Page 244 of Hidden Tide

“Two of the prisoners Marcus mentioned.”

“Where’s the third?”

“Engine room. A crewman took him before the explosion.”

The girl clutches Ben’s arm.

She can’t be more than sixteen.

Even trapped beneath a steel beam, Ben placed himself between her and the opening.

“Get them out first,” he says.

“We came for you,” Scott replies.

“And now you found two hostages.”

“The ship is rolling toward the breach,” John warns. “We have to move now.”

Scott looks at the beam.

“Can we lift it?”

“Not by hand,” Piers answers. “We need leverage.”

Mark disappears into the cargo deck and returns with a length of steel pipe.

John braces it beneath the beam.

“On three,” Scott says.

All four men push.

The beam rises less than an inch.

Ben drags his leg toward himself.

The girl screams as the wall shifts behind them.

“Again,” Scott orders.

The ship strikes the first rock.

The impact throws everyone sideways.

The beam slips from the pipe and crashes down.

Ben shouts.

I grab Marquez’s hand.

“Get the boarding team in there.”

“They’re approaching from the bow.”

“They don’t have time.”

“I know.”