Chapter 6 - REBECCA
Daniel’s face changed instantly.
He struck her.
“Shut up.”
I stared at the woman tied to the chair.
Older than the photograph.
Thinner.
A scar across her left cheek.
But once I knew what to look for, I saw it.
The eyes.
Rebecca Lane was alive.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
Daniel grabbed her hair.
“She should’ve died three years ago.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“He threw me off the stern.”
My stomach twisted.
“How did you survive?”
“A fishing vessel found me six hours later.”
“Then why didn’t you go to the police?”
Daniel laughed.
“She did.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled with anger.
“The detective assigned to my case worked for him.”
Hale’s warning came back.
Someone inside the investigation had intercepted the agent sent to me.
This was bigger than one corrupt crewman.
“Who?” I asked.
Daniel smiled.
“You’ll meet him.”
A metallic clang sounded overhead.
Daniel looked up.
Hale.
Too loud.
Daniel fired toward the catwalk.
Chaos exploded.
I moved.
I kicked the gun away.
Rebecca threw herself sideways with the chair.
Daniel punched me hard in the jaw.
Pain flashed through my skull.
He reached for the weapon.
I caught his ankle and twisted.
He went down.
Hale jumped from the lower ladder.
“Don’t move!”
Daniel froze.
For half a second, I thought it was over.
Then every alarm on the ship began screaming.
Captain Reynolds came over the intercom.
“Emergency. Emergency. All crew report to stations.”
Smoke rolled beneath the door.
Daniel smiled from the floor.
“Kessler just started phase two.”
Hale cuffed him.
“What phase two?”
Daniel laughed.
“The part where everybody panics.”
The door burst open.
A security officer shouted.
“Fire in the engine control room!”
The lights died again.
Emergency power kicked in.
Rebecca screamed.
“Where’s Daniel?”
I looked down.
The handcuffs were empty.
One cuff hung from a broken floor pipe.
Hale stared at it.
“How?”
Rebecca’s face went white.
“He used to practice escapes.”
Then the ship tilted sharply to port.
Passengers screamed above us.
The captain’s voice returned.
“Loss of steering response.”
Hale looked at me.
“Daniel isn’t trying to escape the ship.”
May you like
I understood immediately.
“He’s trying to sink it.”
