If things were copesetic aboard the Opulence, there wouldn’t be two flare trails reaching for the clouds. Spencer panned the faces of his crew and considered his next words carefully. Nat and Maya were upset by the situation, but that didn’t change the fact that they’d be overrun by a horde of desperate, greedy passengers looking for a way home or back to land.

  Spencer hated to admit that his initial reaction at the sighting of the boat was about the possible windfall of supplies on board. His aspirations for restocking the Black Bird to her gills with supplies were quickly abandoned when he realized they’d be fighting a mob. They couldn’t possibly manage to cram more than a hundred people aboard the trawler without suffering the consequences.

  Spencer reminisced about his time in the Coast Guard when they’d intercepted rafts and makeshift boats full of Haitians fleeing their corrupt and violent country. The Black Bird would look no different than those homemade, floundering vessels, overloaded with the potential for disaster. Who was going to stop the onslaught of people trying to get aboard their boat? Good intentions were one thing, but denial of the cruise ship passengers’ desperation could send them to the bottom alongside Restless. The trawler was a capable vessel, but she had her limits, and pushing them meant jeopardizing their mission to reach Kate.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Spencer was trying his best to be tactful in delivering his message to Maya and her mother, but his true focus was aimed at avoiding a collision with the oceangoing titan of a ship. As luck would have it, they were practically on course for an unwanted rendezvous with the Opulence if he didn’t change their heading soon.

  Distances at sea had a way of evaporating quickly, especially when it came to crossing paths with other vessels or avoiding collisions. Even though the cruise ship was dead in the water, Spencer recognized it was too close for comfort. It was time to take action and navigate around the ship. Switching off the autopilot, Spencer took the wheel and held the Black Bird on course for a moment longer before veering east and aiming for a point well out of the cruise ship’s path.

  He’d learned his lesson as a kid when he and his buddies found themselves offshore in a small boat facing the route of a cargo ship. His friend Jay had a twenty-one-foot Mako side console with a relic of a motor—a crusty two-stroke Johnson 115, to be precise.

  The day started out innocently enough: just Spencer, his girlfriend at the time, and two of his good friends heading offshore a few miles to try their luck at landing some tuna. But the expedition ultimately escalated into something they would all later look back on and admit was extremely foolish.

  As the hours passed and the tuna failed to materialize, they kept heading for deeper and deeper water, hoping to find fish. The seas were calm, and conditions were similar to today’s, emboldening them to push the small boat farther than they should have. Eventually, they came to their senses, but not before ending up in the deep waters near Hatteras Canyon, some forty-plus miles offshore. A foolish feat in a boat that size to begin with, but downright irresponsible with a single-engine two-stroke of that age and mechanical reliability. They made it home all right, but not without a good scare courtesy of a close call with a cargo ship.

  The feeble two-stroke screamed as they tried to outrun the impossibly long vessel, realizing that the distance they thought they had to clear the freighter’s path was insufficient. The smiles and laughter aboard their small boat were soon replaced with stern looks and worried faces. His buddy ended up backing down on the throttle and passing behind the ship, where they got their butts handed to them from the tumultuous wake. The beating they endured in the cargo ship’s frothy aftermath was an eye-opening experience, bringing to light just how small and insignificant they were.

  The trawler was far from small or insignificant, although compared to the cruise ship, they might as well be in a rowboat. Spencer had no desire to test the Black Bird or the resolve of the cruise ship’s passengers to escape their predicament. And he definitely had no intention of letting the Black Bird get any closer.

  Nat clearly wasn’t happy about Spencer’s decision to avoid the ship and forsake the needy passengers. The most recent flare sent up from the drifting vessel didn’t help matters any. Spencer remained at the helm while Rob, Nat, and Maya moved farther out onto the extended weather deck surrounding the bridge. He could hear Rob going into greater detail about why they couldn’t risk pulling up next to the cruise ship and offering help. They weren’t avoiding the Opulence because Spencer didn’t want to help the cruisers but because he didn’t want to fall victim to an unruly crowd.

  There was no doubt in Spencer’s mind about what the conditions on board the ship would be like, and although he tried not to think about it, his imagination had already painted some pretty grim pictures of the situation. Without power, the tiny staterooms would become unlivable in the summer heat, at least the inboard rooms that lacked balconies or windows for fresh air, but that would be the least concerning issue plaguing the passengers. No power meant food would spoil, leaving only dry goods or canned items. How long would that last a couple thousand people?

  Adding to the dire conditions would be the ship’s inability to run the desalination system and make fresh water. They’d also have no way to deal with sewage or gray water. Desperation and self-preservation would be the order on deck. Spencer didn’t hold cruisers in high regard, but he wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone. He couldn’t think of anything worse than being confined on board a ship with dwindling resources and crowds of people who likely valued their lives over remaining civil to one another.

  Unfortunately, it was becoming obvious that unless Spencer backtracked, he would pass by the aimless ship much closer than he’d hoped. At least the cruise ship hadn’t launched any more flares. Every time one of the bright orange distress signals shot skyward, Spencer’s guilt thickened. The looks he was getting from Nat as the couple continued their passionate debate outside the pilothouse weren’t making him feel any better about what they had to do, but there was no other way. Pulling up alongside the Opulence would be suicide.

