Ruth shuffled to the bathroom and Margaret waited until the door had closed. “The woman is obsessed with surveillance. I watched her until I finally fell asleep. I don’t think she even bothered to blink.”
“Yep. Sounds about right.” Gloria nodded and then glanced at the empty beds. “What did you do with Dot?”
“She’s out on the balcony drinking coffee,” Margaret said. “We’re waiting on room service. I had no idea we could order omelets, bacon, waffles…all sorts of goodies – and it’s free!”
“Maybe we should try it.” Andrea stepped into the room and caught the tail end of the conversation. “I found a room service menu and order sheet in one of our dresser drawers.”
Gloria’s stomach grumbled. The pizza they had indulged in the evening before was long gone. “Sounds good.” She had better eat if she planned to be stuck in the room working a surveillance shift.
Andrea returned moments later, menu in hand.
Gloria selected an egg white omelet with ham, mushrooms, onions and light on the cheese along with a side of bacon and wheat toast. She handed the menu to Andrea. “Oh! Add coffee. Don’t forget coffee.”
Andrea nodded. “Right-o. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
Lucy passed Andrea in the doorway, quickly placed her order and stepped into the room. “How did you all sleep?”
Dot opened the slider door. “I slept great. Ruth didn’t sleep at all. She stayed up all night watching the stinkin’ computer screen.”
Ruth stepped out of the bathroom, clad in one of the crisp white bathrobes she had found in the closet, her hair wrapped in a turban. “Someone needs to take this crisis seriously. If this ship has been hijacked, we’re all in danger.”
It was true. Gloria shifted her gaze and stared out the slider at the calm seas. She wondered how Millie had survived the previous evening and if she had news on Amit, the bridge or the engine room.
Gloria had tried her cell phone as soon as she crawled out of bed. She had been anxious to talk to Paul, to see if he missed her as much as she missed him.
The suite door, which Andrea had left ajar, waiting for room service to deliver their breakfast, flew open and Liz burst into the room. “Someone just went overboard!”
The girls rushed out of the room, across the hall and onto the balcony where Frances stood, staring down. “Look. It’s a woman and she’s over there!”
Gloria leaned over the rail and studied the water. “We need Ruth’s binoculars.”
“Here!” Ruth still dressed in the robe, handed the binoculars to Gloria.
Gloria lifted them to her eyes and adjusted the dial as she gazed out into the water. The woman, her arms flailing wildly, bobbed up and down as she attempted to say afloat.
“I hope she knows how to swim,” Lucy said.
Someone tossed a life preserver over the side of the ship and the woman began to tread water as she swam toward the orange vest.
The echo of voices filled the air as passengers and crew realized someone had gone overboard and attempted to help.
Gloria handed the binoculars to Ruth. “It looks like a ship employee, a woman. If I didn’t know better, I would say it was that young blonde…Danica…Denise…”
“Danielle?” Andrea gasped. “Let me see!”
Chapter Fourteen
Andrea yanked the binoculars out of Ruth’s hands and put them to her eyes. “Yeah! You’re right. I bet fifty bucks that’s her!”
Gloria cupped her hands to her mouth. “Danielle!”
They all held their breath as Danielle slipped the life vest over her head and shifted onto her back in an attempt to secure the front.
“And…it’s on. She’s on the move!” Liz reported. The girls cheered for Danielle.
Pop! Pop, pop! A quick succession of popping sounds filled the air.
Danielle ducked her head and began treading water in an attempt to reach the side of the ship and safety.
They heard it again.
Pop!
“That’s the sound of gunfire!” Lucy yelled. “Someone is shooting at Danielle!”
The girls watched in horror as Danielle desperately tried to reach the side of the ship and safety.
People from all over, balconies next door and both above and below them began shouting.
“Go Danielle! Swim!” Gloria urged the girl. “You can do it!”
A bright orange life ring landed in the water, right next to Danielle. She plunged forward and wrapped her arms around the ring, which was attached to a rope.
