“No,” she said, softly. “I had no idea.”
He searched her eyes. “I believe you.”
“Do they know I’m the Sparrow?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m praying they won’t find out.”
“What are they planning?” she asked.
He left the question dangling for a moment without an answer. The baby cried again. This time he turned. A woman was heading out the door and onto the deck. Long dark hair fell over her face and her head bowed over a tiny little baby that couldn’t be more than a couple of months old. Then she glanced up. Their eyes met. They both froze.
It was Hannah Phillips.
And then it dawned on him. Oh, I’ve been a fool! The party cruise would be crossing into American waters. As long as he stayed on the boat, he retained his full authority. But if either Hannah or Kelly slipped off the boat and made it to American soil, he’d lose jurisdiction to arrest them without an international warrant. He leaped to his feet only to feel something cold click against his wrist. He spun back in disbelief. Kelly had handcuffed her wrist to his...with his own handcuffs.
“No,” Liam said, holding up a finger on his free hand. “I’ve been more than patient, but now you’ve gone too far. Hannah Phillips is not supposed to be outside Alberta without RCMP authority or have any contact with criminal activity. So being on a Toronto party cruise with the same woman who deleted her file is definitely suspicious. Not to mention she’s supposed to report any significant relationship to her local RCMP contact, so if that’s her child she’s holding she’s kept that tidbit about her life hidden, as well. I have no clue what’s going on here. But I’m arresting you and detaining her for questioning.”
He reached around in his inside pocket for his keys.
“Please, Liam, listen to me.” Kelly tried to grab his other hand. “Let me explain.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen.
His phone was ringing again. He stopped fishing for his keys long enough to decline the call only to have Seth’s voice unexpectedly sound in his ear, letting him know he’d just accidentally done the opposite. “Hey, Liam?”
“Hey, Seth, I’m sorry, I really don’t have time—”
“Just got online chatter the new Imposters are planning some kind of major stunt in your area tonight—”
“What do you mean by ‘my area’?” Liam said. “I’m on a boat.”
“I know!”
Suddenly the doors on both sides of the ballroom flew open. Five young men in blue jeans, Christmas sweaters, black ski masks and colored eye patches stormed in. Four waved an array of semiautomatic weapons. One held a video camera.
Oh, Lord, please, help me now.
“Everybody down!” a masked man yelled. “We’re the Imposter cyberpirates and we’re taking over this ship!”
THREE
For an instant Kelly just stood there, her body almost paralyzed with fear. The world was a tableau of disbelief and confusion around her, as partygoers were momentarily too shocked to even scream, think or move. Then she felt Liam’s handcuffed hand grab on to hers and squeeze tightly. And something, like the memory of once feeling strong and empowered, swept over her. Liam had protected her before. Not only that, but he’d also made her feel capable of protecting herself. He would again.
His free hand grabbed the table they’d been sitting at and hurled it at the men. Before it could even land, Liam had pulled her down to the ground and rolled with her underneath the closest banquet table. The thick red tablecloth fell like a curtain, sheltering them. She lay there for a moment listening as chaos erupted on the other side. A cacophony of voices shouting, screaming and barking orders clashed with the sound of more furniture throwing and things crashing. But, thankfully, there was no gunfire. She closed her eyes and prayed.
Please, Lord, end this before anyone gets hurt. Please keep Hannah and the baby safe. Help them escape this boat, even if it’s without me.
“We don’t have long,” Liam whispered. “It’ll take them a few moments to secure the ballroom and right now they’ll be focusing their attention on anyone trying to fight back. Once they think they’ve secured everyone they can see, they’ll start searching around for more. We wait for the right moment, then we run.” She opened her eyes to find his gaze was locked on her face every bit as firmly as his hand held hers. “You with me?”
She forced her head to nod and a word to cross her lips. “Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Also, I’m—I’m sorry about the handcuffs.”
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “They’re only number four on my list of problems right now. I can’t reach the key from this position, but I’ll get them off soon enough.” Then he tapped his earpiece and spoke into what she now realized was a tiny button-sized microphone on his jacket.
“Seth? Can you hear me?” Liam’s voice was low, urgent, and even right next to him she could barely make it out over the chaos filling the room outside their hiding spot. “Yeah, we’ve got a situation. Top deck. Five of these new Imposters at least. In pirate getup. Upward of a hundred and fifty civilians.”
This was who the new Imposters were? A group of heavily armed men in pirate patches? While they were masked, something about their voices and builds made her think none were much older than college students.
Liam turned back to her. She noticed he hadn’t mentioned her or Hannah.
“Seth’s watching the live feed now,” Liam said. “It’s all over the internet apparently. The Imposters say that they’re cutting off cell-phone and internet access to everyone on this boat in six minutes, so everyone on board should get their final calls, texts and social-media posts in now. Law enforcement will take down their cell blockers eventually. Tactically it’s a brilliant move. If everyone’s staring at their phones nobody’s fighting back, plus it’s great publicity.”
Oh, Lord, please don’t let them find Hannah and the baby...
