by Ben Farthing
Riley’s breath caught. Captain Silva had made a connection between her and Nathaniel. Which meant he already suspected Nathaniel was connected to Deck Two.
“You think my uncle bribed your bosses to keep you out of Deck Two.”
“Ah,” Captain Silva nodded. “You’re their niece. But they don’t know you’re here, am I correct?”
“And I’d like to keep it that way.”
He showed his palms. “I won’t say a thing. Am I also correct in assuming you are not employed by your aunt and uncle’s company?”
Riley laughed. “Hell no. I serve coffee and deliver fast food.”
“So you’re unaware of any intentions he has with the contents of Deck Two?”
“I don’t know what’s down there. Do you?”
“When we’re at sea, this is my ship.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Captain Silva stood up from leaning on the railing. He brushed off the sleeves of his blazer. “I appreciate your honest answers about your knowledge of your aunt and uncle. I wish you knew more, but I can’t fault you for a lack of relationship with them. My brief encounters with your uncle, in particular, have been unpleasant. Thank you for your time.”
He walked back into the cabin.
Riley followed. “Hold on. What’s going on? There’s clearly something dangerous down there, whether you believe it’s a giant starfish or a smuggled bear. You’re not just going to keep sailing another six weeks, are you?”
“I will be discussing our plans at the mandatory guest meeting at noon.” He left.
Riley stood in the empty cabin. Wind blew in from the open door.
Screw this.
She wasn’t letting Captain Silva’s own weakness with his bosses stop her from figuring out what was going on.
Getting her dad’s watch back and searching the room for dirt didn’t have to wait until dinner anymore. Nathaniel and Wendy would be at the mandatory meeting.
Riley would break in then.
She headed back to her cabin to find Krystal, all thoughts of giving up banished by her conversation with Captain Silva.
Whatever life meaning waited for her back home, today had a purpose. It felt good.
23
There was only one hallway that led from Nathaniel and Wendy’s cabin to the elevators or stairs. That was the downside of having the fanciest cabin on the ship. You got a view out the bow, but it was a long walk wherever you went.
At eleven o’clock, Riley waited in a sitting area down the hallway from the elevator bank on Deck Seven. She relaxed in an armchair that looked through a glass window down onto the shopping promenade in the center of the Aria.
She positioned an empty chair so that if she slouched, no one in the elevator lobby would be able to see her. She buried her nose in her Kindle but kept watch for anyone appearing from the direction of Nathaniel and Wendy’s cabin.
By eleven-thirty, a steady trickle of foot traffic appeared as guests made their way to the theater on Deck Five.
At eleven-forty-five, Nathaniel and Wendy walked into view. Nathaniel was wearing lanky khakis and a white linen shirt. His long gray hair was neatly combed. Wendy wore a modest, floral print sundress. Her hair was pulled back in a tasteful bun, held up with designer wooden pins.
Someone from the cleaning staff dropped a stack of toilet paper rolls behind Riley. Wendy looked over.
Riley’s heart leaped into her throat. She slid down out of Wendy’s view. Her heart pounded. Had Wendy seen her?
Riley breathed deep. She heard the elevator ding and the shuffling of feet. After a count of ten, Riley peeked around the chair. The elevator lobby was empty.
Wendy must not have seen her. Riley crept to her feet. Metal tools jangled in her purse.
For all the practice she and Krystal had done jimmying locks, and for all the research and purchasing they’d done to buy the right tools, Riley hadn’t considered a bag to carry everything. So she’d stuffed what she needed into the bottom of her purse.
Riley slowly but confidently walked into the elevator lobby. She glanced both ways and exhaled once she saw that Nathaniel and Wendy hadn’t been staying behind to jump out at her.
Despite it being her first break-in, she found herself shifting into autopilot.
She walked confidently down the hallway.
She could get used to this. Way more exciting than pouring lattes.
