Corey Byrd

Corey looked as Juniper walked into Xina Pike’s room. What would happen? Would Juniper be able to get a confession? Would she be able to understand Xina’s motive? She wasn’t on Corey’s list of people that were associated with Henry Clark professionally. Could Corey have overlooked her?

Corey had his feelings bottled up in a figurative bottle. It was packed so tight, he felt that it could shatter any moment.

What was he supposed to do? Express everything? No, that wouldn’t work. He had to show strength. That was what Milo did, everyday. Was Corey supposed to step up? Would that make it seem like Milo was never there? How was Corey supposed to tell their boss, too? And Milo’s family? His parents, and his younger sister?

Corey heard the gentle slam of a door, jolting him back to reality. Everything that happened inside Xina Pike’s room would be a mystery.

Corey knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stick with the plan if anybody got hurt. Milo had always said that it was a weakness, but Corey felt that it couldn’t be helped.

Corey’s phone buzzed. He looked at his screen, an unknown caller. He looked around the hallway, footsteps coming close. He would have to worry about the unknown person later.

Octavio and Liberty had come.

“Hi.” Liberty said.

“So, we got them to say they were coming.” Octavio said. “And they should be here pretty soon.”

Corey nodded. “Good.” He looked at the two of them. “I just - I just want to say thank you. You guys both helped us a lot, and you stayed courageous and brave, and I don’t know anyone else your age that would do better than you two. You guys have potential.”

Liberty winced. “So, this is goodbye then?”

Corey nodded. “I’m afraid so.” He couldn’t let them get hurt. “But, who knows? We might see each other later.”

“Like, in another case?” Octavio asked.

Corey nodded. “You never know where one might come up.”

Liberty frowned. “It makes you wonder how many bad guys are out there.”

Corey shrugged. Most of these people weren’t bad, per se. Some just need help, some don’t really understand what they are doing. “You guys are still young. You don’t need to worry about that.” He turned to Octavio. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

As the two kids walked away, Corey moved his attention to what was happening in his ear.

Dr. Juniper Rice

Juniper took a deep breath. Everybody was depending on her to get this right. Everybody, the entire cruise ship, and, of course, her friends, who would kill her just because she didn’t give them a warning. That would be very bad for Juniper’s health. She closed the door behind her, shutting herself inside a room with her long lost friend.

Xina smiled dryly. “You just have to do this, right?” She asked. “That’s what you always say. But I know better. You don’t even work with these people. Or should I say, person?” Xina cocked her head to the side. “What are you thinking, Juniper? Bringing kids into this?” Xina shook her head in disbelief, making her short hair sway from side to side. She looked out the window, and Juniper noticed what was on the floor. An empty bullet container. But that didn’t make sense. The victims weren’t shot.

Okay, Juniper thought. Her eyes drifted to the right end of Xina’s room. Nothing. The left, bare wall. So where was Xina keeping the bullets??

“You need to respond, Juniper.” Corey was talking into the transmitter.

“You’re right,” Juniper said. “We were wrong to bring kids into this. It’s not safe, but, well, it does give us a secret advantage.”

Xina squinted at Juniper. “What advantage?”

Juniper smirked. “If I told you it wouldn’t be a secret, would it?”

“What are you talking about?” Corey asked.

Xina sighed, as if she was trying to keep a hurricane in check with pure brainpower. “I’m sick of this, Juniper.” She said. “Sick of your games, you acting like everything is okay, because it’s not.”

Now it was Juniper’s turn to be confused. She didn’t show it, of course. “What do you mean, it’s not okay? Of course it isn’t! You did this, so don’t act like you’re trying fix something.”

“Juniper,” Corey’s voice warned. “We need a confession, not a full-on argument.”

Juniper’s nostrils flared. You don’t need to boss me around, She wanted to say.

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” Xina said.

“Really?” Juniper said. “Then why, Xina? Why do all of this?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Henry Clark.” Xina said that name as if it were the key to unlocking all knowledge.

“What about him?”

“He’s not just an arms dealer.”

“We need a confession.” Corey said. “Just have her say that she did it, and lets get this over with.”

Juniper wanted to take out her earpiece so badly, but she knew that would blow her cover. “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Kids.” Xina said.

“What?” Juniper said, understanding settling on her. “What? No… “

“Yes.” Xina said. “I had to. It reminded me too much of Jacob.” She said. “I had to kill him.” She looked down. “And now you have a confession.” She said it quietly, less than a whisper.

* -

Juniper then found out where the bullets were. In a gun in Xina’s hand. Juniper knew that FBI protocol said something about people being armed and something else, but that didn’t matter because Juniper wasn’t FBI. If she got Corey in trouble for this, oh well.

