She nodded. What else could she do?
“We gotta get going,” Midas warned.
Without another word, Scott grabbed ahold of Elodie’s hand and pulled her behind him as he stepped around the dead man on the floor and headed back into the bowels of the engine room.
Elodie held on to his hand tightly, conscious of the fact that he hadn’t directed her to hold his belt loop. She was now between Scott and his teammate, and they moved quickly, weaving around the pumps and pipes. They arrived at a door, half the size of the normal doors around the ship. She’d have to get down on her knees to go through it. She saw not a stairwell on the other side, but metal rungs, like a ladder.
Movement to her right scared her so badly, she jumped and reached for the rifle she’d let fall against her back once more. But Midas grabbed hold of her arm, preventing her from arming herself.
“It’s okay, they’re the good guys.”
Elodie focused on the dark shapes and realized they were Troy, Ari, and Pablo.
She couldn’t stop her reaction; she lunged for them and gave each man a fierce hug. “Thank God you’re okay!” she told them.
“We’re glad to see you too,” Troy said.
“What about everyone else?” she asked.
“They’re around here somewhere,” Ari said vaguely. “We managed to take out one of the pirates, but the others have been much more cautious since then,” he told her.
“Rachel took care of another a few minutes ago,” Midas said, and Elodie would swear she heard pride in his tone. But she didn’t want to think about what she’d done.
“So there’s what, two more left? Three?” Pablo asked.
“Something like that. Maybe only one,” Scott said.
“Is it true that they killed the captain?” Troy asked.
Elodie nodded. “And the rest of the officers who were on the bridge with him.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.”
“I need to get Rachel upstairs,” Scott said, interrupting them.
“Right. Sorry,” Troy said.
“Don’t get complacent,” Midas ordered. “Even if there’s only one guy left, he’s going to be desperate. Stay tuned for the signal to turn the lights back on, then stay hidden. Soon, this place will be crawling with good guys and this’ll all be over.”
The three men nodded and disappeared into the shadows around them.
“I’ll go first,” Midas said.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Scott told his teammate.
Elodie watched as Midas got down on his knees and somehow squeezed himself through the hatch.
“Up you go,” Scott said.
She looked at him in surprise. “Me? I thought I’d be last.”
“Nope, I’ve got your six.”
“But who has yours?”
He smiled at her then, and she could’ve swore he leaned toward her a bit before he said, “I think you’ve proven that you do. Now, up you go, Midas is waiting.”
Not thinking too hard about his words, and how good they made her feel, Elodie shimmied into the small escape hatch and started upward. She smelled the fresh air before she got halfway up, and it made her climb faster. She heard Midas open the latch at the top and before she knew it, he was helping her up and out to stand on the open deck.
It was still dark outside, but the wind was blowing and the smell of the salty sea air had never been as welcoming as it was right that second. She hadn’t realized how stuffy it was down in the galley and engine room.
She heard something to her right and turned in alarm, only to relax when she saw four men coming toward them dressed the same as Midas and Scott.
“The bridge is secure.”
“There’re two dozen of our men onboard, with more coming.”
“Good to see you two.”
Elodie listened to the exchange with wide eyes. It seemed as if the Navy didn’t mess around. When they said they were sending help, they were really sending help.
“There’s at least one more tango below decks somewhere,” Midas informed the rest of the team.
“Heard she took care of one of them,” one of the newcomers said.
Feeling awkward and out of place, Elodie kept her mouth shut as she stared up at them.
“She did. Saved our asses. He was hunkered down where we’d left Rachel, and we would’ve walked right into him if she hadn’t taken him out. Guys, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is the rest of my team. Aleck, Pid, Jag, and Slate.”
Elodie nodded at the men. They were standing right under an emergency light at the front of the ship. There were large hydraulic mooring winches around them, and the containers were stacked high above their heads. She’d been up here more times than she could count, but never at night, and never with only the emergency lights on. It seemed surreal, like a different planet.
Especially when she was standing with these six men, all looking at her as if she was something special.
It was hard to tell the guys apart, since they were all wearing black clothes and bulletproof vests. Scott was the only one with a full beard, and she liked how it made him stand out from the rest of the team.
Not really liking being the center of attention, Elodie said softly, “Hi.”
All six men grinned at her, and she immediately had a feeling she was missing something.
“She doesn’t look badass enough to have saved your worthless hides,” Slate stated.
Elodie couldn’t help but frown at him.
The others all chuckled.
“She ready?” a voice asked from behind her.
Again, Elodie startled badly. She had a feeling she’d never like being snuck up on again after this experience. She turned to see another group of men standing on the back deck.
“Yeah,” Scott answered for her.
“Ready for what?” Elodie asked.
“Rocco and his SEAL team are going to escort you to the bridge, where we know you’ll be safe while we head back below deck to secure the ship once and for all,” Scott told her.
Elodie looked from Scott to the other men, then back at Scott. “You’re going down there again?”
“Yeah. We need to finish this.”
They stared at each other for a long moment. Elodie wanted to tell him not to go. To stay here and let the other SEAL team hunt the last terrorist, but that would be rude…and not very nice to admit she’d rather put the men she didn’t know in danger, rather than Scott and his team.
Scott took a step closer, seeming to put them in a private bubble. “You’ll be safe with them,” he told her. “They’re among the Navy’s best, stationed in California. They won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Is that where you’re from?” she asked, knowing she was deliberately trying to postpone the inevitable.
Scott smiled. “No. My team and I are stationed in Hawaii. Honolulu.”
“I’ve always wanted to go there. I bet it’s nice.”
“It’s Hawaii, Rachel, of course it’s nice.” He grinned wider.
Hearing the fake name on his lips brought Elodie back to the present. What was she doing? Flirting with the man? In the middle of a hijack situation? Nothing could happen between them. She was on the run and he was a respected Navy SEAL.