They couldn’t hear what the captain was saying and the radio call was quickly ended.
“And thanks again!” the man said.
“Incredible faith in you guys,” Wes assured him. “But I guess we had to see for ourselves that this man didn’t get away!”
“Oh, trust me, he will not be getting away. Nor will theothers. We’re headed straight back now—every passenger will be offered a future cruise with all perks. Still, we have a chopper coming for the prisoners. You know, I’ve worked ship’s security for a long time. I’ve had more than a few petty thefts, a few unwanted sexual encounters, but... Ah, hell, nothing like this! Nothing like a trio trying to murder people!”
“Well, thankfully, I don’t think it’s a common occurrence,” Wes told him.
The security officer looked at Chloe, smiling.
“And I heard you were among the drugged!”
“Nothing like a good swim to knock it all out,” Chloe told him. “For real!” she added softly to Wes. “I don’t feel at all drugged or paralyzed in any way; I feel invigorated!”
“Have a seat,” the man said, smiling. “We’ll get you back to the ship in no time. And, well, it will be one interesting day. I think that Mr. Thompson’s lecture is going to need to be canceled and, of course... Well, the captain gets to explain it all. Thankfully, not me!”
He indicated that the two of them should take seats on the lifeboat for the short distance back to the ship.
They took seats as suggested.
“Well, Alonzo was right, that’s for sure. They had planned something for the ship. And I believe that the man who was the most decent to them, Edward Thompson, was the main target, though I guess Celia was glad to get rid of her husband and maybe Broderick was supposed to get rid of his brother.”
“I wonder if we’ll ever know,” Chloe murmured.
“You really are fine, aren’t you?”
She smiled. “So weird, though! There were moments when I truly felt paralyzed.”
He smiled, nodding at her. “I don’t know how I knew, but I knew... I knew you would have figured out how to avoid most of it.”
“We both knew how they were pulling it all off,” Chloe said. “I mean, getting people to just sit there staring while they were being shot. But at first, when I felt the needle... I really didn’t know! Wes, it was all so fast, and then... that knife. He had that knife held against Edward’s ribs! That’s how they moved us all—they were threatening to kill Edward then and there.” She frowned suddenly, looking at him anxiously. “George—George and a security officer were down there when we got there. I don’t know how Amelia—oh, no. Is Doctor Kilbride going to be all right?”
“Here’s where we got lucky. I don’t think that Daniel had any idea about what his brother had been up to. But once he’d drugged Daniel, he just—”
“Stretched him out on a lounge chair. I saw,” Chloe told him.
“Who knows? Maybe when Amelia figured out that he hadn’t killed his brother, she would have come back and figured out a way to finish the task herself. But I asked for help before leaving him and a doctor was onboard, so she headed down with him and security and they’re all looking after Kilbride. Well, now they’ll have Kilbride, George, the security officer, Edward, Sally and Jeff Henderson to look after, too.”
“But our suspects will be off the ship!” Chloe said.
Wes nodded. “And we’ll be heading back.” He smiled at her. “We’ll have...”
“Paperwork?” she asked.
He laughed. “Tonight! We’ll probably get to port now—the Port of Miami—sometime in the wee hours. I don’t think they’ll wake people up to force them off the ship at two in the morning, but after this voyage, who knows!”
They heard a sudden clanking sound and turned. Broderick was seated at the back, wrenching as hard as he could at the chain holding him to the rail.
“I’ll say this for the man, he doesn’t give up!” Wes murmured.
Chloe shook her head. “They just wanted power! For that, they killed so many people.”
“Greed has always been a major motive,” Wes commented.
“They will be tried in a federal court,” Chloe murmured.
“And maybe in state courts, too,” Wes told her. “But our part is done. I know that Edward was angry enough, that he wouldn’t have minded if one of us would have shot to kill when Amelia wouldn’t drop her weapon, but...”
