“I’m sorry.”
The grief inside me disappeared.
Good.
I sat upright.
Completely straight.
Adrian froze.
Margaret’s cup stopped halfway to the table.
Thomas stepped backward.
I said:
“Sorry for what?”
Silence.
Adrian’s face went white.
“You…”
“I what?”
Thomas moved toward the door.
It opened before he reached it.
The captain stood there.
Beside him were two plainclothes security officers who had boarded from a Mercer tender twenty minutes earlier under cover of the engine slowdown.
No guns raised.
No shouting.
One held a body camera.
The other said:
“Mr. Cole, please step away from Claire Mercer.”
Thomas stared.
“How did you board?”
The captain answered:
“Same way people have boarded ships for thousands of years.”
I almost laughed.
Margaret backed toward the window.
Adrian looked at me.
“You weren’t sick.”
“Oh, I was.”
I held up my phone.
“Just not as sick as you needed.”
