Chapter 5: The Dead Engine
Chapter 5: The Dead Engine
“Everyone stay where you are!” Captain Hayes shouted.
Red emergency lights flooded the bridge.
A crew member lay near the stairwell, clutching his shoulder. Blood seeped between his fingers.
“He took my access card,” the man gasped. “Leo’s heading toward the tender bay.”
Ethan looked at the navigation screens.
They were black.
“What happened to the engines?”
“Someone shut down the main electrical system.”
Captain Hayes grabbed a flashlight.
“If Leo launches the tender, he can reach shore in forty minutes.”
Ethan handed Margaret to Dr. Park.
“Stay with her.”
“Ethan,” Margaret said, gripping his wrist. “Don’t follow him alone.”
“I’m done letting other people fight my battles.”
He and Captain Hayes descended toward the tender bay.
Victoria remained under guard on the bridge.
At least, that was what Ethan believed.
When they reached the lower deck, the tender was still secured.
Leo had not escaped.
A metallic sound came from the storage hold.
Ethan opened the door.
Inside, Mason was tied to a chair.
His mouth was taped shut.
Captain Hayes cut him free.
“Leo did this?” Ethan asked.
Mason nodded frantically.
“He said I knew too much.”
“Then talk.”
Mason admitted Victoria had hired him three weeks earlier. His job had been to help move Margaret from the estate to the yacht without attracting attention.
“She said Mrs. Cole was sick,” Mason said. “She said the family wanted privacy.”
“And the money?”
“She paid me to delete the security footage.”
“What footage?”
Mason looked ashamed.
“The footage from your estate.”
Ethan moved closer.
“Did you delete it?”
“I thought I did. But the security system automatically copied everything to an off-site server.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Leo handled the backup account.”
A crash echoed through the corridor.
Captain Hayes turned.
The door slammed shut behind them.
The lock clicked.
Gas hissed through the ventilation grate.
Mason began coughing.
Ethan kicked the door, but it did not move.
Then a speaker above them came alive.
Victoria’s voice filled the room.
“You should have trusted me, Ethan.”
He stared upward.
“You were under guard.”
“I married the owner of the yacht. Do you really think I never learned its security codes?”
Smoke thickened around them.
“What do you want?” Ethan shouted.
“Margaret’s shares.”
“You’ll never get them.”
“Then your mother dies, and you die with her.”
The speaker clicked off.
Captain Hayes tried the emergency panel.
“Electronic lock. No power.”
Mason pointed weakly toward the ceiling.
“Maintenance shaft.”
It was too narrow for Ethan or the captain.
May you like
But Mason might fit.
As the gas filled the room, Ethan realized the only man who could save them was the man who had helped imprison his mother.
