by steve higgs
‘What? The two guards are the ones that collected you from jail?’ It was astonishing news but almost made sense.
He nodded, ‘Yup. I probably should have known there was something devious going on, but I just wanted out of jail. I didn’t really care why I had been offered the job and if I’m being honest about it, I didn’t ask. I was stealing things before I could walk. I was always a criminal. This is the first real job I have ever had, and I like it. I wish I had never met Jack Langley. My life could have turned out very different.’
‘How so?’ I asked.
‘I met him when I was a kid. He was a couple of years older than me and he took me under his wing. I thought it was a good thing at the time because he had big plans about getting rich but by the time I was fifteen, I had been in juvie hall four times. We just kept getting caught. It didn’t put him off though, he said we was learning our craft and getting better so that one day we could pull off the one big job that would change our lives. Then he got busted again and he went to the state penitentiary that time because he had turned eighteen and already had a juvenile record. I didn’t see him for twenty years after that. Then one day he turns up babbling on about this huge sapphire they have on display at the New York Geological Society. We stole it, but I slipped and fell on the way out and my hand got impaled. Jack could have helped me get free, but he abandoned me and took the sapphire. I had to yank my hand free which is how I lost my fingers. A couple of days later I got busted in hospital. I never saw Jack again and they threw the book at me.’
‘How come you didn’t rat him out to get your sentence reduced? I asked.
‘Because the word rat is exactly what I would have been. It goes against the code. I would never have made it out of jail alive.’ His smile was rueful.
‘I found stairs,’ Barbie called from fifty feet in front of us. She was holding open a door and indicating with her head.
As we scurried through the door and started up the stairs, I started to feel hopeful. We hadn’t been chased for several minutes and hadn’t seen anyone in that time. It was almost as if we were out for a peaceful stroll.
Four levels up the sign on the door announced we had reached the Lido deck. ‘Is this one of the public areas?’ I asked.
‘Very public,’ replied Jermaine. ‘There will be guests and crew when we get outside, but I can’t tell from here whether this will open onto one of the open deck areas or into one of the shopping and eating areas.’
I bit my lip. ‘Let’s find out.’
Through the door off the stairwell was a short passage to another door, but the next door had a round porthole style window in it through which light was coming. It wasn’t daylight from outside though, or at least not directly. The door opened into a shopping area, the same one I had been in just an hour or so ago with the Italian village square in it. We stepped tentatively out and began walking across the open area
‘That tannoy message,’ I started, ‘would that have gone out to all areas of the ship?’
Jermaine shook his head. ‘Goodness, no. That went only to the crew area. Why?’
‘Because we are being watched.’
Confrontation
I had to admit that I might have stared as well. We were an eclectic group; a butler in full gear with tails, a gym-bunny in Lycra, a middle-aged woman in her pyjamas and a grey-haired older man in a steward’s uniform with blood on his face. We were making a bee-line for the escalators to go up another level, but two sets of eyes at a table by the fountain were tracking us and they were not the only ones looking our way. They were the only ones that stood up though, instantly revealing themselves as two more of Mr Schooner’s security guards.
They had been waiting for us, undoubtedly placed in an open space in case we showed ourselves. Now they were beginning to follow us, their route one that would intercept ours before we got to the escalators.
I shouted, ‘Run!’ and pushed Shaun ahead of me. The guards had to weave between tables before they could start running. It gave us the few extra seconds we needed to get to the escalator first. For good measure, I hooked a chair as I ran and threw it across the floor toward them as they cleared the last table and got into the open. All around us people were watching the entertainment. The patrons eating their brunch were standing up to get a better view. The chair zipped across the tiled floor, but the first guard just put a leg out to stop it and casually spoke into a radio in his hand.
I didn’t like that he wasn’t chasing us, not that I wanted to be chased, but I took his relaxed attitude to be a sign of something worse. When the escalator neared the top, I saw what the worse thing was.
