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Chapter Nineteen
Once Rylee had the boy in her cabin, she turned to him and exclaimed, “So, Miguel, what am I going to do with you? They’ll kick us both off the ship if they find me hiding you.”
In her mind, she knew that wasn’t the case. Because she was an agent, she could pull strings, but he didn’t need to know that. With the possibility of disembarkation looming, it would keep him vigilant.
His face crumpled and the tears began again. Not sure if they were crocodile tears or not, him thinking she’d be more pliable if he could manipulate her from feeling sorry for him, she quickly reverted to her FBI, no-bullshit personality. “Don’t mess with me bud. I saved your bacon in there, but that doesn’t mean I won’t change my mind. Now tell me why you were hiding in that stinkin’ hole, and don’t lie.”
He stiffened. Wiping away his tears and then cleaning his hands on his grubby shorts, he took the time for a big breath. “I have to go home.”
“You were in Miami?”
“Si.”
“How did you get there?” He took a step back and leaned against the bed. He wouldn’t look her in the eye, and she caught on. “You stowed away.”
“Si, with my friend. He showed me the places to hide.”
Jesus! Two of them. “Is your friend on this ship, too?”
“No, no! He’s still in Miami.”
“Thank God for small mercies.”
“Si.”
Entranced with the little actor’s expressive face, hiding her grin, she waved him to sit and went to get him a bottle of something from the small fridge.
“Why did you go to Miami in the first place?”
“Mi mamá needs money. Grenada, it’s poor. We had a storm and Mamá’s place to work, she’s destroyed. Now no more work and the babies need food. I go to Miami with my friend and find a job.”
“Babies? You have siblings?”
“No, twins – Juan and Angelina. They are mi mamá’s sunshine.”
Enchanted by his description, she kept him talking. “Did you find work in Miami?”
“Si.”
Okay, something was wrong. Red suffused his face, and he looked down in agitation. What the hell did the boy do there in the city of magic?
She heard a noise in the hallway and quickly ushered him into her bathroom and closed the door.
The late-nighters passed on by but the alarm remained. How the hell was she going to pull this off? Turning the kid in to the ship’s captain wasn’t really an option. It wasn’t in her nature to be a snitch, but what the hell was she going to do with him?
Considering the danger they’d overcome earlier with Mad Maddie and knowing her number one priority was protecting Jake, she couldn’t see her way past the problem.
Besides, her stateroom was small – with a bed, a limited seating area, a balcony and a bathroom. Seriously, the closet was the biggest clear space in the cabin – only because she travelled light.
Carl was going to shit a brick when he found out. Suddenly, a thought came to mind, and she knew it might be the best option.
Jake had a huge suite, and Carl was detailed strictly for him, which meant that no other stewards were to enter unless Carl was in attendance also.
They’d set that arrangement in place for a reason. To keep his identity safe, and so no one else had access to him or his stateroom.
If she could talk Jake into keeping Miguel there just for the five – actually four – days, until they arrived in Grenada, that might be the best plan.
That’s, of course, as long as Hakim and his boys didn’t get to him like Maddie just did, and have Miguel caught in the crosshairs. That wouldn’t happen twice; the odds were against it.
Jesus! She’d have to ask Jake tomorrow, now she needed to get in touch with Carl and get him on board with the program. And that was not gonna go over well at all.
She quickly excused herself and carried her laptop into the washroom with her and turned on the taps. Then she opened the page where she could see what was happening in Jake’s room, make sure he was safe. See what Carl was up to.
What the fuck? Jake was perfectly fine, looked almost as drunk as Carl who lay slouched on the sofa, waving his arms around like an idiot while he blathered some nonsense about his youthful shenanigans. Meanwhile, Jake watched over him kindly, a drink by his side and a kitty held to his chest while he murmured silliness to the purring feline.
Men!
Bah!
