Page 21 of Tiki Hut Tragedy

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For a fraction of a second, Millie froze. Almost instantaneously, her adrenaline kicked in. She fumbled inside her backpack, grabbed her cell phone and dialed the head of security.

“Hey, Millie.”

“A tiki hut dumped a bunch of people into the water,” she blurted out. “We need a PRV rescue ASAP!”

Chapter 9

Things moved fast as a swarm of security staff raced to the scene. Millie clutched her gut, watching the tiki hut continue circling the water.

Several of the ship’s staff, with life buoys in hand, jumped in and began swimming toward them.

Out of the corner of her eye, Millie glimpsed a flash of yellow. It was Sharky, clad head to toe in a wetsuit, atop his “Quadski,” the ship’s personal rescue vehicle.

She held her breath as he steered closer. He plucked a woman from the water and carried her back to the tiki hut. Again and again, he rescued women from the water and returned them to the floating bar.

Meanwhile, the hut’s operator was doing what he could, dragging several of the women back on board.

Whirr…whirr…whirr.Sirens wailed loudly. Ambulances arrived, waiting for the passengers.

“Please, God. Help them get everyone safely to shore,” Millie whispered under her breath. From their vantage point on the dock, it appeared all had been rescued and sat huddled together on the tiki hut’s floor.

Long moments slowly ticked past. Finally, the watercraft returned to the dock, where workers stood waiting to tie it up. EMTs stepped onto the loading platform, assisting those who needed help. Much to Millie’s relief, no one was placed inside the ambulance.

“It looks like everyone made it back safely,” Cat said.

Astrid exited the tiki hut, soaking wet from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, with a dazedexpression on her face. At first, Millie didn’t recognize her because of the tie-dyed bandana wrapped around her head she hadn’t noticed earlier.

She rushed over, handing her the beach towel she had brought with her. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine.” Astrid thanked her for the towel and began dabbing at her face. “For a minute there, I thought the tiki hut was sinking.”

“It looked like everyone ran to one side. What happened?”

“Dixie freaked out. She started screaming about something crawling across her foot. Next thing I know, everyone is running to one side. The extra weight tipped it, dumping everyone into the water.”

“Something crawled over her foot?” Millie’s eyes widened. “Like a lizard or mouse?”

Astrid shrugged. “I never saw it myself. I thought she said snake, so I repeated it, and that was all it took for the others to freak out.”

Cat shuddered involuntarily. “A snake slithered onto the tiki hut?”

Millie’s mind whirled. It was possible, entirely possible, that a critter had somehow sneaked onto the tiki hut, become agitated when the women boarded and was desperately searching for an escape route. “How awful. At least everyone is okay.”

“We were at maximum capacity. I need to do a headcount.”

Cat nudged Millie’s arm. “Sharky is still circling the water. Maybe not everyone was rescued.”

“I had better find out.” Astrid hurried off.

“Let’s see if we can track down the owner, Zema.” Millie made a beeline for the tiki hut, now secured to the dock. A port authority and a couple of the ship’s security guards stood talking to a man who appeared to be in charge. She tiptoed closer and listened in on their conversation.

“…inspected the tiki hut prior to passengers boarding. I can assure you there weren’t any rodents or reptiles on board.”

“A passenger is claiming something was loose,” the port officer insisted. “Some sort of reptile or rodent.”

“I would like to talk to this person because I swear to you it wasn’t there.”

“We’ll try to find them. Don’t leave.”