All the guest cabin hallways had the same seashell light fixtures above green and red art deco carpet patterns.
It was a long walk. Her surge of confidence dipped. Riley’s mind wandered right back down to Deck Three. She imagined that forest of stubby black tentacles reaching out behind her. A quick glance confirmed she was being paranoid. She was still shaken from last night.
The walk took long enough to let her heartbeat get really out of control. She rounded a curve, and there was the door at the end of the hall.
Inside her purse, she wrapped her fingers around smooth iron.
YouTube had plenty of tutorials on getting through a locked door. Riley and Krystal had researched how to fake keycards at first, until Krystal pointed out that forcing the mechanism itself would be easier. Sure, it’d damage the door, which would be evidence of the break-in. But Nathaniel would notice the missing watch either way.
Riley approached the door.
One bit of good luck: the metal plate to prevent jimmying wasn’t pale like steel. It was cheap aluminum. According to YouTube channel IBr8Locks’ most popular video, aluminum could be bent out of the way. Riley pulled a small prybar from her bag. She worked it between the plastic door and the metal plate.
She pried, jammed it deeper, pried again, jammed it even deeper. A few more rounds of that and the plate was bent out of the way, close to breaking.
Riley swapped out the prybar for a long steel shim. She went through the motions she’d practiced hundreds of times in the last few weeks. This lock was different from the one they’d practiced on, but the idea was the same. She slid it between door and frame until she found the latch bolt, then maneuvered the shim behind and brought it down and towards her.
The latch bolt moved but didn’t release its grip on the frame. Another three tries, and the door popped open.
Riley walked inside without a look back, pretending like she belonged.
She locked the door behind her.
Anyone within ten feet of the door outside would be able to tell that it had been damaged, but the latch was still closed. If Nathaniel or Wendy came back, she’d at least have a few seconds warning with the sound of the lock disengaging.
Riley stepped forward to take in the cabin.
Where Riley and Krystal’s cabin was claustrophobic, this one felt like a luxury castle.
A small luxury castle, but still.
They had a kitchenette with a microwave, a half-sized fridge and a counter with barstools. Through the kitchenette was a sitting room with a 60-inch TV and the most comfortable-looking leather couch Riley had ever seen.
She tested it out. It lived up to its looks.
The sitting room was open to the floor above. Spiral stairs led to a loft. The whole two-story wall at the far end of the sitting room was one big glass window. The view wasn’t as magnificent as Riley would have imagined. The outside of both Decks Seven and Eight had ceilings. There was thirty feet between the window and the edge of the ship. Really, their view wasn’t too different from the interior cabins that overlooked the Promenade, except for the framed squares of ocean and sky past the outside walkways.
Riley avoided looking out towards the bow, where she’d first seen the monstrous starfish. She should get in and out as quickly as possible.
She made a quick search of the end tables downstairs: just the cruise’s welcome packet and a guide to the TV channels.
Riley hurried up the spiral staircase. Upstairs was a loft sleeping area. A king-sized bed filled most of the space. A closet on one wall, a bathroom on the other.
&nbs
p; Riley searched the nightstands. Prescriptions, jewelry, tissues, and phone chargers. No sign of Dad’s watch.
She checked the closet. Her heart sank.
There was a safe in the wall. Beige steel. A keypad like on a payphone. A plastic handle, like from a microwave.
Regular guest cabins didn’t have safes, but Riley should have realized the fancy guests in the fancy cabins would demand extra protection from the poor and untrustworthy staff and crew.
She leaned against the closet doorframe, figuring out her next move.
She’d been so proud of herself for getting inside, only to hit a barrier she hadn’t planned for.
Maybe she could remove the safe from the wall?
Before she could get her prybar back out from her purse, she heard something downstairs.
Riley froze.
Someone was fumbling with the cabin door.
24
Riley searched frantically for a hiding place.
The door rattled downstairs.
