Chapter 21
He gave the situation back at the purser's office forty minutes and two fizzy-sodas to come to a nice boil. Then, leaving the bar, he strolled back that direction.
Bad news, Uncle Virgil had often told him, was the only thing in the universe that traveled faster than the speed of light. Jack had never quite believed it; but as he approached the office he had to admit that maybe Uncle Virgil had had a point.
There were probably twenty people crowded into the corridor outside the door. Many were dressed in fancy and expensive outfits, probably fresh from the Star of Wonders formal late-night activities. Others were dressed more haphazardly, as if they'd been asleep and had just thrown on whatever was handy. Still others were wearing the neat but simple clothing of servants or bodyguards.
All of them looked anxious. Most of them looked angry.
Facing them down, his back pressed against the door, was a security man wearing a sergeant's shoulder patches. 'I appreciate your concerns, ladies and gentlemen,' the sergeant was saying as Jack joined the back of the crowd. 'Our investigation of the room is proceeding as quickly as possible. When it's finished, you'll all be allowed to examine your individual deposit boxes.'
He held up his hand as several voices tried to speak at once. 'However, I can assure you right now that you almost certainly have nothing to worry about. At the moment, it appears that no one actually got into the vault.'
'Then what set off the security alarm?' someone demanded. 'I heard it right through the ballroom wall.'
'And the captain told me that the vault had been opened,' someone else added.
'That was the first report, yes,' the sergeant conceded. 'However, it appears now that it was a false alarm. The lock does not seem to have been tampered with, and no one entered any codes into it. We're doing an electronic confirmation of that now.'
'Yes, but—'
Behind the sergeant the door opened and another security man appeared. The two of them talked together for a minute in low voices as a buzz of conversation rippled through the crowd.
The sergeant turned back. 'I've just been informed that the lock pad has definitely not been tampered with,' he said. 'We can therefore assume that the door indicator was indeed a false alarm.'
Jack smiled to himself. Security knew perfectly well that there was more to it than that, of course. The smoke bomb in the monitor room vent and the knife he'd put through the camera junction box proved that much, not to mention the unlocked office door. Someone in authority must have decided to downplay the whole thing so as not to worry the passengers any more than necessary.
To be fair, of course, the sergeant was certainly right on one point. The lock pad hadn't been tampered with.
'Lieutenant Snyder has also informed me that we'll be allowing you in now to check your boxes,' he went on. 'If you'll all wait out here, we'll take you in one at a time.'
'How about we wait inside?' someone demanded.
'That's right,' another voice put in. 'I want to know if anybody lost anything.'
A chorus of agreement ran around the crowd. 'Very well,' the sergeant said, giving in. 'Follow me, please. And make sure you have your keys ready.'
One by one, they were brought behind the counter. Each person gave his or her box number, showed some identification, and was allowed into the vault to confirm everything was in order. Then, satisfied if not exactly happy, they wandered off back to their staterooms or their interrupted evening's entertainment.
At least, most of them did.
The man who'd checked out Box 125 was one of those dressed like servants or bodyguards. From his size and the way he walked, Jack had quickly narrowed that down to bodyguard.
Following at a careful distance, he tracked the other to what Uncle Virgil would have called 'crust central,' the most expensive section of the starliner's living sections. The door he went into was at the far end of one of the more luxurious corridors.
'The top of the top,' Jack commented as they headed back toward the more modest area where his own stateroom was located.
'Pardon?' Draycos asked.
'A room at the end of a corridor like that is probably a suite,' Jack explained. 'Something the size of the Essenay, I'd guess. Probably costs more per week than the Star of Wonders captain makes in a year. High-level corporate territory, all right.'
'A likely target for a human such as Cornelius Braxton, then?'
'Very much so,' Jack agreed. 'Guys like Braxton prefer to go for big bites instead of little nibbles.' He jerked his thumb back in the direction of the suite. 'Whoever's in there is definitely in the big-bite category.'
Draycos was silent a moment. 'Then let us hope that Braxton has bitten off more than he can swallow.'
Jack glanced down at the dragon in surprise. 'Hey, that's a human saying,' he commented. 'Where did you pick it up?'
'It is also K'da wisdom,' Draycos told him. 'Perhaps the thought is universal.'
'Could be,' Jack said. 'Yes, let's hope this guy sticks in his throat.'
'When will we speak to him?'
'There's no point trying to barge in tonight,' Jack said. 'We'll let him sleep in and try to see him in the
