With the tips of her fingers she lightly explored the surface until they alighted on the handle. She put her ear to the door and listened intently, trying to determine if there was someone on the other side. Once again, the only sound she could hear was that of her own heart thumping, firing adrenaline around her body, preparing her for a fight. Ever so slowly, she turned the handle, covering it with her free hand as if doing so might mask any noise. But there was no sound. The well maintained mechanism turned smoothly and silently. With the slightest of tugs the door came towards her. A vertical bar of light from outside streaked across her face. She glanced behind her saw that the window had been boarded up, explaining the lack of daylight in the bedroom.

Lucya turned back to the door, pulled it open a little more, and peered through the gap. Beyond it was a sitting room. Although much brighter than the bedroom, it wasn't well lit. Curtains had been drawn across the balcony double doors, letting through only a dim glow. A sofa and two chairs were arranged around a low table. Someone was sitting in one of the chairs, facing towards Lucya. She recognised who it was at once.

“Tania!” She exclaimed in a loud whisper.

Fifty-Four

FOR THE SECOND time that day, Jake stepped onto the extendible steps which led to the platform normally used for boarding the tender. This time though, there was no tender, only the inflatable life raft that he himself had ordered be tied up there.

“Down.” The German prodded him in the back.

He looked around helplessly, half hoping to see someone, anyone, come charging out onto the steps to save him from his fate.

Nobody came.

“Do you want me to hit you again? I can hit you again.”

He had a feeling the German enjoyed hitting people, and wondered what the guy did in life, before coming on this cruise. Before the world ended. He didn’t think he worked as a henchman for a nutter who believed he was Adam reincarnate. He was probably a lawyer. Or a dentist. Or a computer programmer. Someone with a repetitive regular job that offered no excitement. And so what, he asked himself, would become of the others on the ship? How much did it take for normal, nice, ordinary people to turn mercenary? When the food started running out, things were going to turn nasty pretty fast. Entire wars had been fought for reasons less important than self preservation. But Flynn must have known all this. He was probably counting on it. Find the women, make them all secure on one deck. Defend that deck at all costs, and then let everyone else fight amongst themselves. They would do the job for him, finishing themselves off.

“You are going to die in that boat, but I could just as easily kill you here. Flynn won’t know any different.”

The German was losing his temper. Jake shook his head, as if he might be able to shake the terrible thoughts and images out. He started down the steps towards the raft.

At the bottom, the Chinese man held onto him while Gunter reached into the inflatable and pulled out the oars. Behind Jake there was a sudden rush of water, an eruption of millions of bubbles. A strong current pushed the raft away from the ship, stretching the rope to its maximum extent. The bow thruster churned up the fjord, turning the blue green water white. The Spirit of Arcadia slowly started to ease away from the coast.

“Get in,” the German commanded, pointing at the tiny vessel.

The sides of the raft were low, designed to make it easy to board from the sea. But that made it hazardous to enter by more conventional means. The pain in Jake’s side caused by his broken rib, made it difficult to crouch. He was having trouble working out quite how to get in without tipping the thing over. Gunter saved him from having to think further with a hefty shove in the back. He was sent flailing into the raft, where he landed face down with a slap. With a bolt of excruciating pain shooting through his side, he blacked out.

Fifty-Five

LUCYA PULLED THE door fully open and ran to the head of house keeping. Tania looked up smiling at her.

“Tania, we've been so worried about you!”

“There's no need, I've been fine. They've treated me very well.”

“Why haven't they let you go? Melvin’s in charge now, he's the head of the rebel passengers. They took you to force Jake’s hand, so he had to let Melvin on the bridge. But now he's in charge, surely they don't need you?”

“It's not that simple Lucya.”

“Do you know why I'm here? Do you know how long I've been here? All I remember was walking to my cabin.”

“I think they brought you in about an hour ago, maybe a bit longer.”

“Okay. Did you see how many there are? Are they guarding the door? Are you hurt? Can you help me fight them?

Lucya looked at the woman seated in front of her. She seemed to be remarkably calm. Something didn't feel right. If she'd been here all along she must have heard the chair break, and the crash of the drawer unit. The door between the sitting room and the bedroom wasn’t locked. Why hadn't she come and helped her?

“My dear Lucya, we’re not going anywhere. We are going to stay right here. Why don't you sit down?”

“What? No! We need to get out of here. Jake could begin trouble!”

“I wouldn't worry about Jake any more. I wouldn't worry about anyone else. Jake has been taken care of. Really, sit down for a bit. Flynn will be here soon, he'll explain everything for you.”

“Flynn? Who the hell is Flynn? Are you working with Melvin?”

“Melvin is dead. At least, he should be by now. Flynn is the captain, if everything has gone to plan. He's going to save us, Lucya. We’re the lucky ones, the chosen ones. We will be treated like queens. You’ll see. Flynn will explain it all.”

“Oh my God, they got inside your head, didn't they? They got you believing crazy stuff. Tania, I'm really sorry, if you can't help me then I’m going to have to go on my own. But we'll come back for you. When I find Jake, we’ll get Max and come back for you, I promise.”

Lucya started for the main cabin door. She heard Tania spring to her feet behind her.

“Stop!”

“Come with me Tania!”

Lucya tried the door. It was locked. She heard a click, turned back to see what had made the sound. Tania was right behind her. Her hand flew up to Lucya’s neck. She was clasping a knife.

“I said, stop. Now, walk very slowly with me. If you don't want to sit here with me in comfort that's fine. But you're going back in your cage until Flynn comes.”

Lucya tried to resist, but the blade pressed harder against her throat, stretching the skin dangerously close to breaking point. She had no choice but to obey. A wrong move and the sharp knife would slip through her flesh, opening her windpipe and severing arteries. Very carefully, the two women shuffled back to the bedroom. Once inside Tania turned them both around so that she had her back to the door, then pulled away the blade and stepped back, pulling the door shut behind her. Lucya heard a sound like a bolt sliding. She immediately tied opening the door, pulled it hard several times, but it was no good. Someone had fitted a fastening to the outside. She was locked in.

Fifty-Six

JAKE WASN’T ALLOWED to remain unconscious for long. Icy cold water splashing onto the back of his head brought him round quickly. With a groan he tried to roll over onto his back. Another splash of water soaked his legs. He heard laughing behind him. With difficulty he managed to pull his knees up and get onto all fours, and turned on the spot so that he was facing the landing platform. The Chinese man was batting one of the oars into the sea, sending arcs of water into the raft. Gunter apparently found this hilarious.