Chapter 8 - THE CREWThe darkness lasted eleven seconds.
When the emergency lights came back, Kane was gone.
Briggs looked at the screen.
Half the red dots had turned black.
“What's happening?”
Ward reached the console.
“Compartment lockdown.”
“Can we release them?”
“Not from here.”
I looked around.
“We need the bridge.”
Briggs nodded.
“Then we go.”
We ran through the engineering corridor.
The ship continued tilting.
Loose equipment crashed across the deck.
People were trapped behind sealed doors.
A Marine slammed his fists against one.
“HELP!”
Briggs stopped.
We forced the door manually.
Inside were six sailors.
One of them was unconscious.
Another was barely breathing.
They crawled out.
“What's happening?” one asked.
I looked at Ward.
“Flooding.”
The sailor stared.
“We're sinking?”
“Not yet.”
Yet.
That word frightened him more than yes would have.
As we moved toward the bridge, more compartments opened.
People emerged.
Some injured.
Some angry.
Some terrified.
Then we reached the central stairwell.
Kane's security team was waiting.
Gunfire.
Briggs dragged me behind a bulkhead.
Ward fired twice.
Shaw moved to the opposite side.
For several seconds, the stairwell became a storm of metal and sparks.
Then silence.
One of the guards was down.
Another fled.
We climbed.
At the bridge, the door was welded shut.
Briggs stared.
“Of course.”
A voice spoke from the darkness behind us.
“You're becoming predictable.”
Kane.
I turned.
He stood on the stairs.
Weapon raised.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
Captain Elias Ward stepped forward.
“Kane.”
Kane smiled.
“Captain.”
“You've lost.”
“No.”
Kane pointed at the ship's command screen.
“This is bigger than the Resolute.”
“You can't get away.”
Kane laughed.
“I'm not trying to.”
He looked at me.
“Your father understood something you still don't.”
“What?”
“People protect systems that protect them.”
He lowered the weapon slightly.
“Even when the systems are killing them.”
I stepped forward.
“You're wrong.”
“Am I?”
He pointed toward the crew.
“Ask them.”
Kane left the stairwell.
Briggs moved to chase him.
I stopped him.
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants us to chase him.”
Ward looked at me.
“Then where is he going?”
I remembered the red key.
The underground dock.
The countdown.
The hidden transfer facility.
“He's not escaping.”
“Then what?”
“He's meeting someone.”
A transmission came through the bridge speaker.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
“Hannah.”
I stepped closer.
“Dad?”
“Don't come to the lower deck.”
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“Somewhere Kane can't reach.”
“What do you mean?”
Another voice interrupted.
Adrian Vale.
“You should listen to your father.”
I stared at the speaker.
“Kane isn't the head.”
“No.”
“Then you are?”
Vale laughed softly.
“No.”
“Who?”
Silence.
Then he said:
“You've been asking the wrong question.”
“What question?”
“Who controls Meridian?”
I waited.
Then:
“Ask who controls NCIS.”
The transmission ended.
Nobody spoke.
Shaw looked pale.
Briggs shook his head.
“That can't be true.”
I looked at him.
“You said the message from our distress signal never left.”
“Yes.”
“Who had access to it?”
He stared at the bridge terminal.
“Communications.”
“Who controls communications?”
He slowly answered.
“The executive officer.”
Ward's face changed.
“The executive officer has been with us since the beginning.”
“Who?”
Ward looked toward the bridge door.
“Commander Lucas Venn.”
The lights flickered.
The bridge door opened.
Commander Venn stepped inside.
He held no weapon.
He looked exhausted.
And on his chest was a small red key-shaped pin.
May you like
He looked at me.
“You finally figured it out.”
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