Page 21 of Her Wicked Hero

“It’s going to be all right,” she murmured in soft tones. She eased up onto her feet, coaxing the mother up with her. “That’s right, come with me.” She knew the woman couldn’t understand her, but her soothing tone must have been getting through. She made sure to keep her body between the woman and Raymond, so hopefully, she couldn’t see the crazy man and his gun.

“You’re doing so good. Let’s get your baby taken care of, shall we? Such a good baby. I bet your baby is going to grow up to be an all-star. I can’t wait to find out if he or she is a boy or girl.” Marcia kept up the non-sense talking as they made their way under the awning. Some of the tension left the woman’s body, and as a result, the toddler wasn’t thrashing around as much.

“I wonder what beautiful name you’ve given this little bundle. I bet I can’t pronounce it.” Marcia spied the cushy pile of blankets beside the crib and correctly assumed it was the diaper changing area when the woman placed the child down on it.

The mom looked up at her expectantly. When Marcia just stood there, she reached out with one hand. Marcia realized she was holding the cloth diaper. She smiled and handed it over.

“Sorry about that.”

She watched as the woman took off the soggy diaper and Marcia finally realized they were dealing with a little girl. Again, Marcia crouched beside the woman and took the soiled diaper from her. The woman pointed toward a bucket, and Marcia placed it inside.

She knelt back down beside the two and pointed toward herself.

Darn, she almost said Marcia. She started again. She patted her chest and said, “Lesley.”

The woman’s eyes lit up, and she nodded. She pointed to her own chest. “Nurul.”

Lesley pointed toward the little girl who was now just hiccupping instead of full-fledged crying. Nurul said “Hana.”

“What a beautiful name,” Marcia said. She knew the woman wouldn’t understand the words, but she figured the sentiment would get through. Then the woman turned slightly, and she surreptitiously pointed toward the man who was unconscious on the deck.

“Adib.” She continued to talk quickly in that other language Marcia didn’t understand, tears rolling down Nurul’s face. As if she could feel her mother’s disquiet, Hana immediately started to fuss. Marcia needed to shut this down, otherwise, Raymond was going to get really angry. She pulled Nurul into her arms.

“Shhhh. It’s going to be okay.” The young mother clutched Marcia’s neck as if she were a lifeline. She continued to speak. Marcia stroked her back, telling her everything would be okay even though she knew it was going to take a miracle for it to be true.

“Keep it down over there!” Raymond shouted.

Nurul’s body shuddered, and Marcia held her tighter. Marcia glanced over at Hana who was red in the face. She picked up the bottle she’d set down.

“Nurul,” Marcia said pulling away from the woman. She showed her the bottle then motioned toward Hana. Slowly the woman nodded. She picked up the cantankerous little girl and sat down cross-legged with the child on her lap. With a little work, the baby took the bottle and Marcia breathed a sigh of relief.

“About goddamned time. Lesley, get over here.”

Now what? Marcia wondered. She got up and went over to Raymond, carefully keeping her eyes downward, only looking up through her lashes. The man didn’t look angry that was a good sign. When she got within four feet of him, she stopped and waited.

“Get me some food, there has to be something on this godforsaken boat. I want hot food. I’m going to have my rifle aimed at the kid the whole time I can’t see you. If you take more than ten minutes, I’m going to shoot the kid. I’ve killed men and women before, but never a kid. Sounds like a new kind of high point I can rack up, so don’t think I’m kidding.”

Her eyes flew up to look at his. He chuckled.

“Better get cracking. Don’t waste your time trying to tell if I’m serious.” He took a step toward her, and his voice lowered. “Because, Girly, I’m fucking serious as a heart attack.”

Her blood turned to ice. She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped. He shoved her with the muzzle of his rifle, and she stumbled a step backward. “Go. Time’s a-wastin'.”

Marcia turned and ran toward the little kitchen she’d seen. She ignored it when Nurul called out her name. There was a little metal contraption that had a teapot sitting on top of it. She didn’t see any kind of propane tank beside it, but there were matches close by. That had to be what they used to cook on. Marcia felt tears of frustration starting.

“Stop! You can do this.” If she could gut a fish and fry it in a pan over an open fire, she could figure this out.

She went to the cooler that wasn’t very cool. Good, maybe she could find something in here to poison Raymond with. There were a lot of things she didn’t recognize. Eventually, she found three eggs, and that she could work with. They’d been near the bottom where items were colder. So much for poisoning the beast. She also found a baggie full of cooked rice. Good, she could warm that up to go with the scrambled eggs.

She peeked out and saw that Nurul was still feeding Hana, so she wouldn’t be any help. Maybe that was for the best, they’d probably be working at cross-purposes in the kitchen, anyway. There was one long thin cupboard, and in there she struck gold. Frying pan, spices, dishes, and cooking oil. Now, she just had to figure out how to light the freaking little stove.

She took off the teapot and replaced it with the skillet. She fiddled with the knob until she heard a hissing sound. She lit a match and prayed. She backed far away, and with just two fingers she touched the match next to the burner. Marcia sighed with relief when a small flame licked upwards. Success!

She poured some cooking oil into the pan and cracked the eggs into the bowl. She soon had scrambled eggs and rice on a plate, no silverware, just chopsticks. Marcia left the galley and made sure she was in front of the mother and child as she walked toward Raymond with his hot food.

“Weren’t you damn lucky? You did it with thirty seconds to spare,” he grinned. She hated it when he gave a genuine smile, it made her realize he could be charming and good-looking. It scared her to think how many people had failed to see the monster underneath the mask.

“Bitch, get me a fork,” he bellowed when she handed him the chopsticks.