I tried to be patient as the Q&A session continued, but all the questions were just as boring, and none were telling me what I needed to know. When Marcy asked for another question, I raised my hand.
“What are you doing?” Evan whispered to me.
“I have questions, too,” I said, not looking at him. I had to wait a few more turns, but finally, Marcy gestured to me, and the microphone was passed to me.
“What languages does the crew speak?” I asked.
“That’s a great question!” Marcy answered. “We have many different languages on the ship. English is the most prominent one, of course. Some of the other common languages include Spanish and Portuguese, as well as Tagalog, Croatian, Thai, and Hindi.”
Marcy asked for another question and I reluctantly gave up the microphone, but I continued to raise my hand, wanting another turn. Marcy eventually chose me again, even though she looked reluctant. It seemed that most people had run out of questions by then, though, but the Q&A was scheduled for an hour.
“How do you recruit people from other countries? Especially if they don’t speak English?” I asked once I finally got the microphone back.
“Kassidy!” Evan hissed in my ear, but I ignored him.
We were sitting close enough to the stage that I could see Marcy’s face pinch with discomfort before she answered.
“We have recruitment offices in several countries, and they’re manned by employees fluent in local languages.”
“Do crew members get vacation time? Do they have health insurance?” I asked, even though Marcy had already gestured to someone else for the next question. Marcy didn’t answer, eyes narrowed, but I waited her out, almost like a game of chicken. I knew she had more to lose if she didn’t give some kind of answer, though, so I just stared back at her. I heard whispering around me, but finally, Marcy answered.
“The crew does get time off, and they do receive medical care,” she answered simply, not exactly answering my question. I opened my mouth to ask something else, but Evan yanked the microphone away from me, passing it back to the crewmember standing nearby.
“What is wrong with you?” Evan whispered angrily. “You’re being really obvious.”
“Obvious about what? That I have a lot of questions?” I snapped at him quietly.
“You’re lucky it would call too much attention to us, or else I’d drag you out of here right now.”
“Try it. I dare you,” I said, but he turned away from me, and I could feel the anger coming off him in waves. We sat through the rest of the Q&A session, and once it was over, Evan led me back to our room, Ally and Knox trailing behind.
“What the hell was that?” Evan asked once we were inside our cabin.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I answered. “We were supposed to ask questions, and I did. What’s the issue?”
“Your questions were a little too on-point,” Knox explained kindly.
“And the fact that you asked more than one question isn’t great,” Ally added. “Didn’t you see the Cruise Director’s face? If she could’ve killed you with a look, you’d be dead right now.”
“I’m here to get answers, not to make friends,” I pointed out.
“You can get answers without calling so much attention to yourself,” Evan said heatedly.
“Oh, really? Tell me how, then. Because we’ve been on this ship for 24 hours, and we don’t have any answers so far.”
Evan sighed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts.
“I have an idea,” Ally said. “Why don’t we split up and walk around the ship. If we see any crew members and it’s not an inconvenience for them, we can ask them questions, and then report back to each other later.”
Everyone agreed to that idea, so we split up, Ally and I went in one direction, and Evan and Knox went in another. Ally and I managed to talk to several crewmembers who were American, and learned that some of them did get time off and had families that they visited with. However, a couple of crew members we spoke with, who knew less English, made references about others who didn’t get any vacation time. When we tried to get more information, though, they became reticent and excused themselves.
“Something fishy is definitely going on,” Ally admitted several hours later.
I was glad that she agreed with me, and that I wasn’t fighting to convince the FBI agents of what I knew to be the truth. It took one weight off of my shoulders.
As I tried to sleep that night, though, it wasn’t enough to know that they agreed with me, and that we were working together to take Paradise Cruises down. Being on the ship, just a few decks above so many people who were being kept against their will, was bad for my subconscious. As I tried to fall asleep, I was assaulted by images and memories of Bianca and Catalina. Even worse, when I did fall asleep, my nightmares were haunted. One dream after another were scenes of my friends living just a few decks below me, but I couldn’t get to them, couldn’t save them, as William personally abused them and forced them to work.
17
EVAN
Since she woke up this morning, Kassidy had been acting differently. She’d answered my questions with the shortest answers possible, and every time I asked her what was wrong, she claimed it was nothing. She also wasn’t arguing with me, which was very unlike her, and I’d noticed that she’d had trouble sleeping, tossing and turning most of the night, but I couldn’t figure out why she was upset.
Once we ate breakfast, we decided to split up again to speak with more crewmembers. Kassidy was about to go with Ally, but I stopped them. “We need to be seen more with our girlfriends, so people don’t become suspicious,” I said to Knox, hoping he’d go along with me. He nodded in understanding, then took Ally’s hand and pulled her away before either of the women could protest. Kassidy frowned at me, but she didn’t argue when I led her in the opposite direction from Knox and Ally. I stopped along the deck, in a quiet area overlooking the ocean, so that I could talk to her.
“What’s going on? Seriously,” I asked, putting my arm around her, but when she tensed up, I removed it. “Kassidy, we’re supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but no one who saw us right now would believe that.”
“They’ll just think we’re in a fight,” Kassidy answered.
“Are we in a fight?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that. I just said people will think we’re arguing, and that it would be a reasonable thought,” she answered.
I sighed. This woman could bicker with a brick wall. “Okay. Then what can I do to help you get out of this mood?” I finally asked, and she looked surprised at my question, then thoughtful.
“Ice cream would help,” Kassidy finally answered, but she glanced at me as if expecting me to say no.
“No argument from me,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender, which made her smile. “If my lady wants ice cream, then that’s what she’ll have. Even at 8:00 in the morning.”
Kassidy rolled her eyes at me, but I noticed the small smile she tried to fight as she smacked me lightly on the arm. Making her smile and turning her day around was one of the best feelings.