Page 3 (1/2)

"Joanne Baldwin," I said, and presented ID "I’ll be taking the room that Botox Diva just cleared"

He looked at me wearily "Ma’am? Why that room in particular?"

"Because she probably left Godiva chocolates and chilled Donon, not to mention randoht-faced "I’ll guard it with ed to produce an anxious second cousin to a sht?" Theuys have soic Would yousome on these idiots? Not sure you really want reat at crowd control, unless you’re trying to kill people or put them in comas

Better let uest I hope you brought horse tranquilizers" He gave lances and stepped inside

We stepped in it, all right The place was complete chaos, which was odd, because it really was a rooners had envisioned the space as a Victorian-style reading room, complete with expensively bound leather volu the decor now, though Middle-aged society , vapid starlets (I nized one or two of those, but truthfully, they’d all been sculpted and styled into the same person, so it didn’t much matter) A thick cluster of black-clad people who I assuether like a dour flock of croard the outer edge West Coast bling glittered in a group on the opposite side of the room It was like a uing at the sa not-so-crisp, was trying his best to cal away at each other, waving tickets, papers, cell phones, and BlackBerries The din was all focused on one thing: I’ without my (fill in the blank)

I beckoned the steward over He carateful that so attention to hi at full volume I could understand why; this rooh clout to bury the cruise line in legal red tape for years, if not generations "We need to o"

I saw him shatever he was teain "Yes, ," he said, in that smoothly patient tone that only the very stressed develop after years of therapy "I explained that if they didn’t disembark, we couldn’t wait for them to do so, but - "

"They called your bluff"

"Exactly" He sed and tugged a little at the white collar of his foret the captain, but he’s busy with preparations to cast off" A woery, heavy makeup, and a forty-hour-a-orkout schedule had effectively rendered her a wax figure of herself - grabbed the steward by the aroing to do about this?" she demanded "I demand to speak to the captain! Immediately!"

"Ma’am, I’m sorry, but the captain is occupied," the steward said, and patiently rerip from his uniform sleeve "You must depart the ship immediately, for your own safety"

"Don’t be ridiculousThis ship was advertised as being able to sail through a hurricane without a wineglass tipping It’s the safest place to be! I refuse to be turned out like some penniless hobo into a storhts out There’s nowhere to go I’"

"That’s not an option," I said "If you get your people and head toward the exit, you ht now"

She fixed lance traveled overonain "Are you with the cruise line? Because if you are, I will have a ith the captain about the dress code for - "

"Shut up," I said She did, mainly because I don’t think anybody had told her that in her whole life "Pretend there’s a bomb on board Now What should you do?" She blinked "Is there?"

I stared at her, unblinking

She lifted one heavily ringed hand to cover her pouty lips "Is it terrorists?" Terrorists, the new monster under the bed Well, whatever worked

"I can’t confirent style Hey, I learned it froo immediately But don’t tell the others We don’t want to cause a panic"

That was an added kicker, because by being told to keep it secret, she felt privileged, and of course that convinced her She gulped, grabbed her personal assistant in red talons, and whispered so for the docks

"One down," Cherise said "Terrorists, huh?"

"The FBI can Guantanamo me later," I said "It does the job You take that side of the room, I’ll take the other"

And so it went About three repetitions later of the terrorists-but-keep-it-quiet story, I ran into someone who demanded to know if I had any idea who he was I tried to control my instinctive awe and assured him I did - how could I not? He see your ass because you’re so special undertone When he strode off, trailing e me with a look that was half appalled, half amused "What? Who is he?" I asked

"I believe he’s in the film industry," he said "You’re scary"

"You should see her when she’s really bothered," Cherise said as she passed us, heading for her next victie in the ship before I saw the expression shift in the steward’s face fro sensation co itself all the way through ," I said "Holy crap Leasn’t kidding around"

"Guess not," Cherise said We’d cleared half the rooers still staging a sit-in, and ere out of ti"

"Cher, do these guys look like they’d let us put them into lifeboats?"

"I didn’t say they’d agree We could, you know, knock the up from threats to assault"

"Oh, come onNot like you haven’t assaulted anybody recently" And Cher punched me in the shoulder for eood," the steward broke in "In these conditions, we don’t dare launch any lifeboats, not even the new speedboat type that this ship carries We have to have relatively calnificant risk of the lifeboats being compromised" Compromisedwas, I assumed, ship-speak for sunk Which was kind of where ere, frooal

I looked around the rooain Thirty-odd people, of which approximately a third were the rich sons of bitches who’d refused to leave, aggressively arrogant and sure that the universe cared too er