I fell to a knee and wrapped my arms around her. Clutch, his brow furrowed, looked from Deb to Tack.
“Aw, shit. No,” Jase said. The sound of his heart breaking couldn’t be missed in those few short words.
“We’ve got incoming!” someone yelled.
I looked up to see flares being fired from the riverboat. Sorenson and his crew had dozens of flare guns, and they were shooting constantly into the air and directly at the towboat. All but one from the first round of flares missed the Aurora. The flare that didn’t miss landed on the deck and lit up a tarp covering a raft. Kurt lunged for a fire extinguisher hanging near the stairs.
“To your posts!” Tyler yelled, waving his arm. “They’re trying to burn us down! Teams Alpha and Bravo, prepare to launch a counterattack from the boats. Charlie, get those barge bay doors closed now! All other teams, get the civvies to barge Two now!”
Over a dozen scouts, including Griz and Tyler, ran toward the ladder to head to the boats. Jase and I were on Clutch’s Charlie team, which meant we stayed behind to protect the towboat and its barges.
“You heard the captain,” Clutch yelled as he grabbed his crutches. “We need to get the big generators running and those doors closed now.”
A young man came up and stood there, looking in shock. He’d arrived with Manny and had just joined Delta team a day ago. His eyes were wide and looked like they were about to burst with tears. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Grab as many fire extinguishers as you can handle and distribute them,” Clutch ordered. A commotion of cattle bellowing and pigs squealing came from barge Four. He turned to Jase. “Jase, take lead of Delta and Echo teams. Cash and I will get the bays closed. Save the barges.”
Jase didn’t say anything. Stress was instantly replaced by a smooth, hardened sense of purpose on his face. “Come with me!” He took off at a sprint, and the other scout followed.
Ever since Tyler had divided scouts into teams, we’d practiced, but we’d never needed more than three teams on a mission before. Delta and Echo teams were made up of only corporals and civvies. “You sure Jase can handle teams right now?”
“He’s a natural,” Clutch said. “Besides, he needs this. Let’s go.” He grabbed his crutches again, and we headed into the galley.
Starting the generators was an easy task…except that black smoke was bleeding through the doorframe leading below decks and exactly where the engines were.
Chapter XVI
Even with crutches, Clutch kept a good pace. After touching the steel door for heat, I opened it. Smoke dirtied the air and I coughed. Propping the door open with my foot, I tugged off the red bandana I kept tied around my wrist.
“Hold up,” Clutch said and grabbed my bandana. He dumped water on it and handed the soaked fabric back to me. “Here. This will help.”
“Thanks.” I tied the wet bandana around my face while he did the same with a tactical scarf he’d retrieved from a backpack he always carried.
As soon as he had his face covered and his water bottle stashed in his pack again, I entered the short deck. The air wasn’t pleasant, but there was no fire here. I looked up to see the heaviest of the smoke hovering around the vents. “The smoke must be coming in through the ventilation system,” I said.
“We need to hurry,” he said as he hustled around me. Each step of his was staggered as the rest of his body had to overcompensate for legs that didn’t play along. He stopped at the door leading to the equipment room that would in turn bring us to the engine room. He touched the door. “It’s cool. That’s a good sign.” He sifted through his backpack and pulled out a flashlight and a flat roll of duct tape. He clicked on the flashlight and taped it onto a crutch. He turned to me. He ran a hand through my hair, and his look softened. “Stay here. I don’t know how bad it’s going to be in there.”
I guffawed and then smacked his hand away. “I should go, and you should stay. I can move faster.”