![]() I smiled, safe in the knowledge that I was carrying neither. And why not? We were colleagues, after all. “What’s going on?” I said, trying to cajole James into thawing his attitude. ![]() “He only went for something he’d forgotten.” “But Sam should have been back by now,” I said. ![]() Strangely, James didn’t acknowledge or return my greeting. James, head of the ship’s security team, was standing by the exit. I stepped out of line and walked back in the direction of the ship. In the corner of the vast, high-ceilinged building, portable air-conditioning units blasted out woefully inadequate cool air. Sam and I excelled at slipping beneath the radar, despite his popularity. I was too quick to jump to worst-case scenarios, usually after my conscience had given me a good poke. The upheaval wasn’t necessarily anything to do with us. We were both tense after a wakeful night dissecting what had gone wrong, each of us blaming the other. Then again, neither of us was thinking straight. It would break one of our rules about blending in. Sam would be annoyed if I lost our place. Where the hell are you? Hurry up! I am nearly at the front of the line. Our flight to freedom was less than four hours away. He had insisted that I save our place in the line to save time. It should have taken him fifteen minutes-twenty max. Sam had only darted back to the ship to pick up his watch, carelessly left beside the basin in his cabin. The person in front of me took a step forward, pushing his backpack with a foot. ![]()
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