Page 90 of Uncharted

I put the suits on the side counter, give him a hug, and slide into my chair. “Can I help you with anything?”

“Nope. I’m almost done. What do you have there?” Dante asks.

“Hazmat. Sam said most of the trash is double-bagged in the bow pit.”

“Sounds like a party for after our food digests.”

“Agreed.”

“Do you mind telling Easton and Calvin chow is on? They’re in the wheelhouse.”

“No problem.” I head down the hallway past Sam’s room, where Penny lifts her head at me. I can’t help it; I have to stop and pet her. I scratch her ears until she thumps her legs on the bed. “That’s the spot, huh?”

Is it weird I feel like she’s smiling at me? That’s when I hear Easton and Calvin. They’re arguing about something. “I’ve got to go, Penny. I’ll be back.” She’s got to miss running around. She’s been on board for such a long time, with only the little strip of sand to stretch her legs on.

I knock and walk into the wheelhouse at the same time. “What’s going on?”

“He won’t sit the fuck down.” Easton points at Calvin. “You don’t have to stand for what you’re doing. You’re just being obstinate because you fucking like it.”

Calvin furrows his forehead and steps toward me. But I see the grimace on his face when he does. “My foot is fine. It’s my fucking ears that are bleeding from listening to his griping all day.” His foot isn’t fine.

“Am I going to have to separate the two of you?” I flick my eyes from Calvin to Easton and back.

“Please,” Calvin says, throwing his hands up in the air. On the table in front of them lie several circuit boards in parts.

“Yes. I’ll leave. Can you do me a favor?” Easton grunts.

“Sure.” I rest my hand on Easton’s arm.

“Keep him from making his foot fall off if you can.” Easton yanks on the port door, but then he stops. “Thank you, Firefly.” He leans down and kisses me.

I grab his hand. “Dante said lunch is ready when you want it.”

He gives me another kiss and shoots Calvin the middle finger. “Thank you.” The door bounces behind him.

I cock my head and jump on the back bench that runs the length of the wheelhouse. “He’s trying to get you healthy.”

“I know. And I’m fucking grateful. Just don’t tell him that. But I’ve got to get at least one thing working. Being down in the engine room right now isn’t going to work. Because honestly...?”

“Always.” I hold his gaze.

“It hurts like a motherfucker,” he says through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s my own damn fault for drinking. If I wasn’t drunk, I would have been smart enough to either grab flippers or at least not stand up on coral. Damage is done. But what’s almost undone?” His smile lifts in a half smirk.

“What?”

“Connect that wire to the solar battery pack over there.” Calvin puts down the tool he’s using and points. “Just pull that wire off, then that red wire...” I do what he asks and hold up the red wire. “Connect that where you took the other one off. I combined two radios. This one, the antenna wasn’t working, and this one, the circuit board was broken. They’re not the same. This one was the primary, and this one was the secondary. But the fucker who did this to us knew enough to damage both just a little to make neither of them work.”

I plug it in, and static comes over the radio. “You did it. You fixed the radio.”

“I did, but don’t get too excited, Haley. I didn’t fix the high-frequency radio, the one that can communicate over thousands of miles. This radio is going to give us about twenty miles. But still, it’s a good thing. It’s like the radios we use on board, but with a little more power and more channels.”

“But this is fantastic. Right? If we see a ship, we can contact them.”

“Or not.” Calvin’s jaw twitches.

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