, I'm afraid I can't. I've got buisness to do," he said, hardly looking up from his newspaper.
Tamara tried again. "Well, maybe me and mom could just go out by ourselves then," she said, looking at her mother. Johnny finally looked up.
"By yourselves? I don't think so," he said. "Diego and Eddie will go with you if you really want to go." Tamara gulped. She hadn't planned on them coming.
"Well, alright, I guess," she sighed. "I wanted to go around 2-2:30, when the sun is really good. I want to get a tan," she said, knowing that no one was listening to her. "Okay then, 2:30." She left the table and went back to her room.
There was nothing she wanted more than to leave her dad and his miserable way of life. But she also knew that if they carried out this plan, two people would have to die: Diego and Eddie. It wasn't a big loss to society, but she still felt like she was sinking to the mob's level by blowing up the boat. But if she and her mom could get away, then everything would be back to normal. Or would it? They would live in fear of being found by her dad and his gang, they would always be looking over their shoulder, jumping when the phone rang.
"But it's better than this," she said aloud.
"What is?" her mom asked coming into the room. Tamara jumped and relaxed when she saw it was only her mom.
"Um, just nothing," she answered. "I can't wait to go on the boat!"
"Well, it would be more fun if we didn't have to bring those two goons with us," her mom joked. "I'm sure it will be fun."
"Oh, definitely," Tamara agreed. "Very enjoyable, freeing," she said, giving her mom a look. She slowly nodded.
"Hmmm, I suppose so," she said. "Well, I'll leave you alone," she said as she left the room. Tamara knew she couldn't tell her mom the plan inside the house. Every room was bugged, so their every word could be heard. She tried to give her a little hint, but she didn't get it. She would find out on the boat.
Back in his hotel room, Taylor was also feeling very nervous. In fact, he hadn't felt this nervous since his first big performance with Hanson. But that was an excited nervous, this was a sickening nervousness. He also knew that people could die today and it would have been his plan. But anything to get poor Tamara out of this hell hole. His mind drifted off the an old memory back when he was seven and he and Tamara was his best enemy.
"You are so dumb Taylor Hanson!" a seven year old Tamara shouted as she rode by on her pink bike. "You still need training wheels, you're so retarded!" Taylor glared at her as she did a circle around him. He picked up a toy soldier that was laying in his yard and flung it at her. It hit her in the head and she fell off her bike, scraping her knees as she crashed into a tree. She fell to the ground, stunned and then started crying."I hate you, Taylor!" she cried as she picked herself off the ground. A five year old Zac waddled outside and looked at the comotion.
"Why is your girlfriend crying, Tay?" asked Zac, innocently.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Taylor yelled. "I hate her!"
Taylor smiled at the memory. Times sure had changed! He was still thinking about the old days when he looked at his clock. It was almost two o'clock. Time for action. He left the hotel and took a cab down to the pier. He rented a small motor boat and rode along the side of the island until he saw the little island that Tamara was talking about. He anchored on the beach and sat down on the sand. He could make out the Azkaban mansion from here and could see a huge boat about to set sail. He took out his biniculars and looked at the boat. There was Tamara, getting onto the boat, carrying a small bag. Her mother went after her, followed by Diego and Eddie. It was now about 2:20 and the boat slowly left the dock and moved out in the ocean. Taylor wished he could see what was going on in the boat, but he was too far away.
Tamara set her bag down on a bench on the boat and looked over the railing. The boat was high, it was about a 15 foot drop down to the water. She wasn't looking forward to that part of the plan at all. She looked into the distance and saw the island where Taylor was. She could see a tiny boat docked at the shore, but she couldn't see if Taylor was there. Feeling very nervous, she opened up the bag she had brought on and looked inside. There was a small rope and some matches and that was it. The rope was thin and was about 2 feet long. She hoped it would give her and her mother enough time to get off the boat and far enough away from the explosion.
I feel like I'm in sort of movie, only this is real and I could die, she thought optimistically. Her mom had layed out a towel and was sunbathing on the side of the boat. Diego was up on top of the boat, at the steering wheel and Eddie was down below, getting some food.
"Mom," she whispered. "I have to tell you something." She got her mom's attention and proceeded to tell her mom the whole plan that was going to take place in about ten minutes. She looked shocked as Tamara finished explaining.
"But all our stuff at the house..."
"We don't need it," Tamara said.
"But we have no money!"
"I stole this," Tamara said as she pulled her dad's bank card from her purse. "Also last night I went online and wired $4 million dollars from his Swiss account to a new one I set up in the name Chimaera Lauder. He won't know it's gone until we're off in California with the Hanson's."
Her mom still looked stunned. "I can't believe you thought of all this yourself," she said incredously.
"Well, I had help from Taylor," she said modestly. "But he didn't think of everything," she said quickly.
"I always said that Taylor was a good kid. Nice parents too," she said. Tamara nodded.
"It's time," she said as she got up. "Take this stuff," she told her mom, handing her the bank card and account info. "When I get back up, we'll have about five minutes to get off the boat and swin towards the island where Taylor's waiting." Her mom nodded, still in shock that they were going through with this plan. Eddie came on deck just then and Tamara walked down the stairs to the below deck. There was a kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms down here. There was also the engine and boiler room. Tamara unlocked the door to that room and went inside, closing the door quietly. She found what she was looking for, the tank that held the gas for the boat. She took the the rope and matches from her bag. Dangling the rope, she put half of it in the gas tank and left the other half on the floor. Then she lit a match and set the rope on fire. It started burning, traveling up the rope to the tank. She knew that when the fire reached the gas, it would cause an explosion. The rope was burning fast so she got out of there as fast as she could, locking the door behind her. She ran up the stairs to the top deck, where her mom was looking at the waves below.
"Don't go in the bathroom," Tamara tried to joke, waving her hand in front of her nose. She looked at her mother and nodded. Her mom went first, swinging around the railing and then hung from the edge of the boat. She jumped and disappeared under the water. Tamara was climbing over the top next when Eddie noticed what was going on.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Get back here!" He started running and grabbed Tamara's arm just as she was about to jump in the water. She struggled against him, but he hung on. She looked out into the water and saw her mom swimming towards the island. With a final shove, she pushed Eddie and fell backwards into the water, crashing into the violent waves. It was taking forever to get back to the surface and she knew the boat was going to explode soon. She had to get away from the boat! Finally, she reached the surface and took a huge breath. There was only a matter of time before the boat blew to bits. Swimming with all her might, she was about 20 yards from the boat. She looked back and saw Diego yelling and pointing at her, while Eddie tried to get a life boat down from it's hinges. Tamara swum a little farther and then she heard it. She quick swung around and saw the flames erupt into the air as the boat exploded. The water was hot from the fire and had created a whirlpool as the boat was sucked under water. Another explosion went off and pieces of debris fell all around her. Without looking back, she desperatly tried to swim against the current towards the island. She wasn't getting anywhere and she was starting to get tired and she had a cramp in her stomach. She went under the water and came flying out again. She was about to go under again when two hands picked her out of the water and placed her in a boat. It was Taylor and her mom!
She flopped down on the floor of the boat, exhausted, as Taylor sped the boat away, towards the pier. "I'm so glad...you made it..." Tamara said to her mother breathlessly. "I thought I wouln't...he grabbed me and I..." she couldn't spit it out. Her mom nodded.
"It's okay, shh, just rest. We'll be on our flight in no time," she said, smiling at Taylor. He grinned back and looked at what remained of the yacht. A few flames still burned and deck chairs were floating in the water. He couldn't see any people and he knew no one could have survived that explosion. The house was out of view now and they were almost back to land. Soon they would be safe.