The Power Trip

‘Oh God! I think I hear Renee,’ Mercedes cried out. ‘I’ll be back with guns. Don’t worry about me — I know what I’m doing.’

She ran before they could stop her.

The question that tormented her was — how had those prisoners gotten free? Were they telling the truth? Had Cruz really shot Amiin himself?

If so, why would he do that?

She had so many questions, and no one to answer them. The biggest question of all was, where was Cruz?

Was he abandoning ship? Would he do that and leave her behind?

Knowing her poppa, it was quite possible.

She thought quickly. There’d obviously been a confrontation. The passengers had most likely used Amiin as a shield, and Cruz had blown him away to save himself. Then he’d probably decided to make a quick getaway as things were turning sour, and right now he’d be heading for one of the speedboats to whisk him away.

Mercedes’ gut feeling warned her that she’d better hurry if she wanted to catch up with him. The Captain knew she was one of them, so she could hardly stay on board and bluff it out.

Screw it! She was cool. She had what she wanted. The cash. The ring.

Best to run while she still could.

* * *

‘I feel as if I’m in CSI or Law and Order,’ Taye quipped, trying to make light of a dire situation as he followed close behind Flynn who moved stealthily with his gun drawn. ‘Wish I had a friggin’ gun,’ he continued. ‘It’d make me feel a lot more secure.’

‘Here’s what you do,’ Flynn advised. ‘If I start shooting, you rush ’em, tackle them at the knees, throw them off-balance. Then grab whatever guns they got.’

‘Yeah, cool, that’s if they don’t shoot my balls off first,’ Taye said, imagining the worst.

‘They won’t,’ Flynn said with a grim smile. ‘We got this.’

‘You’ve got it,’ Taye said, running his hand over his shaved head. ‘I certainly ain’t.’

They were doing a sweep of the top deck: it all seemed to be clear.

Taye stuck right behind Flynn — his new hero. The bloke appeared to be fearless, and Taye got off on the air of confidence Flynn exuded.

Taye wondered how Ashley was coping. If he knew his wife at all, by this time she’d be a hysterical wreck. Ashley didn’t do well under pressure, although she’d managed a pretty fine job of climbing up the side of the yacht when she’d had to. He was proud of her for that.

Flynn led the way down the staircase to the middle deck. Once more it was all clear.

‘The pirates have speedboats each side of the yacht,’ Flynn said quickly. ‘One pirate guarding each boat. If we can surprise ’em, then it’s two less to deal with.’

‘Surprise them? You mean kill them?’ Taye asked, trying to stay cool.

‘No,’ Flynn answered caustically. ‘How about we invite them aboard for a cup of your favourite English tea?’

‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ Taye said, duly chastised. ‘Where do you think the crew is?’

‘My guess is they’ve got them all together on the lower deck. The guy upstairs was the leader. The one he shot might’ve been his second-in-command. Then there’s the two with the boats. That leaves four more. Two of them at least are watching the crew — the other two are who we gotta keep a lookout for.’

Taye couldn’t hold back his curiosity. ‘You ever shot anyone?’ he whispered as once more they moved stealthily towards the stairs.

‘Why don’t we shut up and concentrate,’ Flynn muttered, feeling the sting at the top of his ear, while blood continued to drip down his neck.

‘Right,’ Taye said quickly. ‘I’m up for that.’

‘Good,’ Flynn said. ‘So let’s do this thing.’

Chapter Ninety-Four

Once Cruz decided something, that was it, no going back. Every fibre in his body warned him to make a fast getaway and haul his ass off The Bianca.

Amiin was dead. The other pirates meant nothing to him, they were merely the workforce. Amiin was the only one who’d mattered.

Dammit, his right-hand man had been dumb enough to get himself taken prisoner, giving Cruz no choice but to shoot since he’d managed to get himself right in the line of fire.

Cruz headed for the speedboat on the left side of the boat, pushing and shoving Captain Dickson in front of him, using him as a shield, so that if any bullets came flying, they’d hit the Captain and not him.

For one brief moment he thought about Mercedes and wondered where the hell she was. Then he remembered that Mercedes was a smart girl who could look after herself; she didn’t need him to babysit her. He’d taught her to be a survivor, exactly like him.

Captain Dickson was breathing heavily. Abject fear had overcome him, and he felt that at any moment he might succumb to a heart attack.

Cruz dug him in the back with the Uzi and yelled at him to move faster.

The Captain struggled to do as he was told, but he still failed to move fast enough for Cruz’s liking.

Cruz gave him a vicious kick, causing him to slip and fall down the stairs, whereupon Cruz muttered a litany of curses, came after him and hauled him to his feet. ‘You do that again an’ you’re dead meat,’ Cruz growled.

* * *

As time passed, Ashley began to lose it. No amount of consoling words could calm her down.

‘I have to get out of here,’ she whimpered, thinking of her twins and how they couldn’t possibly manage without her. ‘I can’t stay in here — I feel sick. I’m about to faint.’

‘No, you’re not,’ Xuan said sternly. ‘What you are going to do is sit down, shut up and put your head between your legs.’

‘I can’t do that,’ Ashley wailed. ‘Surely you understand? We’ve all got to get out of here. They’ll find us anyway, so what are we waiting for?’

‘We’re waiting for Aleksandr and the others to come back,’ Bianca said, fast losing patience. ‘And you’re not making the wait easy. So like Xuan said — shut up.’

‘Listen, I know we’re all scared,’ Sierra said, sure that Flynn wouldn’t let them down. ‘However, staying in control is the most important thing of all. Fighting amongst ourselves is not helping.’

‘She’s right,’ Lori said. ‘We mustn’t lose it.’

‘Oh, be quiet,’ Ashley snapped. ‘What do you know. You’re just a hanger-on.’

‘Excuse me?’ Lori said, bristling.

‘Now, now, ladies,’ Bianca interjected. ‘This is no time to get into a bitch fest.’

Ashley slumped down on the bench that ran along one side of the small room. ‘Oh my God!’ she moaned. ‘I have a premonition. We’re all going to die in here. We’re getting raped, then murdered. I know it.’

‘Be quiet, you stupid woman,’ Xuan said with steely determination. ‘You’re talking nonsense. And you’d better shut your nonsense before I force you to.’

* * *

‘We gotta go investigate — find out what’s goin’ on,’ Den insisted to Guy, once the three pirates were firmly secured.

Guy, a lot braver now that he was no longer being held at gunpoint, demurred. ‘Let’s not forget who’s in charge here,’ he said, asserting himself. ‘I’m the one with seniority. I’ll decide what we do next.’

‘Where was all that seniority when I was beggin’ you to get the crew to do somethin’?’ Den demanded.