I could feel the gentle sway of the boat while it glided across the waves. As I tried pulling on the handcuffs, I started to constrict my wrists. Eventually, I realized that all I could try to do is put slack on the handcuffs and try to get comfortable. Thoughts rushed through my mind as I sat there in the darkest area of the room. Who are these people that have taken me? As I started to doze off to the summer salty sea breeze, I heard someone. I heard someone behind me. Worried that it could be the people that had taken me, I stayed as quiet as possible trying to make it seem like I was asleep. As the night went on the breaths stayed at the same pace. I heard quick, short breaths. As if he was scared. If it was a kidnapper, he had to have been a good actor.

I whispered to him, “Hey you up.”
Quickly I heard a response, “Please don’t hurt me,” he stated, “I have a family”
He sounded worried from what I could hear but I couldn’t be too sure.
       

I responded, “Don’t worry. I think I can help you.” As I said this, I remembered a song my wife and I used to sing our kids when they were young, “If you think you can you can!-- but if you think you can't you can’t!”
“The last thing I remember is that I ran after this man who had collapsed and then--” I stuttered, because the truth was I really didn't know what happened after that. I was probably knocked out; yet I had no pain throughout my body except on my wrist.

“Oh,” he replied.
There was a short silence. I thought of my family and if they knew I was kidnapped or not. What would they do? Thoughts rushed through my head. I thought about Jake, my son, playing baseball and Cassie playing soccer, and my wife, Julia and how she could hold her temper at the kids when they would screw up. The thought stuck though of what could they do without a dad. They all knew that I go away all the time to solve big cases, as I was an FBI investigator. All I could do was think. What would a bunch of criminals on a boat want with an average man named Jamie Mann?  Finally, I remembered what I was taught in college about kidnapping.

1. See what you can do to get free (if you are in restraint.)
2. If you can't get free locate nearest personnel that could possibly help you
3. If nothing is possible you have the best chance of survival to do what you've been told.

I decided talk to the strange man. “Hey, you don't possibly have a paper clip, do you?”

“Yea,” he responded, “hold on.” I heard him rustle around for a minute and then he somehow managed to push a paper clip to me.

I positioned my body were my back was to him and felt around the floor for the thin metal. The floor was hard wood, partially damp. As soon as I touched the clip I grabbed it and stuck it in the keyhole for the key that opens the chains. I knew my way around handcuffs well because I had to lock up a few criminals when I was just a rookie. I dug the paper clip around in the handcuffs - up, right, and spin around. As I kept trying, I eventually heard a click. Both clamps popped open and I was free.

I dropped the handcuffs and shook my hands around. I was free. Well that’s what I had thought. As soon as I dropped the handcuffs on the floor, I heard someone coming. The clink and clank of footsteps made my heart race. He must have been coming down the ladder. I could almost feel a pulse everywhere in my body. Because of my quick reflexes, I sat back down and faked having handcuffs on. I was worried that when he came into the room he would see my heart almost beating out of my chest. The footsteps got closer and closer.

I wasn’t exactly sure what had happened after that, though I woke up a few minutes later with an excruciating pain in the back of my head. My head was wet with blood from my wound.  The blood wasn’t very bad because it hadn’t of cut open my head. But I was sure I had a concussion.

I heard yelling on the top deck. A man said, “I can’t believe you killed him, we needed him for… you know.”
There was a split second of silence and then I heard a response, “So what should we do with the body?” There was something about the voice, something I recognized and then I knew. It was the man that said he had been kidnapped to. I knew I couldn’t have trusted him.

I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation because they were walking away. Yet I comprehended that they were going to come back to dump my body, so I’d have to move. I tried to get up but I had such a pounding headache I just fell back down. I used all my strength and all four limbs to help myself get up. I felt nauseous, probably I migraine. I was so dizzy that it was hard to walk. The room was spinning and the sway of the boat didn’t help. Yet since I was determined I went to the corner of the room. Every step was a challenge. But under the ladder that came down in the corner of the room, there was an old whiskey barrel. The craftsmanship on the wooden barrel was unique. I climbed my way into the barrel very slowly. Once I stepped in I balled myself up. I could barely see since it was till dark out.