  Spencer recalled the broken bottles and pieces of debris raining down on them from the bridge when they shot through Moser Channel on the Hunter. The frenzied crowd that had tried to stop them from getting out of Marathon would make the people on board the cruise ship look tame by comparison. The passengers and crew stuck on the Opulence would have nothing to lose, and that made them dangerous. And with the Black Bird lacking room for more than a fraction of the people seeking escape from the dying ship, there could only be one outcome, and it would be disastrous for all of them, Spencer and his new friends included.

  Nat’s and Maya’s expressions didn’t make doing what was necessary easy. Not that Spencer enjoyed turning his back on the ship, but as he took a more aggressive course and steered the Black Bird farther to the east, trying to widen the gap between it and the cruise ship, he reassured himself that they were doing the right thing—the only thing they could reasonably do.

  Rob came in from the balcony first, wide-eyed and forcing a tight-lipped smile. Nat was behind him, with Maya in tow.

  “I understand what we have to do. It doesn’t mean I’m okay with it, but if it has to be done like this…” Nat struggled to find the words, so she gave up instead.

  Rob shook his head. “Hard decisions, and it won’t be the last.”

  “They’d sink us for sure,” Spencer added.

  Nat nodded in agreement and took Maya by the hand, leading her down the ladder. “We’ll keep working on tidying up below deck.” She sighed, glancing at Rob. “Let me know when we’ve passed, please. There’s no reason to be up here for this.”

  Rob nodded at Nat and watched his wife and daughter disappear. Finn followed the girls, and Spencer let him go. Maybe the dog would bolster their spirits and occupy Maya’s attention. It wasn’t until this moment that Spencer noticed Ciro was missing. The bird was hardly a priority, but it was odd that he’d disappeared.

  “I thought there was a bird up here?” Rob noticed him looking at Ciro’s perch.

  “There was. No idea where he went, but I have a feeling he’ll be back.”

  Spencer scanned the surrounding skies before turning his attention to the drifting cruise ship. He had bigger things to concern himself with than being surprised by Ciro whenever the bird decided to return and make a grand entrance the way he had in the past.

  “Do you really think they’ll get help?” Rob stood with one foot in the pilothouse and one outside on the balcony, keeping a watchful eye on the ship.

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure they can survive each other,” Spencer noted.

  “Yeah, I bet it’s pretty nuts on that boat right now. Nat and I took a cruise once. I think it was with Carousel, if I’m not mistaken, although I can’t remember the name of the boat. Looked a lot like that one, though.” Rob held the binoculars up to his face again.

  “Never been, never will,” Spencer stated.

  “Not a fan, huh?” Rob moved all the way outside, stopping at the rail.

  “You could say that,” Spencer answered.

  “Honestly, I thought our three-day cruise was almost too long. It felt a little claustrophobic to me, and we had an outside cabin with a balcony. I can’t imagine being stuck on one of those for any length of time.” Rob shook his head. “And definitely not like this.”

  “I wish we could do more for them, but pulling up alongside that ship would be the end for us.” Spencer reiterated his misgivings about getting involved.

  “Well, based on the people we saw at the buffets during our cruise, I’d have to agree. We saw two women get into a shoving match over the last two crab legs. I can’t imagine what would happen if we pulled up alongside and said we could only take x amount of people with us. It’d be pandemonium. I could see things getting ugly real fast.” Rob exhaled loudly through pursed lips.

  “That’s what I keep telling myself, hoping it’ll make me feel better about what we’re doing, but it’s not working,” Spencer admitted.

  Leaving the drifting ship and its passengers to their own devices wouldn’t be something he could be proud of, and it would be an event he’d leave out of any stories he told Kate, although he liked to think that if she was here, she’d agree with his decision.

  They were a little more than the Opulence’s length away from the ship itself, which equated to probably around seven or eight hundred feet. Spencer hadn’t planned on passing this close, but here they were. Far enough to avoid any attempts made by passengers or crew to reach the Black Bird, but not so far that they couldn’t see the people lined up at the rails, watching them, waving their arms, and shouting indiscernibly.

  The ship hadn’t launched any more flares, and although giving the stranded tourists false hope wasn’t his intention, Spencer couldn’t help but think, for a short moment, that some of the people on board the Opulence probably thought the trawler was coming to their rescue. While Spencer and the others were already grappling with their difficult decision, inadvertently raising the passengers’ expectations only exacerbated Spencer’s moral dilemma. But as Rob had stated previously, this was a hard decision forced on them by circumstance, and it wouldn’t be the last.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Spencer could hear the cries and screams of the cruise ship passengers long after the Black Bird had passed the drifting vessel. Rob shouted to the passengers as they steamed by in the trawler, promising they would send help, but Spencer doubted the cruisers heard him over the jeers of their shipmates.

