ESCAPE FROM FEAR
A MYSTERY IN VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK
GLORIA SKURZYNSKI AND ALANE FERGUSON
For Denise Georges,
who brought the island of St. John
to life for the authors
Text copyright © 2002 Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson
Cover illustration copyright © 2008 Jeffrey Mangiat
All rights reserved.
Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents is prohibited without written permission from the National Geographic Society, 1145 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
Map by Carl Mehler, Director of Maps
Map research and production by Matt Chwastyk and Thomas L. Gray
Hawksbill turtle art by Joan Wolbier
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to living persons or events other than descriptions of natural phenomena is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skurzynski, Gloria.
Escape from fear / by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson. p. cm.—(Mysteries in our national parks; #9)
Summary: While at St. John National Park in the Virgin Islands for a seminar on coral reefs, the Landons help a wealthy thirteen-year-old to find his birth mother, whom he believes is in danger.
ISBN: 978-1-4263-0972-4
[1. Racially mixed people—Fiction. 2. Adoption—Fiction. 3. Poaching—Fiction. 4. National parks and reserves. 5. Virgin Islands of the United States—Fiction. 6. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Ferguson, Alane. II. Title. III. Series.
PZ7.S6287 Es 2002
[Fic]—dc21
2001005508
Version: 2017-07-07
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are very grateful to
Ginger Garrison, Marine Ecologist,
U.S. Geological Survey, and to the staff members
of Virgin Islands National Park
who so generously shared their expertise:
Denise Georges, Park Ranger;
Ken Wild, National Park Service archaeologist;
Schuler Brown, Chief Ranger;
Judy Shafer, Deputy Superintendent; and
Rafe Boulon, Chief, Resource Management; and a
special thanks to Miss Felicia, the basket-maker.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The beach stretched in front of him, a gleaming sweep of moonlit whiteness edged by a thick stand of trees. A perfect spot, the man told himself—secluded, wild, and most important of all, a place where there would be no witnesses.
It was when he’d dropped anchor into the ink-black water that he saw her, alone and vulnerable. Her eyes, large in the moonlight, watched him silently. She knew he was there.
“You see that?” he asked his accomplice, steadying himself as a wave broke against the bow. It sprayed a fine mist that glittered in the moonlight.
“I see dat. She be good, mon. So we goes an’ catch dis one big beautiful t’ing.”
Yes, they would take her. More money would fatten his wallet thanks to this lucky find. She was icing on his cake. Slipping into the waves, he made his way toward her….
CHAPTER ONE
Jack looked down, straining to catch a glimpse of ocean beneath him, but all he could see were endless white clouds floating like enormous swirls of meringue. After three hours in the air—just on this leg of the trip—he was more than anxious to reach his destination, Virgin Islands National Park on the island of St. John. He’d been dreaming of white beaches and turquoise waters, where rainbow-colored fish swam as thick as snowflakes and the water was as warm as the sunshine. After an icy Wyoming winter, he was ready for instant summer. Besides, with his skin the color of a fish’s underbelly, he needed to get started on a tan.
“Jack, where’s your sister?” his mother asked from a seat directly behind him.
“Looking for a People magazine,” Jack answered. “She’s trying to mooch one out of First Class.”
“You know she’s not supposed to go in there—if they catch her they’ll toss her right back into Coach.” A beat later, she asked, “Don’t you think she’s been gone an awfully long time?”
Jack shrugged. “Mom, we’re on an airplane. Even Ashley can’t get lost on an airplane.”
His mother, Olivia, was small—already shorter than Jack, who, at 13, stood at almost five feet seven inches. Olivia’s dark curly hair had been pulled into a ponytail, and she wore no makeup except lip gloss. Jack could see a three-inch stack of papers on her folding tray, marked with red lines and exclamation points that made the paper look as though it were bleeding red ink. Since they’d left Jackson Hole, she’d been poring though publications about coral reefs and hawksbill turtles, scratching notes in the margins of books and rereading research papers. National Parks frequently called Olivia, a wildlife veterinarian, for help when a species became threatened. The case in St. John involved a larger problem—Earth’s coral reefs were dying at an alarming rate. Since much of Virgin Islands National Park on St. John lay underwater, reef loss was
