Page 15 of Finding Elodie
If Elodie hadn’t turned her head at the exact right moment, she wouldn’t have seen the two sets of legs entering the room. A sliver of illumination from the pirate’s flashlight, flickering through the pantry window, momentarily highlighted the figures. The door shut without a sound, and she almost threw up with fear when she lost sight of the men.
Were these more pirates? If so, why weren’t they calling out to their friend? She was confused, but didn’t dare make a move, much less breathe. She couldn’t see what was happening, but she could faintly hear the fabric of their pants as the two figures walked past the table, and her hiding spot.
The pirate in the galley seemed to be arguing with someone on the radio now. He sounded upset and pissed off. Then he stopped talking—and the sound of something large being thrown against the wall made Elodie jump in surprise yet again.
Apparently, while the pirate was throwing his temper tantrum, whoever had entered the officers’ mess had opened the door to the pantry. The sound of gunshots made a small whimper escape her lips. The shots were much louder, since the weapon was fired in the same room where she was hiding. Now she could hear little but the ringing in her ears. Elodie strained to hear what was going on, and for several seconds heard nothing but her own heart racing.
“Tango down in the galley.”
With the ringing and her heartbeat, Elodie wasn’t sure she was hearing correctly.
That sounded like English. Non-accented English. And she was pretty sure her fellow Asaka Express employees wouldn’t use a word like “tango” to describe the pirates. She also didn’t think they’d be slinking around like these two men were.
She’d waited what seemed like forever for Scott and his team to arrive—and it sounded like they finally had.
It had been a couple hours since she’d been in contact with Scott, which she understood. He was busy planning a way to get onboard, and he couldn’t exactly take the time to reassure her every other minute. But each time he’d reached out, it had made her feel so much better. Less alone.
“We need to find Rachel,” one of the men said. She knew it was Scott because she recognized his voice.
“Maybe we should leave her where she is,” the other man said.
“No. She would’ve heard the shots and is probably freaking out,” Scott argued.
The last thing she wanted to do was get shot, so Elodie knew better than to pop up out of her hiding spot and surprise the men, but she definitely didn’t want to stay where she was either.
“I’m here,” she said softly, hoping she didn’t startle them badly enough that they’d turn around and start shooting.
But she should’ve known they were too professional to do something like that.
“Rachel?”
Elodie winced at hearing the name from his lips.
She wanted to tell him that wasn’t her name…but she couldn’t. She’d changed her name in the first place because Elodie was too unique. It wouldn’t be hard for Paul to find her if she’d kept it. But the drawback was that she sometimes forgot to respond when someone called her Rachel.
“It’s me,” she said.
“Where are you?” Scott asked.
“Lying on the chairs, under the table.”
She heard more than saw movement on the other side of the table.
“Damn, that’s smart,” the other man said. “You fit perfectly up there, and in this darkness, even if someone looked they probably wouldn’t see you.”
“How are you seeing me then?” Elodie blurted. She hadn’t been blinded with a beam from a flashlight.
“Night-vision goggles,” Scott said.
Elodie jerked because his voice sounded from right next to her.
“Easy. How can I help you get out from under there?” he asked.
“I got it,” she told him, amazed that she hadn’t heard him come over to the side of the table. She kept her voice down as she climbed off the chairs. “I had to improvise. I snuck out of the pantry in the other hall to use the bathroom and when I came out, that guy was in the galley. I literally had nowhere to hide other than under here.”
She crawled out from under the table and stood, using the table as a crutch. Her legs felt shaky from the adrenaline dump.
“Careful with that knife,” Scott told her.