She held it in a death grip and the ring quickly disappeared from sight. “I think she made it.” Gloria shifted her gaze. The gunfire was coming from the front of the ship…and the bridge.
“The hijackers must have someone patrolling the front of the ship,” Margaret said.
“Room service!” A uniformed crewmember peeked in the open door. He was holding two full room service trays. Right behind him was another crewmember, carrying an equally full tray of food. “Did someone order room service?”
“Yes. For both suites!” Gloria led one of them into their suite while Margaret led the other into theirs.
“You can put the trays here.” Gloria pointed to the small table off to one side.
The crewmember placed the heavy trays on the table, and then transferred the plates from the tray to the table.
After all of the covered dishes were on the table, he removed the lids, shifted them to the center of the table and stood back waiting for the seal of approval.
“Perfect.” Gloria nodded. “Thank you.”
“We need to tip him,” Andrea whispered. “I’ll get it.”
Andrea headed to the closet, opened the safe, pulled out her purse and wallet and returned with ten dollars. “Thank you so much.”
The man grinned as he took the money. “Thank you. I come back tomorrow if you want,” he said.
Gloria, Lucy and Andrea waited until he left and then closed the door behind him before settling in at the table.
The other girls, Margaret, Dot and Ruth gathered in the room next door and settled in to eat their breakfast as they discussed what had transpired.
“Wait for us!” Gloria hollered through the open door as she unwrapped her silverware and placed the cloth napkin in her lap.
The girls bowed their heads and prayed. “Thank you for this food, Lord. We pray for not only our safety but also the safety of the passengers and crew. Thank you.”
“We also pray for the person who went overboard…the one we think may have been Danielle,” Andrea added.
“Amen,” Lucy finished.
Gloria shifted her omelet to make room for a slice of wheat toast. She eyed Lucy’s breakfast plate, which consisted of chocolate chip pancakes, an order of sausage links and an array of glazed donuts.
She watched as her friend poured a generous amount of syrup on top of the pancakes and sawed off a thick chunk before popping it into her mouth. She propped her fork on the edge of her plate and chewed while Gloria grinned.
Lucy covered her mouth. “What?” she mumbled.
“You. That’s all Lucy. Just watching you.”
Andrea tore a chunk of white toast and dipped it in the center of her over-easy egg yolks. “Makes you wonder how she can eat all sorts of sweet stuff and still stay so skinny.”
Gloria had wondered the same thing for years, but Lucy seemed healthy and in shape so it wasn’t Gloria’s place to pass judgment, although personally, there was no way she could stomach all those sweets.
Ruth popped her head in the doorway. “Liz graciously offered to let me sleep in her suite where it’s nice and quiet. Dot is watching the monitor. I’ll see you later.” She waved good-bye and headed out the door.
The rest of the posse, minus Dot, who had strict instructions from Ruth not to take her eyes off the screen, shuffled into the room. “What’s the plan?” Margaret asked.
“My plan is to get some sun by the pool,” Liz said. “We should let authorities handl
e the crisis situation. Plus, if we stick our noses in where they don’t belong, we might end up getting shot at, too.”
Gloria chewed on her piece of bacon. True. It was apparent whomever had taken control of the ship meant business. She was in unfamiliar territory. Maybe it was time to take a step back and assess the situation.
In the meantime, the girls could continue to monitor the cameras and perhaps attempt to record the captain’s suite below. Maybe that would be their contribution.
“I wouldn’t mind getting a little sun myself,” Andrea admitted. “It seems a shame to miss out on all this beautiful weather and a chance to chillax.”
“You all go on ahead to the pool. I’m going to track down Millie and make sure Danielle, if that was Danielle, is okay,” Gloria told them.
They finished eating their breakfast, and then stacked their empty plates, cups and covers on the tray along with their dirty silverware before changing into pool attire and heading out.
