Cargo Ship Encounters Pirates – But What the Ship's Cook Does Next Stuns Them All!

The tall man stared down at him for three long seconds. "A ship this big," he said, his voice dropping low, "and one old cook?" "I had the music on!" Manny insisted, his voice trembling despite his best efforts to sound casual. "Look around! Does it look like anyone is here?" The tall man turned his head and snapped a quick, sharp order in Somali.

"Bashir," the tall man called out, gesturing toward the stairwell. The young man with the hunting knife nodded quickly—so his name is Bashir, Manny noted—and took off down the corridor with one of the guards, their heavy boots clattering against the non-slip steel steps. The tall leader pulled a steel stool from under the work counter and sat down heavily, resting his hand on the hilt of a long dagger sheathed at his belt. 

"Bashir will look," he said, turning his gaze back to Manny. "My name is Dahir, cook. And if Dahir finds out you lied, and Bashir finds people below... you and I have a very big problem." Manny swallowed hard, his heart hammering against his ribs as Bashir's footsteps faded deep into the silence of the lower decks.