“That’s impossible,” Sam said.
Elise smiled like someone who’d just checkmated the grandmaster. “I know that, but you watch the tapes and tell me it didn’t happen.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sam walked into the security room with Alexis and Elise. Tom was by himself sitting at the desk reviewing earlier footage from the cruise.
“Hey Tom,” Sam said. “Where’s Veyron?”
“He’s gone up to the bridge to run a check to see if the engines are still functioning,” Tom said, without looking up. “The Weddell Sea could turn into ice any day now and we thought it might be prudent to get a little further away from the coast before that happens.”
“When did he leave?” Sam asked.
“About ten minutes ago, why?”
“We’ve just come from the bridge. I would have thought we would have run into each other, that’s all.” Sam sat down and looked at the main computer monitor. “All right, Elise. Let’s see this recording.”
Elise pressed play and the digital security recording started. Sam watched as the tape showed what appeared to be a normal day aboard the Antarctic Solace. The recording was taken from inside the main entertainment deck, which included a number of closed boutique shops and a view of the port outside deck. The passengers and crew were progressing through their day the way one would expect, with the former looking like they were on vacation while the latter worked constantly.
“How long does this go on for?” he asked.
“About an hour,” Elise replied.
“Okay, fast-forward until a few minutes before the evacuation.”
Elise stopped fast-forwarding and the recording played at its normal speed. Sam listened to the now familiar melody of the Hungarian suicide song. He then watched as the passengers lined up two in a file and slowly walked towards the ship’s balustrade. When the music stopped, each person took a step forward. They slowly continued until each person went up and over the deck.
The recording lasted another minute after the last person disappeared and then stopped as though someone had intentionally paused the recording.
“That’s it?” Sam asked.
“Yes.” Elise replied. “Do you still think no one jumped after hearing that stupid song?”
“I know what I saw, but videos can lie. How much do you trust this video?”
“What you saw happened. That much hasn’t been tampered with, but I can tell you now that we’re not seeing the whole picture.”
“Someone’s done some clever editing,” Alexis suggested.
“It would appear so,” Elise agreed.
Sam stared at the final image. “So you’re saying none of those people climbed overboard?”
“No, that much happened.” Elise tapped on the keyboard. “Everyone in this recording is real and the event that you just watched, including them climbing overboard happened. Everything before and afterwards has been intentionally deleted and made to look as though the digital log simply broke at that point.”
“But you believe someone adjusted it?”
“I’m certain of it. Whoever is responsible has gone to great lengths to build a picture that appears unadulterated and leads us down a very different path than the truth.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Is there another view? One that looks down at the water where they landed?” Alexis asked. “Maybe they survived.”
“The Weddell Sea is only just above freezing,” Tom said. “Anyone who entered the water would be dead within minutes from hypothermia.”
“If they entered the water, at all that is.” Alexis shuffled forwards in her chair. “Can I see the earlier part of the recording?”
“Sure,” Elise replied. “But there’s not much to show. Just hours of normal cruise ship life.”
“All the same, I’d like to see it.”
Elise slid the time stamp back two hours and pressed play. Everything looked completely normal inside the cruise ship. The boutique shops were open and people wondered in and out, people spoke to the on shore excursion concierge about sea kayaking near the Ross Ice Shelf, others gambled while in the background a young man played 50s classics on the ebony grand piano.
They watched for about ten minutes.
“It all looks normal to me,” Sam said.
“All right,” Alexis said. “Fast-forward another twenty minutes.”
Elise did so and the video continued to play. This time a young man with a red baseball cap stood outside a shop that offered an assortment of books and memorabilia from the Antarctic continent. He scribbled a message on a yellow piece of paper and placed it on the door handle. The words were just legible from that distance — back in five minutes.
They watched the familiar scene of passengers coming and going across the main promenade. Each one was wearing clothing befitting an expedition to the South Pole. They were a mixed group of young adventurers and older scientists.
Another shop closed for the afternoon, followed by a small café. A different person wrote another message on a yellow piece of paper and left it on the front door. They watched as the crew numbers dwindled on the promenade.
“Is it just me or do the staff keep disappearing?” Alexis asked.
“That would be normal for the afternoon on board a cruise ship like this. The promenade would settle down while passengers ate dinner and then the shops would reopen.”
“But they’re not closing down for dinner,” Alexis said. “They’re removing the trained staff!”
“What do you mean?”
“Check the time stamp. It’s three o’clock — the place shouldn’t be closing down for the afternoon.” Alexis looked at the yellow card. “Can you see what the last one said?”
Elise paused and then increased the size of the image. It read, back in five minutes.
“I knew there was something wrong with those fucking yellow cards when I first saw them days ago!”
“You don’t like people taking a toilet break?” Sam asked.
Alexis ignored the comment. “Okay Elise, can you please rewind to five minutes earlier than the earliest screen.”
“Okay, sure.”
The promenade was full again. Everyone looked happy. There was a general enthusiastic vibe to the entire place. Most people on board would have paid a fortune for the opportunity to visit Antarctica and were making the most of every minute. A man with a red baseball cap walked towards one of the boutiques. It offered to sell books and memorabilia on Antarctica. He stopped for a moment outside and started to write on a yellow piece of paper.
Elise stopped the video. “You’ve seen this section before.”
“Okay, I think I know what’s going on here,” Alexis said. “And I think we’re all in danger.”
“What is it?” Sam asked.
“That man never walked into the shop. All he did was write on a yellow card that he’d be back in five minutes and then locked the front door.”
“Maybe he’s the security guy who does the locking up?” Tom pointed out. “I mean, if you can convince the rest of the passengers to jump ship, why go to the trouble of locking the crew and entertainers up?”
“Maybe whatever they’ve done to convince the passengers to jump ship wouldn’t be possible if the crew were there to instruct them not to?” Alexis said.
“That’s a possibility,” Sam agreed.
Elise stopped the recording completely. The face of the man in the baseball cap remained on the computer screen for a moment and then disappeared. “It’s all just a theory until I can break the code to these security recordings and see exactly what happened.”