Marius opened up a door that said STAFF ONLY and loaded us into the freight elevator behind it.
“I can’t believe we have to do this,” said the tan-man who’d been roped in. The woman was still sobbing quietly beside me as Marius pressed number 9.
“No one’s holding a gun to your head,” Nathaniel said, then after a dramatic pause, “yet. ”
Tan-man leaned forward, pressing the crying woman back, until she stepped on my shoe.
“If we have to do this, we’ll be doing it in an orderly fashion,” Marius said before a fight could start. “We’ll use X’s for rooms that we’ve cleared, O’s for rooms that are empty, and S’s for ones with people who are sick. ” He paused to look around and make sure we weren’t all idiots. “Knock first—give the guests a chance to answer. Some of the fancy rooms are big, and some of the guests are slow or deaf. Then, if no one answers, go in and look around. Clear from room to room, including bathrooms, closets, and balconies. Okay?”
“There’s only one master key?” Jorge asked.
Marius nodded. “And it’s mine. I’m in charge of this expedition. ”
The elevator doors opened and we spilled out onto the ninth floor’s very nice carpeting. “Outside rooms—you, you, and you. ” He pointed to me, the other woman, and Jorge. “Inside rooms, us three. ” He pointed to himself, Nathaniel, and Tan-man.
“Boys versus girls,” Nathaniel said with a shark-like grin.
“Quite,” Jorge said, aligning himself on our “ladies” side.
Marius looked at the sheet the doctor had given him. “You all have the Averys. We’ve got the Steinmetzes. Start knocking,” Marius commanded, leaning in to unlock our door and rap loudly on it while doing so by way of example.
Jorge clicked his heels and saluted him ironically.
* * *
Our door didn’t open all the way; there was still a latch closed at the top. That was good, I guessed—it meant someone was still inside.
“Hello?” I called through the gap as Marius’s group disappeared into the room behind us.
“What’s your name?” Jorge asked the crying woman.
She sniffled some. “Kate. ”
“Okay. I’m not getting fresh or anything, but if you need to, you can hold my hand,” Jorge said, offering it out. Kate shook her head and gave him a sad smile.
At that moment, I would have gladly held Jorge’s hand. It would be nice to find some human comfort in all this mess. But there was an entire ship to search and only three hours to do it in. “Hello?” I asked the gap between the door and doorjamb again. “Mr. and Mrs. Avery?”
“Who are you?” A woman’s startled face appeared on the other side.
I wasn’t entirely prepared for someone standing and well. “I’m—I’m Edie Spence. I’m with the medical team. We’re here to check in on our guests. Is there anyone here needing medical attention?” I tried to sound official. I think Marius would have approved.
The woman’s eye searched me up and down, and then the door closed and reopened fully, latch undone. When she saw Jorge and Kate standing outside she frowned and clutched at her chest. That would be just great, if she were fine up until the point where seeing our trio gave her a surprise heart attack.
“Mrs. Avery?” I said, holding up my list, trying to seem official. “Are you and your husband okay?”
She got over the shock of seeing us, and composed herself quickly. “Of course we are. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Can we see your husband too?” Visual confirmation was best.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Ask ’em why they’re here!” someone shouted from the back.
“They want to see us,” she shouted back.
“Ask them why room service is running slow!” yelled the distant voice.
The woman looked archly at me. “Well? Why is it?”
The ship swung to one side as a wave hit it. The ocean was getting rougher as the storm neared. I inhaled sharply. Jorge took my nausea-induced silence for anger and stepped in. “We’re part of a rescue mission—”
I started shaking my head as soon as the words were out of Jorge’s mouth.
“We want to go on the rescue ship. We want to get out of here,” she said, cutting Jorge off.
There was a certain kind of person who, no matter how much life had given them, would always be worried that other people were getting more. I started backpedaling. “It’s not a rescue ship, it’s a medical emergency ship. We’re here making sure that no one in this room is experiencing a medical emergency. ”