But no one around her had any answers. A man, who identified himself as a doctor, came over and checked her out, but she appeared unharmed.
“Andre!” Jonah whispered, peeking up to see the fallen angels above, staring down at them. Andre was still standing outside the line, watching the woman and scratching his head. “Andre!”
He turned toward Jonah and raised both hands in the air. What am I supposed to do? he was saying.
Jonah pointed ahead. “Get back in line,” he said.
Andre glanced up and then slowly moved closer to the line.
The Fallen watched for another minute, but then kept pacing around the top deck. Jonah breathed a sigh of relief.
They were moving forward, at least, and Eliza and Julia had reached the ramp. They walked across it slowly and finally made it to the end, disappearing inside the door of the yacht. Hai Ling and Frederick were next. Hai Ling looked back at Jonah several times, and he could tell she was nervous. But with Frederick’s encouragement, she made it.
Jonah watched Andre go, trying to stay within the gap, and he prayed that somehow Andre wouldn’t touch anyone again.
Jonah kept his head down as he walked across the ramp, sensing the darkness again, growing heavier with each step. Folding his arms across his chest, he tried not to let the shivering fear overtake him. He wondered if any of the people who were laughing and carrying on all around him felt anything at all.
“We all made it,” said a relieved Eliza when Jonah met them just inside the doorway, underneath a stairwell. She glared at Andre. “Barely.”
“What was I supposed to do?” he protested. “That woman just backed up into me. I couldn’t move out of the way fast enough.”
Jonah watched the guests file up the staircase above their heads. He figured they were heading for the top deck.
“Forget it,” Frederick said. “We made it on this ship. Now what? Anyone have a clue where to go?”
Jonah was about to suggest that they split up and search the boat in pairs so that they could find Jeremiah faster.
“I’m not splitting up,” said Hai Ling. “No offense to anyone here, but there’s something sinister on this yacht. I can feel it, and it’s creeping me out.”
She shuddered visibly, and although Jonah thought the others would protest, Julia and Andre both nodded their heads.
“Okay, then,” he said, looking at Eliza. “Want to all stay together?”
“Considering everything we’re all feeling, that might be the best thing to do.”
“Let’s go floor by floor,” said Julia. “It’s a huge boat, but it shouldn’t take too long if we move quickly.”
They agreed that it would make the most sense to start at the top and move down, if they needed to, into the lower levels of the boat. Jonah led the way up the staircase, following the passengers upstairs until they were just below the top deck. A small spiral staircase led one more level up, and the last of the guests were on it.
“This is the level below the top,” Jonah said. “I don’t think Jeremiah’s going to be up there in the open.”
Frederick turned the handle of a door. It opened up into a narrow hallway. “This looks like a good place to start.”
Eliza pushed herself in front of him. “You know I don’t even need say it, but keep your eyes open and alert for fallen angels. If we can get out of here without being spotted . . .”
“It will be a miracle,” Andre finished her sentence.
As they began to move down the hallway, a woman emerged from a door at the end, moving toward them quickly.
“Step to the side, step to the side!” Eliza said.
She was wearing black pants and a white dress shirt with a bow tie, carrying a tray of food on her shoulder. She was in a hurry.
Andre sniffed the air as she passed by. “Shrimp,” he said excitedly. “I think that was shrimp!”
“Missing dinner, are we?” said Frederick, patting Andre on the stomach. Andre nodded sadly.
“Well, we’re not here to eat,” snapped Eliza. “But I think we’ve found the kitchen.”
This was confirmed again when two more waiters, carrying their own trays full of delicious-smelling food, followed the other down the hallway. The quarterlings stood to the side again, Jonah having to duck not to get hit in the face by the trays, held aloft in the air.
“There are other rooms down here that we should check,” Eliza said. “We need to be thorough.”
Jonah tugged on a doorknob across from the kitchen entrance. It opened into a closet, full of all kinds of dry goods. “I think it’s just a pantry,” he said, pulling the door back shut.
They opened three other doors along the hall, two containing some type of kitchen supplies. The third appeared to be some kind of break room for the staff, with a round table, chairs, and a small television set. “Nothing here,” Julia said, peering into the small, dark room.
They moved down to the other end of the hallway, back past the spiral staircase.
“Now this is quite different,” said Frederick with a low whistle. A door to a room was open in front of them, and through it, they could see a fancy sofa, a couple of lamps, a flat-screen television turned on to a twenty-four-hour news station, and a bank of huge windows.
Suddenly, a man emerged, straightening his black bow tie. They slammed themselves against the wall as he strode by, Andre’s head making a thunking sound. The man paused for a second, as if he had heard something. But, seeing nothing, he shook his head and hurried past them, bounding up the staircase.
“That was him,” said Eliza. “That was Ambassador Cherkov.”
“The guy who owns this boat?” asked Hai Ling.
Eliza nodded.
“Then this must be the master suite,” Hai Ling said, and without waiting for the others, she moved into the huge room directly underneath a crystal chandelier.
“Hai Ling,” Jonah said. “Wait for us, all right?”
“This is pretty fantastic, don’t you think?” she gushed. “Even if there is a creepy feeling I still get on this ship. I mean, look at the view!”
Eliza stood with her hands on her hips. “We don’t have time for you to do a yacht tour of the rich and famous, Hai Ling. He’s obviously not here.”
Eliza turned and strode out of the room, followed by the rest, with Hai Ling taking up the rear.
“I just wanted to check out the view,” she muttered.
There were two more rooms on that hall, smaller, but just as nicely decorated, but both were empty.
“This hall’s clear,” said Jonah. “Let’s go down one more and do it again.”
They went down the steps again in a single-file line, having to avoid two more servers on the way.
“Must be quite a party they’re having,” Hai Ling said longingly, watching the servers pass.
“Focus, Hai Ling,” said Julia. “I know you love all of this glamorous stuff, but we’re not here for that right now.”
Jonah led the way into the next floor, which was another series of rooms. These were all smaller guest rooms, as well as what appeared to be sleeping quarters for the crew. A quick search of the rooms found them to be entirely empty, with no one in the hallway.
The next level down was back where they entered the boat. Two guards stood beside the doorway where the ramp led back down to the pier. They were husky men with thick necks and earpieces on their ears. Jonah saw the glimmer of a gun inside one man’s jacket, attached to his waist. They were watching the ramp closely, and in silence, even though no one was coming up anymore. He saw two more stationed at the bottom, the ones who’d been scanning the guests.
“They’re taking this seriously, don’t you think?” he murmured as they moved past the guards, invisible.
“I’m pretty sure I saw the prime minister of South Africa in line earlier,” said Frederick. “They’d do well to guard this yacht carefully.”
There were two hallways to search on this level, just like the last. This one, however, seemed dedicated to entertainment. On one end was a large game room, with a pool table, video games, and six large flat-screen televisions on the wall.
“This wouldn’t be a bad place to watch a soccer match, would it?” Andre said, touching the soft leather of the club chairs in front of the TVs.
“No Jeremiah,” said Eliza. “Come on, guys. Let’s keep going.”
They inspected a workout room, full of state-of-the-art gym equipment, a locker room with a sauna and showers, and then a small movie theater. All of them sat empty, and there was no sign of the missing quarterling.
Jonah felt the darkness hit him again as they walked back down the red-carpeted hallway, so hard that it almost made him stumble. He leaned against the wall for a second, trying to clear his head.
“You okay?” asked Julia.
Another voice spoke to him as well, though.
I know who you are. I know you’re here.
Come on down.