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-Chapter 7-
     
    Dimitri and the rest of the crew spent the day huddled together in the supply room off the galley.  The talking amongst them had died down and the crew sat silently with their thoughts.
    Dimitri ‘s thigh pain had begun to subside, but he dared not move.  He had been lucky that the bullet had entered and exited on the lateral portion of his thigh.  It would have been a different story if the bullet had found its way just a few inches to the right of the entry wound.  Dimitri found he could stand on it with a little pressure, but the pain quickly returned, making it difficult to maintain a standing position.
    In the late evening the men heard the clank of the lock to the door.  The door swung open and three of the pirates appeared.  They were dressed in regular clothes, but their faces were covered with black ski masks.  Each man held an assault rifle aimed directly into the room.
    “ Move to back vall,” the first man yelled at the crew in a heavy accented voice, which sounded to Dimitri like an Eastern European dialect.
    Dimitri tried to ga ther information from their appearance, but the bright light from the galley blinded his eyes temporarily.  The crew inched themselves to the back wall of the supply room per the pirate’s instructions.
    “ Turn around, hand on head,” the pirate barked again.
    The fear was palpable through the men, thinking this was their last moment in life.  They silently did as they were told.
    The remaining two pirates moved quickly and blindfolded the first few men they came upon and secured their wrists with plastic ties.
    “ One move and jou vill be shot,” the first man said forcefully.  His English was just good enough to get his point across.
    Once the pirates were satisfied the men were secure, they were pushed out the door and disappeared from Dimitri’s view.  He didn’t know if he would ever see them alive again. 
    A few minutes passed , and the pirates returned to repeat the process.  Two pirates would secure the hands of the crewman, blindfold them with a canvas bag, and escort them out of the room.  The first man kept his gun trained on the remaining crewmen the entire time.  After ten minutes the room was cleared of the last crew member, leaving only Dimitri on the floor.
    “ No sudden move,” the pirate told him.
    A heavy canvas bag was placed over his head, blocking his vision, and the pirates scooped him up under each arm as he yelped in pain.  The pirates dragged Dimitri from the room and down a hall.  He tried to concentrate on where they were taking him, but the pain was to excruciating for him to focus.  Dimitri managed to gain his faculties just enough to realize they were heading towards the crews’ quarters.  Unfortunately there was no conversation, but he sensed he was passing other men.  Dimitri could hear footsteps only a few feet away.
    Dimitri and the two pirates traveled up a stairwell where they had to lift him to ascend.  He could hear what he assumed to be a third pirate traveling close behind.  He sensed from the distance and footsteps they were traveling to his cabin.  Dimitri was forcefully pushed through a door and onto a bed.  The canvas bag was ripped from his head, and he squinted from the sudden burst of light.  It was his cabin, but it looked nothing like the way he had left it.  The first thing he noticed was all of his personal items were gone, and the small porthole was covered with a film that let in light but blocked the view to the outside.    All that remained in the room was his desk with the drawers missing, his bed, one chair, and a box of food and water at the foot of his bed.  The pirates had attached a lock with a latch to the door of the room.  This was going to be his new prison.
    The pirates looked Dimitri over again before one of them pulled out a syringe and plunged it into his thigh.  He had no time to react and screamed from the pain.  Dimitri stared up at the man with