Aurum Regium

Jefferson was waiting for Michael and Sam to arrive in his office. It was early morning and for the first time in his life, Jefferson was in his office in informal attire. He was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with his sunglasses hanging from the front of his T-shirt. Usually, people are comparatively uncomfortable while dressed formally, but that was not true in Jefferson’s case. The man was more comfortable in a suit than an ordinary person would be in their pyjamas. Jefferson checked the time on his watch and frowned, the other two were late. He was the one who had the necessary documents for their respective aliases, but they were useless if they did not reach the ship before cast-off. Just as he took out his phone and dialed Sam’s number, he heard a ringtone just outside his office door.

Sam and Michael entered the office and, declining the call, Sam smirked.

“The number you are calling is currently busy, please try later.”

“Any later and we would have missed it,” grumbled Jefferson as he handed the two agents white envelopes.

After securing their credentials, the three agents headed to the building exit. Instead of taking one of the cars of the bureau, they took a cab, for obvious reasons, and proceeded to the docks. They reached and boarded the ship with some time to spare and after meeting with the captain they were escorted to their respective cabins. The cabins were not what you would expect on a cruise, in a positive way. They had every commodity provided in a luxury hotel room, including large portholes to admire the view. The cabins were spacious and comfortable, but the three agents didn’t have time to admire their surroundings. They unanimously decided that the very first thing that they should do upon boarding was to tour the vessel and thus, all three of them just dumped their bags in their respective cabins and began their inspection.

The ship consisted of three levels and comprised of a pool, a bar, a lounge, and a dining hall. The lounge was quite spacious and was divided into three parts. One of the parts served as a small but rather well-equipped library with titles in multiple languages, the middle area was furnished with leather couches and armchairs, serving as a sort of common sitting area whereas a specific area of the lounge had also been set up as the game zone and thus, there were a few casino gaming machines located there.

The guests had access to all the areas of the ship except the kitchen, engine room, captain’s cabin, the bridge and the crew area. Out of the total six decks of the ship, the majority of the cabins were located on the second and third decks while a few were situated on the fourth deck. It was Michael’s understanding that the ones located on the second and third deck were standard cabins, but the few cabins located on the fourth deck were even more luxurious. The number of passengers on the ship was considerably less than what the agents had previously expected, which was quite an advantage. There were large windows and portholes in each and every location on the ship which looked out on the beautiful view outside. In all, if the agents did not have work to do, then they would have really enjoyed themselves.

After inspecting every nook and corner of the ship thoroughly, the three joined the other passengers on the primary deck as the ship cast off and the shore grew distant with each passing moment. Once the shore was out of sight, the three agents turned their attention to the other passengers in turn. The bunch of people around them were varied but the two things which they had in common were their ample bank balances and the smiles on their faces. Each one of them was in possession of secrets, so were the three agents, and so was every other human on the face of the earth, but the agents were after the secrets of a single person.

As the ship gained speed, the people began drifting off to their cabins or to the bar. The ones with weak abdomens headed to their room to rest, while the ones who did not mind the motion of the ship, or enjoyed it, were the ones who decided to start their holiday with a drink. The three agents took this as an opportunity to get to know some of the guests and thus, they also followed the latter group. There was a very worried expression on Michael’s face as he walked towards the bar, the expression that one has when one is confronting their worst enemy.

(II)

Oliver was sitting in his cabin and his face was contorted into an expression of fury. He had believed that the agents would have learned their lesson, but here they were, on the very same ship on which Oliver was travelling, with the diamonds. This was no coincidence, even a fool could make that out, but the question was how they had figured out where he would be. He had been very careful not to leave a trail, and he had even inquired about various cruises departing on different dates to cover his tracks and yet, the three meddlers had shown up as his co-passengers. Although Oliver had been smart enough not to carry the items which he had stolen from the younger Williamson’s collection, but he had no choice but to bring the diamonds with him. The items from the collection had been sent ahead by him to a safe location from where he could retrieve them whenever he wanted, and now he wished that the diamonds were also with those items, safe.  

Oliver got up from the chair and walked to the porthole. His cabin was located on the fourth deck and the view was magnificent, a view he had planned to enjoy, and he would have, had his plans not been disrupted by the same trio again. Even though the arrival of the three agents was unwanted and unexpected, Oliver was the sort of person who hoped for things to go as expected but had plans just in case they didn’t and very often, these plans were the ones which got him out of tough situations, much like the one which he currently found himself in. He had the diamonds with him, but they were hidden, so well hidden that even if his antagonists were staring right at them, they would not realize it. But that was not the hard part, the hard part was interacting with the agents and not giving himself away, being in the vicinity and not showing the slightest signs of nervousness. He didn’t just have to act that he was innocent, he had to believe that he was innocent, and that was very difficult, considering what he had done and what he intended to do.

