Prologue
0923 hrs | Wednesday 10th June | Atlantic Ocean
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“Where’s the first officer?” Captain Joseph Harris enquired from the centre of the bridge of the vessel. His beloved vessel, Serenity. He had only been in command of the enormous, stunning liner for a few days since setting sail from Southampton, yet the 42-year-old skipper had already developed a possessive love affair with the ship. The control centre he was sat before was equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology that befitted the luxurious craft sumptuously.
“I’m not sure, sir,” Second Officer Marcus Samuelsson responded, perusing over a navigation chart. “He hasn’t clocked in this morning.” Originally from the outskirts of Malmö in Sweden, 35-year-old Marcus had spent all of his adult life working his way up through the ranks to his position now of being third-in-command of the large vessel. His career in sailing had taken him to all four corners of the world and most places in between. Fuelled by his passion and professionalism, the tall, blond-haired man had impressed his superiors over the years and had formed a close companionship with the British captain in charge of Serenity. The fact that he was engaged to the liner’s third officer Cassandra Bellante did nothing to prevent him from perfectly fulfilling the requirements of his job.
Captain Harris sighed. “No doubt he had a few too many again last night,” he said disapprovingly with a shake of the head and a click of the tongue. The tongue click had become an all too familiar sound to Marcus. First Officer Theo Watts was everything that the Swedish man four years his senior wasn’t. He was sly and conniving and was totally incompetent and inefficient at his job. It was beyond the comprehension of Joseph, Marcus and Cassandra as to how Theo managed to wangle the job he had. Nevertheless, the trio had already been lumbered with the well-built, dark brown-haired man for previous cruises months earlier. They were understandably aggrieved when they discovered they were paired with him again.
The captain took Marcus’s lack of a verbal response as a sign to continue speaking. Such an adept crew member as he was, the second officer would rarely speak disparagingly of his co-workers openly, especially in front of the captain. Marcus deemed it inappropriate, let alone the fact it was crucial the four people in charge of the ship were always cordial with each other. Captain Harris was less taciturn however and arguably rightly so as the boss. He regularly scolded Theo as if he was a teenage boy, a sight even more remarkable given the latter had half a foot of height on his older gaffer.
“Well, I know he’s useless, but we can’t stand here undermanned all day,” Joseph began agitatedly. “Go and find him will you son and bring him here straight away. I’m going to be reporting him to head office. This can’t keep going on.”
“Of course, sir,” Marcus nodded before leaving the bridge with Cassandra to head towards Theo’s cabin. Descending the stairs out from the command centre, the couple made their way out onto a section of the upper deck and into the warm summer morning sunshine. The route to the first officer’s cabin avoided the main attractions of the liner, such as the near Olympic sized swimming pool and outdoor entertainment facilities, but the sounds of everybody from old to young enjoying their holiday put a smile on Marcus’s and Cassandra’s faces.
Whilst the entire ship was a picture postcard for all things opulent, the area housing the captain’s and the officer’s cabins took this to another level. The captain’s quarters was akin to a luxury suite in a hotel with a huge amount of living space in addition to the swish and modern bathroom. The two other cabins hosting Theo and both Marcus and Cassandra were much of the same albeit fractionally smaller. They were still more than twice the size of the rooms housing the ordinary passengers, however. Serenity was a craft designed for comfort and affluence for everyone on board.
“What do you reckon?” Cassandra chuckled as the two neared the door of the first officer’s cabin. “Do you think he forgot to set an alarm, is still asleep, hungover or all of the three?” Recently engaged Cassandra from Milan, like her husband to be, had worked in the cruise industry ever since graduating from college. She met Marcus whilst working and the two had been together for nearly five years before he proposed in typically cliché fashion on a white sandy beach in the Dominican Republic. She was a beautiful, majestic woman with long, flowing dark-blond hair that glided over her pointy, tanned shoulders. Her Italian accent was thick yet had no impact on her ability to speak English perfectly.
“I’m going to go with the final one of your suggestions,” Marcus smiled as the pair completed the relatively short journey to Theo’s cabin. In an act of curiosity, Marcus placed his ear to the door. He partly hoped he could hear the first officer frantically getting ready so that he could ridicule him later in private, but he was surprised to hear that he literally couldn’t hear anything. He raised his eyebrows before turning to his fiancé.
“Cass, take a listen. See if you can hear anything,” the second officer said, suddenly in a more whispered tone. Cassandra mimicked Marcus’s action and cupped her ear against the door. Having held it there for a few seconds, she came to the same conclusion as her partner.
“He’s probably still sleeping,” she remarked. “You saw him at dinner last night. He was knocking the drinks back like anything.”
“Still, you would think he’d be snoring the aftereffects away,” Marcus added before lightly knocking his fist against the door. “Theo,” he said calmly, volume audibly louder. “Theo, wake up. You’ve overslept. The captain wants to see you.” Both Marcus and his fiancé subconsciously took a step back, expecting to see their colleague swing open the door at any second whilst also being aware that their crewmate was known for being quite the prankster.
