She looked at me, baffled. “To see what’s going on.”
The last thing I needed was her distracting Skipper. I didn’t need his tough-guy routine when we were troubleshooting. I wanted all his energy focused on this problem. I looked over my shoulder toward the stern. The fact that I heard nothing didn’t bode well for an easy fix.
“I said stay here.”
She looked incredulous. “Why can’t I come see? What are you hiding?”
“Nothing.”
She crossed her arms. “You sure about that?”
“You’re a distraction we don’t need right now,” I told her bluntly.
Disbelief crossed her face. “You’re seriously telling me I can’t come back there because I’m a woman?”
I took a step back from the table. “I’m saying you’re a distraction.”
She glared at me. “I got my CANSail 4 when I was twelve, and I have my basic cruising certificate, which allows me to race.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m letting you know that I’m capable of sailing a boat up to ten meters in length.”
I took off my hat and put it back on, working to stay patient. “You think you know anything about run-down Cambodian fishing boat engines?”
“A boat is a boat.”
That didn’t sound promising. “I’ll call you if we need you.”
“I can help this situation.” Her words followed me. I didn’t even feel bad as I walked away. We could afford few distractions, and Blaire was the biggest distraction I had ever met.
I found Skipper kneeling over an open hatch, peering down at the engine. In his hand, he had a phone app open.
“What’s the problem?”
He squinted up at me, looking confused. “I think it’s weeds, but the cell service is a bit spotty here.”
Blaire’s voice asked from behind me, “Did you try to reverse your engine?”
“The engine stalled before I could try that.”
I gave her a dark look for disobeying a direct order.
She ignored me. “It’s obviously an issue with your intake.”
“What’s my intake?” Skipper looked confused.
She stepped in front of me and peered at the engine. “It’s a small tank that uses fresh water and coolant to keep your engine cool. If you took in weeds instead of fresh water, your engine couldn’t cool, and now it’s probably overheated.”
Skipper was clueless. “What do I do?”
“Someone is going to have to get in the water and clear the weeds.”
I could feel my blood pressure spike as I thought about the clock. We didn’t have time to solve new problems.
“Do it,” I told him.
“Don’t suppose you want to go for a swim?”
I stared at him without blinking until he gave a nervous laugh. “Can’t blame a guy for trying. Let me get my wet suit on.”
He started toward the back of the boat, and that’s the moment Blaire decided she would slip away.
“I thought I told you to stay at the front of the boat.”
She paused and looked over her shoulder. “It appears I know more about boats than the two of you put together.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What is? What is more important that getting this boat started?”
“You need to listen to direction.”
She scoffed and crossed her arms. “I don’t need to follow arbitrary directions that have no purpose.”
I was ten seconds into this conversation and already flailing.
She continued her rant. “And to think I had the chance to get away from you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In the car at the cargo airport. I woke up, and I didn’t have handcuffs on, and I could have run away. I should have!”
She didn’t know the truth. That had been a test to see how far I could trust her. I never would have let her get away, but she didn’t know that. “What’s your point?”
“I chose to stay. I chose this. This is my doing.”
“Wrong again.”
“I thought we were going to get what Drake needed so I could find my grandfather. I thought we would work together to save everyone—but where are we?”
I waited.
She threw up her hands in frustration at my lack of participation. “We’re somewhere in the middle of Cambodia on a boat that isn’t working.” She swallowed and looked around, as if baffled by our surroundings. “Literally in the middle of nowhere!”
“We’re following the plan.”
“We’re following your plan.”
“Didn’t see you coming up with a better one.”
I was encouraged to see her anger spark even more. “Was it your plan to pick the worst boat you could find?”
“It was the only boat for hire.”
“It’s a piece of shit.”
I gave a short laugh. “You done?”
“No, I’m not done.”
It was ridiculous that I was starting to enjoy this exchange—but I was. I worked to keep all the expression off my face. “Okay, keep going.”
Her cheeks were flushed pink. She scowled at me. “Well, now I don’t want to.”
“So you’re done?”
She crossed her arms, looking damn cute. “I guess—but not because you suggested it.”
Skipper interrupted our exchange by reappearing, wearing a short wetsuit. We watched as he attached a line to the back of the boat and tied one end around his waist. “Worse comes to worst, you’ll pull on the line, right?”
I didn’t respond.
Blaire shoved my arm and spoke. “We’ll both be here and ready to react if anything happens.”
“Thanks.” He jumped in and his head went under before he reappeared and held onto the back of the boat. “Bloody hell. It’s deeper than I thought it would be here.”
Behind him, something big splashed in the weeds. We all paused and listened. He looked over his shoulder toward the sound and then looked up at me.
Blaire spoke in a reassuring voice. “Probably just a fish.”
People don’t perform well when they are afraid, so I opted not to mention that the stingrays in this river were over a thousand pounds and the giant catfish could weigh in at 750. “Let’s hustle.”
Digging for weeds didn’t look fun. Knife in hand, Skipper had to reach beneath the boat and cut the long green vines free while water splashed over his face repeatedly. By the time I hauled him back onto the boat, he was shaking with exhaustion.
“How does it look?”
He was out of breath. “I got what I could.”
Blaire stood over us. “If you manage to get the engine to start, you’re going to have to drive very slowly so you don’t overheat.”
I scowled at her. “How slow?”
“Half speed or less.”
Skipper lurched to his feet and took his time toweling off his hair.
This would add hours to our trip. “Can we move it?”
Ten minutes later, the engine sputtered and then roared to life. From somewhere above me, Skipper gave a triumphant cry. Blaire lay in the hammock with her eyes shut.