Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(56)

“Yes…please.”

“Forget about it. Put what you did behind you. If you don’t, it will eat away at you until you’re a broken mess, trust me. What you did was a moment of madness, but anyone else would have done the same. Don’t let it change you. Your daughter needs you.”

“Why are you saying all this?” asked Ivor. “Is this some sort of trick to get my wife to confess?”

Jack leant forward and placed a hand on Ivor’s shoulder. His skin was clammy and hot beneath his shirt. “No tricks. I just wanted to let you know that I hope everything works out okay for you all.”

Ivor said nothing. He just studied Jack.

“Your daughter looks pretty sick,” said Jack, changing the subject.

“Just a cold.”

“Do you know where she caught it?”

“I don’t know. Kids often get sick when they travel.”

“How long has she been under the weather?”

Ivor shrugged and seemed irritated. “Since last night. We’ve all been feeling a little unwell. Like I said, though, it’s just a cold.”


Last night. So she got sick the evening we all boarded. She caught the virus yesterday, not today. Damnit! Why didn’t Joma cast the spell a day earlier if that’s when it started? How am I supposed to stop something that has already happened?

Jack stood up, feeling defeated. “One last question, Ivor. There’re a lot of people who have come down with the same flu as your daughter. You got any ideas how it could have spread to so many people?”

Ivor shrugged. “I’m not a bloody doctor, man. But I guess if you thought about it logically, the likeliest place to catch a cold is in high traffic areas. Places where people are bunched together.”

“Okay, thanks,” Jack said, mulling things over. “Hey, you know there’s a doctor on the lower deck. You should take your daughter down to see if he has anything to make her feel a little better.”

“We were just discussing that, actually.”

Jack nodded. “The doctor’s name is Fortuné. Give him my regards. Goodbye Ivor, Vicky. I hope your daughter gets well soon.”

He left the family alone for the last time.





1600hrs


Jack looked at his watch and grimaced when he realised it was approaching four-o-clock. Just over four hours until the infection reached its final stage. With every second that passed, it seemed more and more hopeless that Jack would find a solution. He had some facts to go on now, but they offered very little. Jack listed off the things he knew, one by one.

Ivor and his family became ill the night after boarding – yesterday.

Ivor’s daughter, Heather, is at a more advanced stage of infection – is that just due to her age?

Conner is another passenger that boarded the same day as Heather. He’s also sick, but his girlfriend, Claire, isn’t. That makes it seem unlikely that the early form of the virus is contagious as she would surely have been exposed by now – so was the virus initially transmitted in some other way?

Donovan worked for the world’s biggest drugs company, and was smuggling arms overseas, but he’s dead now – murdered, most likely, by Tally.

Tally probably killed Donovan and then made the false accusations about me so that I was hindered by Security – so what is she trying to keep me from achieving and how does Donovan factor in to that?

The ship is at sea and due to dock in Cannes tomorrow. Why did Joma stop the ship today? Why not back in Palma before the virus was even transmitted in the first place?

Jack felt like a blind man groping his way down an alley. The answers were in front of him but he could not see them. What was it that meant Claire was not infected but Conner was? Why was Heather worse than the others? Where onboard was busy enough, and cramped enough, to infect a third of the ship’s passengers?

What am I missing?

“Sir, can you come with us, please?”

Jack turned around to see four of the ship’s guards approaching him. They didn’t seem like they were willing to talk.

Jack threw a short uppercut to the closest man and then threw him into the others. One of the guards dodged out of the way and managed to throw himself into a tackle. Jack fell backwards but managed to apply a front face lock to the man, cinching -in a guillotine choke hold. It was only a matter of seconds before Jack felt the guard pass out, but then he found himself trapped beneath the man’s bulk.

Unable to move, Jack was helpless to resist arrest as the other three guards recomposed themselves and bore down on top of him. They hoisted him up to his feet and started dragging him away. Jack knew he was on his way to see the captain again.





1700hrs


Marangakis entered the room with same authoritative disdain that he always did. This time Jack lacked the patience to show respect for the man’s position. Jack rose up from his chair to meet the captain. The guard in the room moved to restrain Jack but caught an elbow in the eye-socket for his efforts. Jack grabbed the Captain with both hands, spun him around, and wrapped an arm around his throat.

“It’s time you and me went and made a call,” said Jack, yanking the Captain backwards towards the door.

“You’re in very deep trouble, Mr Wardsley.”

Jack squeezed the man’s windpipe and made him choke. “Shut up. How do we get to the Bridge from here? We need to contact the mainland. There’s something very bad aboard this ship.”