Page 26 of Discovering Daisy

She peered through the green leaves. She gasped, pushing off the railing and staggering backwards.

“There’s a man in there!”

“What?” Ella, Nelly, and Levi said in unison.

Ella started to run down but Levi gently grabbed her arm, stopping her. “Let’s go up. There’s a way off.” He yelled past her. “Come on, Daisy!”

Even as they ran, Daisy heard what sounded like the clicking of a camera. Was the man taking pictures of her and her friends? The ship had professional photographers. They captured special moments and sold them to passengers. But this was different! The man had paint on his face, green and black, like camouflage.He was trying to blend in. He hadn’t wanted the Littles to know he was watching.

They reached the fourth level. The very top. They were towering over the island with an amazing panoramic view that showed lush green grass, stately palms, colorful flowers, and other plants that eventually gave way to beautiful blue ocean.

“I thought you said we could get down!” Daisy said.

“We can,” Levi said. “Strap in.”

That’s when Daisy realized there were zip lines that ran to the ground.

She put on a provided helmet and then hurried into the harness. The others did the same. Thankfully, there were five lines running parallel to each other, so they each had their own with one to spare.

“Let me help,” Levi said, hooking Daisy’s harness to the galvanized aircraft cable that ran at an angle from the top of the treehouse complex to the ground. “Just push off whenever you’re ready.”

She gave the thumbs up. Ella and Nelly did, too.

“Let’s go then!” Levi said.

They pushed off at the same time, yelling as they swooshed over the island and down toward the ground. Had they not been fleeing a peeping Tom, the experience would have been even more fun. And somewhat peaceful.

Daisy’s feet tapped the ground and she started working them, as if walking briskly, coming in for a nice, smooth, controlled landing.

She was unfastened and out of her harness in a matter of seconds. “I’m going to get my Daddy!”

Her friends followed her.

***

As it turned out, Wyatt had been enjoying a rum punch with Captain Reagan and the other Bigs.

“Daddy!” Daisy had yelled, stopping before him, panting her words as her lungs fought hard to suck in precious oxygen. “There was a man in the treehouse! Hiding in the trees and taking pictures of us!”

That had been all Wyatt needed to hear.

Now, he was barreling across that island, heading toward that treehouse. The island was small. There weren’t very many places this guy could hide. Even if he’d managed to climb down the tree by now, he couldn’t get too far. He wouldn’t get away.

Wyatt would make sure of that.

Captain Reagan and the others followed after him, but they were no match for Wyatt’ speed, and he wasn’t slowing down to wait.

He arrived at the treehouse but went to the side, bypassing the stairs. He had a hunch that the mysterious watcher would be coming down the back way. Sure enough, that turned out to be the case. The guy was finishing his shimmy down the tree when Wyatt reached for him.

The man must have sensed it, because he ducked and moved out of the way. Wyatt’s momentum caused him to hit the tree. The guy took off.

The small collision hadn’t done much to slow Wyatt down and he easily gave chase.

They ran deeper into the island, the opposite direction of the bar and the docked Little Star ship.

As small as the area was, it didn’t take them long to hit the ocean.

Wyatt pumped his legs fiercely, gained some ground, and then lunged for the fleeing suspect. He wrapped him in a diving tackle. The man fell hard onto the sand with Wyatt on top of him.

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