Page 16 of The Hijack

Linc dug further and found a notebook. He paged through it without seeming concerned. Handing it over, he continued searching for illicit drugs in the cabin below. I sat down to investigate what intel might be contained within the notebook. There was almost nothing written except for a few cryptic directions and the words “New Dawn.” After that was a list of names, and knowing what I did about the spy world, I couldn’t imagine it was a list of people to congratulate. More likely it was a hit list.

“What’s New Dawn?” I shouted down to Linc.

“What?!” he asked.

I stood up and eased my way down below deck. There was a miniature stairway that barely left me any room to turn sideways, leading to a control room. A similarly narrow hall led back to a bedroom that held a single queen-sized mattress and a shelving unit mounted to the wall. Linc was in the control room, hunting through cabinets.

“What’s New Dawn?” I asked him.

“I’ve never heard of it,” he said. “Is that who owns the boat?”

“I think so,” I replied.

“Maybe some paramilitary group?” Linc guessed.

“With ties to the American Army?” I wondered.

“Possibly,” he allowed, although he must have been thinking along the same lines. Just because the MREs were American didn’t mean the boat owners were. It didn’t mean they weren’t, either.

“I’m going to eat,” I announced.

My stomach was shredding itself from the inside, and I wasn’t even sure how long it had been since I had a meal. The last thing I remembered was Theo cooking at the mountain chalet. That could have been days or even weeks ago. My analytic brain spat out some numbers regarding how long a person could survive without food. My captors had had the forethought to give me water, but they hadn’t bothered to feed me. More than likely, it had only been a few days, but now that we were clear of danger temporarily, I wanted to dig into that MRE with a vengeance.

Linc left off his search, following me back on deck to partake in the feast. We each chose a meal pouch and opened them up. The lettering on the front said, spaghetti with meatballs. While the contents bore a passing resemblance to that Italian dish, it wasn’t home cooked by any means. Still, I was starving, and anything would have tasted good in that moment.

The Army had thoughtfully provided a plastic fork embedded in the lining of the pouch. “Gotta love those Army engineers,” I said happily, digging in and wolfing it down.

“We should figure out how much food we have so we know how much to ration,” Linc suggested.

“Good idea,” I approved. “And if there’s anything more onboard that can give us a clue about New Dawn.”

“Why are you so focused on New Dawn?”

“I don’t know,” I countered. “Why are they here? Did they have anything to do with our abduction? It seems pretty convenient that there was another militia in the area when we made our escape.”

“Do you think New Dawn is the people who kidnapped us?” Linc asked, startled by his own conclusion.

“Possibly,” I said. “As an agent, you’ll learn to leave no stone unturned. I absolutely believe coincidences exist, but not in the field.”

“Okay, Jedi Master,” Linc teased.

I sighed, tossing the empty MRE pouch into one of the open containers. “We need to do an inventory of the guns as well. We might need them later.”

“Got it,” Linc said agreeably. “Since you still don’t trust me, why don’t you do guns and I’ll do food?”

“Now you’re catching on,” I teased.

We split up and spent several minutes cataloging our various survival items. I counted seven guns altogether. I found another box of ammunition to reload the ones I’d spent. And there were several clips for the rifles wedged into the seat beneath the weapons.

We reconvened to share our discoveries.

“We have enough food for three days conservatively,” Linc said.

“And we have enough ammunition to carry us through a few firefights,” I reported.

“That’s good news at least,” he observed.

“I’m going back to the control room,” I announced.