Two more guards were on the next level waiting for us. I had got on last so had Shaun, Jermaine, and Barbie ahead of me. Barbie was trying to back up even as the escalator was pushing her forward. One of the guards silently beckoned for her to come to him, his face an ugly sneer as if he was looking forward to handling her.
I glanced behind me to see that the guards from below had stepped onto the escalator to join their colleagues on the next floor. We were effectively trapped.
Inevitably, the escalator spilled Barbie onto the deck, the rest of us right on her heels. The nearest guard, the one that had been beckoning to her, whipped out an arm to grab her around her left wrist and yanked her forward out of the way so his colleague could get to us. As he did so, he said, ‘Come on, babe, it’s time go to.’
Then his colleague, reached for Jermaine as he came off the escalator behind Barbie saying, ‘You too, homo.’ I couldn’t see Jermaine’s face, but the homophobic insult flicked a switch somewhere deep inside him because the next thing I knew, the guard was upside down on the deck with Jermaine’s foot on his head. Jermaine had grasped the man’s outstretched hand as it reached for him, pushed it one way just enough for the man to react and try to pull free, then he had reversed momentum and lunged in the direction the man was going, forcing his centre of balance to extend past his feet. As he toppled, Jermaine whipped out a long leg that arced high and over the man’s shoulder to follow him down. In two seconds, the dominant position the guards felt they had was reversed. Oblivious to events, the escalator kept on rolling forward, pushing Shaun and then me onto the deck where the other guard had now let go of Barbie’s arm and was swinging a clubbing fist at Jermaine.
Jermaine simply ducked it and as the man’s momentum carried him onward, Jermaine flicked out a leg to deliver a hard kick to the man’s lower back. Barbie, Shaun and I all stared at Jermaine with out mouths open.
‘Don’t just gawp,’ he instructed. ‘Run!’
So, run we did. Straight through the nearest door with the two guards from the deck below chasing after us. The door led to a supply area and had to be buzzed open using a chip card. I had three different members of crew with me though, so with the guards hot on our heels, we all tumbled inside, pushed the doors shut and threw the two deadbolts to stop the guards following us. I leaned against the door, trying to catch my breath again, then jumped out of my skin as the guard’s face appeared right next to mine. The door had porthole style windows in it, and he was mouthing obscenities and threats through it, though thankfully I couldn’t really hear him.
I pushed away from the door, on wobbly legs. ‘Where are we?’ I asked. Without needing to herd them, our oddly mixed group were already moving down the corridor away from the door.
‘Never mind that,’ said Barbie, staring at Jermaine. ‘When did you become a ninja?’
‘Yeah,’ I echoed.
Jermaine shrugged, ‘It was one of the requirements for the butler job. In order to care for royalty, should they decide to cruise with us, the butler must be able to double as their personal guard. I started martial arts classes when I was four years old and… well, I guess I got good. Just because I am gay, doesn’t mean I cannot fight.’
None of us had a response to that, but noise coming from the doors we had locked made us hurry as it was clear the guards were trying to force their way through.<
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‘Can they get through?’ asked Shaun.
‘Let’s not hang around to find out, eh?’ I replied. ‘Jermaine, what’s the quickest way to the bridge?’
He led us through another door, saying, ‘We need to get to the central elevator bank. We can ride it all the way to the top deck.’
‘The bridge is above the top deck,’ I pointed out.
‘That’s as close as we can get, I’m afraid. All I can do is get us there and hope the guards agree to let us pass.’
‘Why don’t we just call the captain?’ Barbie asked.
There was a moment’s pause during which Jermaine stared at Barbie as if she was being the stereotypical dumb blonde he knew she wasn’t. Then, as I watched, his expression clouded, and he slapped his forehead. I gave him a quizzical look. ‘There’s a staff intercom,’ he explained. ‘Even without a radio, we can still get through to the bridge.’
