“No, it’s not. I’ll explain it some other time.”
“Looking forward to it.” Nat returned his attention to the work around the boat. “The captain will go to that office there…” Nat pointed at a building behind a crane “…to complete the documents before the ship sets sail to the island.”
“But what about the lights?”
“The cranes switch off their lights when finished, so that’s our signal.”
“There doesn’t seem to be many hiding places on that boat.”
“We hide in the scrap metal.”
“Nice,” Anouk muttered. Being squashed to death hadn’t yet been on her list of possible ways to die horribly while trying to capture the maniacal former warlord! “How about when we get to the island?”
“That should be easy enough. They don’t unload until the morning.”
“Well, that sounds much better.”
The loading went on for another hour before the clanging and thunder stopped and the lights of the cranes were switched off. All the activity around the freighter quieted. The dim-lit dock appeared otherworldly after the bustle.
“The captain is walking to the office, and the crew is boarding. Good,” Nat whispered. “This is our moment. Keep out of the light.”
Anouk nodded.
“Let’s go.” Nat darted towards the boat, hugging the shadows. Anouk followed suit and broke into a run. Her backpack swayed, banging against her spine like a blacksmith pounding his anvil.
Nat jumped from the dock over the water to the boat. There was only a soft thud and then he vanished into the shadows. Anouk prepared to leap after him.
“Oi!” came an angry cry behind her.
Anouk spun. A man, clad in a dark uniform and sailor’s cap, was running towards her from the office. She froze on her feet.
“Oi! You have no business there,” the man shouted again.
“Jump,” Nat called from the boat.
Anouk hesitated, looking back and forth between the man and the ship—the man was closing fast.
“Oh, fuck,” Anouk squealed and jumped. She landed on the deck with a loud awkward thud. Her teeth clattered from the impact. At the same time, something splashed into the water. Hands grabbed Anouk and pulled her out of the light behind a large metal plate. Another squeal escaped her lips.
“Shush, it’s me,” Nat whispered.
The man reached the edge of the dock and peered into the water. Then he walked to the gangplank and called to someone, “Hey, Justin! We have a stowaway. We must search the ship.”
Chapter 25
The torch beam swept back and forth over the deck of the small freighter. Slow steps came closer and stopped. The light moved past the metal rubble. Anouk’s hiding place. She held her breath, straining her ears, but the pounding of her heart made it even more challenging to hear over the random clanks and screeches.
She needed to drink. All the moisture had vanished from her mouth, making her tongue dry as a piece of parchment in the dustiest archive. She tried to urge it back by rubbing her tongue against her palate, but managed only to cause a tickle in the back of her throat. She pressed her hands to her mouth, tight. Still, the cough was like an explosion in her ears. She froze, sure the men heard it too.
The footfall resumed and edged even closer. Anouk tensed her muscles, squeezing the prod in her hand. Wait for it… How effective the electric charge would be against a grown man when zapped on his ankle, she didn’t know, but she was prepared to try.
Her palms sweat inside her gloves. She wanted to take them off, but a pair of black boots stopped just in front of her.
“Justin?” the man called.
Anouk’s heart skipped a beat.
“Yeah?” Justin replied from the other end of the boat.
“Have you spotted anything there?”
“No. Have you?”
“Not yet,” the man called.
Anouk loosened her death grip around her weapon. Maybe they would give up the search now.
“How many did you see, Dray?” Justin asked. Judging by the sound of approaching feet, Justin was walking towards his comrade.
Shit!
“One,” Dray replied. The tips of his boots shifted sideways. Anouk risked craning her neck to look up. Dray was standing with his back to her. The light beam flashed between his legs. He was scanning the water. “He must have slipped into the water. I heard a splash after he jumped.”
He? Really.
A dark, broad-shouldered figure stood next to him. Justin. “Aye. I heard it too.”
“He was carrying something big on his back, so he must have sunk to the bottom or swam back to the dock,” Dray said with a satisfied voice. “If he could swim, that is.”
“Bloody thieves!” Justin spat. “Trying to get on the ship and on the island to scavenge junk.”
“Aye,” Dray muttered in agreement. “Say, Justin, do you still have that bottle of good spirit hidden in the bridge?”
Justin grunted in a delighted tone.
“What if we have a nip before the captain comes back?”
“Or two.”
The two men burst into roaring laughter. They switched off their lights and soon the steps distanced as they walked to the wheelhouse to have their taster… or two.
A creaking of metal against metal sounded close to Anouk. Nat was crawling out from his hiding place. She pushed her backpack forward to the deck and started to wriggle towards it, wincing every time something clanged or screeched nearby. Nat appeared in front of her, and he lifted a piece of sheet steel, making room for her.
“That was close,” Anouk whispered when she was clear.
“Luckily they thought you had fallen into the water.”
“Yes. What was it that caused the splash, anyway?”
“I threw a beam in the water.”
“Thanks, good thinking.” Anouk crawled to sit against the gunwale. Nat sat next to her, his shoulder touching hers. She wanted to lean her head against it, but bit the inside of her cheek. This was not the time to get too comfortable.
The freighter’s gas headlights in the prow left Anouk and Nat in the shadows behind the heap of scrap metal.
Anouk turned to Nat. His features blended into the darkness against the dim light of the port. “I don’t know, but I find
