Kingdom Keepers V(106)
“They’ll let us know. You all are plenty busy.”
“Tell me about it.” He wasn’t sure if he should tell this girl about the journal. He decided against it.
“A huge crate was brought onto the ship via the forward gang.”
“You do get around,” he said. Wayne’s choice of her made slightly more sense.
“It wasn’t on any manifests. I hear about that sort of thing.”
“How?”
She studied him and shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. Not yet.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he said.
“There have been some attempts to breach security. Is that you and your friends?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
“If not your friends, maybe your enemies.” Storey sounded worried.
“Speaking of getting around.”
“You’ve seen them?”
“Face to face. On the beach tonight. Maleficent.”
He thought he saw her shiver. He knew the feeling.
“Yet here you are.”
“Here I am.”
“That’s impressive.”
“That’s lucky. Friends in the right places.”
“Friends in deep places,” she said.
“Triton.” Finn was awed by the extent of her knowledge.
Storey took a deep breath and held it as if savoring it. “You know how we envy you? Having a chance like that? You met him?”
“I did.”
“Unreal.”
“Tell me about it. But I also saw Jafar. That wasn’t so nice.”
“I hate Jafar.”
“Strong word.”
“I’m not changing it,” she said.
“His staff came alive. A snake.”
“Like in the Bible,” she said.
“Like in the movie,” he said. “I hate snakes.”
“Strong word.”
“I’m not changing it,” he said.
They both laughed.
“If it’s not you breaching security…I’d be careful if I were you.”
“Yes, you would,” he said.
“No way to know what they might have been after.”
“Us. It’s us.” He paused. “It’s a lot of things.”
“Does that scare you?” Storey asked.
“It does.”
“I would think so.”
“You know that stupid line ‘Failure is not an option’? That’s kind of what it’s like. Like you can’t fail but you don’t know how to succeed. I feel like a hamster on a wheel most of the time. The OTs obviously have some goal. Our only goal is to not let them reach theirs. It’s like always playing defense. Hard to win a game that way.”
“The best offense is a good defense.”
“Maybe.”
“How can I help?”
“You are. Believe me. The crate? The one that came aboard?”
“No one knows about it. I mean, some guys hauled it aboard. I have my sources. But not the normal guys at the loading bays. Different guys.”
“Six people arriving by Boston Whaler,” he said. “Let me guess. They arrived right when the crew was on a break or busy somewhere else.”
“Shore duty,” she said. “Getting ready to sail.”
“The thing that gets me is how well planned everything is,” he said. She didn’t comment. “Any idea where it went, this crate?”
“Forward gang? An odd choice, except its location away from the dock. Could be for one of the bars. A piece of replacement equipment or a computer for the bridge. Any of the galleys. Or, I suppose, the big theater.”
“It’s not a piece of equipment,” he said, thinking of the air holes in the crate. “Fewer people nosing around in the galley or in the theater?”
“A lot more hiding places in the theater,” she said. “Backstage, the catwalks, below stage, the dressing rooms, prop area. And a good part of every day no one’s around.”
“So that’s where we start.”
“Sounds good.”
“What are the chances there’s some surprise planned for one of the shows? Something new?”
“It happens,” she said.
“Often?”
“Not on a regular cruise, but this is no ordinary cruise. The first ship through the new locks? They could have anything planned. And it wouldn’t have to be by anybody but a few key people. The captain. Director of entertainment. Information moves around this ship faster than seawater. There are no secrets. For a really big surprise, I can see them pulling something like this.”
“So maybe it’s nothing more than that,” he said.
“I can check it out.”
“I’d rather you not.”
“Because?”
“Because that’s what we’re here for.”