I dabbed my gash with the towel. My headache was getting worse. I weighed my options, but didn’t see a way out of it. Yet. Mac had total control of our situation, and I had no other choice, but to follow his orders.
We walked through the maintenance passageway and rode the elevator down to the engine room. In the event of a lockdown, the only accessible part of Orient Fevre that allowed us to get out was in the ventilator shafts, where the hatch of the shafts could be opened without Captain Hawk and I entering the codes at the same time. Mac wanted me to override the lockdown commands from there. The loophole, from what was otherwise a solid security preventive programme, was designed for emergency use…in case of fire. Because Orient Fevre was one of those thruster-V hyperdrive model ships, she didn’t have internal ventilator shafts in her cooling system. A flaw in her design, I had to say, but not many knew about it. Mac certainly had a knack to using it for his own benefits.
I leant my back against the wall as the elevator slowly dragged us into the belly of the ship. The ballistic vest felt heavy on my chest. I made a quick assessment on how much damage Orient Fevre would endure if I kicked Mac’s ass and we departed from this mortal world in a form of fine chucks of meat tidbits. Judging from the explosives Mac had packed into the vest, I didn’t think Orient Fevre would suffer much. Mac knew it, and that was why he had a backup plan—one gigaton of explosives rigged to the ship. The impact wouldn’t only pulverise Orient Fevre into pieces, it would also blow up one-third of the Chereshaz-X space station, along with a dozen other ships. Mac had covered all the bases. He was one crafty son of a bitch.
“How did you smuggle that many explosives onto Orient Fevre?” I ventured. “Did you bribe one of the logistics people, too?”
Mac gave me a thin smile. The smile that used to make me swoon to my knees and my heart throb. Mackenzie was one of the most coveted men on Orient Fevre. He was a Herculean tall human with a sympathetic smile and a straightforward demeanour. A picture-perfect hero from the V-net comic books. Only he was no hero at all, now that I knew what lay behind his deception. He was a villainous asshole.
“What’s the matter, Violet? Is the cat curious? Do you really think I’d blab my secrets so you can find a way to spoil my plans? C’mon, you aren’t that thick.”
“Fine, if you don’t want to talk about your “imaginary” explosives, what about that blonde bitch you fucked in a storage room? Is she your lover? Was it your first time or have you been fucking her the whole time we’ve been together?”
“Curiosity killed the cat. You shouldn’t be asking too many questions.”
“Damn it. I almost married you! I’m entitled to have a lot of questions.”
“Oh yeah? I have a lot of questions, too. What motivated you to throw yourself on your prince boy-toy’s feet? If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have married that pompous prick.”
I gritted my teeth. “The marriage was an accident and I fucked him to get even with you. You’re the prick!”
Mac smirked. The elevator screen flashed a message that we were now in sector five of the engine room. The door slid open.
He narrowed his eyes and motioned me to move on. “If you’re so curious, Violet, let’s just say, I’m not content fucking a hybrid. Does that quench your curiosity, kitty-cat?”
I froze. His words blew my mind. I’d never thought Mac was a racist. I wanted to let my cat nails go and scratch some nice gashes on his smug face just to show him what kind of damage a cat could do.
“Come on!” Mac barked. “We haven’t got too much time.”
I trudged to the end of sector five to where the ventilator shafts were located. We climbed down one story into the shaft landing. Mac nudged my back with the muzzle of his plasma rifle, pushing me towards the ID reader pad.
I didn’t follow his orders. “How do I know you really have a gigaton of explosives rigged in this ship? As far as I know, you could be bluffing.”
Mac made a theatrical sigh. “I lied about the reactor core not running as it’s supposed too. We didn’t need fuel buster. Do you remember when you signed an approval for an additional cryofuel shipment? Well, guess what, it wasn’t cryofuel, darling. It was a hydrogen bomb. And do you know what happens when that puppy is released into the core reactor?” He mouthed ka-boom.
“I don’t believe you,” I persisted.
“Do you really want to take that risk?”
“I have to see it to believe it.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not going to fall into your stalling game. Now, open the hatch.”
“Then what? If you I let you go, you could still blow us up.”
Mac chuckled. “I knew you’d drive a hard bargain, Violet. I’ll hand you over the detonator as soon as you open the hatch.”
“How do I know you won’t trick me?”
“You don’t. You have to do it my way. You have no choice.”
I was sick of not having choices. For the last several days, I’d been bullied by Levy and Hayworth, and I was seriously sick of always surrendering to other people’s wishes. And now Mac wanted to pull the same game, too? I didn’t think so. Na-ah. No freaking way.
I pretended I was going along with Mac’s threat. I entered my personal ID code and gained access into Orient Fevre’s computer mainframe. The Artificial Intelligence roused from its semi-stasis condition because of the lockdown mode and asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to open the ventilator hatch. It asked me the override code. I punched the seventeen-digit emergency override code and paused just before the last one.
I looked at Mac.“ Where’s the detonator?”
He growled with impatience. “The deal is you open this fucking hatch and I’ll give you the fucking detonator.”