“Thankfully, I wasn’t relying on the internet to get out of this,” Liam said. “I always prefer going old school.”
Old school. Like tossing furniture and hiding under tables?
“Who’s behind all this?” she asked. “Who are they working for?”
“They’re like a swarm without a leader,” Liam said. “According to Seth, even if someone did claim leadership it wouldn’t necessarily mean anything.” He peeked through the curtain. His voice was low, quick and blunt, like he was giving a briefing. “No clear goal beyond getting attention and hurting those they think have wronged them. Imagine an ugly internet chat group come to life, in masks and colored eye patches.”
He let the curtain fall and turned back to her.
“Our best guess is there are a couple hundred of them worldwide,” he added. “Dozens signed the online pledge to take out their local power grids on New Year’s. Maybe some of them thought this would be good publicity for that. Or maybe a splinter group decided to go do their own thing. Now come on.” Liam tugged her hand. “We’re getting out of here and finding you a better place to hide while I try to sort out this mess.”
But her fingers dug into his.
“We have to get to Hannah and the baby,” she said. “We can’t let the Imposters get to them. If they wanted to use me to get to Renner, imagine what they’ll do if they get ahold of his wife and child.”
Liam’s face paled as if his brain was suddenly recalibrating. “So the baby is Renner’s child?”
“Yeah,” Kelly said. She prayed hard for wisdom. “Renner and Hannah are still very much in love and a couple. He arranged for there to be a motorboat docked alongside this party cruise that Hannah, the baby and I could take to join him. Yes, I know the plan sounds stupid. Believe me, I tried to talk them into trusting law enforcement. But they’re very young, very much in love, still seem to think they know everything and that it’s them ag
ainst the world.” Liam, of all people, should remember what that’d felt like. “Renner doesn’t trust law enforcement to protect Hannah and is convinced going into hiding is the only way to keep Hannah and the baby safe.”
And the fact that her own RCMP file had been falsified was quickly eroding her faith in law enforcement’s ability to keep Hannah and the baby safe, too. If her own file could be corrupted that way by someone inside the RCMP, who’s to say Renner and Hannah were wrong to go it alone?
“If you get Hannah, the baby and I to the boat,” Kelly added, “I’ll personally beg Renner to contact you, explain everything and help you stop these new Imposters in any way he can. He loves his wife. He just wants to know she’s safe.”
The noise of voices and chaos was growing quieter on the other side of the tablecloth now. It wasn’t a good sign.
“No deal,” Liam said. “I’ll keep you, Hannah and the baby safe. But I’m detaining you all unless Renner turns over his decipher key.”
“There is no decipher key!” Her whisper rose.
“Then how did he decrypt the code?” Liam demanded. “And don’t say he took a wild guess.”
“I told you, I don’t know!”
“My intel said—”
“Your intel also thinks I’m dead!” she interrupted. Was Liam really trying to negotiate a deal in the middle of an armed standoff? Just how many deals with criminals had he negotiated under fire? More than he could count, she guessed, just as she imagined a lot of cases had been solved as a result. But this wasn’t any other case. “I need to explain about Hannah.”
There was a loud crash and more people screamed. By the sound of things, the new Imposters had started searching the room.
“No time,” Liam said. “Just tell me where she is.”
She glanced at her phone screen, thanking God to see a message from Hannah. “Bottom deck. Stern. Small office room.”
“Got it. Let’s go.”
He grabbed her hand, which was still handcuffed to his, and they slid out of the relative shelter of their hiding space. They crawled side by side, keeping their stomachs flat against the floor. Liam pushed through a swinging door and into a narrow and empty galley kitchen. Instantly, he stood, pulled her up after him and shoved a food cart against the door, wedging it under the handle. “We’ve got about thirty seconds before someone’s brain registers the fact they just saw the door move and they send someone after us.”
They ran through the galley into what looked like another food-prep room, then Liam rapped on the door of what she suspected was a supply cupboard. “Detective Liam Bearsmith, RCMP—everyone all right in there?”
Even hushed, his voice rang with an authority that seemed to crack the air like a whip.
There was a pause. Then she heard an older male voice. “Yes.”
“How many of you in there?” he asked.
“Six,” the voice replied.
“Anyone hurt?”
“No.”
“Good,” Liam said. “Stay there. Keep the door locked and don’t open it until law enforcement tells you it’s safe. Don’t panic if the cell signal goes down. Rescue is on its way.”
He led Kelly to another door, checked the hallway behind it and then turned to her. “Keys are inside my jacket, right-side chest pocket. I need you to grab them for me.”
A large bang sounded somewhere behind them. Someone was trying to break through the first door. She looked back.
“Focus,” Liam said sharply. Yet his hand was almost tender as it touched her face. Then he reached for his weapon. “I can get us out of here, but I need your help first.”
She reached inside his jacket and her fingers looped through the keys. “Got them.”
