“Is that a fact? Well, I will have to try harder next time.”
Kismet found that he liked the feel of her hand on his arm. It had been a long time since he felt that way. He didn’t have the best track record in affairs of the heart. His single-minded pursuit of the Prometheus group always seemed to get in the way. His last relationship, with a young woman that had accompanied him on an expedition to the Black Sea, had ended almost as soon as it had begun. His attraction to Elisabeth had been more of a primal thing; animal magnetism at work. He had taken little comfort in their time together, and got no joy from the memory of her touch. What she had done wasn’t that much different than Leeds’ attempt to violate him hypnotically. The thought caused him to start, like an electric shock.
Annie could not help but notice his reaction. “What's wrong?”
“Al,” he said after a long pause. “We left him alone back there. What if Leeds tries to pump him for information?”
“I think he has more to worry about from that tramp Elisabeth.” Her reaction brought back his smile. “However, I think you should give Dad some credit. After all, you were the one who let yourself be hypnotized.”
He grinned ruefully. “Even so, I don't like the idea of leaving him alone in there. I don't trust Leeds for a second. Or Elisabeth.”
“Really? I got the impression you two were sort of chummy.” There was no mistaking the acid in her tone.
Kismet's grin became a grimace. “Ancient history. She almost got me killed. Twice — No, make that three times. It's kind of hard to define our relationship.”
Annie laughed aloud, and the intensity of her expression melted away. “I think I understand. As I recall, you tried to kill me.”
“And I see you won't be letting me forget that, either.” Kismet paused as they rounded the end of the corridor, leading to their stateroom. “That's peculiar.”
“What?”
He led her forward a few steps to the stateroom door; it stood slightly ajar. Kismet reached out and gently pushed the door, swinging it wide open. Beyond it, he saw a man wearing what looked like a crewman’s uniform hunched over the computer on the desktop.
Not sure why they even bother with the key cards around here, he thought, and turned to Annie. “Friend of yours?”
Though his tone was half-joking, he steeled himself for a confrontation with the intruder. He noticed Annie similarly tensing at his side
“I'm afraid not.”
The stranger stopped moving, aware he had been caught. Though Kismet could only see the man's back, he judged him to be perhaps six inches taller than himself, broadly built like a football lineman. Kismet pushed forward ahead of Annie and entered the room. “I suppose you're going to tell me that there's a perfectly good reason you’re here.”
The man remained motionless for a second then sprang into action. His first act was to clasp his hands together and bring them down like a hammer on the keyboard of the laptop computer. There was a sickening crunch of plastic breaking, and several of the keys flew away like pieces of shrapnel. Then the intruder whirled to face them. Kismet's estimate of the man's size was right on the mark, but the fellow apparently did not wish to rely on the advantage of his larger physique. Kismet saw his own pistol locked in the man's grip and point directly at his chest.
Kismet's eyes drew into narrow, defensive slits. “I guess not.”
The intruder smiled, revealing crookedly spaced, yellowed teeth, with a single peg of silver replacing a lower incisor. The man’s face and head were clean-shaven, but dark stubble clung to his rough features like a permanent stain. His face, craggy and leathery from exposure to sun and wind, looked vaguely familiar to Kismet, probably someone he had passed by earlier in the cruise. The man thrust the gun forward, as if doing so might intimidate the people who had caught him.
Kismet was not intimidated. He crossed the room in two leaping steps, brandishing his fists as he closed on the intruder. The other man's grin fell as his opponent, flying in the face of reason, ran headlong toward the Glock. He tried to pull the trigger, but Kismet was there first.
He struck the man's wrist with the edge of his left hand, knocking the gun away. In the same motion, he lashed forward aiming his right fist at the intruders jaw.
The man reacted faster than Kismet expected, reflexively raising his right knee and driving it into Kismet's solar plexus. Kismet's fist glanced off of the intruder's jaw, doing little more than annoying the big man. With the wind knocked from his lungs, Kismet staggered backward.
Kismet fell back against the wall as the intruder dashed past him, intent on fleeing the stateroom. He tried to will his feet to chase after the man, but the message got no further than his bruised diaphragm.
As the escaping intruder passed through the doorway, his head suddenly snapped to the side. The force of the unseen blow drove him against the bulkhead, but he recovered quickly, shrugging off the effects. He swatted at the source of the blow with the back of his hand, as if at an irritating fly, and then took off running.
Kismet’s breath returned in a sudden gasp, and he lurched into motion, running after the man. He found Annie, laid out on the carpeted floor of the hallway. She sat up, massaging the knuckles of her right hand. Kismet knelt for a second beside her, confirming that she had suffered no injury more serious than bruised pride, and then resumed the pursuit.
“Stay here,” he shouted over his shoulder.
Annie struggled to her feet. “Not a chance.”
Kismet quickly closed the distance to his quarry. He caught sight of the man at the far end of hallway, looking back over his shoulder to see if he was in the clear. When he spied Kismet, he put on a fresh burst of speed. The intruder darted to a stairway and ascended quickly. Kismet reached the foot of the stairs as the other man reached the top.
Kismet's foot left the final step in time to see the intruder pulling the large double doors to the dining rooms shut behind him. Kismet charged the door, bursting through without stopping. The man had not lingered to keep him out, but was already crossing the busy dining room. As Kismet stumbled headlong, trying to regain his balance after crashing through the doors, the big intruder glanced backward.
In that instant, he collided with a waiter carrying a tray of desserts. Artfully decorated pastries flew into the air in a confectionery cloud. The shock of the impact spread throughout the dining room, shouts and gasps rising into a cacophony. The intruder quickly regained his feet, his clothing streaked with buttercream frosting, and maneuvered through the minefield of broken plates and desserts on the floor.
The collision with the waiter allowed Kismet to close the distance to his prey, but the gain was short lived. Vaulting over the fallen waiter, Kismet's leading foot set down on the remains of a piece of cake, and slid away from beneath him, dropping him on his backside.
Before he could recover from the indignity of his fall, he heard the pitch of the room change from amused confusion to outright chaos. Amid the strident screams of a dozen women, Kismet discovered Annie standing in the doorway of the dining hall, brandishing his Glock.
“I told you to stay put,” he shouted.
He did not belabor the point, but rose to his feet and picked his way through the splattered desserts before she could even attempt to answer. The fleeing intruder had reached the exit doors at the far end of the dining room, and was rapidly increasing his lead. Kismet leapt clear of the dessert wreckage and renewed the chase.
The doors opened onto an exposed deck, and Kismet caught a glimpse of the man's back as he ran sternward. However, when he reached the place where the man had been, there was no sign of him. Kismet stopped running, cocked his head to the side, and listened for the telltale sound of footsteps. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Annie exiting the dining hall, still hefting the gun. He scowled at her but said nothing.