“You’re not going to lose me.”
“Yeah?” Katie’s disposition whipsawed from maudlin to furious in a second. “Five minutes ago you hinted you might not be around much longer!”
“That’s just me coming down from the stress and being exhausted. I can’t be the tough guy every second.”
Katie backed off. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. I’m sorry. You need some time. But we’re going to need that guy who was threatening everyone over the phone, and we’re going to need him soon.”
“Don’t worry about it. I may have lost the bluster, but I still have the brains. Now,” he said, drawing on his reserves to force a bit more life into his voice, “let’s talk about how we can make my plan better.”
***
Carson walked through the Cape May-Lewes Ferry Terminal at 5:45 wearing khaki cargo shorts, an olive-green t-shirt, and hiking boots, round-trip ticket in hand. He wore sunglasses and a baseball cap that did a good job of hiding most of his facial features, enough so that, were anyone to remember him at all, they’d be unable to give more than a very generic description. He concealed his handgun in an easily-accessible spot in his backpack, along with a few other basic tools that might come in handy.
Carson kept his eye on the crowd as they filed on board behind him, looking for anyone who gave him too long of a glance or, conversely, made a show of not looking at him at all. Nobody warranted his concern, which he expected, but it was always better to be cautious.
Once they departed, the wind made for a rough ride. Carson was one of the few people who braved the outer decks, keeping his legs slightly-wide and his knees bent so he could walk without appearing drunk, unlike the other patrons who bounced from bulkhead to bulkhead like pinballs.
He took his time, stopping often to stare at some seemingly uninteresting feature like a stairwell or a hatchway. A couple of them glanced at his odd behavior, but no one said anything or interfered. Even when he made his way down to the car deck and walked among the vehicles, he was not hassled. Security usually spent more time on this level to discourage break-ins, but with the rough weather there were a couple car alarms going off, and the overworked guard spent time checking them out.
He got off in Cape May, New Jersey with everyone else and killed time in the gift shop until they announced the last Delaware-bound trip of the day. He still moved about the ship, but he’d accomplished everything he’d wanted to do during his first run, so he spent more time thinking about the coming evening. The wind and the waves had picked up during his 45 minutes on shore. The local weather stations were calling for a stormy evening, meaning the bay would be pretty treacherous later tonight. He was pleased he wouldn’t be back out on the water.
When the boat got back to terminal in Lewes, everyone disembarked just as they were supposed to. Had any of the crew chosen to count the people that boarded in Cape May and got off in Lewes, they would have come up one short.
***
Carson was below the car deck, wedged between a ballast tank and a fuel tank, well-hidden from the three crew members who were now putting the engines on evening standby. His location made him nearly invisible. He could see one of the large marine diesel engines, but the man working there had his back to Carson. He watched but did nothing – it was far too early for action of any sort. With no actual tasks to perform, he found the most comfortable position he could and tried to envision how things would go much later that night.
The wait itself was exhausting. Even allowing himself a couple of quick naps – something he’d never needed before – the hands of his watch barely moved. I thought age brought patience. He found his mind wandering, alternating from thoughts about Katie to past missions and even to Pam. What would she think of me now? He hoped, if she could see his actions, she would be proud of him for trying to make things right. He hadn’t given it much thought in the past 48 hours, but took satisfaction in his recent transformation back to the man he had once been.
When the time for action neared, he gladly left his hiding place. An observer would have thought him drunk based on the odd path he took through the compartment to get to the electrical panel, but Carson had planned it carefully to ensure he remained out of the unblinking eyes of the cameras placed strategically on the bulkheads. Primarily used by the bridge crew to see damage or malfunctions in the engine room, Carson had no doubt they doubled as security cameras. They probably weren’t monitored in real time, at least not right now, but he didn’t want to leave any traces of his presence this evening.
He reached the bulkhead that contained a mess of circuit breakers and switches. Taking a moment to orient himself, he opened several circuit breakers in order to strategically disable many of the cameras on all decks, as well as almost all of the dim overhead lights that were on when the ferry wasn’t in use. He climbed the stairs to survey the darkness he had created, and returned twice to ensure there were at least three hiding areas and two escape routes on each deck that were not polluted with light.
With that task completed, he returned to the car deck and moved towards the bow of the ship, letting the breeze refresh him. He had a spot staked out that would put him behind his adversaries when they boarded the ship, which would almost certainly be by the auto ramp at the stern, as the passenger gangplank was not attached. He needed
