The other masked man dropped to the floor, gripping his thigh, his mouth open in a silent scream from the gunshot wound that punctured his thigh. Travis said something, but it sounded like we were underwater, so instead he pointed to the rope on the side, and I lunged for it, helping him tie up the one man and then the other as blood poured from his open wound.
As the ringing subsided and my hearing returned, Travis’ muffled voice came back. “… get out of here before the storm gets worse.”
My eyes flicked to him. “What?”
“We need to get out of here.”
I nodded, both of us moving to the bridge, reassured that our two unwelcome guests weren’t going anywhere and didn’t have anything on them that could help us get out of this fucked up situation.
“Finn?” I mumbled as I stared at the controls, unable to comprehend anything that was happening. Just then, Travis cursed under his breath, his audible breath catching my attention.
Looking over, I watched as he flicked switches back and forth before pressing buttons again and again.
“What?” I asked, my voice still sounding weird to my sensitive hearing.
“The fuckers have cut the lot.”
“What?”
“No power, no comms, no anchor. I have no idea where we are, how long we’ve been floating, and no way of getting us to safety.” The rain came down so hard that it obscured the view from the window, Mother Nature throwing us around as if trying to remind us of her power. I had wanted to take a torch and search for Finn, but I knew he wouldn’t have been able to survive out there. The thought made my heart break.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Travis strode back into the equipment room. “What have you done?” he screamed as he ripped the masks off the two blond men.
The guy without the gunshot wound spoke, “What we were paid to do. And as soon as I get these ropes off, you’re going to wish we’d killed you as soon as we snuck on board.” He glared at us before he spoke again, “Oh, and by the way, you don’t have a lifeboat to help you either, although if this boat can’t handle the storm that’s coming, there’s no way that little blowup thing would have.”
Travis recoiled as if he couldn’t believe any of this. “And how were you going to get off?” The timbre of his voice was as violent as the dark skies that carried the storm that was getting closer by the second.
“Your little floating tin can.” He looked towards the submersible.
“There’s no power. It’s not going anywhere,” I told him, amazed by his stupidity. “And even if you had managed to get it in the water, do you have any idea how to get inside her or get her to move?”
The man’s eyes widened as if he’d just realised that he wasn’t ever going anywhere.
“Idiots,” Travis muttered, then he turned to me. “This is going to be fucking horrible. Put a life jacket on and start praying.”
TRAVIS
The storm worsened,and the boat was thrown about like it weighed nothing. Despite how securely stored everything was, crashes rang out as things fell and upended while Jasper and I struggled to work out what they’d done to leave us floating here, helpless.
I pushed my glasses up my nose as I held the torch in my mouth, working my way through the circuit board to see what was missing or damaged.
“There’s too much water coming in. I’m going below to check the bilge—I want to make sure we’re not filling up as none of the alarms are working,” Jasper declared. He looked like a broken man, but he was still holding it together, and that made my life easier.
I nodded before taking the torch out of my mouth so I could speak. “Be careful, okay? I can’t lose you too.”
Pain flashed over his face. I knew neither of us had really digested the news about Finn. None of this felt real, but for now, we needed to survive it, so we focused on that.
He vanished, leaving me to find a solution because, without an engine or any way to call for help, I wasn’t sure any of us were making it out of here alive.
FORTY
JASPER
I turnedon my flashlight and tugged down my life jacket. The stairs leading to the engine room felt eerie in the darkness, the memory of finding two masked men hiding in the shadows still at the forefront of my mind.
My chest burned as I walked, and I had to rub the heel of my free hand over my breastbone to try to ease the pain.