Aurum Regium

The sound of the ship’s emergency alarm woke up Jefferson. He looked at the watch and then, grabbing his jacket, he hurried out of the room. He could hear people shouting and running footsteps. The passengers were coming out of their rooms, confused and disoriented. Jefferson saw Sam coming towards his room, weaving through the passengers and crew of the ship.

“What happened?” asked Jefferson in a loud voice.

“Don’t know yet!” replied Sam “Apparently someone had gone overboard and one of the guards saw it in the camera.”

“Who is it?”

“Don’t know, let’s find out.”

Jefferson and Sam ran towards the surveillance room. On their way, they could see a crew member running a large searchlight over the waves and another one trying to pierce the veil of darkness by using binoculars.

Jefferson opened the door to the surveillance room, to find the captain and the first mate inside.

“Captain, what happened?”

“A passenger just jumped overboard!” exclaimed the captain.

“Jumped? Willingly?” asked Sam incredulously. 

“Yes! He had a bag with him, here, see for yourself,” saying this the captain turned one of the monitors in the room towards the two agents. All eyes were focused on the screen as the video was played, they could clearly see one man, who was careful not to show his face in the camera, signal someone using a flashlight and then, after a moment, jump overboard without the slightest hesitation.

The captain paused the video and said, “The guard saw the man and that was why he raised the alarm, it’s a standard protocol.”

“Do we know who it was?” asked Jefferson.

“Not yet, we plan to check each and every passenger and crew worker with the list just to make sure.”

Suddenly Sam said, “Where’s Michael? He would have heard the alarm too.”

The guard who had been standing in the corner to let his superiors handle the situation said, “Michael? You mean the other fed?”

“Yes,” said Jefferson. “You know where he is?”

“Yeah, he came over some time ago to look at some footage and then left in a hurry.”

Sam and Jefferson exchanged a quick look. “What footage did he see?”

A few minutes later, Sam and Jefferson were running towards Gary’s cabin. They had seen the footage and now they knew where Michael went. They knew that he had gone to the bar and then he had come out with Gary a few minutes later, only to go with him in his cabin.

Sam took a position on the side of the door, with his gun in his hand while Jefferson banged open the door. Each of the two agents entered the room in defensive positions with their guns at shoulder level, ready for defense or offense. But they saw no danger. The only thing they saw was Michael’s crumpled figure on the floor.

“My god!” exclaimed Sam, as he rushed forward to check Michael’s vitals.

Jefferson banged open the door of the washroom to check if someone was concealed there, however, he realized that they were the only inhabitants of the cabin. He looked at Sam and was surprised to see the look he had on his face. It was a look of absolute disgust.

“What’s the matter Sam? Is he all right?”

“Oh yes, just had a little too much to drink.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come here and see for yourself.”

Just as Jefferson came close to where Michael was lying, the sweet scent of alcohol reached his nostrils. He looked at Sam and then at Michael, the situation was clear as day. Michael had broken his oath, he had drunk alcohol and under its influence, he had warned the thief that they were onto him and thus, the thief had made his dramatic escape.

Jefferson could not control himself, he slapped Michael across his face. Michael’s eyes fluttered open and focused on the faces of the two people in front of him.

“Jefferson? Sam?” then his eyes widened. “Oliver, he was on the ship, it was Gary!”

Sam helped him up roughly and made him sit on the bed.

“Don’t worry, we can handle the job from here, our job.”

Michael looked at Sam with a questioning look on his face, but Sam just looked at him and shook his head. Michael looked at Jefferson who was looking at him with an infuriated expression.

“What happened, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Did you even hesitate before you did it?” asked Jefferson.

“Did what?”

“Broke your promise and betrayed us!” exclaimed Sam. 

“What are you talking about? I didn’t betray anyone!”

“You know, Michael, it takes guts to lie when you are walking proof of your betrayal.”

“Stop talking in riddles, what do you mean?”

“Right, let’s stop talking in riddles, let me give it to you straight, you are a worthless drunk!” roared Jefferson.

Michael stared at the two agents blankly. “What?”

“Oh, please Michael, don’t even try to lie, I can smell it on you!”

Michael sniffed his shirt and in an instant, he realized what had happened. “Look, this is a misunderstanding, I…”

Jefferson cut in and said, “Listen to me Michael, we don’t have time to listen to any more lies right now, so just sit tight and let us do our job.”

Michael got up and said, “It’s my job too!”

“No Michael, it was,” saying this Jefferson stormed out of the room.

Michael looked at Sam with pleading eyes. “Please Sam, you have to believe me!”

“Rest assured, I won’t make that mistake again.”

Sam hurried out of the room to catch up with Jefferson, who was on his way to have a word with the captain. They had no time to spare, as Oliver already had a substantial lead, the only chance they had was to determine the direction Oliver had taken, and then call for backup.  Jefferson had a cursory discussion with the captain as to what to do. Apart from finding a way to track Oliver, the major problem was to calm the other passengers, who were still clueless as to the true nature of the situation. Jefferson went to the announcement microphone and quickly explained the events that had transpired. Most of the passengers gave looks of surprise but fortunately, the confusion subsided.

