Page 54 of Uncharted

Sam glares at me.

“It’s really a matter of time. Either way, I need to get the solar power up and running before I can do either. But I need to flush the engines first so they don’t go downhill anymore. Then we can decide what our priorities are: engines or radio.”

Haley stands and clears along with Easton. I don’t think she even knows she’s doing it. She’s on autopilot. And I have to push down a smile. When she comes to grab my plate, I try to take the ones she has instead.

“Clearing I can do. You’re the one with the expertise, Green.”

My chest goes firm. Chiefie doesn’t like being kept out of the loop. But that’s something I don’t like either. My eyes flick to Sam. I’m thinking about Sam wanting to keep secrets from them. His lips are pursed, and he shakes his head no. I don’t fucking care what he thinks. This is something that has to be said, and I can’t not tell her or Easton and Dante anymore. They deserve to know the truth. “Sam, we’ve become a democracy. And this isn’t something I’m willing to keep from any of the others. You need to tell them.”

I’ve known Sam for a long time. I’ve pushed back once or twice on his decisions. And it’s always been for safety reasons. I should have pushed for not leaving the shipyard. But then there’s always kinks to work out on a new ship. I didn’t give a flying rat’s ass about the interior. If the guests wanted to be surrounded by boxes, that was up to them. A few flicking lights didn’t seem like a problem, and maybe if someone hadn’t tampered with the major systems, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

He’s not happy with me.

“Sam? What do you need to tell us?” Haley lets me take the dishes from her, and I put them on a tray on the side counter.

“Yes, what are you not telling us? Do you know why the wreck happened?” Easton’s got his game face on. If I didn’t know him better, I would be suspicious of him like Sam is. “It’s sabotage. We all know that. You’re not telling us anything new. We’ve talked about it plenty around the campfire.”

“It’s something else...” Sam shakes his head.

“Sam?” Haley’s eyes are wide.

“Before I hit the reef, I saw a boat, lights off.”

Easton leans in. “I saw it too.”

“Really?” Sam cocks his head at Easton. He shakes it off. “It was a while before I landed on the reef. I was trying to fish from the swim deck. Fuck, if it wasn’t for Penny knocking the flare gun out of my hand, I would have signaled them. But when I came back with another gun and my binoculars, I saw that their running lights were off. On the aft, hanging over the railing, a guard sat with an automatic rifle. Luckily, he was more interested in his cigarette break than keeping a lookout. I faded into the night. I’d been trying to use the ham radio, but I stopped. The chance of someone hearing it that could help was too slim, while the odds of a pirate hearing it were too great.”

“So that’s the thing. If we can get the radio working, we should be able to contact help.” I nod at Sam across the table. “But will help come fast enough, or will we be sitting ducks? Ducks that are a lot closer to the pirates than we are to anyone who would want to help us.”

“What’s your take on it, Green?” Easton leans on a chair. Only Zane and Sam are still sitting.

“Get the engines at least limping along, so we can have a shot of avoiding the pirates, and then work on the radios.”

“There’s nothing saying we can’t work on both at the same time.” Sam stares at me.

“Other than we can’t clone Green,” Dante growls. “And thank fuck for that . . . We couldn’t feed two of them.”

“We’re not helpless. Calvin can teach us what needs to be done.” Haley grabs at my arm. “Can’t you?”

I can try, but there are some people mechanics doesn’t click for. “Sure.” I smile down at her. “I’ll do my best.”

“What do we do first?”

“Well, the first thing I’m going to work on with Sam and Zane is replacing the crash patch. You did a good job, Sam, but having more than one set of hands will help make a tighter seal.”

“Pirates are one thing, but what have you learned about the saboteur?” Easton’s not giving up.

Sam talked about the pirates in the hopes we’d drop the reason why we’re here? We’re not toddlers who can be distracted that easily. “Saboteurs,” I say. And I ignore Sam’s scowl because he’ll come to understand that Easton doesn’t have anything to do with it. “There’s no way one person caused all the damage they did. How they did it when Anders and I were tracing issues with the ship’s electrical, I don’t know yet.”

“That seems like a pretty simple answer.” Easton raises his chin to me—meaning Anders.

“A simple answer?” Sam’s tone has dropped. Easton’s reputation isn’t secure to Sam, but Anders has been Sam’s FO for at least five years. Long enough that he should have left and had his own boat by now. But I talked with the guy. He liked the flexibility of being able to take time off. Not something you can do as a captain. He’s got some things going on back at home, things he barely ever talked about. Even after the years I’ve been on different ships with him, I’m not sure I even know where he’s from. He’s mentioned Maine, California, Florida. I guess I always thought he was an army brat, but I never asked. Weird things you remember when it’s too late.

“Anders isn’t the saboteur—no way.” Sam stands.

Zane stands too. “I’m thinking the same thing, Easton. No way would Anders be involved with something as sinister as this. Plus, you didn’t see how we were working trying to fix all the issues on the boat.”

“Acting—it’s a thing.” Easton shrugs.

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