The Pirate (9 page)

The crew members all roamed the room in an opposite corner from Rudy. Bill and Jerry were talking quietly in the corner and she could tell from the way they kept glancing around the room that they weren't discussing their golf game.

“Oh my, there is too much testosterone in this room,” Franny said.

“And no one to direct it toward. I almost feel bad for the pirates who come in this room.”

Franny gave her a half-smile. “I don't. You can't lock people up without expecting some sort of retaliation.”

“You have a point,” Daphne said. But she knew that the men who'd taken this ship didn't fear them. They had grown up in a harsh environment where most people didn't live past their thirties. Some of the accounts she'd read of Somalia had chilled her blood. There was so much lawlessness that its people grew up thinking that they had to make their own justice with guns.

It was one of the reasons why she'd agreed to come on this trip. She'd read stories of kids hit by bullets and having no one to repair their limbs. She'd read horrible things and knew her skills were needed in Somalia. Really needed.

She wouldn't be repairing the shattered knees of athletes, but instead she'd be operating on kids who might not walk if she didn't help them.

“Laz said they are going to try to use a fight as a distraction to get the pirates down here,” Daphne said.

“When did he tell you that?”

“Last night. I couldn't sleep.”

Franny glanced over at her. “Did talking to him help?”

“It did. I think I just needed to feel normal.”

Franny smiled. “I'm glad something worked. I slept but ever since my residency days I've always been able to shut down when I tell my body to sleep.”

Daphne knew a lot of nurses and doctors who could do that. She'd never been able to. She needed a good hour between functioning and sleeping. Her mind processed things at the end of the day.

“I wish I could.”

“I bet. So a distraction? Like what? Did he say?” Franny asked.

“No, he didn't,” she said. But she noticed Hamm assembling the crew members and he waved them over. Jerry and Bob joined her and Franny. Rudy stayed to the back away from everyone else.

“Is he okay?” she asked Bob.

“He said this reminds him of how it felt when Maria was taken by the rebels. I think he's having some sort of flashback to that time. I offered to get him a sedative from our supplies.”

Rudy must have declined it. She would have too. She preferred to deal with things on her own without the aid of medication.

Laz made his way to the front of the group. “Can everyone hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I need to get to the radio room to get backup to the ship. If the pirates follow their usual mode of operation they will not come back down here except to deliver some food and water.

“I think if we start a fight in here they will hear it and come in. Then we can overpower them. Hamm will lead the crew in doing this.”

“We will help too,” Bob said.

“It'd be better if your group kept a low profile,” Laz said.

“Too late for that. We know they want to know about Daphne's connection. She'll go with you to the radio room and let the Senator know we are okay and not to pay any ransom,” Bob said.

“I don't like that idea,” Laz said.

“Too bad,” Bob said. “We won't get in your way but we need to be involved in this. Sitting around is making us all crazy and we are a highly intelligent and well-trained group. We will help you.”

Laz didn't like the idea, Daphne could tell by the way he narrowed his eyes, but otherwise there was no outward sign that he was affected one way or the other.

“I have training in weapons and hand-to-hand combat,” Rudy said.

Laz rubbed his hand through his hair. “Okay. We can use that. I think Hamm and Rudy should be the distraction to get the guards in here. The other woman in your group,” Laz said pointing to Franny.

“Franny,” she said.

“Good. I want you to scream and yell at them to stop. Be loud and sound hysterical. Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can. Anything else?”

“Stay the hell back. I don't want the pirates to shoot you to shut you up. So pay attention to them. They are dangerous men who will shoot first and ask questions later.”

“Then should we be doing this?” Jerry asked.

“Your group can hide behind the medical supplies,” Laz said.

“Hell, no,” Jerry said. “I was just making sure there wasn't another way.”

“Okay. We need you guys to get into it as soon as they deliver food to us. It should be sometime in the next hour or so.”

Daphne had never experienced the clock moving slower. In actuality it was only forty minutes later when they heard the scraping of a key in the door and then it started to open. As it did Rudy launched himself across the room at Hamm.

“No you don't, you bastard. We've got women in our group. We should get the food first.”

Rudy landed a good punch in Hamm's face and Hamm just slugged back. The two pirates who had opened the door dropped the food on trays on the floor and stepped inside to break up the fight.

