Michelle Karl - Fatal Freeze

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. “I’ve been meaning to change my passwords to something more secure. I’ve been using my dog’s name. Easy to guess with a quick search on social media. Maybe we should call the police, have them meet us at the dock. They could dust this terminal for fingerprints or clues or something.”

“I’d already touched it,” Shaun said. “And do you really want to make this area an active crime scene? We’d have to cordon the room off and guests will ask questions. There’s no way of being sure some kid or joker wouldn’t tamper with the area, and I have a feeling security doesn’t have enough manpower to post a guard outside.”

Lexie scanned the contents of her accounts as Shaun paced the floor. Had someone been looking for additional, specific information? The more he thought about it, the more he grew certain that the same young woman Lexie was looking for had to be tied to the organization he hunted.

“Have we stopped moving?”

Shaun snapped out of his thoughts. Lexie jumped from her seat and jogged toward the doors at the same time as a blue-uniformed employee came toward them down the hallway. Shaun couldn’t make out his face due to the way the hall lights reflected on the glass doors, but the employee appeared to be moving at a very brisk pace.

“Oh!” Lexie looked back over her shoulder. “I’ll ask this guy. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like we’ve stopped. Don’t you feel it?”

An uneasiness rose in Shaun’s gut as the employee continued his approach, though Shaun couldn’t pinpoint why. The way he moved seemed wrong, like he had something else in mind beyond attending the computer terminals.

The employee and Lexie reached the doors at the same time, Lexie still looking over her shoulder for an answer from Shaun. Shaun saw the man’s hand disappear, as though reaching into his belt for something.

“Get away from there!” Shaun shouted and darted forward, ready to place himself in front of her as a human shield.

Lexie stopped, but the employee had already opened the door and stepped inside. He glanced between Shaun and Lexie and then over his shoulder, where a group of giggling teenage girls followed behind. “Is something wrong, sir?”

The tension in Shaun’s shoulders refused to unclench. “I don’t know. Is it?”

“Shaun?” Lexie looked between him and the employee. “What’s going on?”

“Come over here,” Shaun said, drawing his words out. “Toward me. Don’t turn around.”

The employee’s eyes widened. “Sir?”

The teens pushed through the glass doors and into the room, laughing and whispering in each other’s ears. Shaun’s tension eased as the employee gestured to the terminals. “Here you are, ladies. Twenty minute maximum per session, please.”

“Sorry,” Shaun said, adding a brief laugh to diffuse the moment. “I thought you were someone else. I don’t suppose you know if there’s been anyone else in this room over the past hour or so, other than myself?”

The man shook his head, and Shaun finally pulled his observations away from the man’s face to read the name tag. Josh.

“Sorry, sir. I’ve come from a briefing, myself.” Josh divided his attention between Shaun and the teenagers. “Personnel are being shifted around at the moment.”

“Do you know which staff member was stationed in this area on departure?”

Josh pulled on the edge of his shirt, straightening out a rogue wrinkle. “We don’t typically station someone in this room for the duration of the trip. We have a few staff members with IT experience who check in every so often, but there’s a call button at the back wall in case of any technical issues.”

Shaun rubbed his chin, considering the best way to ask his question without alarming anyone. “Would you happen to know who’s on the schedule to do the first round of checks tonight?”

Josh grinned and nodded. “Yes. That would be me, sir. Security does initial sweeps at departure, but Sheila has the bulk of the overnight run. I’m on call for this room until then.”

“Did I see you down here earlier? Pass you in the hallway?”

Josh’s smile disappeared. “No, that wasn’t me. Sorry I can’t be of more help.”

Shaun gestured to Lexie, and she stepped closer to him as Josh vanished through a staff door. A physical attack, drugged coffee, stolen folder, hacked email and no leads. Complications would abound if he continued to exclude Lexie from his op, but she clearly had trust issues when it came to men. Or when it came to him , for some reason.

“I have a theory about your hacked email, but we can’t talk about it here. We need either a public place with plenty of noise or a closed room where no one can overhear. Did you have enough time to see if anything is missing?”

Lexie frowned and looked between the bank of computers and the door. “Oh no, you don’t. Mind telling me what that was about?”

“I will, as soon as we get somewhere that isn’t full of listening ears.” He inclined his head toward the teens, who were involved in an apparently hilarious game on a social networking website.

“Fine. Hang on a sec.” Lexie crossed her arms and returned to the computer. She tapped on the keyboard a few times before turning off the screen. “We can talk in my cabin, but I’d like to pick up another coffee since I didn’t get much out of that first one.”

Shaun pressed his lips together. He wanted to get this conversation over with, but it would do no good if she stayed on the defensive. Maybe with another coffee and a snack, she’d be more amicable to discussing what had happened.

“All right, but let’s make it quick.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder, annoyance rippling through her features. “You don’t have to follow me. The halls are full of people. I can meet you at my cabin.”

Instead of responding, he shook his head and kept pace behind her. No use trying to convince her of the necessity of teamwork before he’d had a chance to explain.

“My case files were gone, by the way,” she said as they descended the stairs to the deck below. “Everything has been deleted. Somebody doesn’t want me having access to information while I’m on board.”

* * *

Lexie noticed Shaun startle and nearly miss the next step. He grabbed onto the railing to steady himself, but she didn’t regret the tone of her delivery—these halls were full of passengers already worried about the sounds coming from outside the ship. Showing alarm would just add to the high tensions in the air.

They walked to the lounge in silence, where Lexie bought another cup of coffee and a bag of trail mix.

“You’re sure stuff was deleted?” His voice was light and upbeat, following her cue as they made their way back to her room. “Just the files on the case or other things, too?”

“Just the case,” she said, smiling as they passed a family of four in the hallway. The whole family wore fuzzy pajamas, and the two young children clutched plush toy characters from a recent animated film. The worried expressions on the parents’ faces suggested that no one knew yet what was going on. Lexie wished they’d make an announcement, but the calmness of the staff was mildly reassuring. If the situation were serious, surely they’d be evacuating people by now. “In fact,” Lexie continued, looking over her shoulder as they rounded the corner into her room’s hallway, “I think—”

Without warning, Shaun jumped forward and flung his arm out in front of Lexie, grabbing her shoulder to push her behind him against the wall. She winced at the pain of being slammed against a hard surface, but gritted her teeth to stay silent.

Lexie followed Shaun’s gaze to her doorway. It stood open about three inches, and though she’d intentionally left the light on before leaving for the computer room, no light shone through the door now.