I’m not sure if I chose the right way to go, but I pressed on until I heard voices, and they didn’t sound too friendly. I backed up to the other hallway and guided my hands across the luggage handles. I still couldn’t locate a door. A small LED light, plugged into the wall, gave me some vision. That’s when I saw a figure leaning up against a barrier.
I was ready to turn around and run when I recognized a familiar voice moaning my name. I took a couple of steps forward and knew the emaciated apparition propped against a tall crate was Ivan. But he looked gaunt and haggard. His clothes hung in rags. The closer I stepped toward him, the worse he appeared. Several scars creased his face and arms.
“Ivan, what has happened to you?” I asked.
At first, I couldn’t hear his low hushed voice, and then he said something I didn’t expect him to say.
“I can’t help you anymore,” he croaked as if his voice was far away from me.
“You helped me right that chair up, didn’t you? Why can’t you help me now?” I whispered.
“My body... has been found. Hide, Susan,” was all he could convey.
“Oh, Ivan, please take care,” was the last thing I said to him as he faded from my eyesight.
“Darn,” I muttered to myself. When I turned, I bumped into a large trunk. Because it moved with ease, I. unlatched the lid and discovered the case empty and yet large enough to hide inside. I stepped into the huge container and closed the lid over my head.
—-
When Larry and the officers came down to the bottom of the ship, he noticed one of the cargo hatches yawned open to the workers on the pier. Some of the crew had begun wheeling out the large recycling bins onto the pier for pickup.
Larry and his entourage stopped and searched the bin and several others to make sure I wasn’t in one of them. While the crewmen wheeled the large bins and garbage sacks out on the pier for pick up, the oversize luggage stored here was loaded onto carriers to take up to the passenger’s staterooms for their departure from the ship.
—-
I peeked out from under the trunk aperture and daylight flooded the room I was in. I felt the sensation of my container lifted onto a carrier. Before I dared to say anything, my lid slammed shut when a loud ‘thud’ sounded above my enclosure. I was trapped for the time being as the luggage wheeled out through across the rough flooring. As hard as I pressed to open the cover above me, I couldn’t get out. It was apparent to me another heavy case was weighing on top of me.
I moved on over bumpy rails when the sensation of rising flooded my senses. I was in an elevator going up. I didn’t have to wait long when the compartment stopped moving. The next thing I knew, the trunk I occupied proceeded over the elevator rails and on a smoother surface. Carpeting, I would guess, from the quieter wheels rolling under the luggage carrier. The cart stopped and I could hear some of the baggage next to me shift. Then in a hasty manner, somebody deposited me to the floor, causing me to yell, “Ow!”
I felt the looseness of the lid above me and pushed. A startled male steward looked down at me.
“Surprise!” I yelled and jumped up. “Sorry, uh, this was supposed to be a joke for my friend,” I said as I climbed out of the trunk in front of the wide-eyed porter.
Realizing I was still in my ballroom skirt, I wanted to return to my room, Trisha’s room, that is. I glanced at the cabin numbers that indicated I was on the seventh deck. Hurrying down the hallway, I stopped and peered around the corner to make sure my kidnappers were not near the elevators. I didn’t trust who might be inside them, so I ran the best I could up the carpeted stairs.
I stopped on each floor to glance right and left before running up another flight. By the time I reached the tenth deck, my heart raced and my breath labored. Trotting over to my hallway, I looked again around the corner and hurried toward Trisha’s cabin.
I swiped Larry’s key card and slipped inside. Trisha was sitting up on her bed.
“Boy, Susan, you look a mess. What happened to you?” she said with surprise in her voice. I realized she hadn’t seen me since she became unconscious.
“Are you all right?” I asked, standing near the edge of her bed.
“Yeah. I guess I got sprayed with something. Where have you been?” she said as she rose and sat up against the headboard.
“That heavyset woman, who escorted us to the restroom, kidnapped me for the jewels. And guess what, the Purser gave me fake ones. Boy, was Mr. McCarthy mad when he found out,” I explained, pulling off my skirt and slip and stepping into my slacks.
“I was worried when Larry called. He said they were looking for you. Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I just have to catch my breath for a minute.”
“You didn’t have your mace, did you?” she asked.
“No, I forgot and left it here in the bathroom,” I said.
Trisha shook her head. I’d better text and let him know you’re okay.”
“All right, but let him know those men are still down there in the cargo bay. Tell him to watch out for a hefty woman. She took my phone, too
Trisha nodded and while she texted her husband, she read it out loud to me.
“Susan’s all right. She’s here with
