Chapter 74: The Cat Is Out

In a conference room,

It was a minimally decorated room for the meeting and discussion of the heads of each department with other personnel if required. The blindfolds were unfolded giving the view of the dusky sky and calm seawater. The hall was pretty vast for a rectangular wooden desk having twenty chairs. The floor mat was in blue whereas the brown wooden interior gave off an officious air.

The technician reached the conference room first, shortly after the order entered the room and took their designated seats. The head of the table had four chairs in a row for Captain, vice-captain, Manager of the cruise vacation, and engineering head of the ship. They were sitting facing the television screen and two whiteboards on either end. 

The other assistants and security officers of the ship took seats on both sides of the table. Each one in uniform and rigid expression on their face, the air in the room turned even heavier. Everyone's eyes settled on the technician from the security monitoring department.

The captain signaled to start the meeting, "Begin quickly."

The technician nodded as he turned on the television for everyone to see, "I am sorry to bother you with your work but this is very important that needs your attention." He paused and continued, "In the monitoring department, there are eight men who work in shifts, 24 by 7. Today unusual activities on the ship are brought to light but a series of events between the guests."

Everyone became tense hearing unusual activities. Trouble in the ship could put everyone's life in danger. It wasn't a matter to be neglected. So they became all ears to continue hearing.

The technician pointed to the screen which had a picture of a couple, "They are Mr. and Mrs. Collins. They boarded the ship in the morning."

The captain and manager nodded in response, identifying them immediately. 

The technician continued, "Mrs. Collins was harassed on the stairs from the fifth to the sixth floor. They had even forced her inside a room. It's not unusual to happen on a ship with guests about 2000. Hence we are there to avoid such a situation and hand the offenders to cops if the victim insists."

Everyone nodded again in understanding excluding two men. One was an engineering head. The engineering head breathed in relief. Unless there is no problem with the ship engines, he was unrelated to the other issues. 

He interjected, "If the issue doesn't concern my department, I would like to get back to work. Today's night voyage isn't going to be easy."

The captain would have permitted him to leave but he lifted his hand and stopped him, "Let's hear the problem completely. If it doesn't concern you, you can leave."

The technician looked at the engineering head, "Sir, give me two minutes."

The engineering head nodded at the technician as he responded to Captain, "Alright, Captain." If his presence is needed, he wouldn't ignore his responsibility.

Another person among the meeting attendees chose to stay silent. Saying anything odd would bring him trouble so he appeared troubled by the development.

The technician slowly breathed and continued by showing a short video of Anya being harassed and Alvin fighting with bare hands against knives holders, "Since Mrs. Collins protected herself, those young men attacked Mr. Collins in the passageway on the fifth floor. Though Manager and the vice-captain haven't taken any decision on the offenders yet, the main problem is…" He took a deep breath, both the videos didn't play in the security monitoring room."

The captain's back stiffened. His mind went on different hypotheses while hearing the technician continue in a grave voice, "We had no idea about it. I only got to know when Mrs. Collins asked me to check the footage." So the problem was the video was there but those were playing. So who is masking it?

He paused and looked at everyone including the engineering head who also fell into a dilemma. There were cameras in the engine room. Though there were sensors to notify them, if the sensor fails, the camera could help them. 

"Somebody is undoubtedly manipulating the surveillance network." The technician concluded his point of complaining. 

However, he didn't stop there, "There are possibilities that these kinds of actions happened in the past days but we didn't get to know. There is a higher probability, some of our staff might be included in this work as the guests are forbidden from using the laptop or similar devices. They only have Ipads, mobiles, and cameras for taking pictures. Hence this needs to be thoroughly investigated, for guests and our safety."

The discussion started about the same. If the camera could be masked on two floors, it could be done on different floors too. Some even blamed Anya and Alvin as the problem arose after they boarded the ship. More people were defended as they were strong to protect themselves and had the guts to speak up. 

