Burn

Damn it, he and his team weren’t here for wet work, they were a surveillance crew. Surveillance! All of this felt too damn familiar to him, but his team hadn’t signed on for this. Neither had he, but what the hell; you took what came at you. In a few minutes, according to the plan he’d set with the others before they’d split up, they were going to get off the ship themselves. By that time it would likely be too late to find and defuse the bombs. Let Larkin blow himself up.

There were too many places on this ship to hide a bomb, too many possibilities. Since these were likely civilian bombs, IEDs that could be any size or makeup, he didn’t even know what to look for.

Only Larkin would know, and they were about to pass the time where that knowledge would do them any good.

He kicked in a kitchen door, raised his weapon, and there was the bastard, sitting on the floor in the doorway of a pantry of some sort. There was little light in the kitchen, but it was enough to cast a shadow across Larkin’s face.

Cael raised his weapon, aimed at Larkin. "Stand up."

"No," Larkin said in a calm voice.

He was too confident, Cael thought. He must know there wasn’t much time left. "Where are the bombs?" Cael asked. "How many? When are they going to detonate?"

Larkin looked at his watch, moving it into the light to read the hands. "I’m not telling you," he said, sounding like a petulant child. In the weird light, his eyes were strangely shiny. "There are too many of them; even if you found them, you don’t have enough time to disarm them. I’d say you have a little less than five minutes. Give or take."

Cael swiftly calculated. Last time he’d seen Jenner, she’d been standing by the lifeboat station with a frightened crew member, helping others onto the boats. She should be off the ship by now – he hoped. God, he hoped.

"You’re the one who screwed this up for me, aren’t you?" Larkin asked, as he put the pieces together. "Who the hell are you?" Without waiting for an answer, he lifted one hand, revealing a small weapon.

The old instincts kicked in and Cael fired – and at this distance he couldn’t miss. The bullet tore through Larkin’s arm and the pistol went spinning away. He fired again, aiming for the knee. He didn’t want the bastard deciding at the last minute to make it to one of the lifeboats. Larkin screamed and fell forward, writhing in pain.

And time was up. Screw Larkin. He had to get Jenner and the rest of his team into the lifeboats. Now.

JENNER WAS FRANTIC; she’d gotten Nyna on one of the lifeboats, but there had been no sign of Linda Vale, or of Penny or Buttons. The women might’ve gotten off the ship before Jenner had arrived at the station, as many of the passengers had, but she and Cael had gotten to the Lido deck so quickly, that seemed unlikely. Surely she would’ve seen them, even in the crowd.

There was so much to worry about, so many very real concerns, that she felt some control when she concentrated on one problem at a time.

Diana, a very young crew member who’d valiantly stayed at her station even though she obviously, desperately, wanted to escape, was beginning to show the wear and tear of the last horrible … how long had it been? Half an hour? An hour? She had lost complete sense of time. The lifeboats were filled, then swung away from the ship and lowered into the water, where they automatically detached and the process began again. The process was quick, and went smoothly as long as everyone cooperated. There were only a few people left onboard, and Diana was befuddled.

Large lifeboats filled with people floated on the water, moving away from the Silver Mist, waiting for rescue that should arrive no later than morning. It was going to be a long, scary night.

"There should be more passengers, and lots more crew," Diana said as she looked around, asking the unspoken question of the older man who was assisting her. There were other stations, other crew members – and Captain Lamberti, at the aft lifeboat station – asking the same questions. Where was everyone else?

Jenner suspected that the earlier blasts had taken more lives than anyone yet knew. "It’s hard to keep track of people in an emergency," she said calmly, while inside her chest her heart was pounding and she felt like screaming in an agony of fear. Where was Cael? They didn’t have much time before the arranged meet. She couldn’t leave without him.

"Get in the boat," she said to Diana. There were no other passengers waiting in line at this station.

"But …"

"I’m right behind you," Jenner promised, not adding as soon as Cael arrives. She definitely didn’t want to tell Diana the truth, that there were other bombs on this ship and there wasn’t much time left.

She heard the sound of footsteps and turned. Tiffany came sprinting into view, still wearing those high heels, still carrying a gun. Sanchez was directly behind her, his powerful stride matched to hers. Ryan approached from another direction. Where the hell was Cael?

"Get in," Tiffany said brusquely as she reached the lifeboat.

"Not until Cael – "

"Sanchez," Tiffany said sharply. "Help Ms. Redwine into the lifeboat."

Jenner held up a hand. "That isn’t necessary." Nausea gripped her as she climbed into the boat, and she felt so weak that at the last minute she almost fell. Where was he? Tiffany and the others climbed in right behind her, and Diana was ready to launch the boat, which was filed primarily with crew members who’d been the last to evacuate via this station.

"Wait," Jenner said desperately as Diana started to lower the lifeboat. "There’s one more coming."

Cael was coming, wasn’t he? Larkin hadn’t gotten to him, hadn’t shot him, hadn’t come up behind him and hit him on the head and …