72 The Boat Is Sinking (2/2)

”They've pulled a little, but it's fine.We need to try and get someplace safe.”

”There's a problem.”Meaghan tried to keep a calm tone. ”Water is pouring in from underneath the boat.”

Rickie jumped down into the cabin and saw the body of the mercenary, facedown and unmoving.

Once he was sure she was dead, he looked around and was shocked to see the damage. Above the waterline, the slanted rays of the lowering sun shone through several long cracks in the hull, and below it he could see the water seeping in and starting to cover the low-pile carpet. Since the engine was slightly lower than the living quarters, it was going to flood first.

He made his way aft to the engine compartment.

The housing around the bilge pump was damaged from one of the impacts and inoperable.

There was a manual pump with a hand crank, but would not be able to keep up with the amount of water pouring into the stricken vessel.

He searched the dead mercenary until he found the cuff keys, then climbed out of the cabin, and immediately unlocked the leg- and wrist shackles, kissing the inside of her wrists by way of an apology.

”Meggie, do you think you could try and manually pump as long as you can?It may be the only way I can get us somewhere safe.”

She bit her bruised bottom lip and nodded.He showed her the mechanism, gave her shoulder a squeeze in encouragement, and climbed back up.

Looking at the GPS viewfinder, he detected a small island several kilometers away.It was the closest land he could find, so he set the heading due west and accelerated to full throttle, praying the boat would stay afloat long enough to make it there.