Free Touch the Sky (Young Underground #8) by Robert Elmer Page A

Matthias, looking around cheerfully, “ was that I just wanted to check out the ship once more. ”
                  “ You do that back in port, no? ” Captain Papanikolas made no move to let anyone pass by him.
                  Matthias leaned forward, as if he were telling the man a secret, took off his glasses, and put his hand up to his mouth for effect. “ No sense taking any chances, ” he whispered. “ No one ’ s watching us out here. Know what I mean? ”
                  Finally, a slow grin spread across the captain ’ s face.
                  “ Ah, I see. Secret agent man! ” He began to laugh, until he had to hold on to his round belly. “ This is secret agent ship! ”
                  Still laughing, Captain Papanikolas turned and climbed the stair - ladder back up to his wheelhouse, pulling a sailor behind him. “ Secret agent ship! Ha! ” Peter heard him laughing all the way up the ladder until the men disappeared.
                  Matthias turned to face Peter and polished his glasses with a handkerchief before replacing them carefully on his nose. “ He ’ s a bit of a character, but his heart is in the right place. Now, do you want to tour the rest of the ship with me? ”
                  Peter swallowed hard, nodded, and looked down at his shoes, already red from the rust on the deck.
                  This isn ’ t just going to be a tour , he reminded himself.
     

5
     
    R ising Seas
     
                  Matthias led Peter back along the main deck but stopped before a rusty door that had once been painted white.
                  “ Don ’ t look back, ” Matthias whispered as he gripped the door handle, “ but was it any of those fellows around the plane? ”
                  Peter shook his head. “ He was darker, I think. And his mustache ...”
                  “ Right. The mustache. Okay, well, watch your head as we go down. ”
                  Peter followed Matthias through the door, then down a dark hall that smelled of stale motor oil. Below their feet, the slippery metal floor beat and rumbled with a deep throbbing.
                  “ The engine room is down this way, ” Matthias explained, starting down a ladder. “ You may have to plug ...”
                  The rest of what he said was lost as they lowered themselves into another world. A dark world of machines that hummed and roared. A world of almost living metal animals, glistening with the sweat of black oil. The engine room.
                  “ Five men usually work down here, ” Matthias yelled into Peter ’ s ear, pointing at a couple of mechanics in black coveralls. They were watching some ancient - looking glass dials, while two others were sweating over something that looked like an octopus with metal arms. One pointed, and the other tugged with a wrench. They were both covered with sweat, and their faces were black with oil smudges.
                  One , Peter counted to himself, wiping his own sweat from his forehead. It was not a place he would want to stay long. Two, three ...
                  “ I count three, ” Peter yelled back at Matthias, who nodded and waved at one of the men who looked up at them. Peter gave another sigh of relief to see it was not the man they were looking for, but he was afraid to take a deep breath of the hot, oily steam that filled the engine cave they were in. They continued down a metal walkway until they ran into two more men dragging what looked like a pump into a corner of a small work area.
                  “ No? ” Matthias asked quickly, and Peter shook his head once more. “ I didn ’ t think so. ”
                  Peter followed Matthias up the ladder - stairs and took a deep breath of fresh ocean air when they were back on