The big Marine led Justin to a couch. A different Marine offered Justin a drink.
As Justin drank, Neve found Erin.
She grabbed Erin’s hand. ‘You brought them to us, Erin. Thank you so much.’
Erin sat. She looked exhausted. She shook her head.
‘Ben Bryant guided us with the radios,’ said Erin. ‘I’m sorry we weren’t faster. You almost lost your son.’
‘But I didn’t. Thanks to you all.’
Neve looked around. Everyone was staring at her.
‘What is it?’
Erin pointed to the Marine who’d given Justin a drink.
‘This is Captain Coleman. Ben sent his team to find you. We need your help.’
Neve nodded. If her expertise could get her and Justin off this ship, she was eager to make it happen. ‘What can I do, Captain Coleman?’
‘Just call me Coleman.’ He waved to the promenade. ‘What were you doing out there?’
‘Trying to reach lifeboats,’ replied Justin.
‘All the lifeboats are gone,’ said Coleman.
‘Not all of them,’ countered Neve. ‘The staff lifeboats couldn’t all have been launched.’
Coleman raised an eyebrow at Erin.
‘She’s right,’ confirmed Erin. ‘The staff had to board the main lifeboats with everyone else. Some of the staff lifeboats won’t have launched.’
Coleman pulled out a map. ‘Where are the staff lifeboats?’
Erin pointed on the map.
Neve nodded. ‘It’s still a good plan. Can you help us reach them?’
From his expression, Captain Coleman had other ideas.
‘We need your help first,’ he said.
Neve studied the Marines. ‘Isn’t it meant to be the other way around? Aren’t you supposed to be helping us?’
Coleman sat to speak at eye level with Neve.
‘First Officer Bryant told us about your qualifications.’
Neve nodded. ‘I helped devise a response plan. I advised the medical staff which blood tests the mainland needed.’
‘Those blood tests never reached the bridge,’ revealed Coleman. ‘The mainland has nothing to work with.’
‘Then you need to get them,’ said Neve. ‘It’s imperative. If this infection reaches the mainland it will kill more humans than every war and every epidemic in history combined. But it won’t be the germs killing us. We’ll be killing each other.’
‘Imagine if half the residents of New York City declared war on the other half,’ said Erin.
‘More like half the continent,’ Neve corrected. ‘Pandemic modeling is my job. If this infection reaches the United States it will spread from Alaska to Chile in less than a week. The entire continent’s population would turn on each other. It would be an apocalypse. There’s no other word to explain it.’
Silence followed Neve’s revelation.
‘And if it went pandemic?’ asked Erin.
‘Then half the world would start killing the other half.’
It was too awful to contemplate. Neve wished Justin didn’t have to listen to such terrible forecasts.
‘Then you understand why we need you,’ Coleman said.
‘Of course I understand,’ said Neve. ‘But are you a parent, Captain Coleman?’
Coleman nodded. ‘I have a son.’
‘Then you understand why I need Justin off this ship.’
Justin stood up. ‘I’m not leaving you. We’re getting off this ship together.’
Coleman raised a hand to lower Justin’s voice. ‘Listen. We’ll all stay together. We’ll all go to the hospital. I’ll assign two Marines to protect Justin. His safety will be their first priority. We’ll all move together, but they’ll stick to Justin like glue.’
Coleman began to wave two Marines forward. One was the huge black man. The other was fair haired, blue-eyed and wiry looking. They made a strange-looking pair, but both looked extremely capable.
They began stepping forward, clearly expecting to be their Captain’s first choice.
They might be their Captain’s first choice, but they weren’t Neve’s.
‘No,’ she said.
She pointed out two other Marines. ‘I want those two.’
She read their name patches. ‘Myers and Craigson.’
Captain Coleman clearly wasn’t accustomed to having his judgment questioned. He began to shake his head.
