Onboard Deception by Liz Turner

Author:Liz Turner
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-08-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Lockdown

Gabriella skipped out of her cabin with a smile. It was a good day, in her opinion, because they had finally resolved the food poisoning issue. To make things even better, that morning she’d been able to enjoy a cup of java without being overwhelmed with nausea. After a miserable few days tarnished by the illness, the passengers could at last enjoy the rest of their cruise.

Gabriella stepped onto the brow of the ship, one of her favorite places to be in the morning. The air was always crisp and tasted of the ocean. Sunlight radiated the warmth of the new day, and Gabriella grinned, delighted as the sun kissed her cheeks and nose. She opened her eyes, expecting to see passengers bustling about with breakfast smoothies and bagels, chatting about the upcoming island stop.

But the deck was nearly empty.

A few crew members walked around aimlessly and the odd passenger floated around nervously.

“What’s going on?” Gabriella asked Sebastian.

“It’s been like this all morning,” he said, checking his watch. “Usually, this part of the ship is pumping.”

“Maybe everyone is still sleeping off the last of the food poisoning,” Gabriella suggested, trying to stay optimistic.

“Maybe…”

Gabriella’s phone buzzed on her hip. “Yes?” she answered, nervously.

Nancy’s voice blurted impatiently on the other end. “We have a problem.”

“We’ve had about a hundred of the ship’s passengers call in sick throughout the night,” Nancy informed. “And that included everyone we issued free meal coupons to after the first round of sickness.”

“What?” Gabriella gasped in horror. “How did we end up with over a hundred?”

Nancy shook her head, still trying to comprehend it herself. Dark rings encircled her eyes.

“I thought we had everything under control after we rooted out the cause of all the poisoning?” Gabriella said.

“I thought so too. But I’m believing we might not just be dealing with food poisoning.”

“Why am I only finding out about this now? Why didn’t you alert me?”

“I alerted your husband. Since you haven’t been feeling well, maybe he chose not to inform you.”

“Someone should have let me know. I could’ve helped organize extra beds or something,” Gabriella said helplessly. She wasn’t accustomed to being left out-of-the-loop by her fellow crew members.

“Sorry, but that was the captain’s orders, I’m afraid.”

“Anyway, what did you mean by it not being food poisoning?”

“Most of the passengers who were sick claimed they’d eaten salad last night, since their stomachs were still tender. The strange thing is, I ate salad as well and I have no symptoms…”

“That makes no sense.” Gabriella started pacing Nancy’s office. “I really thought we’d kicked this.”

“The difference is that I ordered my food in, like most staff, whereas everyone else ate in the main gallery.” Nancy shrugged. “Too many people are sick, and our resources are running low…”

“How are you coping with all of this?”

“I’m exhausted, and in all honesty, I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. If this thing is contagious, we should have acted immediately to contain it.”

“All right,” Gabriella said, stroking her chin.

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