Chapter 12 - THE LOCKED SECURITY ROOM
Ortiz tried the door.
Nothing.
Her radio produced static.
The ship’s internal network had been interrupted.
Not destroyed.
Redirected.
Someone with serious access knew exactly what they were doing.
One of the officers pulled the emergency panel from the wall.
Manual release.
Disabled.
Elaine began breathing too quickly.
I took her hands.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“We are getting out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet.”
That was not comforting.
It was truthful.
Then we heard footsteps outside.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone stopped in front of the security room.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Ortiz motioned everyone away.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then a man’s voice spoke through the door.
“Chief Ortiz.”
Peter Kessler.
The staff captain.
Ortiz said nothing.
“I know you’re inside.”
Still nothing.
“I can restore the lock.”
Ortiz finally answered.
“Identify yourself.”
“Kessler.”
“Why is the network down?”
“Because Martin Hartman paid our communications officer eighty thousand dollars.”
Elaine stared at us.
Kessler continued.
“I just caught him attempting to erase surveillance backups.”
Ortiz moved toward the door.
“How do I know this isn’t a trap?”
“You don’t.”
A pause.
“Which is why you should use the independent emergency radio beneath console four.”
Ortiz’s eyes widened.
She crawled beneath the desk.
There it was.
An old handheld emergency transmitter independent of the ship’s main digital network.
She switched it on.
The bridge answered immediately.
Kessler had told the truth.
Captain Rowe was on the bridge.
The compromised communications officer had been detained.
The security door unlocked thirty seconds later.
When we stepped outside, Kessler stood alone.
“Gregory Hartman is heading aft.”
“How do you know?”
“He used an employee badge three minutes ago.”
“Whose?”
“Victor Dane’s.”
So Gregory had taken Victor’s badge.
That explained his movement through restricted areas.
Ortiz looked at me.
“Victor may be another target.”
We found him fifteen minutes later.
He had been locked inside a storage room below Deck Six.
His lip was split.
One eye was swelling.
But he was conscious.
He looked at me.
“You found the passport?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Ortiz crouched beside him.
“Who are you working for?”
Victor coughed.
“Celia Ward.”
Elaine made a broken sound.
Victor looked toward her.
“She survived.”
The words seemed to stop time.
“She didn’t fall.”
“She jumped.”
“Because Gregory was coming after her.”
I stepped closer.
“Where is she now?”
May you like
Victor looked directly at me.
“On this ship.”
