Page 14 of Finding Elodie
Mustang once again took point as he and Midas headed for the door that led to a set of stairs right outside the bridge. The second the door closed behind them, they were plunged into darkness. It was dark on the bridge and outer decks, but with the stars and moon overhead, they’d still had a bit of light. Being in the interior of the ship afforded absolutely no ambient light whatsoever.
Pulling the night-vision goggles over his eyes, Mustang gave himself a moment to adjust to the green world that suddenly appeared through his lenses. Then he slowly began to walk down the stairs toward the first floor they had to clear.
This was obviously where the officers’ and the captain’s rooms were. The doors were all open and the rooms had been ransacked. Drawers had been emptied and the men’s belongings were strewn all over the floor of each room. The pirates had searched for anything worth stealing.
Anger welled up inside Mustang. He’d seen a lot of awful things in his time as a SEAL, but nothing got him more riled up than needless violence and death. The pirates didn’t have to kill the men up on the bridge. They could’ve locked them inside one of these rooms if they wanted to make sure they didn’t get in the way of their mission. But instead, they’d ruthlessly snuffed out innocent lives.
Midas and Mustang found no evidence of any pirates on the first floor and made sure to lock and close each of the doors after they’d searched the rooms. The last thing they wanted was someone sneaking back up here and hiding out, forcing the SEALs to re-clear the area.
The next floor looked much the same as the previous, individual living quarters that had been ransacked. Mustang and Midas painstakingly made their way through each room, checking every nook and cranny for anyone who might be hiding out, then locking and closing the doors. They reported back to the others, informing them of their progress.
Mustang itched to reach out to Rachel, but he didn’t dare. He concentrated on the job at hand, and could only hope she was lying low, safe, wherever she’d decided to hole up.
* * *
Elodie cursed herself. Why had she left her hiding space? Because she was stupid, that was why. She hadn’t heard anything in so long and had needed to use the bathroom. She figured it was safe enough—but she’d been wrong. The second she’d come out of the small restroom next to the officers’ mess, she’d heard someone in the galley.
For just a second, she’d had the hope that it was Scott and his team. That the Navy SEALs had finally arrived and everyone was safe. But then she’d heard the man muttering in a foreign language and knew she was in deep shit.
She froze, looking around for a place to hide. But the officers’ mess had nothing in it but a long table and chairs. There weren’t any cabinets or any other place to hide. She could go back into the bathroom, but she’d be a sitting duck in there. And she’d already been lucky whoever was in the kitchen didn’t seem to have heard her exiting the small room.
If she could make it to the officers’ pantry, she might be able to get into one of the lower cabinets, but the pirate would definitely hear her moving around.
Elodie panicked. Any second, she was going to be seen. The man would walk into this room and find her there. The only thing she had going for her was that it was dark. She wanted to kiss whichever engineer below deck who’d had the great idea to turn off the electricity.
An idea struck her then. It was risky as hell, and if she made any noise, she’d surely be caught, but at the moment, she literally had no other options.
Moving slowly, she felt her way around the large oval table in the middle of the room. Elodie moved the chairs on the far side so they were a little closer together, making sure not to scrape the legs against the tile floor. When she thought they were positioned where she wanted them, she got down on her hands and knees and crawled under the table. She’d never been so thankful that whoever had furnished the ship had been too cheap to get chairs with armrests.
When the man in the other room seemed to finish whatever he was doing in the galley, she heard him enter the officers’ pantry. He was only one room away from her right now, and she knew if she’d gone into that room to try to hide, she would’ve been caught.
Barely breathing, Elodie eased herself up onto the row of chairs she’d pushed together, under the table. Her belly was resting on one chair, her upper chest on another, her legs on a third. Stretched out flat, she held her breath as the pirate ransacked the cabinets. She had no idea what he was looking for, all that was in there was food and supplies, but he seemed to be taking great pleasure in throwing stuff on the floor and breaking bottles.
Elodie hoped that when he came into this room, all he’d see was a table and chairs, and with nothing to look through, he’d continue on. He had a flashlight of some sort; through the small circular window in the door, she’d seen the light wildly flicking around the room and walls. She prayed he wouldn’t decide to shine it under the table for any reason.
She held her breath as she slowly reached for the knife she’d put in her belt loop. She pulled it out and clutched it in her fist, then waited to see what the man in the pantry would do next.
Minutes passed slowly. Elodie had no idea how long she’d lain on the uncomfortable chairs so far, but if the man didn’t do something soon, her heart wouldn’t be able to take the stress. It was going a hundred miles a minute and she felt as if he’d be able to hear it pounding.
When a radio suddenly crackled and one of his fellow pirates began speaking, Elodie nearly leaped out of her skin. She jolted badly and almost dropped the knife she was holding, which would’ve been a disaster.
The man on the other end of the radio sounded agitated, and Elodie wished she knew what he was saying. The man next door swore…at least, that’s what she thought he was doing.
Then he yelled, “If anyone is here, you come out now. I won’t kill!”
Elodie didn’t dare move a muscle.
“If you hide, you die!”
She still didn’t move. Elodie wondered briefly who the man suspected was down here before he suddenly shot off a volley of rounds from his rifle. She jerked and gasped. Luckily, the sound of the shots was slightly muted, since the pirate was shooting in the pantry behind a closed door.
“That was warning!” the man yelled again.
Nothing about him shooting his weapon made her want to come out of hiding.
Then he muttered something under his breath before speaking on his radio once more.
He was still speaking when the door to the officers’ mess opened.
