Chapter Twenty Two

Deke sat silently in his seat. He stared at the back of the seat in front of him, concentrating. He struggled to think of what to do next. Devon and the others had been missing for the last four hours, and Deke felt helpless.

He silently cursed whatever fate had put him in this position. His first instinct was to rush out and track the missing children, rescuing them from whatever situation that kept them from making a report. The realization that he could not leave the rest of these children alone warred with his desire to rescue Devon’s group. His responsibility to all the rest tied his hands. Until they could be rescued by the crew of the Boadicea, he had to stay here, making sure the majority of the children remained safe. It went against all of his maverick instincts.

“So…what exactly are you doing to get us out of this?” Terry Jameson’s shrill voice snapped Deke out of his funk.

“Excuse me?” Deke said.

“Well, you are here to take are of us, and I don’t mind pointing out what a sad botch of it you have made.” Terry eyed Deke with smug confidence.

“I’d be surprised if anyone ever hired you again. I mean, four missing kids…who you sent out there. What a disaster.”

Deke rose from his seat, angry for the first time this trip. “You had better take your seat, son.”

“I’m not your son. My father could buy and sell you if I asked, so you had better watch your manners.”

Deke took a deep breath, corralling his anger. “Mr. Jameson, as leader of this expedition I must warn you that if you do not take your seat I will have to put you in your seat and lock down the safety harness. I cannot allow you to distress the rest of the group.”

“You had better not touch me,” Terry said fearfully, most of his confidence having fled. “I’ll tell my father, and you’d be finished. He have you in front of a laser firing squad before you knew what hit you.”

The anger drained out of Deke’s face at Terry’s words. “Mr. Jameson, congratulations. I think you may have come up with a solution to one of our problems.”

Deke rose to his feet, pushing past Terry and heading toward the rear of the ship.

“Where are you going?” Terry asked.

“To get my laser rifle, of course.” Deke said over his shoulder.

Terry gulped and hurried back to his seat.