by A. E. Radley
“Five years as ship’s master is a big achievement. First woman for Dreams, captaining the best ship in the fleet. The crew want to celebrate,” Dominic said.
“Then let them, I just don’t feel the need to be a part of it. You know I’m not a party person.” She shifted in her seat, the soft leather at odds with the discomfort she was feeling with the direction of the conversation.
It wasn’t the first time the point had been brought up. In fact, Dominic brought it up almost every week. And every week, Caroline batted it away. However, she knew she’d have to cave in, or at least compromise, eventually.
“We’ll talk about this later. I have the whole summer to convince you.”
“And I have the whole summer to tell you no,” she replied, a grin curling at her lips.
Working side by side with a party-loving civilian would never have been something she thought she’d enjoy doing. She’d never been accused of being fun. Life in the Royal Navy had always been serious, and she’d been so focussed on her career that she’d never bothered with the social aspect of ship life.
Now she worked in a place where having fun was literally a part of the job description. Dominic’s entire role as hotel director was to ensure that every single guest was having the best time possible. Yes, he was dedicated and well-organised, but he was also the life and soul of every single event.
Caroline and Dominic were like chalk and cheese, one strait-laced and bureaucratic, the other a full-of-life party machine. And yet their roles on board brought them together to work hand in hand.
On their first day working together, Dominic had told Caroline, “You’re driving the party bus, and I’m doing the karaoke. As long as we both focus on that, we’ll be just fine.”
Of course, both of their jobs were a lot more complicated than that, but the analogy was accurate. Caroline didn’t interfere in any of the events planning, and Dominic didn’t complain when bad weather prevented them from docking on time.
Over the years they had bonded and become a strong team. Part of the success of Fortuna lay with their relationship which ensured the ship ran like clockwork.
“Fine,” Dominic conceded, at least for now. “Let’s tick off the schedule. I notice there was a change for Napoli?”
The meeting with Dominic took less than hour, but that still meant that Caroline was late for her next meeting with Doctor Mara Perry, the chief medical officer on board Fortuna. Mara had been on board for two years, and Caroline had quickly become friends with her. It had been fantastic to finally have another woman in a senior position.
Caroline entered the ship’s hospital and nodded to the nurse on duty at the reception window. She passed through the main ward and the consulting rooms and entered Mara’s office at the end of the corridor.
“Sorry I’m late.” She leaned on the doorframe. “And I only have ten minutes before I have a telephone call with head office.”
Mara put her hand to her chest in fake shock. “I have a whole ten minutes?”
“No, you have five. I have to get up to my quarters.” Caroline stepped into the room and took a chair.
“Well, I only need two minutes anyway,” Mara said. “Housekeeping seem to be getting a little lax with disinfecting. I know we’ve discussed this before, but my team did some random swabbing over the last week and the results are steadily getting worse.”
“I’m aware, and I did bring it up with Dominic and with the head of housekeeping directly. They’re understaffed, but they have some temps on board at the moment and they are getting new people at Marseille. Obviously, I’ve emphasised the importance of this, and they are ramping up their efforts.”
“Good, no one wants to float around in a filthy Petri dish,” Mara said.
Caroline winced. “Thank you for the mental image.”
“You’re welcome. You’ve not had a large-scale contagious event on board Fortuna. Trust me… it’s not pretty.”
Caroline was proud and thankful that Fortuna hadn’t suffered from that kind of medical incident during her tenure. The media always swept in and gleefully reported when a ship came down with multiple cases of stomach flu, or worse. The reputation of a cruise company could be lost with one thirty-second news video on social media.
“Continue your swabbing and let me know if it gets any worse, but I’m convinced that the necessary parties are taking things seriously and that it will be resolved as quickly as possible.”
“Wonderful, one more thing.” Mara removed her glasses and gazed keenly at Caroline. It was a move she often made when she intended to ask Caroline something personal. Caroline held a breath and attempted to look as normal as possible.
“Yes?”
“How are you sleeping? Any better?” Mara asked.
Caroline nodded. “A little.”
After a prolonged period of insomnia, she’d had to approach the hospital wing for sleeping pills. Her desire to not call attention to her sleeplessness had been beaten by her still-greater desire to not make a mistake at her post. She’d deliberately waited for Mara to be off-duty to visit one of the other attending doctors. Sadly, Mara was detail-orientated and saw the paperwork and dragged Caroline in for a consultation.
She liked and trusted Mara, but she also knew that Mara was legally obligated to tell on her to the higher-ups if she felt anything was wrong.
Caroline still wasn’t sleeping as well as she’d like, but she was managing.
Mara’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Of course, you’d tell me if anything was wrong.”
“Of course, it’s in my contract,” Carolina said with a grin.
Mara rolled her eyes. “I mean as a friend.”
“Of course, I tell you everything,” Caroline lied. Not that it felt like much of a lie. She was private and hardly told anyone anything, so the fact that Mara was as close as she’d gotten was progress in Caroline’s mind. Even so, she wasn’t about to tell Mara about her problems sleeping. Not yet, anyway.
