“This is all my fault.” Neil groaned as he tried to straighten his body. “I never should have trusted Antonio.”
“You didn’t know?” I asked. “You had no idea?”
“What? That Antonio was head of a criminal organization and was using Athena to smuggle stolen antiquities across the Med? No. Absolutely not. It wasn’t until I returned to the Bridge this morning that I realized anything was wrong. It was still early. Captain Rob was at the helm. I had no idea what was about to happen.”
“I’m afraid none of us did.” Byard explained that after leaving Ida’s body with the Doctor and returning to the Bridge with Sully and the Inspector, he expected they would call the authorities to notify them of Ida’s death. “Instead, Sully insisted we wait until Neil could join us.”
“Soon as I got to the Bridge, I knew something was wrong.” Neil arched his back and winced as he spoke. I could see the pain in his face. “Captain Rob was there, and Captain Byard had a look of concern on his face I didn’t like. I asked Sully if he had notified the authorities, and he said no. That he had no intention of calling them. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I was about to push Sully out of the way when I felt something hit me from behind. I must have passed out. The next thing I knew, Byard, Finn, and I were in cuffs.”
Byard filled in the details. Antonio grabbed the fire extinguisher and hit Neil over the head. “I tried to stop him, but Sully and the Inspector got the better of me. He cuffed Neil and me, and it was over by the time Finn arrived.”
“There was nothing I could do.” Finn looked at Neil apologetically. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Finn. Athena’s my ship. This is on me. If I had any idea what was happening, I would never have endangered any of you. And now, we’ve had a mutiny aboard. I never would have thought it was possible. Antonio and his friends have seized control and put Captain Rob at the helm. The crew will take orders from the Captain. No questions.”
“And no one will suspect anything?” I could have answered my own question. No one noticed the Captain’s schedule, who was on the Bridge, or why. The residents were only interested in their safe arrival and departure. There was no reason for concern.
Byard grimaced. “Not likely. If anyone were to ask about me, Captain Rob would tell them I was taking some time off. And remember, nobody saw anything. Athena had dropped anchor in Positano’s harbor hours before, and Captain Rob, the Inspector, Sully, and I were alone on the Bridge when Neil and Antonio came on board. Chances are, if anyone saw Neil and Antonio arrive, they wouldn’t have thought anything about it. And once Antonio knocked Neil out and Sully cuffed us, we were led down the stairs to the gym, and here we are.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for them to return.” Dede rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen the tension in her neck. “We need to do something. Kat, where did you put that coin?”
“It’s hidden. And it’ll stay that way until I’m certain it’ll buy our freedom.”
Marco stretched his long legs out in front of him. “I like your confidence, Kat. But where’s the coin?”
I leaned back up against my backpack. It wasn’t only the camera that I could feel up against my spine, but the cheese knife the chef had given me as a souvenir that the Inspector had missed when he searched my bag.
“I have a knife in my bag. And I’m going to need your help to get it.”
I scooted away from the wall and told Marco to do the same, then turned so my back was to his. “I know you can’t see behind you, but if you lean back against me, even with your hands tied, you should be able to unzip my backpack. Get the knife and try to cut me loose. Just make sure you don’t cut my wrists, will you?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Iwasn’t sure if Marco could cut the plastic zip ties from my wrists. It would have been hard enough for someone half his age, but for a seventy-eight-year-old senior whose hands were tied behind his back and shook under the best circumstances, I could only hope he didn’t accidentally slit my wrists. Once I felt my left hand free, I took the knife from him and cut the remaining tie from my wrist, then cut the others free.
“Neil, is there another way out of here?” My eyes scanned the gym for a possible exit.
“I don’t see how. Sully’s locked the elevator doors. Nobody’s getting on or off, not while we’re here. And there’s a guard outside the stairway door where we came in. Short of opening the Marina hatch and jumping out into the ocean, I don’t see how we get out of here.”
We all huddled together in a circle. Neil next to Finn, then Dede, Irene, Elli, Marco, Captain Byard, and me, with Tatiana slightly to herself. Each of us I knew had to be thinking the same thing. We had to find a way out.
“There’s a wall ladder beyond the storage lockers.” Byard rubbed his wrists as he spoke. “It won’t take us up to the deck. It’s for the crew to go between floors, but it will take us down to the anchor chain and the—”
“The war room!” I remembered Byard talking to me about it when he gave me a tour of the ship and thinking how strange it was for a passenger vessel to have such a room. “You said it’s where Athena stores her arsenal. In case of pirates.”
“Exactly.”
“And Antonio doesn’t know about it?” I looked at Neil.
He shook his head. “He’s not a crew member. There’s no reason for him to know…and even if he did, the guns and ammo are all under lock and key. We couldn’t get them if we wanted.”
“But we could break the locks.” Byard pointed to an ax mounted on the wall.
“And what about the hose?” I nodded to the fire hose beneath the ax. “Is it hooked up? Can we use it?”
“You bet we can.” Finn went to the wall and took the hose from its mount. “And you don’t want to be in the way when we turn it on. It’ll knock you off your feet.”
I slipped the cheese knife into my pocket. “Are you all thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That we fight back?” Dede made a fist and stuck her arm out in front of us all.
Marco put his hand on top of hers. “Do we have a choice?”
“I don’t think so.” I put my hand on top of theirs and looked up at the clock over the pool. It was almost four a.m. The sun and some of Athena’s residents would be up in a few hours. “Antonio’ll give us one chance to turn over the Brutus Coin, and when we do—”
“He’ll take advantage of the fact we’re miles from any shoreline and start throwing bodies out the Marina hatch. We’ll be long gone before anyone upstairs wakes up or begins to ask questions.”
“Wait!” Tatiana stepped back, her hands in front of her face. “What are you saying? You think you stand a chance against these people? I’m not part of your group. I’m not taking part in any of this.”
Finn reached behind him and took hold of Tatiana’s arm. “Are you forgetting these are the people who threw your father overboard? Do you think they won’t do the same to you?”
“It’s up to you, Tatiana.” I took Finn’s hand from Tatiana’s arm. “You can help us or try to hide and hope they won’t find you and kill you.”
“Fine!” Tatiana slapped her hand on top of all of ours. “We fight.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, I sat cross-legged in the center of the gym with my backpack on my lap and the Brutus Coin in my hand. Or, what I hoped Antonio would think was the Brutus Coin and not my camera’s battery, which, from the distance of the gym’s stairway door to where I sat, looked in size and shape very much like the desired coin.