They tried pulling the men apart.

Jerry hit Lars hard in the face. “The women aren't bad luck or the reason why pirates attacked the ship.”

“Yes they are,” Lars said. “We've never been attacked before this.”

“Then you were lucky,” Rudy said.

“Luck has nothing to do with being at sea,” Drew, another crew member, said.

“You just said the women were bad luck,” Bob yelled and then the melee broke out. The men were all in a lump of swinging fists.

“Break it up,” the pirate yelled.

But the men ignored him. Franny was screaming, which added to the confusion. The pirates stepped into the room and headed toward the knot of men.

“Let's move.”

“Will they be okay?” she asked.

“They have to be,” Laz said. “Because we can't stay here and help them. We have to do our job.”

“I'm not sure—”

“Then stay here. But I have to communicate with my men and I can't do it here. Our friends are giving us a chance to do that.”

He looked at her with a very serious intent in his eyes. “Let's don't waste it.”

Daphne hesitated, looking back at her friends. She worried that she was jumping from the frying pan into the fire but then Laz tugged on her hand and she looked up into his eyes. There was a promise there, one she knew she was going to have to take a leap of faith and believe.

She did just that by taking a step toward him and then following him out of the hold and into the hallway.

She'd never been so scared in her life and she realized she was counting on Laz to make sure she made it through this. She was counting on a man—on her lover—she thought. And that scared her almost as much as the gun-toting pirates.

D
aphne continued to follow Laz out of the hold as the fighting ensued. She still wasn't confident that Bob and Jerry could hold their own, but she trusted Rudy to make sure the other doctors were okay. He was their secret weapon with these lawless men.

The sounds came first from the gangway, footsteps, and then the smell of cigarettes. Daphne wasn't sure what was going to happen next. She should have stayed behind. Honestly, why did she always shoot from the hip instead of thinking things through?

“Fall back.”

Where? She thought but quietly moved back. All of a sudden she tripped against the wall. The wall opened backward into a room and she realized it was a small supply closet.

Laz followed her inside and closed the door behind them. They were enclosed in complete darkness. The sounds of her breaths echoed in the small supply room. She couldn't hear anything.

She felt fear first, just that overwhelming feeling of aloneness, and she started to shake. She was about to call out to him when she felt his hand on her arm.

“You okay?” he asked in a low, almost soundless voice.

“Yes,” she said. But she was lying. She was in over her head and had no idea of how to get out of this situation.

Suddenly she was overwhelmed and felt her throat close up and the spark of tears in her eyes. Damn it, she wasn't going to cry. But no matter how many times she blinked the tears were still there. Feeling overwhelmed, she really had to fight to keep from breaking down.

“You're breathing heavily,” Laz said.

“I'm scared and freaking out,” she admitted.

He put his arm around her and held her close. She put her arms around his lean waist and her head on his shoulder.

She took another deep breath and this time all that she inhaled was the scent of Laz. Closing her eyes, she let the tears she'd been trying to hold back squeeze out. Laz rubbed her back and she let the confidence and strength that he easily carried soothe her. She wasn't in over her head.

She was smart and savvy and she was going to get out of this situation alive. She knew exactly what she was doing and having Laz by her side only reinforced that.

“Thanks,” she said.

She started to pull away but he held her tight. “You're very welcome.”

His hand came under her chin and then she felt his fingers wipe away the tears she'd been unable to contain. He sighed then, a deep sound that could be resignation. She had no idea what he was thinking.

“You are the right woman at the wrong time, Daph. Do you know that?”

She shook her head. “I've never been the right woman.”

“I find that very hard to believe,” he said.

“I…I guess that makes me sound like I don't have any self-confidence,” she said.

It was oddly easy to talk to him in the dark. His arms were still around her, his scent surrounded the air she breathed, and his heart beat steadily under her ear. She hadn't felt this safe since Paul had dropped his bomb.

She'd forgotten what it was like to be comforted by a man. To just enjoy the physicality of being in a man's arms.

“You have enough confidence for ten women.”

Daphne smiled at the way he said it. “I guess I do in certain situations.”

“But not this one,” Laz said. “I don't mean facing down bloodthirsty pirates, I mean being here in my arms.”

She shrugged and would have pulled back to see him but since she couldn't she just stayed where she was. She closed her eyes and pretended that this was nothing but a dream.

