Chapter 6 - THE OVERSEER
Beneath the bed, Mara clamped her hand gently over Leo’s mouth. The boy was shaking so hard she could hear his teeth clicking together.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ward said, his voice dropping to a low, defensive growl. "I had a spare."
"A spare antique locket?" Graves chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "You’re a terrible liar, Adrian. It’s why you’re a pawn, not a player."
Graves took a step backward, scanning the cabin. "She's here. The inspector. The one who refused to die."
Mara felt the cold steel of the ship's floor pressing against her stomach. If she moved, Graves would hear her. If she didn't, he was going to execute Ward right in front of his son.
"You want her?" Ward yelled suddenly, lunging forward. "Take me!"
Ward threw a desperate punch, but Graves was faster. The man in the gray suit sidestepped with terrifying elegance and brought the heavy butt of the pistol down onto the back of Ward’s skull.
Ward crumpled to the floor with a sickening thud, groaning in pain.
Leo screamed.
He ripped away from Mara's grip and scrambled out from under the bed, running toward his fallen father. "Dad!"
"Leo, no!" Mara gasped, rolling out from the shadows.
Graves didn't even flinch. He reached down and snatched the seven-year-old boy by the collar of his shirt, lifting him off his feet. Leo kicked and thrashed, crying out.
"Well, well," Graves said, pointing the gun directly at Mara as she rose to her feet. "The ghost returns. I must admit, Miss Voss, your resilience is irritating."
"Let him go," Mara said, holding her empty hands up. "You have me. You have the ship. The boy doesn't mean anything to you."
"On the contrary," Graves smiled. "He means everything to the Captain. Which means he guarantees my cargo gets offloaded without any... maritime heroics."
Ward groaned, trying to push himself up from the floor, blood trickling down the side of his face. "Graves... please..."
"Keep him locked in here," Graves ordered. Two armed mercenaries stepped into the doorway, their rifles raised.
Graves dragged the screaming child toward the door. "If the ship isn't fully prepped for offloading in twenty minutes, I’ll throw the boy into the harbor myself. Let's see if he can swim as well as you do, Miss Voss."
The door slammed shut, the heavy deadbolt sliding into place.
Mara rushed to Ward, tearing a strip of cloth from her wetsuit to press against his bleeding head. "Adrian, stay with me. We have to get out of here."
Ward gripped her arm, his fingers digging into her skin. "The ventilation shaft. Behind the wardrobe. It leads to the lower decks. You have to go. Ground the ship. Save my boy."
"I'm not leaving you behind," Mara said fiercely.
"You have to!" Ward choked out. "If you don't flood those tanks, hundreds of people disappear tonight. Go!"
Mara looked at the heavy wardrobe. She shoved it aside, revealing a small, square metal grate. She grabbed the brass paperweight and smashed it against the rusted bolts until the grate gave way.
"I'll get him back," Mara promised, sliding headfirst into the dark, narrow shaft.
She crawled through the claustrophobic metal tunnel, the smell of diesel and rust suffocating her. She had to navigate blindly, using her memory of the ship's blueprints. Down she went, level by level, toward the belly of the ship.
Finally, she reached a vent overlooking the massive lower cargo hold.
She peered through the slats. Below her, hundreds of terrified men, women, and children were huddled in the dim, damp space of the converted ballast tanks. Armed guards patrolled the catwalks above them.
And standing on the central platform, barking orders, was Graves. He had Leo by the hand, the boy’s wrist secured with a brutal zip-tie to the railing.
Mara silently popped the vent cover and slipped down onto a shadowed catwalk. She was thirty feet above them, completely unarmed.
Suddenly, a deafening siren ripped through the ship. Flashing red lights bathed the cargo hold in a sinister glow.
"Warning," the automated ship's computer blared. "Hull breach detected in lower engineering. Initiating lockdown protocol."
Mara froze. She hadn't touched the ballast controls yet.
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Down on the platform, Graves whipped around, his gun drawn. "What the hell is that?" he screamed at a guard.
Before the guard could answer, the massive steel doors at the far end of the hold blew inward with a thunderous explosion, sending a tidal wave of dark, freezing harbor water violently crashing into the room.