Gloria waited until they were all gone. The only one left was Dot, who was still manning the computer monitor. “Why don’t you head to the lido deck to enjoy the weather, too? I can watch the monitor,” she told her friend.
“Nah!” Dot leaned back and gazed at Gloria. “I never was one for crowds and heat. I’m happy to hang out here.”
She reached beside her, grabbed her e-reader and tapped the top. “Don’t tell Ruth, but I have a new cozy mystery I started the other day and I might try to get a little reading in while everyone is gone.”
Gloria pinched her fingers together and made a zipping motion across her lips. “My lips are sealed. I think I’ll try to track down Millie to see if she has heard anything else.”
She stepped back into her suite, grabbed her room card and shoved it into her pocket before heading out.
Gloria had no idea where to begin to look for Millie so she headed to guest services. Maybe they could help track her cousin down.
The line for the guest services stretched across the atrium, snaked around the side and into the hall. Gloria took one look at the long line and changed her mind. It would take hours to make it to the front of the line.
She remembered Millie mentioning she had to report to Andy’s office, which was in the theater and located somewhere behind the stage.
Gloria grabbed a deck plan from the edge of the empty excursions counter and flipped it open. It wasn’t far from where she was…only two decks down and in the back.
She headed to the elevators and then changed her mind, opting for the stairs and the exercise instead.
“O sixty-six.”
“B twelve.”
Gloria wandered into the theater and made her way down the center aisle. She gazed at the stage and spotted Millie, who was calling bingo.
Gloria eased into a cushioned theater seat to wait.
Millie caught her cousin’s eye and winked. When the first game finished, Millie announced there would be a second game.
Gloria headed to the front to purchase a bingo card, figuring that if she had to wait, at least she could play. The game went quickly and Gloria was one call away from winning when someone else called bingo.
The game ended and passengers exited the theater while Gloria made her way to the front. She waited quietly while Millie and another crewmember put the bingo cards and wheel in the cabinet and then wheeled the cabinet off the stage.
Millie’s head popped out from the side and she waved her cousin to the back. “We can talk in here.”
Gloria followed Millie to the other side of the stage, down a short hall and into a brightly lit area.
The area boasted walls, but the walls didn’t go all the way to the ceiling. She gazed up at the web of pipes and wires overhead. Off to one side was a narrow ladder that led to a catwalk. “This place must be creepy late at night.”
Visions of shadowy figures popping out of dark corners filled Gloria’s mind.
“It is,” Millie said as she led her to the far corner.
She pulled out a chair for Gloria and then settled into the one next to it.
“How is Danielle?” Gloria asked.
“How did you…”
“Know? Because we had a bird’s-eye view of the entire incident from Liz’s balcony. What happened?”
Millie explained that Danielle, a tad on the impulsive side, decided to take matters into her own hands and scaled the side of the ship in an attempt to gain access to the bridge.
One of the hijackers spotted Danielle. When he got close, he began waving his gun at her.
Danielle tried to escape, lost her grip and fell into the water.
“Thankfully, one of the crew spotted her and threw her a lifejacket. Someone else tossed in a life ring, but not before one of the hijackers on lookout fired a couple shots at her in the water,” Millie said.
“They missed?”
“Yep.” Millie nodded. “Before she was spotted, she was able to catch a brief glimpse inside the bridge. She said she saw Captain Armati, Staff Captain Vitale and the woman who runs the computers, Ingrid Kozlov. She also saw Amit, Annette’s guy, along with Purser Donovan Sweeney.”
“You’re kidding,” Gloria said. “At least they’re all alive.”
“There was one more,” Millie said. “Dave Patterson, our head of security.”
Chapter Fifteen
Gloria frowned. “What does that mean?”
“My guess is the hijackers are capturing our highest ranking officers one by one to add pressure to the cruise lines to cave to their demands.”
Millie abruptly stood and began pacing the floor. “One of them is the mole. I feel it in my bones. The hijackers are demanding fifty million dollars be dropped off on the helipad by six o’clock tonight or they start killing crew and passengers and are going to toss their bodies over the side of the ship.”
