The trio hugged the wall and headed around the perimeter of the room, making sure to stay away from the railing. They made it around to the left side and found a room filled with pipes that snaked every which way. Also inside, a small control room sat off to the right, the door standing wide open. There was only one emergency light in the ceiling, concealing more than it was illuminating because of the shadows created by the light.
“Stay here,” Mustang ordered Rachel.
He felt her fingers tighten on his belt loop for a second, then she nodded and let go of him. She brought the rifle that had been hanging on her back around to the front of her body and held it at the ready. She would’ve looked damn cute if there weren’t real bullets in the weapon and they weren’t in the middle of a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
He nodded at Midas, and they split up as they began to search the room. Their search didn’t result in finding any of the pirates or ship employees. So they continued into the next room, away from the main part of the engine room and where they’d left Rachel.
Their search continued into yet another room, and then one last small room at the end of the deck. While there, they finally found one of the crew members. He’d folded himself behind one of the large ducts.
“US Navy,” Midas said.
“Oh, thank God!” the man said.
“What’s your name and what’s your position on the ship?” Mustang asked.
“I’m Manuel. I’m the second cook.”
Mustang was glad to see the man alive and well, but he’d been hoping to find one of the engineers.
“I was too scared to go any farther into the engine room when we were told the ship was overtaken,” the man explained. “Is it safe to go back upstairs?”
“No, not yet. We advise that you get back in your hiding spot. Our team is making notes on where the crew is holing up. We’ll make an announcement when it’s all clear,” Midas told him.
“Okay,” Manuel agreed. “Oh, hey, did you find Rachel? She’s the cook, she was hiding up on the galley level.”
“We found her,” Mustang told the man, not elaborating.
He sighed in relief. “Good.”
“Stay put,” Mustang told him once more and watched as Rachel’s helper scooted back behind the duct where he’d been hiding.
Midas and Mustang made their way back through the side rooms to the large atrium space. Rachel was still standing right where they’d last seen her, rifle in hand, eyes wide, lips pressed together in determination.
“Did you find anyone?” she whispered in a tone so low, Mustang almost couldn’t hear her.
“Yeah. Manuel.”
“Was he all right?”
“Yeah. Scared but hiding.”
“Thank God.”
Mustang reached out for Rachel’s hand and curled it back around his belt loop. Without a word, they continued around the huge open atrium to the next set of rooms.
They quickly cleared the first floor and all the rooms as best they could, then made their way down to the next level of the engine room. The noise steadily got louder as they headed down. The electricity and engine might be down, but the pumps and other machines were still running. The temperature also climbed the farther they went into the bowels of the space, as well.
When Midas and Mustang had swiftly and preliminarily cleared the three levels above the main engine room floor, they were faced with the decision of whether to continue or to stay put and wait for backup. They hadn’t been able to search as thoroughly as they’d like, but a more intensive search would be done once backup arrived and the lights had been turned on.
They’d found four more employees, all hiding in various rooms on one of the upper three floors. That still left a lot of the crew to be discovered. The last thing Mustang wanted was to be ambushed by a ship employee if they thought he and Midas were pirates. Not to mention, they hadn’t found any of the remaining pirates themselves.
For a second, Mustang wondered if they were on a wild goose chase. Maybe there weren’t any more pirates. But he immediately dismissed that thought. The authorities had listened to the recordings of what was happening on the bridge and estimated at least six men had taken over the ship. That meant there were at least three more to find.
He and Midas were standing at the base of the stairs leading to the upper levels. There was a half wall behind them, with three large storage tanks behind it. He motioned with his head to Midas and his teammate quickly cleared that area. When he returned, Mustang turned to Rachel. “Stay here. We’ll be back.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but then pressed her lips together and nodded.
He wanted to reassure her. Tell her that they’d be fine, that she’d be fine. But there wasn’t time. He took hold of her arm and led her to the half wall then gently pushed her down behind it. She’d be safe there. He had to believe that, otherwise he’d never be able to leave her. But for the search he and Midas were going to need to do down here, he couldn’t have her hanging on to him.
She looked up at him, and even though they were in the shadows, he could still see the fear in her eyes. A piece of her hair was sticking to her forehead, and before he’d thought about what he was doing, Mustang reached out and gently smoothed it back. Then, without a word, he straightened and returned to Midas’s side.
“How long until backup arrives?” Mustang asked his other teammates.
“Less than five minutes,” Aleck told him.
“We can come down and help now, before the others get here,” Jag offered.
“No, we need you up there in case the rats try to flee the ship,” Mustang said softly. “We’ll take a quick look around then hold steady for the extra eyes.”
“Watch your six,” Slate said.
Mustang gave Midas a nod, and with one last thought for the courageous woman behind the wall, they headed out to see if they could find the pirates.
Elodie stayed crouched behind the half wall, gripping the rifle in her hands tightly. She didn’t dare put her finger anywhere near the trigger. She was jumpy and scared to death and the last thing she wanted was to accidentally fire the dang thing.
She’d wanted to protest when Scott and his teammate told her to stay hidden here. But she’d told them she’d do whatever they said, and the thought of prowling around the engine room wasn’t exactly high on her list of fun things to do.
So she stayed right where she was, praying the SEALs either found the pirates or that more help arrived so they could all get the hell out of there.
Elodie wondered what her next steps would be. She’d taken this job because it had seemed safer than being in the States, trying to stay two steps ahead of Paul Columbus. She’d read about pirates, but it had seemed like such a remote possibility that they’d actually get hijacked. She hadn’t heard of any attacks recently.
She’d tried to stay under the radar and somehow had found herself in the spotlight anyway. This hijacking would be big news, she knew it. With the captain and his officers killed, everyone would be reporting on it. And the fact that she was a woman was unique enough for all the reporters to want her take on what had occurred.
She couldn’t let that happen. If even one picture of her got out, she was as good as dead.