Chương 4
She removed a screw with the edge of Daniel’s coin.
Jonathan stared at the dent.
Claire glanced at him.
“What?”
“Daniel ruined it doing exactly that.”
She stopped.
For half a second the cell was quiet except for the low mechanical hum of emergency ventilation.
“Doing what?”
“Using the wrong tool because it happened to be in his hand.”
Claire looked at the coin.
A feeling moved through her that was too incomplete to name.
“Sounds irritating.”
“It was.”
“Maybe I knew him.”
Jonathan swallowed.
“Maybe.”
She turned back to the vent.
The grate came loose.
Behind it was a maintenance release cable.
Serrano looked impressed despite himself.
“How did you know?”
Claire pulled the cable.
“Body again.”
The door unlocked.
They emerged into the service corridor and began moving aft.
Claire’s ankle hurt badly now.
She ignored it until the medic’s voice came from behind them.
“Captain Voss.”
Everyone spun.
The medic from the flight deck stood at the end of the corridor with a Marine corporal.
His hands were empty.
“You people move fast for injured senior officers.”
Jonathan frowned. “How did you get here?”
“Chief Serrano’s team reported your last location before the radios dropped. Also, sir, Captain Voss is bleeding through her boot.”
Claire looked down.
The medic pointed.
“Told you.”
She kept walking.
He followed.
“What’s your name?”
“Petty Officer First Class Aaron Bell.”
“Bell, if you say ‘I need to take a look’—”
“I need to take a look.”
“No.”
“Excellent. We have established our positions.”
He kept pace beside her.
The absurdity helped.
They reached Deck Four through a machinery passage while emergency crews moved in the opposite direction. Some stared at Jonathan’s dress uniform. Others stared longer at Claire.
Kane’s warning had spread.
Whispers followed them.
Compromised officer.
Armed.
Psychological event.
A lieutenant stepped into their path near Frame Seventeen.
“Sir, Security Control says this area is restricted.”
Jonathan did not slow.
“Security Control answers to me.”
“Commander Kane said—”
“I know what Commander Kane said.”
The lieutenant stayed where he was.
He looked twenty-seven.
Maybe twenty-eight.
Too young to be comfortable deciding which superior officer might be insane.
Claire stopped.
“Lieutenant.”
He looked at her.
“Take my pistol.”
Jonathan turned.
Claire unfastened the holster from her tactical belt without touching the weapon itself and held the entire secured assembly toward the lieutenant.
“Captain,” Serrano said.
“Kane keeps calling me armed.”
She offered the weapon.
The lieutenant took it.
Claire raised both empty hands.
“There. Now if I lose my mind, you’ve improved everybody’s odds.”
The lieutenant looked at Jonathan.
Jonathan said, “Document custody of the weapon and stay with us.”
“Yes, sir.”
Something shifted in the corridor.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But the story Kane had told required Claire to behave like a threat.
She had just made herself less threatening.
Frame Seventeen, Deck Four, Compartment Six was labeled AVIONICS STORAGE.
The electronic lock showed green.
Serrano opened it.
Inside were shelves of sealed cases, spare components, cable reels, and maintenance tools.
No Daniel.
Jonathan’s shoulders dropped a fraction.
Claire moved slowly between the shelves.
“Why would he send us here?”
“Maybe he didn’t,” Willis said.
“Those numbers were under his bed.”
“Or somebody wanted you to find them.”
Claire stopped.
He was right.
Serrano said, “Let her work.”
“I am letting her work. I’m also remembering the person who controls half these locks knows she escaped.”
Claire looked at Willis.
“Keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Assuming I could be wrong.”
His expression changed.
She walked farther into the compartment.
There was nothing at the back except a bolted workbench and a gray locker.
Jonathan opened the locker.
Empty.
Bell leaned against the doorway.
“You’re swaying.”
Claire ignored him.
The helicopter rotors were louder here.
She could feel them through the deck.
Then she noticed the workbench.
One wrench.
Two drivers.
A coil of safety wire.
And a bloodstained coin-shaped ring on the metal surface where something wet had rested.
Claire looked at the coin in her palm.
Same diameter.
Jonathan came beside her.
Someone had placed Daniel’s coin there recently.
Or another identical coin.
Claire turned hers over.
SUBJECT 02 — CLAIRE VOSS.
The underside of the workbench contained a recessed slot.
She inserted the coin before anyone could stop her.
A drawer released.
Willis swore softly.
Inside were twelve plastic identification bands.
Most had been cut.
Numbers were printed on them.
SUBJECT 01.
SUBJECT 02.
SUBJECT 03.
The band labeled SUBJECT 02 carried Claire’s full name and an identification number she recognized as her own.
She did not touch it.
Jonathan found another.
SUBJECT 01 — DANIEL MERCER.
He sat down on the nearest equipment case.
Nobody pretended not to notice.
Serrano photographed the drawer.
Bell quietly took a clean evidence bag from his kit.
“Don’t handle anything else.”
A third band read SUBJECT 07.
No name.
The remaining bands ranged from 04 to 11.
No 05.
No 09.
Claire counted.
“Where are the others?”
Nobody answered.
The compartment lights suddenly came on.
Normal white illumination washed away the red.
At the same instant, shipboard power returned and radios burst alive.
Voices overlapped.
Then the aviation circuit cut through them.
“Flight deck to Security Control. Aircraft requesting immediate landing clearance.”
Claire looked up.
The helicopter.
Jonathan grabbed Serrano’s radio.
“Negative clearance. Hold aircraft position.”
A different voice replied.
“Sir, aircraft reports critical fuel state.”
Serrano checked his watch.
“They’ve been hovering since before we came aboard.”
Jonathan hesitated.
That was what Kane needed.
Aviation safety could not be ignored because somebody might be lying.
“Let them land,” Claire said.
Jonathan looked at her.
“Kane may use it.”
“Then surround it.”
He studied her.
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
She hated saying it.
“But if the pilot says fuel is critical, we don’t gamble with six people in the aircraft.”
Jonathan keyed the radio.
“Authorize landing. Armed security perimeter. Nobody boards and nobody exits the flight deck until cleared by Chief Serrano.”
May you like
The lieutenant holding Claire’s pistol gave a slight nod.
It was the first sign anyone had given that her judgment still counted.
