Cape Storm Page 0,21

in guest relations areas. I'm a cabin stewardess. We're crew, not staff." She read the expression on my face, and smiled. "Ships are very tightly regimented, miss. We all know our duties and where we fit."

"Trust me, the rules are going to be shredded on this trip. So I'm Joanne, and you are... ?"

"Aldonza Araujo," she said, and her handshake grew a little more firm. We were about the same age, I thought. "Aldonza, miss."

I gave up temporarily on forcing informality on her. "I'm looking for my cabin. I know I'm close, but - "

She got my cabin number and showed me the route by tracing a French-manicured fingernail on the map. I'd mirror-imaged my route, and I'd somehow ended up on the opposite side of where I should have been. Port, not starboard, in nautical terms. "I'm afraid you'll have to go around this way," she said.

I frowned down at the map. "What about this way?" It was marked in featureless gray.

"Those are service areas, miss. You can't go that way."

"I'm pretty sure that for us there is no such thing as off-limits. We're not regular guests.

You know what I mean?"

She did, but her smile instantly froze solid. "I - I am sorry, but I can't - we're not allowed - "

"Aldonza." I interrupted her gently enough, but firmly, and took her hand in both of mine.

"You signed the waivers, right? The Wardens explained to you what kind of risk was involved in staying on this ship?"

She nodded mutely. I could sense that she wanted to pull away from me, but also that her curiosity was burning a hole in her head. Instead of asking, she just waited.

"The fact is, we're not going to be regular passengers," I said. "Think of us as policemen, or military personnel. We don't need coddling, but we do need to know everything about this ship we can, from the technical stuff to the most insignificant details. It could mean the difference between life and death for everybody on board if things get worse." I watched that sink in, but Aldonza still shook her head in refusal. "I can't let you in, not without someone telling me I can. It's strictly against regulations."

"Okay, you can tell me how to get there, and if I happen to stumble accidentally into the crew areas, then it's not your fault, right?" She hesitated. "Please, Aldonza. It could be important. I promise, I'll talk to Security and to the Chief Engineer too, but in my experience, the bosses don't know everything.They think they know everything. You are the guys who really understand the ship."

She actually laughed, covering her mouth with her hand, as if too loud a sound was definitely Not Done in the posh areas, at least not when wearing a uniform. "That's true," she agreed, but she sobered from her brief burst of laughter far too quickly. "It's not possible for you to go through the crew area without being seen and stopped. The ship has lots of surveillance. Cameras everywhere. We all know each other. We have to, living in such close quarters. If they don't know you and you're in off-limits areas, they'll call security and escort you out." She was shaking her head again, clearly talking herself out of even trying it. "We have very good security people. It's not worth the risk. Talk to the captain or the Executive Officer."

I tried to imagine any of the security people being prepared to deal with even a middle-grade Warden, much less somebody like me or Lewis or the Djinn. I failed. "Okay," I said, because Aldonza clearly was feeling more and more uncomfortable. "I suppose it's a bad idea anyway. I'll take the long way around. - But, just for future reference, what do the crew-area doors look like?"

Aldonza blinked. "I thought you knew."

Huh? My confusion must have registered, because she looked behind me at a simple door with a swipe card lock labeled PRIVATE.

"Oh," I said. "Right. Thanks."

She clearly thought I was crazy, and she wasn't about to get fired over it. From the glances she threw back at me as she moved down the hallway, she was trying to make sure I wouldn't do anything wrong - at least not before she was safely away from the scene of the crime.

Couldn't really blame her.

I pretended to read my map, waiting until she'd had plenty of escape time. I marked the location of the crew door on it and noted the locations of