Chapter 3 #3
Elodie hoped that when he came into this room, all he’d see was a table and chairs, and with nothing to look through, he’d continue on.
He had a flashlight of some sort; through the small circular window in the door, she’d seen the light wildly flicking around the room and walls.
She prayed he wouldn’t decide to shine it under the table for any reason.
She held her breath as she slowly reached for the knife she’d put in her belt loop. She pulled it out and clutched it in her fist, then waited to see what the man in the pantry would do next.
Minutes passed slowly. Elodie had no idea how long she’d lain on the uncomfortable chairs so far, but if the man didn’t do something soon, her heart wouldn’t be able to take the stress. It was going a hundred miles a minute and she felt as if he’d be able to hear it pounding.
When a radio suddenly crackled and one of his fellow pirates began speaking, Elodie nearly leaped out of her skin. She jolted badly and almost dropped the knife she was holding, which would’ve been a disaster.
The man on the other end of the radio sounded agitated, and Elodie wished she knew what he was saying. The man next door swore…at least, that’s what she thought he was doing.
Then he yelled, “If anyone is here, you come out now. I won’t kill!”
Elodie didn’t dare move a muscle.
“If you hide, you die!”
She still didn’t move. Elodie wondered briefly who the man suspected was down here before he suddenly shot off a volley of rounds from his rifle. She jerked and gasped. Luckily, the sound of the shots was slightly muted, since the pirate was shooting in the pantry behind a closed door.
“That was warning!” the man yelled again.
Nothing about him shooting his weapon made her want to come out of hiding.
Then he muttered something under his breath before speaking on his radio once more.
He was still speaking when the door to the officers’ mess opened.
If Elodie hadn’t turned her head at the exact right moment, she wouldn’t have seen the two sets of legs entering the room.
A sliver of illumination from the pirate’s flashlight, flickering through the pantry window, momentarily highlighted the figures.
The door shut without a sound, and she almost threw up with fear when she lost sight of the men.
Were these more pirates? If so, why weren’t they calling out to their friend? She was confused, but didn’t dare make a move, much less breathe. She couldn’t see what was happening, but she could faintly hear the fabric of their pants as the two figures walked past the table, and her hiding spot.
The pirate in the galley seemed to be arguing with someone on the radio now. He sounded upset and pissed off. Then he stopped talking—and the sound of something large being thrown against the wall made Elodie jump in surprise yet again.
Apparently, while the pirate was throwing his temper tantrum, whoever had entered the officers’ mess had opened the door to the pantry.
The sound of gunshots made a small whimper escape her lips.
The shots were much louder, since the weapon was fired in the same room where she was hiding.
Now she could hear little but the ringing in her ears.
Elodie strained to hear what was going on, and for several seconds heard nothing but her own heart racing.
“Tango down in the galley.”
With the ringing and her heartbeat, Elodie wasn’t sure she was hearing correctly.
That sounded like English. Non-accented English. And she was pretty sure her fellow Asaka Express employees wouldn’t use a word like “tango” to describe the pirates. She also didn’t think they’d be slinking around like these two men were.
She’d waited what seemed like forever for Scott and his team to arrive—and it sounded like they finally had.
It had been a couple hours since she’d been in contact with Scott, which she understood. He was busy planning a way to get onboard, and he couldn’t exactly take the time to reassure her every other minute. But each time he’d reached out, it had made her feel so much better. Less alone.
“We need to find Rachel,” one of the men said. She knew it was Scott because she recognized his voice.
“Maybe we should leave her where she is,” the other man said.
“No. She would’ve heard the shots and is probably freaking out,” Scott argued.
The last thing she wanted to do was get shot, so Elodie knew better than to pop up out of her hiding spot and surprise the men, but she definitely didn’t want to stay where she was either.
“I’m here,” she said softly, hoping she didn’t startle them badly enough that they’d turn around and start shooting.
But she should’ve known they were too professional to do something like that.
“Rachel?”
Elodie winced at hearing the name from his lips.
She wanted to tell him that wasn’t her name…but she couldn’t. She’d changed her name in the first place because Elodie was too unique. It wouldn’t be hard for Paul to find her if she’d kept it. But the drawback was that she sometimes forgot to respond when someone called her Rachel.
