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?”