  He kept one eye on the lower access doors near the waterline, which were typically used to facilitate the transfer of passengers to the tenders for ports with insufficient dockage to handle the massive vessel.

  Some of the people looked close to jumping from the upper levels, but fortunately, they remained aboard. Leaving the ship behind was one thing, but Spencer wasn’t sure he had the resolve or the stomach to ignore people in the water. This cold feeling in his gut was almost too much of a burden to bear; his decision to avoid the cruise ship flew in the face of every instinct and core value he held. But his hands were tied on this one. He kept telling himself that any other action would be their demise, but no matter how many times he tried to convince himself of the obvious, he found himself coming up far short of absolution on the matter.

  For Nat and Maya’s sake, Spencer hoped the pleadings and wails from the masses gathered at the rails of the Opulence didn’t carry below deck. He blamed himself for the close encounter, though, and swore never to leave the bridge for that long again. At the very least, he should have spotted the cruise ship on the radar, if not with binoculars, and although he was fresh off an all-nighter, that was no excuse. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes like that. What if the ship hadn’t been dead in the water, and what if it had been another gang of bandits looking for prey? They’d gotten extremely lucky, although the rotten feeling in his gut certainly suggested otherwise.

  Spencer turned his back on the fading ship for the last time and vowed to remain focused on the instruments and open water ahead. Rob stayed planted on the weather deck behind the bridge for a while longer with his binoculars, although for the life of him, Spencer couldn’t imagine why. The blip on the radar screen was reminder enough of what had taken place, and he’d be glad when the cruise ship was out of range. It would take much longer to fade from his memory, though. If it ever did.

  Of course, they would send help if they could. But the intention hardly made Spencer feel better, especially since the likelihood of finding anyone capable of rescuing the cruise ship was extremely slim. Under normal circumstances, thousands of lives adrift and helpless at sea would be cause for a major mobilization, but it paled in comparison to the needs on land. Even if there were assets nearby, the authorities’ priority would be inshore.

  Spencer wondered about the current state of the Navy and Coast Guard. He imagined any and all functional vessels would be assigned to secure the coast and inner waterways from further attack and to assist with rescue and recovery operations. Whoever had launched the EMPs might try to follow the despicable act with an invasion. But the longer he thought about the possibility of foreign boots on U.S. soil, the more he doubted that was a legitimate concern, not yet anyway.

  Spencer was anxious to learn more about what was happening when they reached Stuart. He wasn’t sure they would find out anything new or that any amount of information would make much of a difference. Maybe the EMPs were isolated to Florida or the East Coast, although that didn’t make any sense, and he knew better than to think this was anything but an attack on the entire country. If anyone had information about what was going on, it would be Tom.

  Kate’s dad was tied in pretty well with the local community of veterans in his area. Maybe he could shed some light on the events that had sent them into darkness. But based on the look of the sky that night, Spencer was afraid he already knew all there was to know—or all that mattered.

  “That was pretty rough.” Rob made his way back inside and slid the binoculars onto the console with a look that indicated he was feeling about as damaged as Spencer.

  “I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Spencer promised. “I hope Nat and Maya are okay.”

  “They’ll be all right. Nat’s got a big heart. She once camped out in a lawn chair overnight in our backyard, trying to lure a stray kitten out from under the shed. She was convinced the cat had been abandoned and would starve without help. She’s pretty resilient, but she has to be for her job.”

  “Well, that’s good, because I’m thinking we’ll see much worse when we get to Stuart. I’m not trying to be a downer, but I don’t imagine things will look any better there than they did in Marathon.” Spencer thought about the people they’d left behind on the ash-covered beach of the Turtle Bay Resort.

  Rob sighed. “Yeah, probably not.”

  The surviving tourists who were lucky enough to get out of their rooms before the resort buildings were enveloped in flames were really no better off than the people aboard the cruise ship. They were on land, but the cruisers had more resources at their disposal. Of course, that all depended on how well they managed the supplies on board the ship. Based on the hysterical people crowding the rails of the stranded ship, Spencer had little faith that the passengers would excel in that task.

  He wondered if the tourists stuck on the beach had broken into the Fat Snook yet. There was nothing he could do about that now, not that he could have if he was even still there to try. Just a few hours into this tragedy and civility had faded fast. The man with the gun demanding more food, the close call at his truck, the firefight at Damon’s. No, being ashore for this catastrophe was no safe bet.

  Spencer wasn’t sure who had drawn the short straw in this situation: the cruisers or the resort survivors. He was just thankful he wasn’t in either group’s shoes and that he and the others had the means to escape when they could.

  Spencer grabbed his mug of coffee and drained the last few cold drops. He was about to ask Rob if he could watch things for a minute while he shot down to the galley for a refill.

  “Spencer, I think we’ve got company.” Rob had wandered out onto the aft weather deck again but was now retreating back into the pilothouse. Spencer set his mug down on the console and followed Rob’s pointed finger. Spencer was hoping Rob’s eyes were playing tricks on him, but he saw it, too: a small orange and white shape that reminded Spencer of the small boat he used to deploy from the Coast Guard cutter he’d been stationed on.