“It’s me,” she said.
“Where are you?” Scott asked.
“Lying on the chairs, under the table.”
She heard more than saw movement on the other side of the table.
“Damn, that’s smart,” the other man said. “You fit perfectly up there, and in this darkness, even if someone looked they probably wouldn’t see you.”
“How are you seeing me then?” Elodie blurted. She hadn’t been blinded with a beam from a flashlight.
“Night-vision goggles,” Scott said.
Elodie jerked because his voice sounded from right next to her.
“Easy. How can I help you get out from under there?” he asked.
“I got it,” she told him, amazed that she hadn’t heard him come over to the side of the table.
She kept her voice down as she climbed off the chairs.
“I had to improvise. I snuck out of the pantry in the other hall to use the bathroom and when I came out, that guy was in the galley. I literally had nowhere to hide other than under here.”
She crawled out from under the table and stood, using the table as a crutch. Her legs felt shaky from the adrenaline dump.
“Careful with that knife,” Scott told her.
Elodie hadn’t even remembered she was holding the thing.
Now, she realized her fingers hurt from grasping it so tightly.
She looked up, toward where she’d heard Scott’s voice, and was frustrated when she couldn’t see him.
The flashlight the pirate had been holding was lying on the floor in the room next door, but it didn’t give her enough light to see either of the men.
“Are they all dead?” she asked, proud when her voice only shook a little. It was surreal that she was talking about killing people so nonchalantly, but she supposed she could be forgiven, given the circumstances.
“No,” Scott said, dashing her hopes that they could get in touch with the others onboard and have the electricity turned back on.
“This is the first pirate we’ve run across,” the other man said.
“Which one are you?” Elodie blurted.
He chuckled. “I’m Midas.”
“Hi.”
Just then, the radio the pirate had been using cackled to life, and a man began speaking urgently in whatever language the pirates used.
“Shit,” Scott muttered.
Elodie felt a rush of air as he moved away from her.
“I don’t suppose you’re a language savant and can understand what they’re saying, are you?” Midas asked.
She’d already told him and the other guys on the team that she couldn’t understand the pirates, but she appreciated that he was trying to lighten the mood.
“Sorry, no,” she told him. “But right before you got here, he was talking to his friends and none of them sounded happy. He threw something big and it broke.”
“Yeah, I think it was a jar of spaghetti sauce,” Midas said, seemingly unconcerned.
She heard more sounds in the other room, but didn’t dare move from her spot next to the table. Then Scott was back. She wasn’t sure how she knew he was there, but she did.
Then he spoke, confirming his location. “Okay, we have to continue clearing the ship. You need to go up to the bridge—”
Elodie didn’t let him continue. “No!” she said frantically.
“Yes,” he countered.
“I’m staying with you,” she insisted.
“We’ve cleared the floors above this one. It’s safe for you to go back up to the bridge. Two other members of my team are up there, they’ll keep you safe.”
Elodie was shaking her head. She knew she was being completely irrational, but the thought of being alone even for the short trip to the bridge was terrifying.
“You don’t know where the other pirates are.
You said yourself that you’re clearing the ship.
And I think they somehow know, if that conversation I overheard was any indication. ”
The radio Scott had taken off the dead pirate came to life again. “Djama?”
A few more words were said after that. It was obvious his friends were trying to get in contact with him.
“They’re going to come looking for him,” Elodie said.
“And if I go up to the bridge, I could run into them. And you don’t have time to escort me up there.
They could be hurting or killing my friends.
And if they find me, they’re not going to hesitate to kill me either.
The safest place on this ship at the moment is with you guys, so that’s where I want to stay. ”
She held her breath as she waited for them to comment.
She was laying it on pretty thick, and she knew it.
She also knew she was probably wrong about them being her safest bet.
They were looking for the pirates. Would be shot at when they encountered them.
But something inside her was telling Elodie to stick with Scott.
He’d been her lifeline throughout the day when she was scared.
He was calm and confident. Now that he’d found her, she didn’t feel comfortable letting him out of her sight.
When they didn’t immediately agree or disagree, she blurted, “I’ve seen Under Siege…bad things will happen if I’m not with you.”