‘Oh, my God.’ We had been running and getting chased and shot at and generally threatened for the last half hour and we could have just used an intercom to speak with the captain all along. ‘Where’s the nearest intercom?’
‘I’m not sure,’ he admitted, ‘But there will be one next to the elevator.’
Beside me, Shaun was still wheezing from the effort of our escape, but levered himself upright now. ‘There’s one closer.’ With that he set off, leading the way for the first time. He was right though, leading us around a couple of corners, we came out into an open area where several passages joined and there, on the wall, was a handset on a cable set next to a speaker.
‘Here goes nothing,’ said Jermaine as he lifted the handset and pressed a button. Moments later a voice could be heard faintly at the other end. Jermaine asked to be connected to the bridge and after another few seconds a different voice came on the line, ‘This is Special Rating Clarke, I’m the butler in the Windsor Suite. I need to speak with the captain.’ There was a pause before he spoke again, this time in urgent terms. ‘No, not Mr Schooner. It has to be the captain and Mr Schooner cannot know I am calling.’ Another pause as the other person asked questions. ‘Why? I cannot tell you that.’ A pause. ‘Because it is sensitive.’
Jermaine slumped with relief as the captain finally came on the line almost a minute later. Once again, we got to hear only Jermaine’s side of the conversation. ‘Yes, sir. I know, sir. This is an emergency, sir.’
To me it sounded like he was losing the conversation while getting a good dressing down for disturbing the one man that might be able to help me. I put a hand on Jermaine’s chest and held out my hand for him to give me the phone handset, ‘Let me try,’ I requested in an insistent tone. As he handed it over, I started speaking, ‘Captain, this is Mrs Fisher, the guest in the Windsor Suite.’
‘Mrs Fisher?’ the captain stammered. I had clearly caught him off guard. ‘The intercom says you are calling from the storerooms on the thirteenth deck. Surely you are confined to your suite?’
I ignored the question, ‘Captain Huntley I have been wanting to talk to you since my incarceration and Mr Schooner has been blocking my attempts to do so.’
‘Why do you want to talk to me, Mrs Fisher?’
‘Because I am innocent of the crimes I have been accused of.’
‘Mr Schooner assures me that is not the case. I’m afraid you will have to explain your case to the authorities on St Kitts, Mrs Fisher. We are simply not equipped to….’
I cut him off, ‘Mr Schooner is the murderer.’
‘What?’ he spluttered. ‘That’s preposterous! I’ve known Robert Schooner personally for more than a decade. He…’
I cut him off again, ‘I have evidence that cannot be disputed. If you can offer me safe passage, I will bring it to you.’
There was a confused pause as the captain tried to process what I had told him. ‘Why would you need safe passage? What are you doing in the thirteenth deck storeroom anyway?’
‘Hiding from Mr Schooner’s goons. They have been shooting at us.’
‘What?’ he spluttered again. ‘Mrs Fisher, I cannot believe what you are telling me. What is really happening?’
Jermaine, who had been crowding the handset to hear the conversation, spoke again, ‘It’s all true, sir. We are coming to you now, but we are being chased.’
Just then, a crashing noise and the sound of boots thumping on the deck floor told us the guards had found a way through the locked doors.
‘Quick,’ squeaked Barbie, ‘through here.’
She held open a door for everyone to dart through and once again we were running, the voices of the guards not far behind us as someone yelled instructions into a radio.
Jermaine darted ahead, his long legs carrying him faster than even Barbie could go. At the end of the passage we were in, he grabbed the door. ‘The elevator is right here,’ he called, beckoning urgently for us to hurry. I was winded and poor old Shaun looked about ready to expire from the lack of oxygen. He was right though, as we got through the door, a pair of silver elevator doors were before us in a square area that had four passages leading off from it.
‘Arrrgh!’ screamed Barbie and for good reason. Through the glass porthole window set into each door, we could see guards running along each of the four passages toward us. There was nowhere left to go.