Myers spoke up. ‘Ma’am. Craigson and I are still only provisional candidates on this team. I believe the Captain wants to assign Justin’s safety to his most experienced Marines.’
Neve listened, but trusted her instincts.
She said to the Captain, ‘These men charged fifty sick passengers in the atrium to save us. They’re the men I want protecting my son.’
Captain Coleman studied Myers and Craigson.
Neve added, ‘How did you find us, Captain? How did you even know we were still alive?’
The Captain glanced toward the Marine named Myers.
Neve didn’t need to say anything else.
The Captain formally addressed Myers and Craigson. ‘You two have new orders. Justin’s safety is now your single and only priority. If things go south, your orders are to get him safely off the ship. Am I understood?’
‘Yes, sir,’ chorused Myers and Craigson together.
They took up positions either side of Justin.
Erin stood suddenly. ‘The ship is moving.’
Neve couldn’t feel anything. Justin shrugged.
‘I feel it,’ confirmed Corporal Forest. ‘We’re turning north.’
‘Do you have a compass?’ asked Erin.
The other Marines checked their compasses.
‘He’s right,’ confirmed King.
‘Bryant must have new orders,’ said Coleman.
Erin radioed the bridge.
No one replied.
She pressed buttons and frowned over her radio’s little LCD screen. ‘There’s no activity on any frequency. Not even from the lifeboats.’
Coleman touched his helmet radio. ‘I didn’t hear your signal.’
Myers tapped his helmet. ‘Me either. My radio’s dead.’
The others checked. None of their radios worked.
‘What does that mean?’ asked Neve.
Coleman looked at Forest.
He must be their communications expert, guessed Neve.
‘Someone is jamming all radio activity,’ said Forest. ‘Only one power source is large enough to jam our signals through this entire superstructure.’
‘The ship itself?’ guessed Coleman. ‘From the bridge?’
Forest nodded.
Neve was confused. Why would the bridge officers block communication?
Neve noticed the Marines grow tenser.
Coleman stood and looked at Erin. ‘What’s the fastest way to the hospital?’
Chapter Ten
Ben hadn’t thought the situation could get any worse.
Now he knew things could always get worse.
His wife had a rifle pointed at her head. Two other officers knelt beside her. They were the lucky ones. Andrew Hayman had been executed right in front of them all.
Worse, it seemed these men were only getting started.
‘If you cooperate,’ began Christov. ‘I’ll see your officers delivered safely to the lifeboats.’
‘What do you want?’ asked Ben, trying to keep his voice level. ‘Just tell me.’
‘Answers,’ replied Christov. ‘Why are the Marines here?’
‘They were sent to secure the bridge.’
‘Then why aren’t they here on the bridge?’ asked Christov.
‘Saving passengers was more important,’ answered Ben. ‘They assisted with the evacuation. They saved hundreds of people.’
Christov shook his head. ‘You’re lying.’
‘I’m not lying!’ insisted Ben. ‘The Captain radioed for assistance and they responded. It’s the truth. Check our radio logs.’
&
nbsp; One of Christov’s men pointed to the surveillance cameras.
‘Christov,’ he called. ‘The Marines’ helicopter is prepping for takeoff. They’re probably trying to escape the jamming zone.’
Christov acted instantly.
Using his palm, he struck Ben with a stunning blow to the face. Before Ben regained his senses, Christov twisted his arm behind his back.
Agony flared through Ben’s shoulder. He suddenly found himself up on his toes. Christov shoved Ben forward, steering him with his twisted arm toward the gaping hole in the bridge.
He’s throwing me out the hole! realized Ben.
It was already too late.
Even if Ben could try to stop, his shoulder would dislocate before momentum sent him tumbling through the hole.
He heard Karen screaming his name.
Ben saw the hole racing toward him, the blue sky, the sea, and then…
…he was hanging out through the hole in the glass.
His feet still touched the bridge, but the top half of his body hovered out over the ocean.
Christov held him by the wrist and jacket.
