Touch the Sky (Young Underground #8) by Robert Elmer Page A

looking for. But maybe he ’ s in one of these rooms here. ”
                  Peter looked nervously up and down the hallway, wondering behind which of the five or six doors the man could be.
                  “ One way to find out, ” he told Matthias. Peter took a deep breath and hurried down the hallway, knocking on doors with both hands.
                  “ Peter, what are you doing? ”
                  Peter motioned for Matthias to follow him, and they stopped in the dining room where the man with the magazine was still sitting. They looked back to see one of the doors opening. A short man in a white T - shirt looked out.
                  “ Yeah? ” the man said, looking straight at Peter and Matthias and scratching his chin. His face was scarred and clean - shaven. Matthias looked at Peter, and Peter half waved to the man.
                  “ Uh, sorry, ” Peter mumbled. “ We were looking for someone else. ”
                  They turned and hurried out on deck once more, where the wind caught them in the face.
                  “ No match? ” asked Matthias.
                  “ That wasn ’ t him, Matthias. A couple of these guys look almost like him, but he ’ s not here. ”
                  Matthias crossed his arms and frowned. “ I was afraid of that. He ’ s not on the ship at all. Whoever is following me is still out there. ”
                  “ So what do we do now? ” Peter looked out at the waves, still gentle and glassy, but bigger than before.
                  “ I ’ ll get you home before the wind picks up so much that we can ’ t take off. ”
                  Matthias hurried over to the knot of crewmen by his plane and began pointing the way for them to lower the plane back over the side, the way it had come.
                  “ Okay, Peter, inside, ” he said, and Peter pulled himself into the plane.
                  After the safety of the big, old ship, he bit his lip as they lifted the airplane over the side. Matthias rode on the top of the wings again, but they seemed to swing around more than they had on the way up. There was nothing for Peter to do except hang on and watch. High above him, Peter caught a quick glimpse of the Greek captain, his arms folded, watching them intently.
                  “ Easy! ” Matthias yelled from above as they neared the water. A moment later, they were bobbing in the ocean and Matthias swung around into the cockpit like a gymnast.
                  “ Let ’ s go! ” he told Peter. The plane scraped lightly against the rusty side of the freighter before Matthias brought the engine to life and guided them away from behind the enormous black shadow. Using the protected pathway of flat water the big ship had carved out of the ocean, they headed in the direction of home, picking up speed.
                  “ Hang on, ” said Matthias, but Peter didn ’ t need the advice. He was already tightly gripping the handle next to him while the pilot worked the controls of the small plane, trying to keep steady as they picked up speed and started to hit bigger and bigger waves.
                  “ Is this okay? ” Peter wondered aloud. They knocked into the top of a small wave with a burst of spray, and it seemed to slap them to the side.
                  “ No problem, ” Matthias assured him. “ I ’ ve taken off in a lot worse. ” They hit another wave. “ Only I can ’ t remember right now when that might have been. ”
                  Peter closed his eyes and held on. Another jolt, and he felt the spray cover the airplane.
                  “ You swim, don ’ t you? ” asked Matthias.
                  Peter snapped open his eyes and looked over at the pilot, who was