It wasn’t the quick click of the door being unlocked. It was a slow scraping of metal on metal. Probably what it sounded like from inside when she’d jimmied the lock a moment ago.
The door opened and then clicked shut.
Riley slipped into the closet and pulled the door closed. Nathaniel’s suits and Wendy’s dresses hung against her in the tight space. She listened for their conversation below.
But no one was speaking. Riley heard movement, but it was muted. Someone was sneaking around. It wasn’t cleaning staff, either.
Riley weighed her options. She could burst downstairs and pretend she belonged. If it was a random break-in, that might work. But they would have already seen the damaged door.
She could hide in the closet until they left. But the safe was in here. Whatever they were looking for, they’d end up searching the closet.
Her best bet was to slip out and then find a hiding place that wasn’t also the target of whoever was downstairs.
Before she could act on that decision, the closet door swung open.
Riley gasped.
The intruder had snuck upstairs without her hearing them.
It was a man around thirty. He had brown tussled hair. His round chin gave him a babyface. But the determination in his eyes marked him as a weathered soul. He’d been through heavier trials than most. That grimness in his eyes turned to shock as he saw Riley.
He jumped back, raised his hands, ready to protect against her attack.
Riley breathed deep. She didn’t know whether to push past him or freeze to see if he’d leave her alone.
Then she recognized him. In the dining room last night, there’d been one younger guy staring at Nathaniel’s table as much as Riley was. This was him.
The newcomer decided she wasn’t a threat. He lowered his arms and relaxed his shoulders. “Who the hell are you?”
“You first. I saw you watching my uncle.”
Gears behind his eyes turned. “You’re with Micah’s cult.”
“Cult? You’re calling Nathaniel’s group a cult?”
He tapped his fingers against his leg while he thought. “Are you not part of it? I guess I didn’t see you with them. But Nathaniel’s your uncle?”
Riley had a thousand questions to ask, but she was still in Nathaniel’s apartment. She had to keep moving, get her watch, and get out. “Why are you here? Are you with the government? EPA or something?” Nobody would care that Nathaniel had stolen her watch, but if he was planning on some ocean-destroying, money-grabbing scheme, it made sense that someone official was onto him.
“EPA? What’ve you seen that makes you wonder that?”
“Whatever’s on Deck Two. That’s gotta be some kind of environmental disaster waiting to happen. I think it’s mutating ocean life.”
“Shit,” he breathed. “I’d hoped I had more time.”
“So you are EPA.”
“Not exactly.” He stepped out of her way. “Do you mind stepping out of the closet? I’d like to get to the safe.”
Riley got out of his way. He pulled out a white and blue electric toothbrush. Instead of bristles, it had a glittering cutting disc. On closer inspection, it was a power tool repainted to look like a toothbrush.
He held it up to the safe. It whirred, then screeched as it touched the metal. Sparks flew. He turned his eyes away. “The good thing about these cheap cruise line safes is that they’re all about the appearance of security. But the damn things are made of aluminum. You could break in with a steel chisel if you were determined enough.”
In two minutes, he’d cut a square big enough to reach inside and pull out the contents: a leather folder, a wallet-sized jewelry box, a snub-nosed revolver, and Dad’s gold pocket watch.
He stuffed the gun, box, and watch into his pockets.
“Hey. That’s my watch.”
“I need to take a look at it before you can have it. Make sure it’s not the trinket I’m looking for. You see anything else like this in here? Jewelry? Pins?”
Riley pointed to a nightstand. The man pocketed Wendy’s loose jewelry. He flipped through papers on Nathaniel’s nightstand but didn’t find anything he wanted. “Alright. Let’s go find somewhere to check this out. Maybe you can explain what it is.”
“I doubt it,” Riley said. This was like something out of a logic-free dream. The guy was acting like the Mad Hatter. But if he might decide he wanted Wendy’s jewelry more and just give her the watch, she had no reason not to go along. “But we’ll see.”
