Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(46)

Jack closed the door slightly, bracing his foot behind it to keep it still. “I’m sorry? What is this about?”

The man on the left, identical to his colleague in every way except for a wispy black beard, said, “We’ve received reports that you assaulted a member of staff during the early hours of this morning. We need you to come and answer some questions for us, please?”

“What? That’s impossible. Who told you this? Who am I supposed to have hurt?”

“Please, sir. If you could just cooperate.”

“Cooperate, my arse! I haven’t done anything.”

The two men tried to barge through into Jack’s cabin, but he held the door firm with his foot. The man on the right reached to grab Jack and received a punch in the face for his efforts and most likely a broken nose. Jack had been hoping to move past the violence of the past couple of weeks but it didn’t look like he was going to get that choice. He threw an overhand right at the remaining security guard and sent him to the floor to join his partner.

Then Jack ran – where the hell to, he did not know. He was in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and there was nowhere he could go that would be free of security’s reach. There was a chance he could take them all down, but that was only if the team of guards was small. For all Jack knew there could be a hundred members of security onboard.

He took the elevator up to the Broadway Deck and hurried through the jewellery store and onto the balcony of the theatre in the room beyond. There was a couple drinking at the bar there, but nobody else around. Jack considered sitting down in the corner and lying low, but it was too out in the open to remain undetected. He was at a total loss and close to panic. As a police officer he was far happier being the pursuer than the pursued.

Who the hell accused me of assaulting them? A member of staff?

It dawned on Jack quickly. It seemed that there was someone on the ship who was starting to get a habit for falsely accusing people of hurting her.

Tally? She must have been lying about Donovan, just like he told me. Now she’s telling lies about me. But why? What’s the point? Whatever she accuses me of will be forgotten at midnight tonight.

So what’s her angle? What the hell is she playing at?

Jack heard concerned voices from outside of the lounge’s main door and decided it was time to get moving again. He headed out of the rear door and entered the Lido Deck, knowing it would lead out past the 24-hour restaurant and out to the pool area. Once he got there he would run out of ship and there’d be no place left to run.

As it turned out, Jack wasn’t even able to get that far. Spread out throughout the pool deck were half a dozen security guards. They spotted Jack the moment he stepped out into the sunlight, and then came towards him in unison, stalking him like lions after a wildebeest. Jack held his hands up and decided there was no point in fighting them. At least by allowing himself to face charges, he would get the full lowdown on what exactly he’d been accused of. Hopefully he would also learn who had accused him.

Although he already had a pretty good idea.

***

Security took Jack down to the brig. He’d been there before; only this time they placed him in a small interview room instead of a cell. Walking in to meet him was Captain Marangakis. The man did not look happy.

“Captain,” Jack acknowledged him with a small nod.

Marangakis did not take a seat at the table, but stood behind one of the chairs opposite Jack.

“Mr Wardsley?”

“That’s correct.”

“I’ve been informed that you’re guilty of some pretty despicable behaviour aboard my ship.”

Jack leant forward across the desk and kept eye contact with the Captain. “Now, you see, that’s where your facts begin to go severely wrong. I haven’t hurt anyone. Whoever has told you otherwise is a liar.”

Marangakis finally took a seat. He yanked back the chair and dropped himself down with such force that it must have hurt his rump. “The accusation has been made by a member of my crew. I see no reason why she would lie.”

“So it’s a she, then?”

“I’m sure you know very well. You’ll be placed in the brig and handed over to the French authorities as soon as we make port.”

Jack laughed. “And when the f*ck will that be? I’d love to know.”

The captain seemed confused by Jack’s reaction, which was hardly surprising. “We’ll be there in a little over twelve hours. I’d be in no hurry if I were you.”

“We’ll see,” said Jack. “Do you want to show me to my room then?”

The captain nodded to a guard standing by the door. The burly man stepped towards Jack and went to take him by the arm. Jack stood up and shrugged away from his grasp. “There’s no need to get grabby. I’ll come.”

Jack went with the guard to the cell next door and allowed himself to be locked inside. It was probably the safest place to be anyway. Once the infected became violent they would wreak havoc on every area of the ship, but they wouldn’t be able to get inside the brig. After what had happened to Donovan, Jack was starting to worry that the spell was wearing off and that if the infected were to rip him apart, he might not get put back together again. Despite how much Jack’s life sucked, he didn’t want to die. He was getting too close to working things out.

The guard closed the cell door and locked it, leaving Jack to sit and contemplate. His previous life, of walking the streets as a policeman by day and drinking himself into a stupor by night, now seemed like a distant memory; a fuzzy recollection of a vivid dream. It would once have seemed impossible to think it, but Jack was actually starting to miss the life he had all but lost. Given the chance, he would make more of it then he had.