She heard Midas choke on a laugh, but Scott didn’t even try to hold his back. He wasn’t loud, but he was definitely laughing at her.
“Right. First, I’m not Steven Seagal, and you aren’t…what was that character’s name in the movie?”
“Jordan Tate,” Elodie supplied helpfully. She loved that cheesy movie and wasn’t ashamed to admit it.
“Right. Anyway, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Rachel, but you’ll slow us down. We don’t have an extra pair of night-vision goggles, and we aren’t exactly going on a moonlight walk,” Scott told her.
“I know. But I can hold on to your belt or something. I know I’m a liability, but I can also be an asset. I know this ship. I can help you get around the watertight doors and if the crew sees me with you, they’ll know you’re one of the good guys.”
Scott and his teammate didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Elodie panicked.
“I swear I won’t scream if you kill someone.
I’ll carry all your extra stuff so you don’t have to.
” Again, she knew she was being ridiculous.
These men didn’t need her to carry their shit, and without night-vision goggles of her own, she’d be hanging on to them like a helpless baby monkey.
“I’ll do whatever you say without hesitation,” she said desperately.
“Like go up to the bridge?” Midas deadpanned.
Elodie nervously bit her lip and stared up at where she thought Scott’s face might be. He had to let her go with them. He just had to. She didn’t feel safe with anyone else.
She heard him sigh, then he said, “All right, but if anything happens, you hit the deck. I mean flat on your stomach on the floor. Understand?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. Yes. On the floor. Got it.”
A hand brushed against her arm, and Elodie flinched before she could stop herself.
“Sorry. I should’ve warned you,” Scott said.
“No, it’s fine,” she told him.
“Give me your hand,” Scott told her.
Elodie blindly held it out, and she swallowed hard when Scott took it in his own. He wore gloves, but he was still so warm. She hadn’t realized how chilly she was until right this moment.
Without a word, Scott tugged her behind him as he headed for the officers’ pantry. “Stay here for a second,” he ordered.
Elodie nodded and stood stock-still. She heard rustling, then he was back in front of her. “Have you ever shot a gun?”
“A few times. At the firing range. I got scope eye when I tried out a rifle for the first time.”
She heard chuckling from behind her, and didn’t blame Midas for laughing. It was pretty funny. She hadn’t realized she shouldn’t shove her eye right up to the scope while she was firing the damn thing. The kickback had pushed the scope right into her eye socket. She’d had a black eye for a week.
“Right. There’s no safety on this thing, so do not point it at anyone you don’t want to die…especially me or my team, okay?”
“Okay,” Elodie agreed, possibly a little more energetically than the situation warranted. She wasn’t planning on shooting anyone, but she’d carry the weapon if that meant she could stay with the SEALs.
“Describe to me the layout of this floor,” Scott demanded after she’d put the strap of the rifle around her chest. “We studied the schematic of the ship, but tell me whatever you can about the immediate layout. Where do these doors lead?”
Elodie had a feeling he didn’t need her to tell him a damn thing, and was just trying to keep her mind occupied with something other than the fact they were sneaking around looking for people who would kill them without a second thought.
Reminding herself that she’d asked to go with them, begged, she swore not to be a bigger pain in the ass than she already was.
It was a good thing she knew the galley and all the rooms on this floor like the back of her hand, because Midas had switched off the flashlight the pirate had dropped shortly after they’d killed him. It really was pitch black. No matter how many times she blinked, all Elodie saw was darkness.
“We’ll walk while you’re talking,” Scott told her. She felt him pick up her hand and guide it to the back of his pants. He turned away from her and Elodie latched on tightly. She wasn’t going to let go of him under any circumstances.
“Walk carefully,” Midas warned.
Knowing she probably looked stupid, but not caring since there wasn’t anyone other than the SEALS to see her, Elodie exaggerated her steps as she followed behind Scott and Midas, and they slowly and carefully made their way through the officers’ pantry and into the galley.
She told them everything she could think of about the layout and did her best to walk as quietly as possible.
She might regret begging to stay with them later, but for now, she was relieved she didn’t have to wander around the dark ship on her own.