“You are right. I don't have a lot of confidence in the basic man-woman level.”

He didn't ask her why and she found herself feeling very grateful for that. She wasn't sure she could put into words what Paul had stolen from her when he'd left. She knew that her situation wasn't unique. Marriages broke up every day but those other marriages weren't hers, and she hadn't bounced back from the betrayal and the even deeper sense of rejection she'd felt.

Here in Laz's arms she started to feel the inkling of…well, of recovery, she thought. Laz didn't see her as the perfect wife and an excellent mother for his kids. He didn't see her as a good partner in his bid for Congress. In fact, she wasn't too sure how he saw her.

She tipped her head up to where she thought his face was and her lips brushed his stubble-covered jaw. He sighed again.

His jaw moved against her lips as he moved his own head and then she felt his lips against hers. They were soft, softer than she'd have guessed Laz's mouth could be.

He rubbed his lips against hers and then parted them. She felt the warmth of his breath against her lips and then into her mouth. She couldn't help licking his mouth.

He tasted…delicious…she thought. She slid her arms up his back and rubbed her hand over the back of his scalp. His hair was short and soft. And she couldn't help running her hand over the back of his head as his tongue moved over her lips and then plunged into her mouth.

His arms tightened around her and he drew her closer. She felt the solid wall of his muscled chest against her breasts and the strength of his thighs against her own.

She felt all the things she'd longed to feel in a man's embrace and hadn't in a long time. And she let the rest of the world fall away until the only thing that mattered and existed was being in his arms.

“Damn, Daph, you are one dynamite woman. But we've got to get going if we have any chance of contacting our people while the fighting is going on.”

She nodded. She didn't mind. She'd found some strength in being with Laz and she'd take that with her as they moved forward.

 

Laz was tempted to just stay in that small, dark supply room, making love to Daphne while the world burned around them. But he knew that the consequences that would follow that decision weren't ones he or Daphne were prepared to deal with. She wanted to save her friends and herself and so did he.

And he wanted to capture Samatan. He was tired of ships being preyed on out here.

He and Daphne snuck out the door of the supply room and into the long corridor. The lights flickered, as the
Maersk Angus
wasn't a luxury liner but a working tanker.

“Stay close. Do what I do. If I make a fist, it means stop. If I point in a direction, I want you to go that way. Stay in the shadows as much as you can.”

“Okay,” she said.

The radio room was down the long hallway past the main gangway that led to the deck. Laz knew if they had any problems it would be there. The walls were painted the same gray as the floor and ceiling and the hallway seemed long and endless.

He gestured for Daphne to stop and moved forward to make sure they were clear. Daphne stayed close behind him and crouched when he pulled her down. Her breathing was heavy and loud in the small hallway of the ship.

“Breathe quietly,” he said in a whisper.

“I'm trying. I'm just nervous.”

He nodded and moved down the hallway, Daphne close on his heels. They made it to the radio room but there was a guard outside. Laz didn't hesitate as he came up behind the man. The ROE—Rules of Engagement—for this mission were simple: capture Samatan and have as few casualties as possible.

Moving silently Laz came up behind the guard. Until he heard the way Daphne moved he'd forgotten that he'd been trained to be silent. It had become second nature.

He pinched the carotid artery on the guard's neck, but the man swung backward with the butt of his rifle, hitting Laz in the stomach. He brought his fist up and punched the man in his side, keeping up the pressure on the carotid artery until the guard slumped forward. Laz caught him.

“How can I help?”

“I need to bind his hands,” Laz said.

Daphne took off her belt and wrapped it around the guard's hands. A curl fell down over her face, and she realized that if he had met her at any other time he wouldn't have seen the courage he saw in her now. Her hands were shaking but still she did what she was told. She was a good soldier, which was the one thing he respected.

“Stay here.”

The blood left her face and she swayed. “Stay here? What if someone else comes?”

He handed her a utility knife. The pirates had taken the one he always carried, but he'd gotten a replacement from the supplies in the hold. “Use this.”

“Um…”

“You're a surgeon, Daph, I think you know how to handle a knife.”

She quirked her head to the side and stared up at him. “I guess I do.”

