Then I grabbed a towel to protect my fingers and unscrewed the halogen bulbs in the ceiling one by one. There were four in the cabin, plus the one in the bathroom. When I was done, it was dark in the cabin, bright moonlight filtering through the porthole. I hadn’t swept for bugs, but because I wasn’t speaking, it wouldn’t much matter. At that point, I lay on the bed and waited.
I figured that if Kate and crew were angry that they couldn’t observe me, they’d be down soon enough. And if they weren’t, that meant I had some time to figure my situation out. Except, things went in a different direction entirely. It started with a squeak. It began intermittently but grew more persistent. At first I thought it was a mouse, or more likely a rat, but it wasn’t. No critter showed its eyes. There was no scurry of little feet. What there was, was a gradual but perceptible movement in the closet’s rear wallboard. I watched as the textured wall expanded outward in one spot, bubbling out farther and farther until it burst, the rotating head of a bolt appearing.
The bolt head stopped twisting and hung there a moment, before falling to the bottom of the closet. Then the squeaking started again, another bolt, making its way through the wallboard. At that point I saw no reason not to help. I retrieved the toothbrush from the bathroom and used it as a straight edge against the head of the hex bolt to crank it around. Within a few minutes, all four bolts were off and a metal panel tore through the layer of texturing on the wall. A second after that and I was staring through a jumble of wires at Meryem.
“You took very long to help,” she whispered.
I put a finger to my lips. If the rooms were bugged, I didn’t want to tip our captors off. It was a tight squeeze, but I followed Meryem past the jumble of wires and through the access panel into her cabin. Once in her cabin, I saw that she had gone in through a disused junction box which gave her access to the panel below it.
I figured if we were being observed, we’d already have been busted, but you never knew. I signaled Meryem to wait and pulled the toothpaste trick again, just in case they were watching. Then I set my sights on Meryem’s porthole. Unlike the one in my cabin, it was rectangular, consisting of a pane of tempered glass cantilevered out on two long stainless-steel hinges. A rubber gasket around the opening in the hull where the window was seated ensured it would be near waterproof in bad weather. It was a good setup to keep water out. Hopefully not so good at keeping people in.
I reached outside and hung my weight off the glass. It was surprisingly solid. I felt some movement, but didn’t gain more than a fraction of an inch in vertical play. I noticed an unintended consequence, though. I did gain lateral play. The hinges were still solidly preventing the window from bending down, but they had separated somewhat from the wall. Still, I had nothing but a toothbrush for a tool. I needed something else.
“What?” Meryem mouthed.
I raised a finger indicating that she should wait.
I wouldn’t have been shocked if the door had broken open and armed men had put an end to our little escapade right there, but they didn’t, so I scoured the room. It was the same as mine. Same closet, same tiny bathroom, same non-marine toilet. Smaller yachts tended to carry a marine toilet with a pump and valve regulating shore and offshore use. This one didn’t. It was simply a regular toilet bowl with regular plumbing, which got me thinking. I removed the porcelain toilet tank lid. Sure enough, there was a plastic float in there. A float on a steel rod with a flattened end where it connected to the flushing mechanism. Interesting. I thought it might do. I unscrewed the ten-inch rod. With the black float on the end it looked like a maraca, but it had the potential to give me the leverage I needed.
I took off the float and inserted the toilet rod under the loosened hinge, prying upward. It gave me the mechanical advantage I wanted. Two sharp, upward strokes and I was able to jimmy both hinges off their mounts. Then I removed the window and gave Meryem a boost. She slipped headfirst through the tight space, landing with the tiniest of splashes. I followed, putting my arms through the window and pushing off the hull, diving deeply into the cool black water below.
Chapter 34
Bright phosphorescence glowed in the dark water around me as I surfaced, Meryem quietly treading water beside me in the night. The luminescent microorganisms were bright enough to be seen from above which could have been a problem had the guards been on deck. Fortunately, the ship was dark except for the mooring lamp and a light on the bridge. To the east, the moon had risen over the southern Mediterranean creating a perfect beam of reflected light on the rippling water. Meryem tugged at my arm underwater and we followed the moonbeam quietly into a rocky cove.
“What did they do to you?” I whispered, careful to keep my voice low.
“Not so much. Asked me questions. Then they locked me in the room.”
When we reached the shore, she pulled herself out of the sea, salty drops of water glistening on her bare arms in the moonlight. We scrabbled up the rocky escarpment before descending the other side. There was what looked like a goat path leading to the center of the island. Looking back, over my shoulder, I could just see the Furno radar can on the yacht behind us. There was no light and no noise which meant the alarm hadn’t been raised. Yet. I thought we could risk a quiet conversation.
“What kind of questions?”
“Who I am loyal to? Why I am traveling with you? Am I lesbian?”
“They asked you that?”
“No. They did not ask this,” Meryem smiled. “A joke,” she said.
“Funny,” I replied. “So what did you tell them?”
“I told them I am MIT. That I work for my country.”
“Well, you’ve hit the nail on the head there, haven’t you?”
Meryem stopped in her tracks. She was soaking wet, her lean, athletic body toned under her T-shirt. Some people look good wet and some people look like drowned rats. Meryem fell into the former category. She looked good. No, she looked great.
“What nail?” she asked.
“Loyalty. If Faruk is military, he should be working with you, not locking you up. I need to know who you’re loyal to Meryem. I need to know why your own government is treating you like a criminal?”
Meryem only laughed.
“And your Dragon Lady Shaw?”
“What about her?”
“Who are you loyal to, Mr. Raptor? Or should I say, Mr. Chase?”
I considered Meryem’s words. However you played it, espionage was a calculated endeavor. My cover identity had served its purpose. But it was getting in the way now. Meryem had already proved that she had access to valuable information regarding the Device’s whereabouts. But she wouldn’t share that information if she didn’t think she could trust me. I needed to make a call.
“I’m not Raptor,” I said. “Raptor is dead. I was sent to take his place in order to infiltrate the Dragons. You were identified as his last contact so we decided to go in through you. Like you heard, my name is Chase. Michael Chase. I’m not a mole.”
Meryem looked me up and down.
“So you are telling me the truth now?”
“Yeah. I’m telling you the truth. Now it’s your turn.”
“The truth, Michael Chase, is a dangerous thing.”
“We passed dangerous a long time ago.”