“Oh, of course you do,” Mara said with a chuckle. She put her glasses back on. “How will we fill the other two and a half minutes you have kindly assigned me?”
“I could beg you to convince Dominic to drop the idea of a celebration for my five-year anniversary on board?” Caroline hoped.
“Not happening.” Mara shook her head. “You should celebrate. It’s a big deal.”
Caroline slumped back in her chair and let out a long breath. “You know I don’t want to celebrate this. I mean, I love you all and the job is wonderful… but celebrating five years here is just a reminder of what I lost.”
Mara leaned forward and put a comforting hand on Caroline’s knee. “It was a long time ago; you need to move on.”
“I don’t know if I can. I spent all my working life in the Royal Navy up until that point. As a little girl, I never dreamed of being a cruise ship captain. While this is a big deal for many, and I completely understand why it is, for me it’s just a reminder that I’ve been doing something I never wanted to do for five whole years. That my life crumbled apart, and I had to rebuild it and fell into this.” Caroline gestured to her surroundings.
“Then do it for the crew. They love you, and they want to celebrate for you. Dominic will organise everything. You just show up and have a glass of cheap fizz and make a toast. Say hello to people for half an hour and then you can disappear. Job done.”
Caroline contemplated it for a moment. “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”
“Not really. It’s like you always say, as ship’s master you have all of the power over everyone on board, but absolutely no power over yourself.” Mara shrugged. “It is what it is.”
Caroline liked Mara’s pragmatic outlook, except when it was directed squarely at her.
“Fine. I’ll push back for a few more weeks, just to make a statement,” Caroline decided.
“Good idea, it will probably encourage Dominic to scale back his plans.”
Caroline raised an eyebrow. “You know h
is plans?”
Mara’s eyes flew open. She looked at her watch. “My, is that the time? You better get going if you’re going to make that call.”
Caroline chuckled. “Fine, I’m going, but I won’t forget that!”
“Don’t know what you mean!” Mara called after her as she left.
All Aboard
Annie’s heart slammed into her ribs with such a ferocity that she wondered if she might pass out. She was well beyond the point of no return. She’d checked in at the desk in the port building with Serena’s documents, and somehow it had miraculously all gone to plan.
The agent hadn’t given her a second look while they processed her paperwork, swiped Serena’s credit card, and issued Annie with a plastic card which acted as her room key, ID, and payment method aboard the ship.
Annie had thanked the agent and was now tightly holding the handrail of a long escalator that would take her from the port terminal to the ship. There was no way she could turn back now.
She was grateful for the large, dark sunglasses Serena had loaned her. The glasses and a change of hairstyle meant that most of her face was now covered. All she needed to do was to get on board, get to her room, and finally relax.
Or at least attempt to relax. Unwinding seemed impossible at the moment. She’d gone from running away from a well-known mob boss to committing identity fraud. In fact, she’d probably done more than just that, but she still hadn’t had time to properly examine the illegality of what she was doing.
Serena Rubio had been very persuasive. Annie had gone back and forth on whether or not the plan was a good one, but Serena had been adamant: Annie had been sent by God to ensure that Serena could stay in Spain and spend time with her Australian boyfriend.
Annie thought it was a ridiculous thing to believe, but she had to admit that the chain of events had been strangely fortuitous for her. She wanted to leave Barcelona without being seen, and a famous opera singer handing over fistfuls of cash, her passport, and a ticket on an all-expenses-paid cruise was a great way to do it.
Except that now, Annie was petrified. She was convinced that she would be discovered, arrested, and then bailed out by her ex-boyfriend Diego.
And then she’d be killed, of that she had no doubt.
She got to the top of the escalator and walked through an automatic door to an outside gangway. The ship was right in front of her, moored up and imposing on the dock. It stretched so far in either direction that she couldn’t see the front or the back of it from her vantage point. She could only just about see the top deck, and the people walking up there looked tiny. It wasn’t a ship so much as a city.
One which she had to board before she started to draw too much attention to herself. She walked along the gangway and towards a bridge that would take her into the ship.
She checked her ticket.
Fortuna. Let’s hope it brings me some luck, she thought.
A smartly dressed member of the crew met her at the entrance to the ship with a scanner in their hand.
“Good afternoon, may I see your pass?”
Annie held up the plastic card she’d just been issued.
“Have you been on a Dream cruise before?” the crew member asked as they scanned the card. They were about to hand it back when they paused, staring at the card.
Annie swallowed. She’d been discovered. She wondered if she’d get very far if she ran. Much like an airport terminal, the port building was full of security guards and some of them were armed.
“Oh, wow, Miss Rubio! I’m such a big fan!”
Annie felt her eyes widen and was again relieved for the dark glasses that hid her expression.
“Thank you, Jenn,” Annie said as she read the name badge on the crisp, white, short-sleeved shirt of the crew uniform. Luckily Serena spoke with only a slight accent, which Annie found easy to reproduce. But this was the first real test. This was a fan, someone who may have intimate knowledge of Serena Rubio, details which Annie hadn’t had a chance to fully research yet.
