Strangely enough, just that much seemed to please the old man. There was a real future to be made in the unknown. It could be given teeth and direction and with the right promotion a mystic quality, a “something” that lurked. A “something” that was always there, ready to have a new story built around it, a new moneymaking prospect.
“Well,” Grey said, “the whole episode has really given the passengers something to talk about. This has been the most exciting part of the entire trip for them.” He paused and tilted his head to a listening position. “And what have you for them tomorrow?”
Before he could answer, Kim said, “We’re going on another dive. Why don’t you have the old folks ride on top of us in the inflatables? The weather is supposed to be clear and the seas calm.”
“Miss Sebring...”
“Oh, come on. Because they’re still dancing waltzes doesn’t mean they’re out of action. I bet plenty of them are experienced small boaters. They may not see anything, but just thinking about it ought to give them a kick.”
“Yes, quite. I see what you mean. Well, I certainly will suggest it and see what happens. I just hope they don’t want to take up deep-sea diving as a sport. It would be a rather strange bit to advertise, don’t you think?”
“Whatever they can afford, give them,” Kim told him.
“My dear Miss Sebring,” Grey said, with his accent showing, “these people can afford anything they want. Anything at all. Money is merely a toy to them.”
“Toys can break,” Kim said.
“And they can be repaired or new ones bought. Theirs is another world, young lady.”
“Fine, Kim, fine. Let him see what he’s missing. Unfortunately, all the ships are completely sold out for the next three months, but after we get the new ports opened and built, we’ll be adding two more vessels to the line.”
Just going to the main ballroom, Mako was amazed at the brazen effrontery of luxury. There were the rich and the rich rich, but this group was in a class by itself. The jewels on the ladies were so big that they seemed artificial, but the men’s finery was nearly the opposite. The clothes they wore were made by the most expensive tailors in the world, yet worn with casual indifference. Here and there would be a man in knee breeches and another in Bermuda shorts, but the mark of the money was there in every detail. A simple nod would bring them a drink and one word was enough to send the wife or mistress away while they had a business conference in a corner somewhere.
Silently Mako took it all in. At the casino he looked at bored faces winning or losing millions, not caring one way or another. Well-built waitresses made them smile and the liveried stewards took care of the women’s needs.
There were six gambling casinos on board, all well filled, and Mako said, “Vegas should do this good.”
“Now you know why the Midnight Cruise lines were set up.”
“How long do the passengers ship out for?”
“Oh, they can leave anytime,” Judy said. “Generally they take the full cruise for three months, but they always come back. I’d say that nearly everybody on this trip has been on two others. They like the excitement, you know.”
“Baloney. They should be home in bed.”
“Try telling them that.” Judy glanced at her watch. “Let’s go down a deck and you can see what makes this ship tick.”
It wasn’t the first time Hooker had been in the bowels of a ship. This was one of the new breed, well constructed, designed for comfort and speed, the first to benefit the clients, the second to outrace storm systems. No expense had been spared in its construction, including a completely equipped hospital operating room and a helicopter kept below deck on a lift ready to be hoisted to the deck for emergency action. They walked past the still-opened cargo hatch doors, where the off duty crew gathered to have a beer and talk about girls. Judy knew some of them too. A little farther down a door was built into the bulkhead unlike any other doors. This one was of solid steel, hung on extra large but practically concealed hinges.
“Captain’s lounge?” Mako joked.
“No, the money room,” Judy said. “It’s right beneath the bank upstairs. Cash from the games comes down the chutes to be counted and wrapped.”
“And...?”
“Beats me. It’s only money.” She waved her thumb toward the overhead. “To them, play money.”
“The government ever check on this operation?”
“Not on the high seas,” Judy told him.
Mako nodded, thinking about that little door almost at the waterline. It would have been an entry to the money room. Or an exit. But what the hell for? He hoped it was mighty watertight.
“It is.” Judy laughed.
“What?”
“Watertight. That’s what you were thinking, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. You a mind reader?”
“No, but I’ll tell you what it’s for. When we go into different ports where we have our own landings, the passengers who want to gamble onshore have to use local currency. The funds are delivered through that lock. And believe me, it isn’t just a cargo door... it’s more like an airlock on a space orbiter.”
“Foolproof?”
“As much as possible. It can’t be assaulted by a team, it’s easily defended and has twenty-four-hour security. Money may be spent easily around here, but our passengers want good care taken of it.”
“Any attempts at robbery?”
“Don’t be silly. One government tried a bribery scam, but their head man had a fifteen-minute chat with one of the passengers and came away white as a sheet and shaking like a kid sent to the principal’s office.”
“Who was the passenger?”
“You wouldn’t want to know,” Judy told him. “He runs huge corporations, dictates to senators and congressmen and gets called for advice by the president.”
“Cute,” Mako said.
“Very,” she answered.
The storm came in just before midnight. It was one of those freakish upheavals of nature that in one hour can turn a flat sea into rolling waves with tops whipped into white froth by a screaming wind. The gale ripped and tore at anything movable, as if it had teeth and jaws, wrenching apart metal things and smashing whatever offered it resistance.
Mako had smelled it coming and got Judy into the cabin of the Clamdip while Billy Bright did a final check on the lines. There were three anchors out, the oversize ones Billy had suggested when Mako bought the boat. The chains were new and the bow of the boat headed into the wind, splitting the waves that charged down on it. The rain was a vicious, driving enemy that tried to smash the windows out, but they held in spite of the pressure.
Talking was almost impossible. The wild fury of the wind was a pounding symphony, pure almost deafening noise only a driver of a Sherman tank in a raging battle could understand.
Judy put her mouth to Mako’s ear. He couldn’t hear what she said, but he knew and nodded, made an okay sign with his fingers and gave her a big grin.
Billy Bright knew his boss was faking it, yet for some reason he felt secure. They all stood there bundled in their life jackets, each one equipped with an electronic beacon device that would alert air traffic to their positions if they got knocked overboard. He touched the throttles up a bit as the wind got stronger, letting the engines keep the strain off the anchor lines. He had a funny look on his dark face and when Mako looked at him he knew what it meant.
The Carib wasn’t frightened by the storm. He had lived with them enough during his lifetime to know them. He knew the boat, and although it was an old wooden one, it was maintained beautifully. It could take the beating the storm was giving it.