text.
I can delay no longer. It’s time to leave this cabin.
The concrete and steel deck is cool beneath my feet. The no-shoes thing sucks, but I can tiptoe without making a sound.
So, that’s a positive.
I’m in some kind of corridor, but I’m really on the exterior of the ship. A massive steel wall, with cutouts every twenty feet, is the only thing between me and the sea. It’s definitely a big ass ship. When I peek out one of the cutouts, the ocean seethes with massive rollers and the water rushing by the hull has to be a hundred feet, or more, below me. There will be no jumping off this ship.
After orientating myself to bow and stern, port and starboard, I work my way aft. A set of metal stairs leads downward. I check for other people before heading down.
It’s dark. Occasional lights illuminate the gloom, but it’s hard to see where I’m going. When I hear male voices laughing, I plaster myself against the bulkhead and take deep breaths. They’re shooting the shit and don’t hear me. I backtrack and look for another way down.
As I suspected, I’m on a container ship. The front of the vessel is where the crew lives. The rest is stacked with thousands of containers; talk about feeling small. I cautiously make my way down there. Thankfully, I don’t encounter any other men.
My thought is to lose myself within the maze of passageways formed by the stacks, but it quickly becomes clear, there will be little hiding. If I can see down the long stretches between containers, so can anyone else.
But what if I climb up?
Salt stirred up from the wind mixes with the harsh, industrial smells of steel, oil, and metal all around me. The darkness provides coverage but also makes things harder as I scramble my way up. It’s not easy climbing up the container, but thanks to Four for all the intense physical conditioning he put me through, I scale the container with little difficulty.
My bare feet come in handy here as I brace my back and feet against adjacent containers and work my way up. I make it to the second tier of cargo containers and then to the third.
It’s there where I find the perfect hiding place. This stack is two containers shorter than those around it. It’s like a massive hole where I can hide—at least for now.
Satisfied, I’m well hidden, I pull out Bossman’s phone and get to work on the next stage of my rescue. I need to find the Guardians, but luck is not on my side. There’s still no service.
Ten
Griff
An extraction at sea is safest for all involved. Technically more challenging, Guardians are well versed in overcoming challenging situations. It’s what Guardians do.
At sea, we’ll encounter only the forces that are currently on board that tanker. Let it dock, and others can board, swelling their ranks, and making our job ten times worse.
“Once the ship hits the mouth of the Mississippi River, it takes about seven to eight hours to reach the port of New Orleans. They’re about two hours from entering the Mississippi, which gives us ten hours to work an extraction plan.”
“Ten hours!” I explode out of my seat, completely ignoring my teammates’ attempts to keep me under control. “What the fuck are we doing sitting here? If you found her, we should be on a plane, not sitting around a table with our thumbs up our asses.”
“Sit the fuck down, Griff,” Max cuts in, before I can make more of an ass of myself.
He’s not happy. Not happy with my outburst and not happy with how it shows a lack of control over his men. I’m going to owe him big time later on, but fuck; it’s my girl out there. I slowly rein in my temper and sit my ass back in my chair.
CJ spins in his chair. His fingers press together, and he holds them steepled under his chin. “We’re not sitting around doing nothing, Griff. There’s not a person in this room who doesn’t think this is, in fact, Moira. Our supply team is loading the jet as we speak. By the time we’re done, it’ll be ready for take-off. Our people in New Orleans are already in action, mobilizing assets for any number of different contingency plans. Our task right now is to determine if we send Alpha in alone or activate another team. I won’t send you into a trap without a thorough discussion about