“Theo, come on man. Joseph is pissed off with you as it is. You don’t want to make it any worse for yourself,” Marcus once again said. His gentle knocking had turned more into a heavy thud against the door, reaching a crescendo that would have been impossible to sleep through. There was still no response.
“Try the door,” Cassandra instructed. Her future husband obliged and vigorously pulled up and down on the door handle, rattling the metal in the process.
“Locked,” Marcus huffed. Proceeding to bang on the door again with even more purpose and vigour, an element of panic started to creep in for the first time. Realising swiftly that he was wasting his time, he removed a walkie-talkie from the back pocket of his pristine uniform and switched it on before raising it towards his mouth.
“Sir, we are at Theo’s cabin now. We’ve been knocking on the door and calling for him but there’s no answer. We’ve also tried the door but it’s locked. I’m not sure what else to do,” Marcus explained to the captain who was still at the bridge of the ship. The second officer could feel his boss’s irritation and rage radiate through the small device in his hand.
“I swear I spend more of my precious time dealing with this guy than anything else,” Captain Harris muttered to himself loudly. “He’s probably sleeping around, the selfish wanker,” he continued, this time clearly voicing his opinion to the Swedish man. He hated his crew not working to the standards that he had set, and Theo was certainly guilty of that.
“Don’t you think you should come down though, sir? After all, he is supposed to be on duty and we don’t know for sure that he is anywhere else,” the captain’s second officer suggested. His constant ingenuity was one of his major traits.
“Yes, yes. I suppose you’re right. Stay down there for a moment and I’ll send the maintenance team to you,” Captain Harris compromised. Almost as soon as Joseph uttered the last syllable of his request, he cut off the signal of the walkie-talkie before using the phone in the control centre to instruct Serenity’s maintenance team to go to Theo’s cabin. Just five days into the multi-week Caribbean cruise, the captain’s patience with his first officer was rapidly reducing. The two were supposed to work hand in hand and yet the level of harmony between them was nowhere near the point required to man a ship of Serenity’s size safely.
Around five minutes later, the rising sound of the jangle of keys signalled to Marcus and Cassandra that the maintenance man had arrived. Like all contemporary hotels and cruise liners, Serenity was decked out with electronic locks on all cabin doors which could only be unlocked by passengers with a unique key card. Only a handful of master keys were available on the entire ship.
“Everything okay down here?” The man asked innocently. “The captain called me down here. Said there was a problem with the first officer’s door. Is that right?” Marcus and Cassandra looked at each other confusedly.
“Sure. That’s the long and short of it, I guess,” Marcus fibbed slightly. “Are you able to get the door open?”
“Of course. Let me just find the right type of key,” the man announced as he began to fumble through a zipped pocket on his belt that was wrapped around his waist. He eventually pulled out three small, rectangular shaped keys that the Swede and Italian presumed were all available options for opening the door. The employee tried the first key. The lack of a buzzing, unlocking sound from the door handle indicated that it was invalid. The worker then quickly moved onto the second key. Marcus and Cassandra looked on as the lock made the necessary sound and flashed green. The pair let out a small sigh of relief before walking through the door.
“Theo, it’s u…” Cassandra was stopped in her tracks as she saw the first officer seemingly motionless on his king size bed with his eyes firmly shut. He was lying on his side with the blanket covering most of the lower half of his body. His head was resting on his outstretched arm, but he remained still and silent. The lack of any breathing movement from his very visible bare torso was enough to immediately raise an alarm.
“Fuck,” Marcus exclaimed. “Call the medic!” He commanded of the vessel’s maintenance worker who initially stood still in shock. Cassandra rushed over to Theo’s apparently lifeless form. She pressed her index and middle fingers together and placed them to the side of his neck and then to his wrist. Her own breathing was starting to grow heavy.
“I can’t find a pulse!” She said, her voice laced with concern and panic. The third officer then removed the blanket from the rest of his body, frantically looking for any kind of injury or wound in an area that could be life threatening but her search came up empty. Her first aid training then kicked into gear. Cassandra carefully moved Theo so that he was lying square on his back and began CPR. Part of her knew it was hopeless, but she also knew she had to try.
She attempted resuscitation for a couple of minutes before two medics came running in through the door. They were intentionally stationed close to the cabins of the leading crewmates, precisely for an eventuality such as this. They took over from Cassandra, who now had tears dripping down her face as Marcus held her protectively. He could only watch on wide eyed and let the professionals do their work. The pair were quickly taken out of their trance when they heard more heavy footsteps come in through the door.
“What’s going on?” Captain Harris demanded to know. “What’s all the shouting about?” He continued, having not fully made it into Theo’s cabin yet. His face instantly dropped at the sight that seconds later befell him. His breath got caught in his throat.
“Captain,” the paramedic began removing her hat, a solemn look etched across her face. “I’m so sorry to have to report this. The first officer of this vessel…is dead.”
