Free Maddy's Dolphin by Imogen Tovey Page A

she had, that James had been with them all the time, she realised that she was just like her own mum – not very observant.
    It wasn’t until James turned up that they started getting some answers themselves as to what had happened. James had a gunshot wound through his shoulder. It had been cleaned, stitched and strapped up. He was lucky the bullet had gone all the way through and had hit nothing of importance as it went. He assured Maddy that he was fine. He had had much worse wounds in the past.
    James started off by asking them both to thank the whale for him. He couldn’t believe that a whale had saved his life. He also thanked them and Jorgos. As well as going over what had happened from their side of the story, like everyone asking lots and lots of questions, James gave them some information too.
    Apparently the President had received a note at the hotel. It was a demand that he release twenty terrorist prisoners, who were currently in custody in both America and England. The note threatened that if he didn’t release them, he would never see his daughter again. There were hundreds of people out there looking for her now, but the kidnappers had slipped the net so far. James was hopeful that they would find Lucy. James left, asking that if they thought of anything that might help they were to let him know immediately. He gave them his mobile number.
    Indigo was glad that James was OK. He said that he would let Lunar know, as he knew she had been worried about him, and had been hoping she had done the right thing by holding him up and not going off after Lucy.
    The three dolphins – Stone, Star and Riddle – had got back long past midnight. They had been too far behind the jet skis when they started. They had swum long and hard, but unfortunately they never managed to pick up a trail. They had headed out again early this morning, though, and they were spreading the word to all the dolphins and whales that had moved into the Gulf – and there were a lot of them. If the kidnappers were around in the Gulf, they would be found out.
    They finished updating each other and sat around thinking what else they could do. If only they hadn’t thought up that stupid plan this might not have happened. CJ pointed out that if these men were planning to kidnap Lucy, they would have done it anyway. After a bit of thought on the matter, Maddy and Indigo conceded that he was right, but that they had probably made it a bit easier for them. They were all very worried about Lucy.
    â€˜Maddy, CJ, come and have some food,’ shouted Ishbel and they dived off the rock into the water and swam to shore. They spent the rest of the day there with Indigo, swimming and talking, and were pleased to see him eating the fish that were brought to him. By the time it was time to head off home, Maddy was happy that Indigo was recovering well, but they had heard nothing more from Star and his friends. All they could do was wait and hope that they found something.

News
    CJ was playing keepy-uppy with the football out the front of the flats, looking onto the sea. The football was going from his knee, to his left foot, to his right foot, back to his knee and on and on. He had lost count at one hundred and a group of kids were crowding around. Then he noticed, in the crowd, one of the most famous footballers around. It was Wayne Rooney. There was a clatter from behind and he lost his concentration; the ball went out of control, rolling from his foot right at Rooney. ‘CJ,’ Maddy whispered into his ear a second time, ‘wake up.’
    It was just getting light about 4 a.m. and she had been woken by Indigo calling. She had thrown some clothes on and come to wake CJ up, just as he was saying in his sleep, ‘Wayne Rooney’.
    It took CJ a good few seconds to realise that he hadn’t just kicked a football at Rooney, but had been woken from a great dream. He put on a sweatshirt over his swimsuit – yes, he