The first order which Jefferson gave was to head back towards NYC at the earliest, there was no sense in staying disconnected from the land anymore. Oliver had escaped but he had to be tracked and they could not do that while on a cruise ship. While the captain gave sharp orders to alter the course of the ship, Jefferson talked to Sam about the situation Michael found himself in. Both of them were infuriated with what Michael had done, they felt that their trust had been misused and that made them want to make Michael pay for what he had done, but a career in law enforcement instilled a habit in one’s nature – to listen to what the guilty party had to say. Thus, while the captain and the crew tried to shed some further light on Oliver’s actions and steer the ship back towards NYC, Sam and Jefferson decided to have a talk with Michael.

Michael was still where they had left him, in Oliver’s cabin, but he was delighted to see that the agents were back, even more so when he realized that they wanted to hear his side of the story. Michael began from the time he had woken up during the night, to the time he had been knocked out by Oliver. He explained each and every incident in the clearest manner and by the time he was done, the agents knew what had happened as though they had been there themselves. But the precise manner in which Michael narrated the chain of events did not mean that the two agents believed him. They could believe everything, from Michael discovering the clue, to Michael getting beaten up, but what they doubted was whether he had really been drugged by Oliver or not.

“So, you mean Oliver tricked you?” asked Sam.

“He did, he drugged me!”

“You say he did it while you two were in the bar?” asked Jefferson.

“Yes, why?” asked Michael with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“We would have seen him on the CCTV.”

“You think he couldn’t drug a man in a way that it isn’t visible in the footage? You know as well as I do what he is capable of!”

“If what you say is true, then the bartender would have seen Oliver do something odd,” said Jefferson and motioned Michael towards the door.

A minute later, the three agents were standing in the bar and the bartender was facing them. He corroborated the entire conversation that Michael had with Oliver, but when questioned by the agents regarding the drug, he seemed to be clueless.

“Added something? What do you mean?”

“Did you see Oliv…Gary slip any drug in Michael’s drink?” asked Jefferson.

“Who’s Michael?”

“He means John,” added Sam.

The bartender thought for a minute. “Nope, didn’t see anything.”

 “What do you mean you didn’t see anything? You were here the entire time!” shouted Michael.

“That’s right, I was here the entire time,” agreed the bartender. “But I did not see Gary slip anything into your lemonade.”

Michael was about to say something else when Jefferson said, “I think that will be all.”

“No!” exclaimed Michael. “Look, the walls of the cabins are not soundproof, and Oliver and I were not exactly whispering, the person in the neighboring cabin must have heard something!”

Jefferson looked at Sam and the latter raised an eyebrow to which the former responded with a nod of the head. Five minutes later, Jefferson and Sam were talking to the person who occupied the cabin towards the right of Oliver’s. Michael had been asked to remain in his cabin while the two agents did the questioning, and Michael had responded to this order with a look of agony.

Will Singer lit a cigarette and said, “You don’t mind if I smoke, do you?”

“We’d prefer if you didn’t,” said Jefferson.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” asked Will ignoring what Jefferson had said.

“Were you in your room between half past one and four in the morning?”

“Of course, where else would I be?”

“Did you happen to hear anything?”

Will gave an odd expression. “What do you mean?”

Jefferson looked at Sam. The man was clearly hiding something.

“Did you hear two people conversing?”

“Maybe, depends on which people you are referring to.”

“How many people did you hear?”

“Two.”

“Then that’s the pair we are talking about.”

“Fine. I did hear voices.”

“And what were they talking about?”

“Oh, you know what I recorded the entire conversation, but I just left the tape at my cabin,” said Will with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“We don’t want any nonsense, just tell us what you heard.”

“What’s in it for me?”

Jefferson was about to reply when he remembered something. Michael believed that the man had some unlawful business going on, maybe smuggling. He decided to take a shot in the dark.

“Tell us what you know and perhaps we will be lenient with you on the smuggling matter.”

The smile vanished from Will’s face instantly. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean, and also I wanted to tell you that we are FBI agents.” Said Jefferson as he and Sam showed the man their identification.

Will exhaled a puff of smoke. “I did hear Gary and another man talking, they seemed to be having an argument of some sort, then there were some thuds, like a fight and then there was silence, until the alarms started blaring.”

Jefferson looked at Will for a moment before saying, “What exactly did you hear?”

“There was something about diamonds and chess and a name… I think it was Oliver.”

Jefferson was silent, and so was Sam. Michael’s story corroborated exactly with what Will was telling them, and that was an indication that Michael was telling the truth, at least as far as the conversation was concerned.

“Very well, you may go,” said Jefferson

Will got up, did a mock salute, and then left.

“So, do you believe Michael?” asked Sam.

“I believe that he is telling the truth regarding the conversation he had with Oliver.”

“And about his drinking?”

“I find it hard to believe that he didn’t drink. Maybe he was able to resist but I’m not sure, what I’m sure of is that I don’t trust him anymore.”

“And what does that mean for him?”

Jefferson did not reply. He didn’t know what to do anymore, Oliver was gone, Michael had disappointed him, and they had no further leads on the case. They didn’t even know who Oliver intended to sell the diamonds to.

Suddenly the door of the lounge opened, and Michael entered. His face was pale, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. He looked at Jefferson and then at Sam.

“Well? What did Will tell you?”

Jefferson did not reply. He stood up, and Sam followed.

Jefferson said, “Michael, hand in your resignation by tomorrow.”

Jefferson did not look at either of the people standing in front of him, and he exited, leaving behind two astounded young men.