Ben flailed for balance with his left hand, his free hand, but he could only grasp the broken glass. It broke free in his hand, cutting his finger before plummeting silently into the ocean.
His body swayed in the wind at Christov’s mercy.
Over the roaring wind, he heard Christov shouting.
‘Why are the Marines here?’
Ben twisted as best he could. He saw Andrew Hayman’s blood on the jagged edges of broken glass. A piece of Andrew’s uniform had snagged on the glass. The little white piece of fabric fluttered in the wind like a flag.
A surrender flag.
Ben shouted so Christov could hear him over the wind.
‘To help us!’
‘Then why are they leaving?’
‘I don’t know!’
‘What have they taken?’
‘I...DON’T...KNOW!’ Ben shouted again.
‘Tell me the truth!’ demanded Christov.
Despite the agony in his shoulder, Ben managed to twist enough to meet Christov’s eyes.
‘I AM!’
Christov stared back at Ben.
He’s deciding whether to drop me or not, Ben thought.
Christov hauled Ben back in, twisting his body away from the hole. He savagely kicked the back of Ben’s legs.
Ben collapsed.
He hit the floor and collided with the glass just feet from the hole. One of the gunmen forced Karen back down to her knees. She didn’t look hurt.
Only terrified.
Christov lifted a hand radio from his belt.
‘It’s not in the helicopter,’ Christov barked into the radio. ‘Light them up!’
Ben wondered who Christov had radioed. A shadow cut across the bridge before Ben remembered the second helicopter that had arrived with Christov.
Only one helicopter had landed.
The other must have been hovering over the ship, Ben realized. Waiting for Christov’s orders.
Ben could see both helicopters now.
The Marines’ helicopter lifted from the helipad.
Christov’s second Sea King helicopter hovered about two hundred meters off the starboard stern.
What are they doing?
The Sea King’s cargo door rolled open.
Ben didn’t see a search and rescue harness.
He didn’t see a winch for pulling up survivors.
Instead, a huge black machine gun swung into sight.
The gun locked into place.
That’s not a search and rescue helicopter, realized Ben. That’s an attack chopper.
The Marines’ Black Hawk helicopter had cleared the upper deck, but couldn’t gain altitude fast enough. The Black Hawk was more than a match for the Sea King in a fair fight, but first the Black Hawk needed altitude.
Hurry, thought Ben. Surely they could see the threat.
The Black Hawk suddenly shot forward while gaining altitude.
They’d seen the threat, but needed to get clear of the ship before they could maneuver their weapons into position.
‘Do it now!’ Christov shouted into his radio. ‘Don’t let them turn!’
The Sea King’s huge black machine gun flared to life.
Red flames burst from its barrel.
The Sea King unloaded mercilessly onto the Black Hawk.
Ben saw the Black Hawk’s windshield disintegrate. Bullets strafed its fuselage and then pounded the rotor blades. One blade came clean off and flew out over the ocean.
The Black Hawk twisted in the air, completely out of control. Ben expected the helicopter to burst into flames and explode any second. Instead, it banked wildly and began flying sideways across the top deck. The blades picked up deck chairs and flicked them over the side of the ship as though a tornado had suddenly appeared on deck. The blades sliced through the water of the main pool, churning up foam.
Then the blades hit the deck.
They disintegrated on impact.
The helicopter somersaulted in the air as all the torque from the blades transferred into the fuselage.
The wreckage ploughed through a hotdog stand and then a giant shade sail before smashing through the ship’s glass railing.
Ben waited for the wreckage to plummet into the ocean, but it hung there, half over the side. Two steel cables had ensnared the tail rotor. The thick cables stretched back to the demolished shade sail.
No one could have survived that, thought Ben.
Christov disagreed.
‘Hit them again,’ he barked into his radio. ‘Cut that thing in half!’
A moment later the wreckage jerked and bounced as another round of machine gun fire riddled every part of the aircraft.