(III)

Michael was sitting in the lounge with a glass of lemonade in his hand. He had tried his best to divert his attention from the alcohol in the bar, but it was like trying to focus on the moon during the day, it just wasn’t possible. That was why he had just taken his glass of lemonade and had come to the lounge. The people who were in his close vicinity included a woman of around fifty years of age, a rather dangerous-looking young man, a half-asleep man, and a young woman with her head bent down into the book. He knew that the middle-aged woman would probably be the easiest and the best person to talk to, but he felt certain that Oliver would not be the name of a fifty year old woman and thus, he decided to start a conversation with the man who had the pleasant looks of a goon.

Michael said, “That’s a splendid book that you are reading.”

The man, who had been reading “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea” by Jules Verne, said, “Indeed, have you read it?”

“I did, although I must say it was quite a long time back, so I’m a little fuzzy on the details.”

“Surely you can’t forget Captain Nemo.”

“Of course not! Nor can I forget Monsieur Arronox, Conseil, Ned land and of course, the Nautilus.”

The man gave a lopsided smile and said, “I thought you said you were a little fuzzy about the details.”

“Well, I can’t tell you the scientific names of the species they encountered, they were a little complicated.”

Both men laughed. The man outstretched his hand and said, “Will Singer.”

“John Beck,” said Michael giving the hand a slight shake.

“So, John, you are a businessman?”

“I wish! But I work for an MNC, worked hard, and got this holiday as a reward.”

“Good for you! What do you do?”

“I work in the accounts department, what about you?”

“Shipping business, being on a cruise, quite ironic don’t you think?”

“It is, indeed. What’s the name of your company?”

Will raised an eyebrow and said, “Poseidon Shipping, why? Got something you want to get across the waters?”

Michael looked up sharply, there was something odd about the man’s tone. “What?”

“Nothing,” said Will getting up “It was nice meeting you.”

“The pleasure was all mine,” replied Michael, as Will got up and departed.

The way Will had offered Michael to get something “across the water” made Michael feel as though he was talking to an offender of the law. The man had quite a good chance of being the person who was buying the diamonds from Oliver, and Michael made up his mind to keep an eye on him. Michael looked up and to his surprise, he saw the middle-aged woman staring at him. He gave a slight smile and went away, looking back once he was at the exit, only to confront the brown eyes of the woman seated in the armchair once again.

As Michael was heading to his cabin, he saw Sam approaching him from the opposite direction.

“Found anything yet?” asked Sam. 

“Nothing of immediate value, what about you? And Jefferson?”

“Well, I tried talking to some people but they genuinely looked as though they were just to enjoy the cruise, not sell or buy diamonds and as far as Jefferson is concerned, the man is a chameleon, no one can tell what his real intentions are just by looking at him, there he is, laughing away.”

Following the direction in which Sam’s finger pointed, Michael saw Jefferson chatting with a couple and laughing but just as the pair departed, Jefferson’s expression turned serious, and he walked towards the place where Sam and Michael were standing.

“When do you plan to put your plan into action?” asked Sam. 

“And more importantly, what is your plan?” added Michael.

Jefferson looked around and said, “Not here and not until the day after tomorrow, we need to give everyone some time to settle before we try anything.”

Michael nodded and once again, they headed their separate ways.

Till dinnertime that evening, the federal agents spent their time interacting with the other passengers but could not get any clue which might assist them. The only positive thing which had occurred was that Michael had found an acquaintance. Just a few hours before the time for the evening meal, Michael was on the deck when he happened to strike up a conversation with another passenger, a bachelor, named Gary with a zeal for playing chess. Such was the passion of the man towards the game, that he had even convinced Michael to face off with him in a match on the expensive-looking chess board. After crossing their tactical swords for a duration of fifty minutes, the game was drawn with the consent of both the players.

“This was splendid, John!” said Gary.

“Yes, it was!”

“We should certainly play again.”

“We definitely will,” said Michael and headed to his cabin and as he looked back, he saw that Gary had reset the board and was busy playing against himself.

(IV)

It was late evening and Jefferson was sitting in his cabin. He had tried to search for clues the entire day but to no avail, however, his mood had been uplifted by the splendid meal which he had just done justice to. Now, with his stomach full and his mind clear, he began thinking about what they would do next. He planned to devote the next twenty-four hours to further scrutinize the guests and also set his plan into motion. The plan which he had in mind was not complex, however, there was little doubt about the chances of its success. Thinking of the plan had reminded Jefferson to check on something, he got up and went to the armoire located in the cabin. Opening it, he took out a small box and one look at its contents was enough to reassure Jefferson that his plan was quite decent.