Chapter 41
When Aaron reached Williams’s room, he found the door to be locked. That had never been a problem for him. In fact, he was able to pick almost any lock in a matter of seconds using a small piece of metal he often carried somewhere on his person for just such occasions. The door opened easily, but the room was empty. With a sigh, he headed back to the main deck, thinking if he walked like a human, by the time he arrived, it would be time to meet Catherine.
It wasn’t until he was back outside that he realized what that shudder had been on the stairs. He could see tiny pieces of ice on the deck below, children kicking it around having fun with it. A few passengers stood about, most of them in their pajamas, but no one really seemed to be too worried. And why should they be? They’d been told time and again nothing could sink this ship.
He saw Catherine walking toward him from the other side of the ship. Now, she wore a pink day gown. “Why do you keep changing clothes?” he asked when he caught up to her.
“Third Class passengers can’t just walk around up her,” she reminded him “Anything?”
“Not Williams, but I met his mistress. Lovely gal.”
“Really?” she asked. “Where?’
“Second Class. We danced for a bit, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.”
Catherine chuckled. “I can’t say that I’m sorry to hear that,” she said with a coy smile. “No sign of Christian?”
“No,” Aaron replied, looking around to see if he might catch a glimpse of their teammate.
“Do you think this iceberg is significant? I hear we might be taking on water.”
“Really?” Aaron asked, surprised. “I have no idea. I certainly hope not. I know there are not enough lifeboats for everyone.”
Catherine nodded. “If this boat sinks, there will be a lot of people who will not make it.”
Realizing that dwelling on that possibility was a waste of energy, Aaron suggested, “Why don’t you investigate up here, and I’ll go back down?”
“All right,” Catherine nodded. “Meet back here in an hour?”
“Yes, but if they start putting passengers on lifeboats, come sooner.”
He hastened off to search the lower decks, but the deeper he went, the more he realized Titanic was in trouble. There was already water on the floor on E Deck and passengers there were panicking, grabbing their children and their meager possessions, looking for a way to head up to a higher, drier deck.
He continued down, but upon reaching F Deck decided that there was little reason to go any further. The water was rushing in now. It was highly doubtful Williams would be down here. Even though cold water would have little effect on a Vampire, he would be up with the First Class passengers, attempting to blend in and take cover among them. With a sigh, he headed back up.
Taking one of the corridors that passed through E Deck, he found a crowd congregated at the end of the hall. While people were shouting in various foreign languages, only a few of which he understood, he soon realized that the gate was locked. Water was above his ankles now, and while it was only mildly unpleasant to him, he couldn’t imagine how it felt to the children who stood nearby in their nightclothes shivering.
Pushing his way through the throng, he reached the gate. With a quick glance, he realized it would take only a second to unlock if they would give him room. Shouting for them to back up a bit in every language he knew, including French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Czech, he slipped his tool into his hand, reached around, and unlocked the gate. Moments later, a crowd of thankful people pushed past him, hopefully on their way to safety.
He assumed this locked gate was an isolated incident. After all, why would a ship lock its passengers below deck when the boat was flooding? It wasn’t until he encountered another locked gate on D Deck that he realized there was something sinister going on here. Rather than unlocking that gate, he ripped it from its hinges, not carrying what those who looked on thought, and after they’d all passed, he went up to meet Catherine.
By the time he’d reached the First Class Promenade, he realized just how significant the problem was. The ship was definitely sinking. A crew member handed him a lifebelt, which he took, thinking perhaps he could give it to someone who might actually need it. He saw Christian on the other side of the boat and waved at him, but Catherine was nowhere to be found. He checked his watch and saw that it was past time to meet, but since the lifeboats were beginning to launch, he thought, perhaps, she had come earlier and he’d missed her.
“Any sign of Williams?” Christian asked as Aaron approached him.
“Not for the last hour or so. I saw him in one of the Second Class halls. You?”
“No,” Christian shook his head. “Catherine was here, but she saw some people in the lower decks having trouble finding their way to the lifeboats, so she went to help.”
“This ship is going down,” Aaron muttered, looking around.
“I agree,” Christian replied, “and I think that should ferret Dr. Williams out.”
“Yes, but will we be able to take him out without anyone noticing?” Aaron wondered aloud.
“That is always the catch. I wish we had someone on our team who was very good at running interference.”
“Me, too,” Aaron agreed. “But we don’t…. So, let’s just keep an eye out for him and go from there, all right?”
Christian nodded, and they headed separate ways to see if they could find the mark.
Chaos had broken out on nearly every deck once the pitch of the ship became apparent. Taking on water had caused the boat to become unbalanced, and all around him, passengers were rushing toward the lifeboats. On the lower decks, people seemed much more panicked than where the First Class passengers were boarding. In fact, the orchestra was playing them a nice sonnet, and Aaron could hardly believe what he was hearing.