Ben couldn’t believe how quickly a mighty machine like a Black Hawk helicopter could be transformed into a pile of barely identifiable wreckage. The wreckage began tipping further over the edge.
How many people were on board? Ben wondered.
The helicopter fell.
The steel cables saved the tail rotor, but the rest toppled over the side and disappeared from view.
Erin paused as Forest stopped walking.
He looked back at the group. ‘Did anyone else hear that?’
‘What was it?’ asked Coleman.
‘It was distant. Maybe from outside. It sounded like an impact.’
Erin shook her head. ‘We’re too deep in the ship to hear noise from outside. There are so many layers of sound-proofing between us and the outer hull that we couldn’t even hear thunder. It’s designed that way.’
‘Maybe something blew up,’ said Justin. ‘The crazies are smashing everything apart. Maybe they damaged something that exploded.’
Coleman nodded.
Forest didn’t seem convinced. He looked upward suspiciously for a moment and then nodded for Erin to continue.
Erin chose their route down to the ship’s hospital carefully.
Coleman and Forest followed right on her heels.
Behind them, moving as silently as possible, Neve and Justin were surrounded on all sides by the Marines.
Without Ben to guide them over the radio, violent encounters couldn’t be avoided.
Corporal Forest had given Erin an extendable baton. The weapon had a reassuring weight and felt comfortable to hold.
Coleman’s team had taken down three small groups of sick passengers in hand-to-hand combat.
Erin’s job was to help them detour around the large groups. The sick passengers were clumping together in larger and larger groups as though reverting to some kind of herd or pack instinct. Thankfully large groups of destructive maniacs made lots of noise.
Erin looked around the next corner carefully and waved everyone after her.
Moving through the cabin corridors was risky.
Crazies could be in any of these cabins, Erin knew. She had to watch her footing among the debris scattered on the corri
dor floor. She listened very carefully.
Whenever she heard a noise, she waved the Marines forward. Once they cleared the way, their procession began again.
Not far now.
Erin sped up a little.
It was a mistake.
She froze.
She’d heard a sound.
The sound wasn’t coming from a cabin ahead this time. It came from a cabin right beside her.
Erin had stopped right outside the open cabin door.
She gripped her baton tightly.
The group stopped, sensing something wrong.
Coleman moved fast and silent, taking a look through the cabin door. Erin looked too.
A woman sat on the bed. She sat facing the door. Her dark, messy hair concealed her face and age. Gold rings covered her fingers. She wore a long-sleeved denim shirt over jeans.
She held a toothbrush.
She stared at the toothbrush.
She turned the toothbrush slowly in her hands, carefully touching the bristles as though trying to fathom their purpose.
Coleman whistled barely loud enough for the woman to hear.
She surged from the bed.
She’d suddenly discovered the toothbrush’s purpose.
It was a weapon.
Something to be shoved into a person’s eye socket until the bristles tickles their eyelashes.
Erin raised her baton, but the woman never reached the hallway.
Coleman must have judged her height while she was sitting on the bed. As her bare foot reached the cabin threshold, Coleman swung his rifle through the doorway.
Crack!
She crumpled onto the carpet.
Coleman waved everyone forward.
Erin’s heart thumped uncomfortably. She had never witnessed or committed so much violence in her life. In fact, before today she had never committed any violence. Her first truly violent act was hitting her cousin’s wife with a laptop.
Charlie is dead, she reminded herself. Her cousin lay with his brain crushed in cabin 630.
And Aunt Margery wanted to have the wedding here, Erin remembered.
When Charlie’s mother saw the ship’s incredible wedding chapel, she tried to convince Charlie to have the wedding on the ship.
Thankfully Charlie and Erin had talked her out of it.
The honeymoon should be just the two of them, Erin remembered saying over the phone. They’ll want to be alone.
HAYWIRE: A Pandemic Thriller (The F.A.S.T. Series Book 2) Page 14