Hence the discussion was heated from suspecting the new guests to measuring the trouble they were possibly in. If the guests' lives are in danger, it will eventually affect the cruise ship's upcoming vacations. So they couldn't ignore the safety of guests at any cost.

At the end of the long meeting, a team was formed in the security department for investigation, adding another person. The captain instructed, "Considering the situation critical, Vice-Captain will lead the team of four in the investigation. The security head, assistant manager of the vacation, two more technicians would be enough to work on this. Does anybody have an objection?"

When nobody spoke, the captain continued, "Also, I would request the security chief to be cautious so that nobody falls in trouble as Mrs. and Mr. Collins."

"Noted, Captain." The security chief at the right responded firmly.

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The vice-captain who was sitting next to the captain, voiced amicably, "Captain, you should rest for some time, the night way is going to be coarse. I will take care of the rest from here and report it back to you."

The captain patted the vice captain's shoulder, "I trust in you and your capabilities." He said to the vice-captain in admiration as they had worked together for many years. Then he stood up and dismissed the meeting.

However, everyone knew it wasn't going to be much help as they didn't have a hacker in the staff of the ship.

When everyone was dispersing, a man dilly-dallied waiting for others to leave. He gritted his teeth at the new developments on the ship. Their plans were going to crash, it was awful news for them. If anything goes wrong, Harper will divert his range on them, the man wasn't ready to bear it.

"F**king Collins." The man cursed the couple for boarding the ship and raising suspicions for the security department. 

He was marching downstairs while thinking of a plan to divert the attention of the captain and the direction of the case.

—-----

Meanwhile in Anya and Alvin's cabin,

Anya had no idea how to resolve Alvin's suspicion. She was clueless whenever handling Alvin Matthews. It's like her mind goes completely blank while facing him. Another lie will only make him more doubtful of her and trying to justify her first lie would be foolishness when he was resolute on it.

To help her out of the predicament, soothing music started playing in the bedroom. Both turned to look at Alvin's pant pocket. Though the music was meant for an alarm, it was specially set by Anya to alert them when the Harper's team tried to contact the ship. She was waiting for the Johnson communication center to reach out to the P-S-R cruise ship.

"Inside." She deadpanned and went to the bathroom.

Alvin strongly felt she was getting affected by him or was she changed this way a long time back?

He fished his mobile and opened the application Anya had installed. He followed her to the ensuite. The duo pretended to be sitting on the floor and checking the mobile while speaking in a low voice. Then he looped the live surveillance of the ensuite. 

"Done." Now the men behind the camera will see the couple's back while they will be seeing their mobile and speaking.

Anya immediately pulled the bag and quickly laid it out. She swiftly turned on the devices and opened the laptop as she asked Alvin, "Do you recall the process of speaking on a radio device?"

Alvin barely hummed and kneeled next to her while she sat on the floor and crossed her legs. He would have shifted her to the counter but the bag having those devices was big.

[P-S-R, P-S-R, P-S-R this is Johnson shore communication center, over.]

Anya handed a microphone to Alvin who put some effort to sound like a member of staff instead of being a person in authority. "Officer, Captain of P-S-R here, over." 

Alvin knew the job, he spoke as required. Yet, Anya felt like it didn't suit him even a bit. The submissive voice and his personality were in stark contrast.

Anya and Alvin waited to hear what could be Harper's instruction for Captain. Also, they have to know if the captain of the ship was included in Harper's plan.

[P-S-R, change to channel 1 2 7, over.] 

Alvin responded after a few seconds when Anya gave him a signal to speak, "The channel is changed to 1 2 7, over."

[Summon Vice-Captain. Over.] The hoarse voice continued to be harsh and overbearing.

Alvin responded in a dilemma,  [Roger that, Over.] The satellite communication link broke immediately after it.

Anya and Alvin looked at each other. Usually, the captain is the one who receives every instruction unless he isn't well or resting in the night. The two guessed as the vice-captain was associated with the Harper's men who were working on Harper's plan.

The cat is out of the bag.

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