She followed him back down the stairs and out the cabin door.
25
Chris led the girl down the hallway back to the elevator lobby. “Keep your head down. Don’t let the security cameras see your face.”
He glanced behind to check on her. She obeyed him to comic proportions, her neck craned forward to let her hair hang over her face. “When can I have my watch?”
Chris wanted an out-of-the-way corner to inspect what he’d found. With the deaths last night, the Aria was waking up. Whatever its purpose, it was building momentum. If Nathaniel knew more than Chris did, then Chris wanted that info. And if Pete had been right about the weird trinket, he wanted that, too.
Since the pocket watch was in the safe, separated from the jewelry box, that was probably his target. “If it’s what I’m looking for, then I’ll need to borrow it for a while.”
The girl looked up. She looked like Nathaniel with a feminine version of his square jawline. “I need it.”
Chris inhaled. He didn’t like being out in the open right after they’d broken into a cabin. “We’ll talk about that in a minute. First, let’s confuse anyone who happens to see us on the cameras.”
He led her downstairs to Deck Six, then outside and along the outer walkway towards the stern. The noon sun was bright and hot. Storm clouds still followed behind the Aria, back towards the horizon.
“Captain Silva said most of the cameras aren’t working.”
“Good. But still, keep your head down. Why were you talking to the captain about the ship’s security systems?” He led them back inside, across the ship. They passed the entrance to the quiet shopping Promenade and came outside to the starboard side.
The girl kept up. Obviously, if she broke into her uncle’s cabin to retrieve a pocket watch, she didn’t lack willpower. Chris was curious how she’d got involved in all this. He had the idea she didn’t have a clue about the Deviser, but she was keeping a tight lip regardless.
“Are you going to answer my question?” he asked.
“Give me my watch, and I’ll think about it.”
She wasn’t a pushover. He could respect that. They went to midship and inside. He led them downstairs.
At Deck Five, she grabbed his arm. “Not any lower.” Her voice had dropped to a whisper. Dread sparkled in her eyes.
“Why not?”
Her face had paled, and her eyes were glued downstairs like she was watching for threats. She swallowed her fear and found her defiance
. “Give me my watch, and I’ll tell you.”
He considered going down anyways to see her reaction. But he didn’t doubt her fear. Probably, she knew more about the Deviser than she realized.
They took a random path up and down, bow to stern, port to starboard, and all again reversed. Chris found a spot on a stern walkway outside on Deck Six, out of the wind and out of sight of any cameras.
It was an awkward space the staff had filled with three plastic lounge chairs. He sat down and invited her to sit.
The girl was another piece in the puzzle of Micah’s cult, so he wanted answers from her as much as he did from the contents of Nathaniel’s safe.
They sat facing each other, sideways on their lounge chairs. Out of the wind, the warmth of the Pacific day quickly had Chris sweating. The roof above them blocked most of the sky, so they could only see the storm clouds that followed the ship.
“I’m Chris.” He offered.
“Riley.”
“You’re Nathaniel’s niece.”
“Right.”
“How long ago did he take your watch?”
“Last year. My dad left it to me when he died.”
“Why do you want it?”
“To sell it and pay for school.”
“What is it?”
She laughed, confused. “An antique watch.”
“What do you know about Nathaniel’s cult?”
She shrugged. “He’s got hundreds of millions of dollars. He runs a huge mining company. It makes no sense that he’d hang out with that weird group of people. I guess it being a cult explains that.”
Chris considered how much to tell her. He’d stick to as little as possible for now. She didn’t need to think he was crazy quite yet. “Why are you on this ship?”
“To get the watch.”
“How’d you know he’d have it here?”
“An anonymous note.”
Someone was pulling strings to get her on board. Strange. “Who knew you wanted the watch? Could it have been someone from the cult?”
“Probably his maid. Nathaniel’s a dick to everyone. The servants saw a chance to get even.”