He leaned in, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back to the radio room. Having Daphne by his side wasn't like having Hamm or the other Savage Seven members but he knew she'd go down swinging. And he couldn't really ask for anything more.

“When I give the signal I'll need you to drag him into the radio room.”

“Okay. Do you need me to back you up?”

“I got this. Just be ready when I give you the sign.”

She nodded.

He left her to enter the radio room. There was another guard inside and the man turned just as Laz entered. The soldier didn't hesitate to fire his weapon.

Laz tucked low, rolling into the corner for cover. He lifted his own silenced weapon and fired two short bursts, hitting the guard solidly in the chest. He knew it was more humane to just wound and not kill someone but he'd been bit in the ass too many times by that act of kindness.

He walked over and closed the boy-man's eyes before taking his weapon. He went back to the door to find Daphne standing there at the ready. No nerves showed now—just full-on guard duty—and he felt an inkling of admiration for her and the way she handled herself.

“We're clear.”

“Good.”

She reached down, taking the unconscious guard under his arms and pulling him toward the radio room. Laz nudged her aside and took over. He dumped the guard next to his dead comrade and went to the radio.

“Is he dead?”

“Yes.”

“I thought he may have hit you,” she said.

“Not this time,” he replied.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine. Can you fire a weapon?”

“Yes, but I can't hit anything with it.”

He arched one eyebrow at her. “Why not?”

“I think I'm intimidated by the weapon or at least that's what my ex said.”

“Can you stand guard? Just fire in the direction of anyone who comes at us.”

She swallowed hard and then nodded. He handed her the rifle he'd taken off the second guard. “Just pull this trigger. It's locked and loaded.”

She took the gun from him and he turned away from her, working as quickly as he could to switch the radio over to a secure signal to radio the Savage Seven.

“Is anyone monitoring this frequency?”

He heard static and then Mann's voice. “About damned time you checked in.”

“We've been taken. No sign of our prize yet.”

“We are on our way. Savage made the call about ten minutes ago.”

“We need your skills,” Laz said.

Mann was a sniper. He worked with the rest of the team and he shared the same skills, but Mann's true calling was as a sniper and he could take a target out with pure accuracy every time.

“What's your ETA?” Laz asked.

“Thirty minutes tops. Seas are a bit busy this morning.”

“We may be in the hold.”

“We'll check there first. What's wrong with your communications?”

“They won't work in the hold. There must be some kind of lead lining in the bulkhead there.” Laz wished he'd had more time to go over the tanker. Missing that outage spot made him downright pissed off at himself. Normally he was better than that.

Was he at the age where it would be better for him to get out of the game altogether? He wasn't trained for anything other than this and maybe operating a fishing boat. Somehow he doubted that he'd be able to spend a significant amount of time alone on the water before he started to have withdrawal symptoms.

He was an adrenaline junkie and always had been. He got off on the danger that came with busting heads and kicking ass. But when he looked over at Daphne a part of him wondered if being with her would be enough to satisfy that crazy part of his soul.

“Laz out.”

“Mann out.”

 

Daphne didn't even pretend that she was anything but nervous. She held the gun exactly as Laz had shown her and kept her attention fixed on the hallway. It was dank and gray and smelled of stale air. She heard the crackle of the radio and heard Laz talking, but she kept her attention on the hallway.

She didn't come halfway around the world to die. And she was tired of feeling like a victim. She was ready to take control.

Dang it. She meant it.

“Behind you. I'll go first—”

“Not yet. I want to contact my ex first. He needs to know what's going on here.” As much as she didn't want to have to go to Paul for anything, he was well connected and they did need the U.S. government to get the marines out here. It wasn't that she didn't trust Laz to take care of them; it was only that he and Hamm were two men and the pirates were lawless men who wouldn't stop until they'd gotten the money they came for.

“No. We already discussed this.”

“I'm—”

“No. Get ready to move.”

“But I really think I should contact him.”

“Why? Has your ex ever been there for you? You said earlier that you didn't trust yourself on the man-woman level well so I can only guess that he's the one who put doubt in your mind. I don't trust that kind of bastard.”

She had no choice. She wasn't going to stand here arguing with Laz and maybe get them both killed. But she'd wanted—what? Did she really want to run to Paul? He had given up on her. He wasn't her champion anymore.

“Okay, sorry.”

“No problem. Do you remember our signals from before?”