I was tired and I couldn’t stop thinking. I missed my family.  It made me think about how little time we spent together.

I started to hear footsteps leading down to the bottom deck. It was so dark out even though the ladder was straight above me I couldn’t see them come down. All around the room I heard clink, clank, clink, clank. I crossed my fingers hoping that they wouldn’t see me. It took a good 10 minutes to search for me. But soon after I heard the footsteps go back upstairs. Relieved, I drifted off to sleep.

I dreamed about playing baseball on a hot afternoon as a kid. I dreamed of the homeruns I hit and how happy I was. I dreamed of when I graduated law school, and how proud my parents were.

It wasn’t long till it was morning; the sun woke me up shining through the wood of the upper deck and reflecting off the metal on the walls. My headache was gone but I still had a large bump on my head. Squirming out of the barrel was tough because of the aches and pains all around my body. My neck was stiff. It reminded me of going camping with my kids during the summer. I only wished I could do that again. I put both of my hands on the sides of the barrel and used my upperbody to pull my out. Since I could see a little better I took a look around the room. I noticed why they could not see me coming in the dark to search for me.

The ladder stayed in the same spot of where it was last night so I grabbed and started climbing up. I tried to be as quiet as possible. When I got to the top I expected to see the whole crew around but I saw nothing. I didn’t hear a sound. Not a mouse or a bug or footsteps. I stepped on the main deck and looked around. There were nets on both sides of the ship. I knew it was a saltwater fishing ship. It was probably one hundred twenty feet long and eighty feet wide. In the middle of the ship there was a helm, a helm big enough to fit twenty people inside of it. Behind the helm was a spotting stand, to spot fish out so they could catch them.  The boat wasn’t that far out of the water probably twelve feet max. At the very front of the ship there was an anchor. Partially broken, it was the closest thing to me. I grab part of the broken piece just in case I ran into anybody.

I turned around to grab the anchor and there it was, so big millions of people could live on it. There were so many trees and plants and brush. Everything looked green. In the middle sat a volcano not huge but big enough to kill. The mountain and the island itself combined looked like a giant dome. It almost seemed to be that no one ever had seen the island before. Except for this crew. On the beach sat twelve chairs and eleven of them were filled. Smoked filled the sky from the fire they had made. There was a tuna cooking over the fire ready to be eaten.  Each member of the crew had a beer, except for the empty chair.  Near the shore there was a boat smaller than the ship I was on. I guessed it was the lifeboat if the ship sank. The beached probably stretched for about a mile. The island was gigantic. But the question stayed in my head. Where was the twelfth man?

I started to walk around the ship when I saw him, sitting in the helm with a computer. Along with the computer in the helm were a GPS and a steer. Worried, I clutched the hard piece of anchor so tight in my hand. Eventually I saw that he was facing the opposite side of me, staring at the computer with glasses on. I slowly closed in on him like a lion hunting a gazelle. When I was about four feet away I jabbed the piece of metal onto his head. Instantly he collapsed. It was so silent a bat probably couldn’t have heard it. On his waist was a holster which held a Glock 19.  It had an aluminum barrel with a rubber grip. It was loaded and on safety. I rapped the holster around my waist and put the gun on safety. The holster was made out of rubber so if you went into the water with the holster it would be water proof. I was pretty familiar with guns; I had to carry one around wherever I would went when I was on the job. I practiced usually every day for about half an hour.

I stared at the man. He was only knocked out and hopefully for enough time.  On the computer he was looking at there was a video of a thief taking four hundred dollars. It was about ready to be stolen when I hit him in the back of the head. Next to the computer was a phone, there was sticker on the phone that said dial 9 before use. Behind me there was a GPS. I looked at the GPS hoping that I could find my coordinates. I was looking and looking when I found them in the upper right hand corner. It said your coordinates are 55? North Latitude 15? West Longitude.
I played the number over and over again in my head till I reached for the phone. The first number in my head that popped in my head was 911. So I dialed 9-911.  It rang for a few moments and then that little robot voice picked up telling me that my call was made too far and that to try a different number. 

