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“Let’s go,” he said

While the portion of the deck where they were standing was relatively dark, the area around the crane ash in floodlights, reflecting off the top of the white superstructure

The three of theuided by Goht under the bridge and next to the captain’s quarters Once they were indoors they’d be on their own, out of Gomez’s view The door closest to the stairway they needed was right beside the ship’s orange free-fall lifeboat, a bullet-shaped craft locked into a doard-facing cradle for quick escapes in an eency

The door had a thick glassinset into it Eddie poked a tiny camera above

the sill and watched the wireless feed on a handheld screen The hallas empty

He went inside and listened for footsteps or voices Hearing nothing, he waved for Murph and MacD to follow hier they were out in the open, the likelier it was that they’d be discovered

They went up two flights of stairs and found the equipht in except for one small problem—the sturdy metal door was padlocked

“Looks like so the brand-new combination lock

“It’s just supposed to be electrical and fiber-optic trunk lines and some control equipment,” Murph said “Why would they lock it?”

“Only one way to find out,” Eddie said He dug into his pack and removed a collapsible bolt cutter He extended the titanium-reinforced handles

“Guys,” Gouards just walked into the superstructure They didn’t look like they were in a hurry, but they could be headed your way”

To punctuate Go rose fro closer

As Eddie clamped the bolt cutters around the hasp of the padlock, MacD said quietly, “If they notice the lock is gone, we’re gonna have some party crashers”

The voices got louder Eddie knew they were coether The hasp of the combination lock snipped in half as if it were made of plastic Eddie removed it and pocketed the pieces

They hustled inside the dark room, and Eddie shut the door behind him