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She smiled at that. “Is that really your plan?”
Silence.
And she got that. Maybe it was for her benefit—she’d like to think so. Because if she didn’t know anything, they couldn’t get anything out of her. But then again, they might torture her to death trying, so…
“Where is it?”
“Inside your mattress.”
“I’ve been sleeping on blasting powder?”
“Makes for a great pillow. You’ll find a slit along the seam in front. The bag is in there.”
She rolled out from under the bed and got up, then crawled to the front of the bed and searched the mattress.
Indeed, the seam opened up under the ribbing along the edge. And when she reached inside, she found a bag the size of a water bottle. She pulled it out. Crawled back under the bed. “How did he get that in there?”
“Took out the stuffing every time we got more powder, put it in his boots, then emptied his boots at the job site. Pretty soon we had a pretty big amount.”
“Will this blow up the ship?”
A small, muffled snort. “My way it will. But it has to be at the right time or it won’t work.”
“When is that?”
“You’ll know it when you see it.”
The bag was thick plastic, sealed with glue. “Where did you get this?” She pushed it gently through the hole, between the containers.
He took it and eased it into his side. “We rotate duties. In a couple weeks, you’ll be in the kitchen. And then KP. I stole it during my KP shift.”
“So I won’t dig forever?”
“No. You’ll graduate to peeling potatoes. Thanks for the powder.”
Wait— “Don’t go…I…”
“Shh. I’m right here, Shae. Just a voice away.” He stuck his hand through the opening again, and she found it, gripping it with both of hers.
Oh, she didn’t want to be this afraid. “I’m trying to be brave.”
Maybe he didn’t hear her. Or maybe he did, because he squeezed her hand, then slowly pulled his back.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me.”
She drew in a breath. “That’s from the Bible.”
“Psalm twenty-three, verse four. You are not alone. And you are still safe.”
He fell silent, but his words found her bones, and with them, Ned’s voice, from years ago, when evil pursued them.We are not alone, Shae. And we are still safe.
No, no she wasn’t.
But as she got on her cot and stared at the ceiling, as she ran the verse through her head, she stopped trembling.
In fact, as she lay there, a sort of warmth spread over her. Enveloped her. Held her.
No, she was not alone. And maybe she would survive just one more day.
