Page 91 of No One Aboard

“What is it?”

“Just get me out.”

Rylan’s voice ramped up an octave. “Just tell me. Is it MJ? Is she down there? Why would they move her? She’s already been through enough—”

“Rylan, get me the hell out!”

She didn’t mean to let fear get to her, but it had. It tore through her carefully gritted teeth and slammed into her brother, whose outstretched hand began to shake. Tia fought against her rising heart rate. She was standing in a bomb. What if Alejandro was about to set it off somehow? What if she accidentally set it off herself?

Tia jumped to grab Rylan’s hand, but it was too sweaty and her grip slipped.

“Rylan!” she cried, knowing full well she wasn’t helping him keep calm, but she couldn’t keep calm herself. She needed him to pull her out for once, goddamn it.

“I’m trying!” he snapped back, but he was shaking too badly to be of any help.

Tia battled the anger that spread in her, seeded by terror. “It’s not a body, Ry,” she assured him. “Okay? MJ isn’t in here. Just please, please get me out.”

Rylan withdrew his hand, wiped it on his shirt and stuck it back in. Tia jumped for it, and this time her grip held.

“I... can’t... pull you... up,” Rylan grunted between clenched teeth as he heaved.

I knew he’d gotten too thin.

“Just... hold on.” Tia pulled herself into a half chin-up and managed to grab the lip of the opening. The ship lurched, and her knees crashed into the wall.

She let go of Rylan’s hand, and he helped her up by her waist once her upper body gained purchase. The two of them fell back in a heap on the chart house floor, which moved beneath them.

Sea must be rough tonight.

Rylan switched off the red flashlight. His frightened face searched hers. For a single split second, Tia wanted to shake him and scream.

Why are you so helpless?

Instead she drank in deep breaths and pulled the bilge panel over the dark opening in the ground. “The oxygen tanks are in there. Maybe he moved them, or maybe there have been extra all along.” Her skin felt poisoned where she’d touched the bag. She dragged her greasy hands over her shorts. “Withthe cooking oil, all you have to do is drop a lit match, and it’ll blow right through the hull.”

“Holy shit.” Rylan snatched Pirate into his arms like a stuffed animal.

“Holy shit,” Tia agreed, pieces falling into place. She knew who Alejandro Matamoros took orders from. “We have to get out of here.”

Rylan looked at her, clutching the cat.

Tia’s lower lip trembled. “Someone’s going to sink the ship.”

Chapter 45

Jerry Baugh

Jerry slouched on the deck ofSheila 2.0, beer in hand. Lainey was propped up against the back of the cockpit bench beside him, nursing her own can. Apparently her preference for rum was no match for the weight of the day on her shoulders.

After their aborted fishing attempt, Jerry had driven them back to the marina, only to grab the case of beer fromThe Old Eileenand takeSheilaback out to watch the sunset over the harbor.

Behind them,The Old Eileensat unassumingly at the edge of the dock, bathed in orange light. From here, Jerry could see her two masthead lights winking in the twilight. From here, she looked normal. Beautiful, even.

“That thing’s cursed,” he slurred, waving the beer toward the sailboat. “All o’ ’em are.”

“What? Sailboats?”

“Yup.” Jerry drank. Why was Lainey even still there? She could have gotten off when he made the beer stop. Although she was being paid by the hour. Christ, he was gonna owe this kid a small fortune.