Millie paused. “Someone high up had to get the hijackers…and their weapons onboard. Security is tight, but if you knew the ins and outs of the ship and had high security clearance, it could be done.”
“But how will they get off even if they do get the ransom money?” Gloria asked.
“There’s some sort of ship not far from Siren of the Seas. I noticed it last night and I noticed it again this morning. It’s possible they followed us from the Port of San Juan.”
She went on. “Think about it. With millions of dollars, a yacht or smaller ship at your disposal, which just so happens to be sitting in international waters, the various countries could spend months arguing over whose responsibility it was. Meanwhile, the criminals are long gone, living the high life in some faraway country.”
“But surely the cruise ship line would want their money back,” Gloria pointed out.
“They don’t have the manpower to search every country,” Millie said. “Danielle kind of gave me an idea I’m tossing around.”
She outlined her brief strategy to Gloria and Gloria added her own two cents. “First, we need to flush out the mole before the plan is implemented. Otherwise, rescuers may be walking right into a trap.”
“True,” Millie agreed. “What little Danielle was able to see, she wasn’t able to gauge body language or any kind of clue as to who it might be. There were at least three other, unknown men inside the bridge.”
“Millie? Are you back here?” Andy’s booming voice echoed in the empty theater. He appeared moments later, followed by Oscar, Dave Patterson’s second in command. There was another man too, the man Nikki had noticed hanging around the guest services.
Andy nodded at Gloria and turned his attention to Millie. “I’ve put Danielle on restriction. Any more antics like that and she could get our crew killed, not to mention herself!”
“At least she was able to see Patterson, Captain Armati, Captain Vitale and Donovan are all still alive.” Millie leaned her elbows on the table. “Have we heard anything else on the ransom demands being met? We’re running out of time.”
Andy rubbed the day-old stubble on his chin. “No and the native
s are getting restless. I just left guest services and the place is a madhouse. The passengers are irate because they can’t use their phones. They know something is up because the ship isn’t moving. We can’t hold them off much longer without telling them something.”
Gloria had a sudden thought. “What about lowering the lifeboats and getting people off the ship?”
“Already thought about that,” Andy said. “We’re afraid if we do, the hijackers will do the same thing they did to the crew last night when they attempted to get help.”
“They fired shots at the lifeboat,” Millie explained. “The crew was able to escape and we’re holding out hope they made it to San Juan.”
“Frank Bauer is on his way down here now. Maybe he can find a way into the bridge or engine room that no one else knows about,” Andy said.
“Frank is head of maintenance,” Millie told Gloria.
The agents, security and the others tossed out different ideas on how to gain access to the engine room and bridge but all the ideas had holes and they decided it would only put the crews’ lives in even more danger.
Millie and Gloria sat quietly, hoping the others wouldn’t notice them or ask them to leave.
A tall, balding man wearing a brown work outfit and carrying a long round paper tube appeared from the edge of the stage.
Annette Delacroix followed behind.
“Thanks for joining us, Frank,” Andy said. “You too, Annette.”
All eyes turned to Frank, their last hope.
Andy spoke. “Is there any way to penetrate the engine room or bridge? Perhaps a duct, vent or some sort of access panel?”
“Maybe.” Frank pried the cover off the end of the tube, reached inside and pulled out a roll of papers – detailed blueprints of the ship’s decks. He spread the large sheets out and Andy placed a stapler on one end, a tape dispenser catty corner and then held the other ends.
They all leaned forward to study the blueprints. “This is the engine room.” Frank pointed to a section of the print.
He ran his index finger along the top. “There’s a small vent leading to the engine room and on the other side of the vent is a catwalk. Well, maybe not even a catwalk but more like a metal runner that connects one end of the engine room to the other.”
Cruise Control (Cruise Ship Christian Cozy Mysteries Series Book 6) Page 10