I thought for a few minutes thinking and then it popped in my head. When I was in law school they made us memorize the U.S. COASTGUARD’S number. The number came back, it was (609)-677-2222. I dialed the number and crossed my fingers that someone would respond.

“Hello, what is your emergency,” a women’s voice said with no hesitation.

“I’ve been kidnapped and I’m on a fishing ship, my name is Sgt. Jamie Mann. My coordinates are 55?, 15? northwest Atlantic Ocean; I need help immediately,” I told her.

She responded shortly saying, “Sgt. Jamie Mann, we are going to walk--.” I cut her off by telling her, “No time, I know what to do.”

I hung up the phone. I walked slowly and quietly back to the very front of the ship where you can see the island. I hoped that they were still there and to my surprise they were. I needed to get to that island so that when they come back to leave I would be safe. I went to go get a life boat when I realized they would see it. The island was only about one hundred yards from the ship which isn’t a bad swim. I climbed down the ladder for the life boat and jumped in the water headfirst. As soon as I hit the water a shot of pain flew down from my head to my spine.
The water was warm and clear all the way to the bottom. On the bottom I could see a few mullet swimming around. The waves were about four foot high and perfect to swim with so they wouldn’t see me. As UI swam up to the air I located a fallen branch, in other words a log on the beach. I used that as my mark point where I needed to swim too. I tried to cover as much ground as possible so I used the breaststroke. I had to be able to get to shore without any of them seeing me. I was about half way to the island when I heard it.

The shot, it rang right next to my head and hit the water with extreme force where it could pass through anything. Worried I looked at where the men had been sitting. One of them was standing and the rest were looking in the water. The man that was standing held a pistol. I ducked under the water immediately. To my right and my left I saw quick spinning objects. The bullets I thought.

It felt like forever, but the determination to see my worried family was to strong. I held my breath till I could not hold my breath any longer. What felt like seven hours was only three minutes before I came up for a breath. The shooting had stopped and the water was back to being calm. I looked back to the island to see the men all gathered on the boat headed for the ship. 

At that point I put the swimming into overdrive.  I swam so hard a far that I could have won the Olympics. It only took a minute for me to get to the island. I was about ten yards out when I felt the soft mix of the sandy bottom and the sea shells hitting my feet. I ran up to the beach and hit behind the log. The beach up close looked like a beach you see in the pictures of Hawaii. Palm trees everywhere and overhanging branches and little coconuts everywhere. There were seagulls in the trees and occasionally I could see won fly down and pick at the tuna they had caught. I kneeled behind the log. The men were just arriving on to the ship. I looked down at my belt and saw that my holster was still there. Thankful it was waterproof; the gun powder probably wasn’t spoiled. I undid the holster and pulled the Glock 19 out.

“What a beauty,” I told myself aloud.

I grabbed the gun and pointed at the ship. There were two points on the ship that I needed to hit. The rubber on the life boat and a hole near the engine because if the engine drowns then they couldn’t go anywhere. I had eight bullets in my clip and I needed to use them wisely. I pointed my gun to the back of the ship where the engine should have been. I told myself I would fire once at the back, the middle and the front. I looked through the colored lights on the gun which represent where you bullet will go like a scope. I pointed the gun to the back of the boat. I aimed a little high because I knew the bullet would drop a few inches.

I thought to myself. I can do it, I can do it. But then it struck me. It’s not that I can do it; it’s that I knew I could do it. My family flashed before my eyes and how I wanted to get home. Slowly I pulled the trigger…. BANG!
A big hole gushes through the back of the boat. I could see the water start flowing in. I knew that the water wasn’t enough to sink the ship but it was enough to stop the engine. I watched as one of the men went into the helm. He didn’t look surprised to see the man on the ground, if he was still there. I watched him turn the key for the engine… nothing happened. I was glasd but also worried.

I pointed my gun back at where they were about to raise the lifeboat when I shot… BANG!

