Aran just chuckles as he brushes past me and begins searching the massive lounge. I let him off just this once because I won’t be able to focus if I get too excited. Mission first, wedding planning after.
As we move onto the bedrooms since the lounge is a bust, my phone rings. I almost jump out of my skin, but then I glance at the caller ID and let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s Mong,” I reassure Aran, who’s perked up like a rabbit on the lookout for predators.
“Hey, Mong, you were awesome! I don’t know what we would’ve done without your help,” I let my new friend know.
There is a pause, then a deep inhale. “I’m glad but, uh, there is a problem.”
Oh, that doesn’t sound good. I put him on speaker so Aran can hear as well.
“What happened?” I rush out, search all but forgotten. We’re the ones that dragged him into this, so if anything were to happen to him, it would be our fault. “Are you okay?”
“Yes… No? Sort of. I, um, got in a bit of a fight because one of the control room supervisors returned early from his break and noticed the feed was off. I had to knock him out. And now I’m legging it. We’ve got maybe ten minutes before the rest find him and, um, I’m coming to you.”
I canfeelthe frown slide across Aran’s face without even needing to look at him. “Ok, no problem. We’ve got you. But there is something you need to know first.” I take a deep breath. “We don’t work for the CIA.”
He laughs. “Yeah, I kind of figured that out already. I have a friend whose wife is in the FBI, and she checked for me. But anyway, I don’t blame you for lying. If you hadn’t, I doubt I’d have agreed to help you.”
Hey, at least he’s open-minded. I’ll make sure to explain to him that we only wanted to protect him by omitting the truth and I’ll come clean about everything. He deserves it. Plus, he’s our accomplice now and I’m sure he realizes we are his only chance of making it out of this mess without getting caught.
32
Aran
Mongisred-facedwhenhe arrives. He locks the door behind him and drops to the floor with his back against it, catching his breath.
“Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen.” He presses his hands together. He seems to have forgiven our lie easily, but given the circumstances, I don’t blame him. We are in a bit of a situation.
Hex squats down next to him, rubbing his back. “You did good. Don’t worry. And besides, you’re here now, which means we have an extra pair of hands that’s helping us search.”
“What are we searching for, exactly?” Mong asks, pushing off the floor.
“The entrance to the secret labs on the ship. They are doing drug tests there…” Hex hooks a finger at the hallway with the bedrooms. “We already checked the lounge.”
The two of them disappear together in one of the rooms. Hex’s voice rings across the cabin, explaining what we’ve been doing and what we’ve discovered so far. I don’t meddle or try to veto him—he’s already set on being friends with Mong, and I don’t intend to get in the way of that. Besides, introducing someone new into the menace trio might help reel in some of the crazy. Not that Kwanchai, Kieran or I mind it all too much—while they can be a handful, our troublemakers make our days a hundred times more exciting.
I move on from the room I’ve just finished checking to what looks to be an entertainment corner. It’s technically part of the hallway, though the space is wider and tucked into the space near the stairs that lead to the second floor. Two modular leather couches crest a TV with a gaming console linked to it, while a minibar occupies the free wall. It comes with a bar counter, and a tall fridge and shelves with alcohol and snacks behind it.
I find the whole setup a little peculiar, considering a fully equipped kitchen is right over there, in the second room. I also don’t remember seeing anything about such a layout in any of the blueprints we were handed, but maybe that’s normal? If Claire Streiss is at the center of this, then she’s not just a VIP, she is one of those running this show. If she wanted a minibar in the hallway, then she’d get it fitted all right.
Still, I can’t chase away this odd feeling. It’s not the minibar so much that’s causing it, but that gigantic fridge. What are they even keeping there? I understand needing space for some fruit, soda and ice, but this goes beyond that.
Needing to solve that mystery before I get to the one that actually matters, I circle the counter and open the massive appliance. It’s one of those American style fridge-freezers that comes with two vertical doors… and it’s completely empty. It’s also turned off.
That’s strange. Why have a fridge, and one as big as this, if you won’t even use it?
Maybe they were in the middle of restocking it, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. But as I look closely, I notice that not only is it tall, but it’s also way deeper than it looked from outside. In fact, it’s so deep, most of it must be built into an area of the wall that has been removed.
“Whoa, that’s huge!” Hex gasps, hugging me from behind. “I bet if you removed the shelves, it can easily fit two people.”
Hex is spot on. But his observation raises another question—if, hypothetically, this fridge is meant to store bodies, why is it off? What about a lock, so no one can open it? And where are those bodies?
Before I can voice any of that, Hex has removed a bunch of the shelves and crawled inside the fridge. There is plenty of space even with him inside, but that’s not what grabs my attention. It’s the hollow sound that the back surface makes when he accidentally knocks his elbow against it.
“Yoo! There’s something behind it!” he chirps excitedly, swiveling around until he’s sat cross-legged facing it.
Mong and I remove the rest of the shelves from the top portion of the fridge, while he examines the area. A click sounds when his fingers run over a slightly protruding square which is hidden behind the thermostat, and shortly after a seam bisects the back panel, splitting it into two. Both parts then slide away to designated compartments to the side of the fridge and a dimly lit tunnel appears in the gap.