Jenn blushed and handed back the ID card. “I loved your latest album. My boyfriend took me to see you in Madrid last year, and you were amazing!”
Annie smiled. She realised that Jenn’s gushing behaviour was starting to attract attention from other passengers. The reality of pretending to be someone else was now setting in. She needed to research Serena properly, and she needed to do it fast.
Annie had dumped her mobile phone immediately after she had run from Diego, and Serena had kept her phone, which meant that Annie was now without her usual trusty method of research.
Since she’d first been given a hand-me-down phone from her father, Annie had been glued to the screen. She quickly realised the world was at her fingertips, and she could instantly learn about anything she liked. Being without her phone made her feel even more lost.
“I’m sorry, you are probably tired, and here I am going on and on!” Jenn apologised. “Your stateroom is on deck fourteen, you can take the elevators behind me. Your room is ready, and your luggage will be delivered within the hour. If you need anything at all, just ask a member of the crew.”
Annie nodded and smiled, hoping it looked realistic. She was shaking and desperately trying to look composed while attempting to not pass out or throw up. She passed the security podium and was immediately greeted by another member of staff, this one holding a tray of Champagne flutes.
“Madam?” He lowered the tray for Annie to take a glass, which she did.
“Thank you,” she said, belatedly realising that she’d forgotten the accent. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice.
Annie stepped farther into the ship. Not that it felt like she was on a ship. Suddenly she was on a street, a long street which was filled with coffee shops, restaurants, shops, guest services, and more.
People were milling about, eating, drinking Champagne, and exploring.
“Good afternoon, welcome to Fortuna and welcome to the promenade. Do you need any directions?”
Annie shook her head, smiling at the helpful crew member but quickly backing away from them, too. She needed to get out of the crowded space and to her room where it would be safe.
She walked down the promenade, peeking into the shops and bars as she went. As she walked, she realised she was being followed. It wasn’t paranoia. She could feel someone right behind her no matter how much she zigzagged her way down the fake street.
When she reached the bank of elevators, the signage told her she was on deck five. She pressed the up button and turned to see who was following her.
The couple in their sixties smiled warmly and stood beside her, also waiting for the elevator. When it arrived, they all got into the car.
Annie pressed the button for deck fourteen and was relieved when the couple selected deck thirteen. She tried to break eye contact by looking at the floor.
A smile curled at her lips as she noticed the floor of the elevator cart had an ornate sign signalling the day of the week, Sunday. She’d never seen an elevator with the weekday embedded into the floor before.
“People get confused on a cruise,” the man explained at Annie’s expression.
“Are you cruising alone, dear?” the woman asked.
“I am,” Annie admitted.
“Well, plenty of people cruise alone, but they aren’t alone for very long! We’re a very friendly bunch on board, aren’t we, Graham?”
“Absolutely! No one is lonely aboard a Dream cruise,” Graham agreed with gusto. “Have you cruised before?”
Annie assumed that Serena hadn’t, so she shook her head.
“Oh, you’re going to have the best time, isn’t she, Graham?” The woman put her hand out. “I’m Louise.”
Annie shook her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said before shaking Graham’s hand, too.
“You must join us for dinner,” Graham offered.
Annie had no desire to be rude, or to potentially damage Serena’s name, so she nodded in silent agreement.
; She fully intended to lock herself away in her room for the entire trip, so it didn’t matter what she said. They were going to another floor and would never see her again.
“Wonderful, we’ll see you at dinner time,” Louise said. “If not before!”
The doors opened, and the couple left, saying goodbye and promising to show her all the fun of Fortuna that evening. Annie kept smiling and nodding right up until the doors thankfully closed.
Then she slumped against the back wall of the elevator car and let out a shaky breath.
“Cruising will be the death of me,” she muttered to herself.
Elvin
After a short walk down a corridor filled with stateroom doors, Annie found her home for the week. She swiped her pass card, waited for a green light to illuminate, and then stepped into the room. She dropped her bag on the sofa and looked around the room with an open mouth.
She’d always thought cabins on board cruise ships were pokey little spaces with hardly enough room to get into bed each night. That certainly wasn’t true of this particular stateroom. It wasn’t enormous, but it wasn’t cramped either. There was a king-size bed, two small bedside cabinets, a two-seater sofa, a small wardrobe, a desk with chair, and a television. It was everything she could need for a week-long stay without feeling too confined, especially considering she was intending to spend as much time in her room as possible.
She walked over to the balcony and opened the heavy sliding door. She stepped outside and looked at the bustling port area below her. People were still arriving, walking along the terminal building’s gangway to gain access to the ship. Beyond that there was a large taxi area, a number of black cars dropping people off and speeding away to pick up more fares.
She wondered how many people the ship could hold at any one time. It was enormous, both in length and in height.
There was a knock on the door, interrupting her thoughts.
She spun around, her blood running cold. Not only was she terrified about the Ortegas finding her, she was now also worried that her identity would be discovered, and she’d be kicked off the ship.
