Ty shook his head. 'If I was going to get it, I would have it right now. I was with my momma all night, we breath in the same air, don't we? And I'm sitting here with you, so if I have it, maybe you have it, maybe we all have it, just some it hits, some it don't. I don't want her lying on some bed, nobody looking after her.'
'What about your dad?'
'He says he isn't going near her. They fight a lot. He says if she sees him she'll surely breathe all over him out of badness. So there's only me.'
Claire looked at Jimmy. 'He has a point, you know. We all breathe the same air. If we're going to get it, we're going to get it — nothing can be done. We should help him get to see his mum.'
'We?'
'This is my dad's ship, I know where all the service elevators are. We could possibly bypass whatever security they have on the main elevators. I'd like to try. And you stole his T-shirt, so you owe him.'
'You think that's equal to going up there? That's mental! They're all dying!' He suddenly realized what he'd said and looked apologetically across at Ty. 'I mean — I'm sure your mum will be fine . . . but still, you know what I mean. And anyway, we've a newspaper to run, and even if we found out anything useful up there, we wouldn't be allowed to use it, so what's the point?'
'You're just chicken,' said Claire.
'Absolutely,' said Jimmy.
***
They left him sitting there. He finished his bacon and got some more. He ate sausages and pancakes covered in maple syrup.
Chicken!
After what I've done?
He walked out of the restaurant and along to the newspaper office. But when he tried to go on-line to survey the morning's news the computer kept telling him that the line was busy. So he left that for a while and rifled through a large box of pamphlets and brochures Scoop had left behind, looking for some information on the Titanic's first port of call, the city of San Juan in Puerto Rico, which would have to be profiled in detail in that night's edition of the paper.
He found it quickly enough, then sat at his computer and began trying to compose an article.
Chicken!
Who did she think she was? What had she ever done that was brave? She hadn't stowed away — twice. Or outwitted all those search parties. And who came up with the idea of e-mailing a photo from her camera, thus saving their lives? And she was calling him chicken? All she'd ever done in her spoiled little life was huff.
Jimmy tried to concentrate on Puerto Rico. He wrote about it being discovered five hundred years ago by Christopher Columbus. How it became a Spanish colony, with the local Indian tribes either being wiped out or decimated. In the nineteenth century it had struggled for independence as its population grew and agriculture flourished, with the coffee bean becoming its most important product. After the Spanish American War and the Treaty of Paris was signed the island was ceded to the United States, with Puerto Ricans being granted American citizenship.
It was extremely boring.
Chicken!
Right — that was it. He wasn't prepared to just be a desk jockey. He was sure she wasn't the slightest bit concerned about Ty, she was just nosey. She always wanted precisely what she wasn't allowed. And it didn't matter if that meant putting her life and Ty's in danger by smuggling him into the plague zone. Jimmy pushed back from the desk. He was going to yank Claire out of there and tell her exactly how much of a fool she was being.
***
The smell got him first.
Jimmy had with him a small flannel soaked in water, which he held over his nose and mouth, but it didn't do much good. He had never seen a dead body, or smelled one, for that matter. But somehow he knew what the stench was.
It was . . . revolting.
The cabins on either side of the corridor were packed full of the sick and dying. Nurses were doing their best to cope, but it was clear that there were just too many. The hundred and fifty cases Ty had mentioned at breakfast seemed to have quadrupled.
'Jimmy!'
Dr Hill's hair was plastered to his head and his white doctor's coat was heavily stained.
'What're you doing here, Jimmy? It isn't safe!'
'Looking for Claire.'
Dr Hill rubbed at his brow, then looked about him. He appeared to be a little confused. 'She was here . . . with another boy — his mum died. And then his dad did as well.'
'His. . .?'
'Had some sort of convulsion. Don't know if it was the Red Death or not. Not sure where they went . . .' He shook his head and sighed. 'We don't know anything about this damn virus, Jimmy, I don't know whether I'm doing any good at all up here.'
Jimmy looked back along the corridor. 'How many are there?'
'I don't know. I don't even want to think about it. All I know is, it's getting worse, every hour. Now for goodness' sake, get out of here before you catch it as well.'
Jimmy didn't need to be told twice.
***
He found them on the fifteenth. Ty was leaning against the rail, staring out to sea. Claire sat on a sunbed behind him. She had tears in her eyes. 'Jimmy . . .
'I heard.'
She glanced up at Ty, then lowered her voice. 'He came on a cruise with his mum and dad, and two days later they're both dead.'
'It's horrible,' said Jimmy, 'but what can we do?'
'Adopt him,' said Claire.
21
The Fleet
They gave Ty a job on the paper, thinking that if they kept him busy he wouldn't think about his parents so much. But when they got back to the office there was still no Internet access, so they immediately marched right up to the bridge to find out why. They were kept waiting at the door for ten minutes until a stressed- looking First Officer Jeffers finally appeared. He led them across to the rail so that he could get the maximum benefit of the breeze.
'Sorry,' he said, 'things are a bit hectic. We haven't been able to get a coherent response from the port authorities in San Juan. One minute they say everything is fine, come ahead, the next they're screaming down the phone. I think things are pretty bad there as well.' Then he nodded across at Ty, who was hanging well back. 'Who's your friend?' They told him quickly. 'That's incredibly sad,' said Jeffers, shaking his head.
'So are we still actually going to San Juan?' Jimmy asked.
'Have to. We need to top up our fuel and . . .' He glanced towards Ty, then lowered his voice. 'We'll have to take the bodies off.'
Claire made a face. 'What's my daddy even thinking, allowing the cruise to continue when so many people are unwell? We should just turn around and go home.'
'Things are even worse at home, Claire.'
'We haven't been able to keep track,' said Jimmy. 'Our Internet connection is down. That's why we're here, is there—'
'Captain Smith has switched it off.'
'Why?'Jimmy asked. 'We promised not to use all the gory stuff in the paper.'
'I know that, but it's not just about your access, Jimmy, it's the entire ship. Captain Smith believes that if the passengers hear how bad things are getting there could be complete chaos. If fifteen hundred people make their minds up to do something, we'll be helpless. You have to play your part with the paper. We don't want people to panic. All right?'
Claire nodded. Jimmy looked at the ground.
'Jimmy?'
He gave a little shrug. 'It just doesn't seem right. People know there's a plague out there, and they know people are dying on this ship. Why can't we just tell them the truth? People don't like being lied to.'
'Because those are the Captain's orders.'
'And do you think he's right?'