Page 6 of Finding Elodie
“Other than the original distress call, you’re the first communication we’ve had from your ship,” Mustang countered.
“I am?” Rachel asked. “That’s weird. I mean, we’ve all been trained to use the radios to call for help.”
“Are the others in the engine room or in the bowels of the ship?” Pid asked.
“Probably both, but I’m guessing most are in the engine room. It’s loud down there and easier to hide. A cough or movement can more easily be masked by the noise of the engines,” Rachel said.
“And being lower in the ship, surrounded by all the steel, makes it more difficult for radio transmissions to get through on a handheld radio,” Pid told her.
“I guess that makes sense,” Rachel mused.
“Why aren’t you in the engine room?” Mustang couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m the cook,” Rachel told him, as if that explained everything.
“And?” Slate asked.
“And depending on how long the pirates are here, the guys are gonna need food and water.”
Mustang shook his head. He was impressed with Rachel’s dedication to her job, but she was putting herself in danger. Someone should’ve realized that, besides the captain, Rachel was probably the most vulnerable on that ship. The pirates could use her to force the other crew members to do their bidding.
He didn’t even want to think of all the other ways they could use and abuse her.
“I’m in,” Pid said triumphantly as he nodded to the radio in front of him.
“Already?” the admiral asked.
“He means, what took you so long?” Aleck corrected with a chuckle.
“You’re in?” Rachel asked.
“I’ve patched into your radio frequency. We’re listening to channel ten now.”
“You are? Okay, good,” Rachel said. “So…does this mean you’re still coming?”
“Yes,” Mustang told her. He wanted to tell her that they’d be there soon, but unfortunately, nothing worked that fast in the Navy. They needed to make plans, prepare the Zodiac and, most importantly, wait for night to fall…which was still too many hours away.
“The crew channel is three,” she told them. “When you get here and kill the pirates, you can let us all know it’s safe to come out on that channel.”
“Bloodthirsty thing, isn’t she?” Jag said under his breath. “I like her.”
“Thanks for telling us,” Mustang said, ignoring his teammate. He wasn’t surprised, anyone who worked on a cargo ship had to be pretty rough around the edges. He pictured a stereotypical ship’s cook…an older, tall, overweight woman wearing a stained apron and covered in tattoos, with short hair and a bad attitude.
Then he felt like a douche for even thinking about her looks. That didn’t matter in the least. Besides, from the sound of her voice, he guessed she was probably around his age, mid-thirties or younger, and she didn’t seem to have a bad attitude in the least. She was doing her best to stay calm and give them any information she could. “You just stay hunkered down, no matter what, okay?”
“Okay—but Scott?”
Hearing his given name felt a bit odd. It had been a long time since he’d heard anyone call him that, but Mustang said, “Yeah?”
“What if they threaten to kill some of the officers if we don’t show ourselves? What should we do?”
“Fuck,” Slate said softly.
“You stay where you are,” the admiral said sternly. “Under no circumstances should you or anyone else put yourselves in danger.”
“I’m not sure I can sit here and listen to them kill the men I’ve become friends with,” Rachel answered.
“I wish I had a better answer for you,” Mustang told her. “I wish I could tell you that the pirates would be bluffing and they won’t actually kill anyone. I wish I could say that if you, or anyone else, went up to the bridge, they’d not follow through with their threats, but there’s no telling what those men will do.”
