The Steel Shark

Chapter 42

Laila and Ambra climbed onto the Siren ahead of the prisoner. Laila just wanted to get away from the Pearl and complete her mission before something else went wrong.

“You first.” Jin gestured to one of her guards. The woman looked like a bodybuilder. She was so huge Laila worried she might get stuck in the tube leading down from the sail.

“No one comes aboard my ship but my own crew,” Laila said.

“I do. And so does one of my guards. We will secure the prisoner in your brig, and then she is your responsibility.”

“She’s my responsibility now,” Laila said.

“My orders are clear.” Jin looked at one of her hulking Amazons, and the woman trained her gun on Torres. Jin swung her gun until the barrel was pointed straight at Laila. “Personally secure the prisoner on your vessel. Not have you do so in my place.”

“Just you, then,” Laila said.

“Muhjaa will go first so that she can watch Torres descend. You may either board before Muhjaa or after I do.” Jin’s gun didn’t waver.

Laila didn’t want to look weak in front of Ambra, but she also didn’t want a confrontation with Jin. She would lose. Jin was armed and ruthless. As children, they had told stories about sea monsters, and the stories had ended with Jin saving them, because she was the only woman they knew who was strong enough to take on any monster.

“I will precede you,” Laila said. “Since I am captain.”

Unhurriedly, she walked to the sail and climbed inside. The tube was barely wider than her shoulders, and the metal rings felt cold under her palms. In a breach of etiquette, Muhjaa clambered in a few seconds after she did and practically stomped on her hands.

Laila wanted Aunt Bibi’s women off the ship as quickly as possible, so she said nothing.

Torres climbed down awkwardly, clearly trying to keep weight off the arm with the cast. Muhjaa’s gun was trained on her the entire time.

“Don’t fire,” Laila said. “A bullet would ricochet around the compartment and do who knows what kind of damage.”

“If you don’t want me to fire, don’t do anything suspicious,” said Muhjaa.

Jin came down last, and Muhjaa’s gun never wavered from Torres’s worried face.

“Lead,” Jin barked at Laila.

Laila passed through the bridge and went to her own stateroom. The only place to keep a prisoner. Her submarine didn’t have a brig. Her crew squashed themselves against the sides to let her party pass.

“Here.” She opened her door.

Muhjaa went in first, then Torres, then Jin. Laila squeezed in last, and Ambra peered in from the corridor.

Nahal was asleep on her bed. Meri had insisted they clear up space in sick bay in case they needed room for casualties during the battle. Laila had volunteered her quarters, as she wouldn’t need them until this was all over anyway. Nahal was sound asleep. Meri had picked up additional medical supplies from Aunt Bibi, and she planned to keep Nahal knocked out until they could get her to a real hospital.

Jin put a handcuff on Torres’s casted wrist, yanked her forward until she was seated at Laila’s fold-down desk, threaded the handcuff through the support, and handcuffed Torres’s wrist on the other side. She could barely move.

“Ouch.” Torres hunched forward. “This hurts me.”

“She can’t sit like that for twelve hours!” Ambra said.

“She can. She does.” Jin looked at Laila. “She stays here until you are done. Then you do as Miss Bibi says.”

“Of course.” Aunt Bibi hadn’t said she needed to be alive when she was dumped offshore.

Jin and Muhjaa stepped out of the tiny room and into the corridor. Without a word, they marched back the way they’d come. As angry as she was at Jin for the way she’d treated her, she was envious of her quiet, single-minded attention to duty. Ambra could learn from it.

“Why this?” Torres rattled her handcuffs. “I am not a criminal.”

“It’s just for a few days,” Ambra said. “Then we’ll let you go.”

Torres still looked frightened. “Why not let me go now? I can help. I’m a good cook.”

“We have a cook.” Laila practically pushed Ambra out the door and closed it.

She and Ambra stood in the corridor, and Ambra looked at the closed door.

“Soon, we’ll take out the ship and go our separate ways,” Laila said. “We can release this Torres woman then.”

“She has nothing to do with any of this,” Ambra said.

“And we’ll let her go.”

“We can still turn back.” Ambra gestured down the corridor. “Go undercover. Stop killing.”

“We did this for a reason. Those men died for a reason.”

“What about Rasha? And the people who will die on the ship?”

“Casualties happen in war. If we sink that ship, we save many more lives than we take. It’s why we took the Siren. You know this.”

“But we have time to take a different path.”

“You swore an oath,” Laila said. “To me. To our shared mission. We cannot falter. We are almost there. Now get the Siren untied from the Pearl. As soon as we’re clear, we follow the trajectory to Prince Timgad’s ship.”

Ambra dipped her head and left. Her shoulders brushed both sides of the corridor as she walked. Ambra was practically as big as Muhjaa.

They would encounter their target soon. She just had to keep her crew focused for one more day and this would be over.