‘Well,’ Bianca said sharply, ‘if you think I’m staying in here while some skank robs my man, then you are very much mistaken.’
‘You’re not going out there, are you?’ Ashley asked, alarmed. ‘’Cause if you do that, they’ll find out where we’re hiding. We’ll be caught, and who knows what will happen then.’
‘She’s right. We shouldn’t leave here,’ Sierra said, the voice of reason. ‘This is a dangerous situation, we mustn’t make it worse.’
Bianca hesitated. She didn’t appreciate being told what to do, yet deep down she knew they were right: it was better to be safe than to risk getting captured.
‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly. ‘I’ll stay in here. Although believe me, I’d sooner be out there kicking that bitch’s ass.’
‘Right on,’ Lori murmured.
With one last frantic push, Renee fell off Basra onto the floor, landing next to Hammond’s dead body. A terrified scream rose in her throat, but once more no sound came out of her mouth. She was traumatized. All she could think about was running away from this chamber of horrors.
Without thinking about anything except escape, she staggered towards the door, her feet sliding on blood — Hammond’s blood — which seemed to be everywhere.
Her hand slipped on the door handle as she wrenched it open and ran naked, streaked with blood, out into the narrow hallway.
She was looking for someone — anyone — who could possibly save her.
She was looking for sanity.
Chapter Ninety-One
An Uzi was not a weapon to argue with. The man behind the automatic gun had all the power, and would use it to his advantage.
Cruz was just such a man, a man simmering with fury. One moment he was king of it all — in total control. The next, a bunch of civilians — rich motherfuckers who should have known better than to mess with Cruz Mendoza — were coming at him with threats and a trussed-up Amiin, the fool who’d allowed himself to be taken prisoner.
Cruz didn’t hesitate. In his line of work, he’d discovered that hesitating is what gets a man killed.
He sprayed the motherfuckers with bullets, many of them slamming into Amiin, and maybe hitting a couple of them before their human shield slumped to the ground and they ran like scared rabbits.
Still cowering against the wall, Captain Dickson attempted to make himself invisible, while Cruz screamed a vicious litany of swearwords in his native Spanish. The Captain understood that he was trapped with a deranged man, and once more he feared for his life.
Cruz had other things on his mind, however. This takeover was not going as expected. At first, so smooth and easy. Now
‘Abort’ was the word that sprang to mind. Abort and get the hell off this boat. The passengers had guns, and that was fucked up.
He could kill ’em all. But if he did that — who would pay the ransom?
Fucking no one, that’s who.
Cruz spat on the ground, a sour taste filling his mouth.
It seemed that Amiin was dead. He’d worked with him for seven years. Amiin was the clan leader, his main link to the other pirates. Amiin was the only one who spoke English, allowing him to communicate with the Somalians. Now Amiin was gone, and it was a disaster.
Cruz made a quick decision. No use thinking about what could’ve been.
He had to get off this boat. And he had to do it fast.
After getting the safe open, Mercedes excitedly tipped the bundles of cash into the garbage bag. She figured that there had to be at least a hundred thousand dollars in bills.
She was rich at last, and best of all, everything was hers.
The ring box stood front and centre, a true prize to be enjoyed. She recalled seeing the sparkling emerald and diamond ring for the first time, so magnificent it had taken her breath away.
Time was passing, but she couldn’t resist. She opened the box and once more admired the ring. It was a thing of beauty, probably worth a fortune.
A thought crossed her mind. What if she slipped it on her finger? Then it would truly be hers.
Before she could do so, gunfire erupted, and she knew there was more big trouble.
Grabbing the ring and the garbage bag stuffed full of money, she raced from the room, and set off to see what was going down.
‘Get in front of me,’ Cruz ordered Captain Dickson, waving the Uzi in the Captain’s face. ‘We’re fuckin’ movin’.’
Captain Dickson stared in horror at the dead pirate sprawled on the ground, the man’s body riddled with bullets. The Captain was well aware that he could meet the same fate, although thankfully Flynn and the others were not barbarians; they wouldn’t shoot him down like a dog as Cruz had done to
Or would they?
No. They wouldn’t, he was sure of it.
He wasn’t so sure about this out-of-control Mexican wild man. What if the maniac put a bullet in his back simply for the hell of it?
‘Move,’ Cruz repeated. ‘An’ do it now, motherfucker.’
As soon as Cashoo returned to the mess-hall where the hostages were gathered, Daleel lashed into him, demanding to know why taking a piss took so long and what was he really up to?
Cashoo considered himself just as important as the other Somalians — they might be older than him but they were certainly not smarter.
He wasn’t getting into an argument about how long it took to relieve himself. Daleel was jealous of him. Back home in Eyl, Cashoo always had the prettiest girls, while Daleel was stuck with a fat wife and two whiney kids.
Hani cackled on the sidelines. He’d helped himself to a mug of hot soup, and what with the soup and too much beer, he was feeling mighty tired.
Watching the two pirates argue, Den was burning with frustration. If only he could get the crew to take action instead of sitting around like a bunch of scared girls. If he could do that, then he knew there was a fair chance they could grab control.
Guy was busy ministering to Jeromy who had recovered consciousness and was whimpering like a wounded puppy, clinging onto Guy as if Guy was a lifeboat in a storm.
In spite of their history, Guy did what he had to do and assured Jeromy that everything would be fine.
Den had manoeuvred himself next to the First Officer and a couple of the deckhands, and was urgently attempting to get them motivated to take action.
The First Officer, a fellow Australian, seemed up for it. The deckhands, scared of catching a bullet — not so much.
And while the pirates were bickering amongst themselves, and Den was in full persuasion mode, an apparition entered the room.
It was Renee. Blood streaking her naked body. Hair matted with blood. A blank look in her glassy-eyes. She wandered into the room, arms outstretched, walking as if she was a ghost.