Another bang. Then the door behind them flew open and a masked man rushed through. The keys fell from her fingers. Liam spun around, placing his body between Kelly and the criminal, raised his weapon and fired. The criminal fell back behind the door. Liam scooped up the keys, grabbed Kelly’s hand and pulled her into the hallway. They raced down it, reached the stairs, waited while Liam glanced to see if the coast was clear and then ran down. He paused on the second landing and his hand moved over hers—she didn’t even realize he’d unlocked the handcuffs until they fell from her wrist. They kept running.
“Hey, Liam?” A faint voice crackled from Liam’s earpiece and she realized it’d fallen into his scarf.
“Seth,” Liam said. “Hey. Can’t talk. Running. Update?”
“Law enforcement from both sides of the border are on their way,” Seth said. “Helicopters and boats. They’re currently in a holding pattern. It’s all over international news. Internet’s lighting up. It’s quite the spectacle.” Which she guessed was the point. “We’re losing phone and internet in sixty seconds. You?”
“I’m with Kelly Marshall,” Liam said. “Turns out she’s not dead. Trying to locate Hannah Phillips, who’s on this boat, and Renner’s baby.”
Seth choked out a cough. “You’re telling me all this now?”
“It was need-to-know.” Liam ended the call.
They reached the bottom deck, and after another spot check, stepped outside. Cold wind assailed them. Both the sky and water were pitch-black, dotted with the bright lights of police boats and helicopters that were keeping their distance for now. She followed him down the deck, but it wasn’t until he stopped at a nondescript door that she realized he’d probably memorized the boat’s blueprints before boarding. He grabbed the door handle. It was locked.
“Let me.” She leaned past him and knocked rhythmically.
“Secret knock or not,” Liam said, “she’s got thirty seconds or I’m breaking the door down.”
The door flew open. There stood Hannah, holding Pip in one hand and a handgun in the other.
“That’s an illegal handgun,” Liam said under his breath as if adding to the charges he could detain her for.
Hannah’s eyes cut to Liam and narrowed.
“And if you make one wrong move,” Hannah said, “I’ll shoot you with it.”
* * *
“Hannah,” Kelly said. “This is Liam. He helped me escape from the party room upstairs. Liam, this is Hannah.”
Kelly’s voice was soft, firm and urgent, and Liam couldn’t help but notice she’d left out that he was a cop. His gaze rose from the handgun to the woman holding it. Nothing about Hannah Phillips matched the person her file had led him to believe she was. It wasn’t just that she seemed younger in person. Since he’d passed forty and kept going, it seemed increasingly clear that people in their early twenties were half his age. But her file had identified her as overwhelmed, nervous and weak. One glimpse into her eyes showed a fierceness and determination that was anything but.
She reminded him of Kelly.
Hannah turned away as if she knew she was being analyzed and didn’t like it. She slid the gun in her pocket. He took in the room. It was small with a short love seat, an infant car seat on the floor, a desk with a huge diaper bag on it and a chair that seemed way too big for the room. He watched as Kelly and Hannah hugged. Then Hannah eased the tiny little baby into Kelly’s arms, and after a hug Kelly buckled the baby into the car seat.
Okay, and what is going on here?
“The internet and phones are completely down,” Hannah said, “but I’ve hacked into the Imposters’s feed.”
“Excuse me?” Liam almost stuttered. She’d done what? Hacking skills had also been missing from his intel. Yes, Hannah’s file had indicated she’d tested as gifted when she was young, but she’d also struggled through school and started a computer-related degree in college that she’d never completed. It was theoretically possible Hannah had taught herself to hack, but more likely Renner had taught her.
Hannah ran around to the other side of the desk and dropped the diaper bag onto the floor, and suddenly he saw the slim lap
top she’d apparently been hiding behind it. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with a speed that rivaled Seth’s.
“All crew and guests have been escorted to the third-floor ballroom,” Hannah said with her eyes locked on the screen. “It seems the Imposters are gathering them all there. It’s a slapdash operation. The call for volunteers went out on the Imposters’s message board thirty minutes ago. ‘Wear your own Christmas sweater and ski mask. Pirate eye patches will be provided.’ They boarded the boat after the cruise passed Toronto Island, from a handful of motorboats they’ve now got all docked off the cruise ship. Now we’ve got eight hostiles total taking about two hundred people hostage. It’s a complete logistical mess.”
Hannah sounded like a cop. No, she sounded like him.
“Trust me, the boss Imposter isn’t happy with it,” she added.
“The Imposters have a boss?” Liam asked. Seth was sure they didn’t.
“Not really.” Hannah shrugged. “Someone stepped up as a theoretical figurehead a few days ago, but he seemed out of the loop on this one.”
She spun the laptop around. Video of the room he and Kelly had just escaped from filled the screen. The camera scanned over the dozens of people sitting on the floor, then back repeatedly to an extreme close-up of a masked Imposter who seemed to be yelling directly at the camera. No volume.
“Any casualties?” he asked.
“No,” Hannah said quickly, “or major injuries that I can see.” He thanked God for that. She turned the laptop back toward herself and glanced at Kelly. “You do know he’s an undercover cop, right? He practically reeks of it.”
Christmas Witness Conspiracy Page 4
