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“Exactly. No one will see us.”
Marin was beginning to get a little miffed at his tone. “I don’t understand why we can’t just hide here until the cruise is finished. You told Adam where we are. He can come get us.”
“This boat is filled with innocent bystanders, Marin.” He shoved the plastic bag inside the fanny pack. “We can’t afford any more collateral injuries. Or deaths.”
Her breathing seemed to stop all at once. Light-headed, Marin sat down on the closed toilet, her thoughts drifting to Anika, Arnold, and Seth. All three of them injured or dead. Because of her. She gulped for air.
Griffin swore softly before crouching down in front of her knees. “I’m sorry, Marin. But I can’t sugarcoat this. None of this is your fault, though. You need to keep telling yourself that.”
She nodded and swiped at her eyes. It was easy to say she wasn’t to blame; believing it was a different story, however.
“Is there room in there for my phone?” she asked as she pulled it out of her back pocket.
He went completely still. “You have your cell phone with you?” Griffin asked, his tone menacing. “Adam was supposed to lock that down.”
Marin looked anywhere but at Griffin’s stormy eyes. “I-I took it back when Adam was in the shower.”
Griffin flinched at the word shower. Then, he let out a string of expletives that would have likely stunned the crew of sailors operating the boat they were on.
“It was before I knew Diego was safe.” She shot the words back at him defensively. “I needed to keep trying to reach him.”
He snatched the phone from her hands. “Unlock it,” he demanded.
Doing as she was told, she punched in her passcode.
He jumped to his feet and swore violently again. “You have your damn locator on.”
“Doesn’t everybody?” she asked. “Oh crap,” she added sheepishly, suddenly realizing how much danger she’d put herself—and Griffin—in. “I only powered up for a few minutes in the safe house and then again just now. But that was all it took, wasn’t it? I’m the reason they found us.”
Griffin didn’t bother acknowledging her stupidity. “Can. You. Swim?” he repeated instead.
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to enlighten him that she had a deep-seated fear of water snakes.
And fish. Or just about anything else found in the water. Not when he looked like he could kill her with his bare hands.
He yanked her up to face him. “Listen carefully. In three minutes, we’re slipping out the gangplank door into the water. We’ll be on the opposite side of the river from where we need to be. But the current is pretty mild today so we should be able to cross without issue. Still, you are to stay within two feet of me at all times. Do I make myself clear?”
“Abundantly.” She tugged her arm back.
Griffin jumped up on the toilet and punched out a ceiling tile. He shoved her phone up into the ceiling.
“Hey!” she cried. Marin knew she was being irrational about keeping her phone with her, but her life was unraveling by the minute. She just wanted some aspect of it that she could control.
The look he gave her was so hard and cool she had to wrap her arms around herself to keep from shivering. Griffin jumped down and unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper, shoving it all into the toilet. He then pulled the lever to flush it.
“Let’s go,” he ordered as he pulled the door open a crack.
Once he determined the hallway was empty, he gestured for Marin to lead the way out. He locked the door and pulled it shut. They walked to the stern of the ship. A man in uniform sat in a folding chair beside the gangplank opening. A single chain stood between the boat and the open water.
“Excuse me,” Griffin said. “My wife is looking for a bathroom. There’s a line of wasted coeds at the one upstairs. The one down here is locked, but no one is answering. Did you see someone go in?”
The crewman stood from his chair. “No, but that lock is tricky. Let me try it.”
Water was already spilling out the door by the time they got back to the bathroom.
“Oh, man!” The crewman banged on the locked door. “One of those kids must have already been down here. Would you mind keeping an eye out so that no one goes past this point? I’ve got to run upstairs and get a key. And a mop.”
“Sure.”
