At least that was what I thought happened.
Maybe it was a dream?
It must not have been, because Cauldron was up too. He recovered a lot quicker than I did and leaped out of bed. The boat tilted back with a lurch, and my body rolled in the opposite direction.
“Did something just hit us?”
Cauldron threw on clothes then walked into the closet. “Get dressed.”
“What’s happening?”
“Get dressed.”
Oh shit.
I grabbed my dress off the floor and threw it on. I was totally commando underneath, but that didn’t seem relevant right now.
He returned from the closet with a shotgun.
This was bad.
He handed me a handgun. “Can you handle this?”
“Uh, yes.” I took it from him. “Not gonna let a motherfucker shoot one of us.”
“Stay behind me.” Cauldron moved ahead down the hallway, his shotgun held at the ready. Every time he moved to an intersecting hallway, he checked left and right, using moves I’d seen on military shows.
The lights on the ship were off, either because no one had turned them on or we’d lost power. The only illumination was the emergency lighting along the floor that lit up the base of the hallways.
Cauldron suddenly threw up his gun and stuck someone in the face. A body collapsed to the deck.
It happened so fast I didn’t see it. It was also too dark to make out the details. I let out a little gasp, and Cauldron shushed me.
We kept moving forward, but I wasn’t sure of our objective. We were stuck on a boat, so there was nowhere to go. What if it was sinking?
We crossed paths with others, and Cauldron took out one with the butt of his gun and then punched another. Two full-grown men collapsed on the deck.
I didn’t see them either.
The gun was hot in my hand, but I kept my finger off the trigger so I didn’t accidentally shoot Cauldron right in front of me.
Cauldron kneeled and examined the two men.
“Who are they?”
“Shh.” He checked their pockets then turned them over to look for other clues to their identity or who they were working for.
“You don’t think it’s Grave?” I whispered.
He got back to his feet. “Grave isn’t my only enemy.” He moved down the hallway and made a few turns, approaching the deck of the ship in the minimal light from the moon. He peeked his head out to look, to see into the darkness.
I looked too, but it was too difficult to see anything.
He took the stairs and headed down, and along the way, he saw one of his staff, bloody in the face and knocked out. He checked their pulse and confirmed they were still alive before heading on.
We were at the bottom of the ship, the area with the widest open space, and Cauldron came across another man along the way. He knocked him out cold and caught his body before it thudded loudly against the floor.
Thank god Cauldron had such quick reflexes.
I had a gun in my hand, but I was so tense I wasn’t sure if I could even use it. My heart was like a bass drum. Every beat was loud and painful.
Cauldron looked across the deck and saw the group of men standing there.
There was also a ship—the thing that had nearly knocked ours over.
We were outnumbered. Cauldron’s shotgun and my little handgun were no match for these guys.
Cauldron cocked his gun. “Cover me.”
“What?”
“I said cover me.”
“And do you think I’m capable of doing that?”
“I think you’re capable of a lot of things, baby.”
There it was again. Baby. It wasn’t an accident. “Can we call for backup or something?”
“I don’t know our coordinates, and it would take too long for help to arrive anyway.”
“What about the helicopter on the roof?”
“I’m sure they’ve got that guarded or disabled.”
“Look, I don’t think I can do this—”
“There’re three guys, and my barrel only holds two bullets. You gotta take out the third.”
I looked at the three men, who seemed to be holding automatic rifles. “I’ll try.”
“You won’t try. You will. Let’s do this.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now.” He went for it, stepping out from behind cover and firing the first bullet. It hit the guy square in the chest, and he gave a jerk before he fell backward and thumped against the deck. Cauldron was on the other one immediately, firing the loud gun and taking out the second guy.
I aimed my gun at the third guy’s head and pulled the trigger several times. The gun jerked back over and over, but I kept firing, afraid I’d missed or the small bullets didn’t do enough damage.
But he collapsed like the other two.
Cauldron reloaded his gun then seized one of the automatic rifles from the dead bodies.
The lights suddenly came back on, blanketing the boat in bright light that made it visible from miles away.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me close.