One strange thing about all these hours in the wheelchair was the way it changed your perspective on everybody else. They were all big people now, and she was little. Seated in the wheelchair, she was too low to actually see the countertop, but could look at an angle up past it at the faces of Jerry and his girl assistant as the girl, in low tones that nevertheless Noelle could hear, said, “The cashier’s cage say they’re not getting any change.”
Jerry looked blank, but continued to smile at Mike and Noelle. He said, “What?”
“People want to cash in now,” she told him, “and they’re sending down the chips, but nothing’s coming back up.”
Here we go, Noelle thought. One twenty-seven by the big clock on the wall at the back of the purser’s office. Here’s where the hairy part begins. Sooner or later, cops are going to come aboard, and they’re going to want to know if there are any anomalies here tonight, any odd or unusual passengers, and will they look at a girl in a wheelchair? Sooner or later they might, but not if she’s long gone, off and away from here.
“Excuse me,” Jerry said, and turned away from them, and made a quick phone call. Four numbers; internal. Calling the money room. Waiting. Listening. Waiting. Looking confused.
Exactly one-thirty. Jerry hung up, and stood still for a second, frowning this way and that, trying to decide what to do. Mike said, “Jerry? Something wrong?”
“No, no,” Jerry said. ‘Just a little, uh, communication problem. Excuse me, one second.” He made another internal call, and this time it was answered right away, and he said, “It’s Jerry. We’re not getting anything up from the money room, and when I called down there there’s no answer. Can you beep your guy at the top of the stairs? Well, can you send somebody over, see what’s up? Thanks, Doug.”
Mike, sounding worried, said, “Jerry? Is there gonna be a problem?”
“I’m sure there isn’t,” Jerry promised him. “Maybe there’s an electric failure down there, who knows what. They’ll take a look.”
Mike, more confidential than ever, said, “Jerry, the reason See, I’m responsible for Jane Ann.”
“I know, Mike, and you do a great”
“Yeah, but, see, if there’s gonna be a problem Jerry, I gotta get this girl home.”
“Don’t you worry, Mike, we’ll get Jane Ann home, there isn’t going to be any reason not. You’ve got my word on this, okay?”
“Would it be okay,” Mike asked, “if we stuck around here to find out what’s going on? You know, just so we know. I mean, if we gotta get the medevac helicopter, we oughta know that right”
Jerry blanched, but rallied. “If it comes to that,” he said, “we’ll move fast, don’t you worry, but it isn’t gonna come to that. Sure, stick around, I’m happy to have the company. Jane Ann? Anything I can get you?”
“Oh, no,” she said, and put a trembling hand over her mouth.
Jerry looked as though he couldn’t figure out which of his problems he should worry about most.
One thirty-three by the big clock, and the phone rang. The same girl assistant answered, then said to Jerry, “Doug.”
“Right. Jerry here. Yeah? What?Holy shit,I I I mean hell! Jesus! Whatare we Yeah, okay, I’ll come up, too, who knows whatthe fuck we’re supposed oh, God. I’ll come up.”
He slammed the phone down and gave Noelle an agonized look, saying, “I doapologize, Jane Ann, I’m very sorry, that isn’t like me, to use language like I was just I’m overwhelmed.”
Mike said, “Jerry? What is it?”
“I’ve gotta go see the captain.” Jerry was well and truly rattled.
Mike said, “Jerry, don’t leave us like this. What’s going on?”
Jerry looked both ways, then leaned over the counter and gave them a harsh stage whisper: “We’ve been robbed!”
“What?” Mike was as astonished as Jerry. “You’re kidding me, nobody could” Then, moving as though prepared to fling himself between Noelle and an approaching bullet, he said, “They’re on the ship? You’ve got robbers on”
“No, no, they I don’t know, apparently they came in through the door in the hull, there’s a separate door there, I don’t know if you ever noticed, the armored car, at the dock”
“No,” Mike said. “They came in through some door in the hull? The side of the ship, you mean?”
“And I guess back out again,” Jerry said. “With the money.”
Noelle said, “Jerry?”
He leaned close to give her a solicitous look, and to say, “Don’t worry, Jane Ann, we’ll still get you off, just as soonas we dock.”
“Thank you, Jerry,” she said, “but that’s not what I wanted to say. Jerry, do you realize what this is? It’s piracy!”
Jerry reared back, thinking about that. “By golly, you’re right,” he said.
Noelle said, “Look for a man with an eye patch.” And, despite how miserable she felt, she smiled.
At one forty-five they made the announcement over the loudspeaker. The money room had been robbed by gunmen who escaped in a small boat. More money was coming from the bank and would meet the boat, and people who still had chips to turn in would be able to do so while exiting the ship. There would be two exit ramps, so if you didn’t want to cash in any chips you wouldn’t have to wait on that line. All passengers would be required to give their names and addresses and show identification to the police when debarking, but otherwise would not be detained. The ship, its crew and its owners apologized for any inconvenience.
The ship was abuzz with excitement and rumor, and Mike and Noelle stayed well away from it. Mike asked