To the right of the lifeboat I heard the metal collide with the boat. I reloaded and shot again but this time to the left of where I had aimed before…. BANG! Instantly after the shot a burst of air came streaming out. I hit the life boat and the ship and now they couldn’t escape.

I watched as the crew ran around the ship looking for a way to go anywhere. That’s when I heard it. It was the sweet sound of a chopper. The blades of the helicopter could be heard from a mile away. As the helicopter approached me, I could also see a huge ship approaching. It had guns on both ends and a runway that ran right down the middle of the boat. The helicopter wasn’t huge but it was black with a white stripe down the middle. On the stripe said the letters printed in black on white U.S. COASTGUARD. As they neared me I laid down, relieved. I stared at the sky. I felt safe for the first time in two days. I was dehydrated and hungry. When the helicopter was in range it dropped down a ladder. Next to the ladder was a man in a body suit that was navy and said U.S. COASTGUARD on the back.

“Are you ok,” he asks me

“I’m fine,” I tell him,” just help me to the chopper.” He grabs me by the arm and puts a harness around my waist. Attached to the harness is a rope which connects at the top of the helicopter. As I started to climb the ladder with the man behind me the rope tightens.

Eventually I’m at the top. The view was amazing from up there. There were three people sitting in the helicopter. One a paramedic which asked me questions about what happened worried, one was the lady I was on the phone with, her name was Kelly, and the last man was the pilot, his name was Jerry and he wore a uniform with stripes and on the front pocket there was a patch that said U.S. COASTGUARD. The paramedic asked a lot of questions but did no tests on me. It wasn’t a long fly back but I kept to myself even though everyone wanted to talk to me. It wasn’t long till we caught up with the huge U.S. ship. As I looked out the window of the chopper I saw a smaller boat next to the fishing ship which the crooks were on. I watched as they put in custody of the U.S. Government. Thankful I was safe I took a deep breath.

Jerry started talking, “We are about to prepare to land.”

I shifted in my seat as the legs of the helicopter touched the ship and the blades slowed to a stop. The paramedic which was the man that helped me off the beach helped me out of the helicopter after we were on the platform. Once everyone was out of the chopper I actually realized how huge the ship was. The platform was so big it held four jets and two helicopters. Men in the same uniforms as the pilot walked around the platform. There was one main compartment where they had all the equipment for the aircrafts. There was one area where the stairs led down and that’s where I went. We walked down into the well lit hallway and the paramedic who said his name was James told me to go right into a room with bunk beds everywhere. There was a clock above the door. There was a table in the middle of the room. Near the table sat a chair. On the table was a tray that held a bottle of Jello, a chicken sandwich, some water and sliced apples. Thankful to have it, I ate. When I started eating was when I realized how hungry I actually was. It didn’t take long before I had finished my food.

Once I had finished James walked back in with a tray of equipment.

“Ok Sergeant, we are going to do some tests on you for your health,” he told me, “All we need you to do is not fall asleep yet and answer my questions and relax.”

“Ok,” I told him.

“Did you get hurt in anyway while you were kidnapped?” he asked.

I told him about what had happened to my head and that it still hurt. He said that I probably had a concussion. He took my blood pressure and asked a few more questions. He checked my eyes, my ears, my mouth and my heart beat. At the end I was exhausted. 

At the end the clock read 9:16 PM. It wasn’t that late but he could tell I was tired.  Before I went to bed he gave me some pain medication. I made sure I didn’t lay straight on the back of my head. I was out.

I dreamed about my family and how excited I was to see them. Then I floated slowly back to the day when James was waking me up. From what felt like three minutes was ten hours. The clock read 7:46.  James told me that we were at the port. I jumped out of bed and followed him to the platform. It was just as big and cooler. I followed him to the dock it was on a there waited my family. I was speechless. I was so worried I would never see them again and here I am. I ran up to them and I picked my wife up, giving her the greatest hug. Then I hugged both of my kids. I felt so blessed to see them once again. Right as we started leaving I told my family, “Let’s go do something fun, together, as a family!”