“Juniper?” Corey said. Juniper thought she could hear Corey’s eyebrows knit together. He tried a different approach. “Dr. Rice?”

Juniper stirred. “Xina,” She said slowly. “Put it down.”

Xina’s face was emotionless. “You think you can tell me what to do?”

“What? No.” Juniper didn’t know what Xina was getting at. “If you put it down, we can end this.”

“Put it down?” Corey repeated. “Is she armed?”

“End this?” Xina said. “No, it’s just started. If I turn myself in, there will be interviews, and trials, and everything.” She took a shaky breath. “And then people are going to whisper. The rumors will go around.”

Juniper knew what Xina was talking about. What she had done on this cruise would look a lot worse added to her history.

“People will talk behind my back.” Xina continued. “Oh, her brother died, and she’s a serial murderer. She probably killed him.” Xina stared right at Juniper, and she realized that she was speechless. She didn’t like that feeling.

Juniper licked her lips, trying to think of something to say. “I- they- we- we don’t think you killed Jacob.”

“I’m not taking my chances.” Xina said.

Juniper’s eyes widened. “Uh, yes, you are.”

“Juniper?” Corey said. “They’re here. You need to get out of the way of the door, ‘cause I know you’re standing right there.”

Juniper sighed.

“I heard that.”

Juniper started to move forward, towards Xina. She went around the table, and was about eight feet away from her when she took out her gun and cocked it.

“Stay there.” Xina said shakily.

“I’m going to take that as a, ‘yes agent Byrd, I have moved into safety’. I’m sending them in now.” Corey said.

“I’m sorry.” Juniper said.

“For what?” Xina knit her eyebrows.

The door flew open. Two people came in. One grabbed Xina and put handcuffs on her. The other stood by the door. Juniper didn’t take much notice of them. She walked, somewhat in a trance, out of the door and into the hallway where Corey was waiting. She also saw, around the corner, two familiar young faces. Juniper turned and looked at Corey. She pulled her transmitter out of her ear.

“You did good.” Corey said.

“It doesn’t feel that way.” She looked up at him. “I’ve known Xina since forever. I don’t think I’ll be able to overcome this.” Juniper looked as Xina was taken away. “Where are they taking her, anyway?”

Corey shrugged. “They’ll only have to keep her tomorrow, and the next morning when we arrive, law enforcement will be waiting.” Corey smiles. “And here I was, thinking that we wouldn’t catch her in time.”

“Yeah.” Juniper said.

Corey frowned. “Also, what was that secret advantage?”

Juniper winced. “Uh, Xina has a big problem with kids. You know, having kids work, orphans, that kind of thing.”

“So, there was no secret.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“You know, if you were in the FBI, you would get a big talking to.”

“Thank goodness I’m not, then.” Juniper smiled.

Corey nodded, though Juniper sensed his unease about her lying. “Anyway,” He said. “At least we got the job done.”

Juniper nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah. Imagine what the kids’ parents are going to think.”

“Uh,” Corey said. “They didn’t tell their parents.”

Liberty Gray

“Dad?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

It was the very last day of the cruise, and me and my dad had just finished packing. We were about to leave our room, but there was one more thing that I needed to do. I had to tell him. There was no way that I would be able to keep this from him, anyway.

“Liberty?”

“Uh,” I couldn’t seem to get the words out of my mouth.

“Do you have something to say?” My dad started to smile nervously, the lines around his eyes crinkling.

“Um, no.” I regretted it immediately. I just lied to my dad! Maybe I could wait a little bit, let it sink in for me too? No, I need to tell him. But how would I do that? So, I have been secretly working with Otto, two FBI agents, and a doctor to catch the killer on this ship. Wow, that’s terrible. Ugh, I hate explaining things.

Octavio Jordan Jr.

Octavio was ready. Ready to leave this ship, ready to go back home, ready for school to start next week, and ready to get the idea of killers and unsubs and murderers out of his head.

Liberty had been texting him last night, saying that she was planning on telling her dad about this whole thing. Octavio didn’t approve, but, of course, she didn’t care.

Octavio somewhat understands Liberty’s thought process. She’s the kind of person that needs to confide in someone, usually Octavio for complicated things, and her dad for everything else. Octavio just wanted to make sure that she didn’t reveal any federal secrets about agents Chang and Byrd being here.

“Otto?” He tore his eyes away from the window. “You ready to go?” His mom asked.

“Uh, yeah.” Octavio grabbed his suitcase and looked at the room one last time. Bye, he thought. He shut the door.