Chapter 2 - The Woman in Cabin 914The emergency lights flickered.
I didn't move.
Neither did the federal agent.
His name was Daniel Reed.
I'd learned that much from his credentials, but the way he watched me told me he already knew far more.
“Where's Ethan?” Captain Mercer demanded.
Nobody answered.
A security officer checked the bathroom.
Empty.
Closet.
Empty.
Balcony.
Impossible.
There was nowhere for him to go.
Then Daniel crouched beside the carpet.
He pointed.
A tiny smear of blood.
“Your husband didn't disappear,” he said.
I looked at the trail.
It led toward the wall.
The wall itself looked normal.
I ran my fingers over the wood paneling.
One section moved.
A hidden door.
The captain stepped backward.
“That isn't on our deck plans.”
Daniel pulled a flashlight from his jacket.
“Which means somebody installed it without the ship's knowledge.”
He opened it.
A narrow passage disappeared into darkness.
I reached for a weapon.
Daniel stopped me.
“This isn't your fight.”
I looked at him.
“You've clearly never met me.”
Then I stepped inside.
The passage smelled of saltwater, dust, and something metallic.
Blood.
At the end was another door.
It opened into Cabin 914.
Empty.
The bed had been stripped.
There were no suitcases.
But on the desk sat a single cup of coffee.
Still warm.
Someone had been waiting for us.
Daniel entered behind me.
“You were expected.”
I looked around.
On the wall hung six photographs.
Six women.
All beautiful.
All smiling.
All wearing wedding dresses.
Underneath each photograph was a date.
Three years apart.
The first belonged to Lauren Hale.
The second woman had disappeared four years ago.
The third, five years ago.
The fourth, six years ago.
Then I saw the fifth photograph.
A woman named Sarah Mercer.
I looked at Captain Mercer.
His face collapsed.
“My sister.”
The sixth photograph was different.
It had been taken only two months earlier.
The woman was still alive.
At least officially.
Her name was Nadia Price.
Daniel took a photograph of the wall.
“We need to get everyone off this deck.”
“Too late,” I said.
He looked at me.
I pointed toward the ventilation grate.
There was a blinking red light behind it.
A camera.
Someone was watching.
I ripped the grate from the wall.
The camera was gone.
Only wires remained.
Daniel cursed.
Then the ship's intercom crackled.
Static.
A woman's voice emerged.
“You shouldn't have opened that cabin.”
Captain Mercer turned pale.
“Who is this?”
The voice laughed.
“You know exactly who I am.”
Then the intercom went silent.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
No signal.
The ship's communications system had been cut.
I heard footsteps.
Fast.
Coming toward us.
Security officers drew their weapons.
A figure appeared at the end of the corridor.
A woman.
Barefoot.
Soaked from head to toe.
She walked toward us slowly.
Captain Mercer dropped his flashlight.
“No…”
The woman lifted her head.
Her lips were blue.
Her eyes were empty.
And around her neck hung a silver crescent necklace.
The same necklace I had seen in Lauren's photograph.
Daniel whispered:
“Lauren Hale.”
The woman smiled.
Then collapsed.
We rushed toward her.
She was alive.
Barely.
I crouched beside her.
“Lauren?”
Her eyes opened.
She grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.
“Don't trust…”
She coughed.
“Don't trust the agent.”
Then she stared directly at Daniel.
And screamed.
The corridor lights exploded.
Everything went black.
When the emergency lights returned, Lauren was gone.
Again.
Daniel stood frozen.
I looked at him.
He slowly raised both hands.
“I didn't touch her.”
I believed him.
For one reason.
There were bloody footprints leading away from us.
But they didn't belong to Lauren.
They belonged to someone wearing military boots.
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And at the end of the footprints was a message scratched into the floor:
BLACKFALL IS STILL ACTIVE.