Jermaine was desperately pressing the button for the lift, but in the storage area the lifts were not fitted with a display to show which floor the cars were on. We could hear them moving but had no way of knowing when they might arrive.
I could see guns in the guards’ hands, their sidearms drawn and ready for use. Idly, I wondered if they would just shoot us all and claim we tried to fight our way out after planting weapons on us. It seemed like something they could get away with.
They were yards away now, we had seconds until they burst through the doors.
Then the lift pinged.
As one, the four of us spun to get in, but stopped dead as yet more guards looked out at us, their own weapons drawn. ‘Good morning, Mrs Fisher,’ said the captain as he stepped calmly from the elevator into the small room. I hadn’t seen him standing between all the other white uniforms.
Almost simultaneously, the four doors leading into our small room from the adjoining passages burst open as armed guards flooded in. They were shouting instructions for us to, ‘Get on the floor,’ and, ‘Hands behind your backs.’ Everyone was pointing weapons at everyone else and most of the guards just looked confused because they thought they were all on the same team.
The captain’s voice cut across everyone else, ‘Desist!’ His voice, the commanding tone it carried, instantly caused all of his guards to pause while they listened for his next command, ‘Now then, gentlemen. Please lower your weapons.’
The smart guards in their pristine white uniforms all did as requested, with two exceptions: the two guards that we had interrupted in Shaun’s cabin. They were easy to recognise because their eyes were still streaming and red from the mace attack.
‘They’re dangerous, sir,’ said the first, his weapon pointing at Shaun’s centre of mass.
‘Yeah,’ said his companion, ‘she killed Mr Langley and Lieutenant Davis and then she attacked us in Metcalf’s cabin. They’re in it together.’
The captain turned his attention to me. ‘Is that true, Mrs Fisher?’ Then remembering that I still had a gun pointing at me, he turned back to the guards. ‘Lower your weapons, gentlemen, or I shall have you disarmed.’
There was no disputing the calm insistence in his voice. The two men looked at each other, each trying to make a decision, but if they were wondering whether they could shoot us and get away with it, they decided they could not, reluctantly and slowly placing their sidearms back into their holsters.
‘Mrs Fisher?’ the captain prompted.
‘As I assured you a few minutes ago, I have had nothing to do with any of the thefts and deaths, except that I unwittingly became the subject of a plot to cover up the theft of a priceless jewel from the man tha
t originally stole it.’
The captain raised an eyebrow. ‘Go on.’
‘Perhaps we could go somewhere else for this?’ I suggested. ‘It’s been quite the morning between all the fighting, chasing and being shot at. I really wouldn’t mind something to drink.’
‘Patty,’ chided Barbie, ever conscious of my diet.
‘Water will be fine,’ I added.
The Big Reveal
There were far too many of us to make travelling anywhere in the elevators a tenable solution, so, led by the captain and trailed by a small platoon of white uniformed guards, we made our way back through the passages that connected the storage area to the passenger area of the ship.
The captain was issuing instructions as he walked. ‘Send for Mr Schooner,’ he said to one guard, who dashed away to find the ship’s number two man. He also had men detailed off to secure Shaun’s cabin and Barbie’s for good measure and sent a further pair of men to arrange refreshments to be taken to briefing room seven. I had no idea where or what briefing room seven was, but I soon found out as it was located on the deck we were already on. After emerging back into the passenger area via a different door to the one we had fled down, we crossed a wide expanse of deck, went through another door and into a large room. It was laid out for someone at the front to give instructions to people assembled in the rest of the space. A large projector hanging from the ceiling was aimed at a pull-down screen on one wall and next to it was a map of the world laid flat.
‘Now then,’ said the captain as he poured me a glass of ice water and offered me a seat. ‘Please tell me what has been going on, Mrs Fisher,’ his tone was encouraging, wanting me to feel relaxed and that he was listening.