Hidden Steel

Chapter 3

THREE

The cruise ship cut through the waves, it’s massive bulk unaffected by the chop of the sea. The view of the dock was long gone, and they were underway to the next port on the list. After finally unpacking his suitcase, Steel decided to take a walk and try to get acquainted with the layout of the vessel. Something was going to happen, and this ship or someone on it had something to do with it. Deck 8 was a massive expanse of shops, bars, coffee shops all lined up with white tiled floors and neon window signs. There was a central reservation with seating and palm trees and plants, which gave the whole place a feel of being in a big city, rather than being on a ship. Passengers rushed about, taking in the sights, excited at their new surroundings. Steel looked around, in awe of the ship’s interior and size. He wandered around a little longer before his mouth became dry – he needed something to drink. Steel smiled to himself. Next to a gift shop was an Irish Pub, with old-style seats and tables outside the entrance and alongside the wall and window. Steel chose a seat next to the window, he had a full range view of the area, and his back was to the wall.

After a short time, a waitress came to take his order. She was short and petite. Her long black hair was tied up into a ponytail which bounced as she walked. She had a round face that sported a large mouth with a red lipstick smile. As she spoke, she gave a broad smile, causing her to squint – hiding her beautiful large brown eyes. Steel ordered a large Balvenie and a beer – feeling the need to blend in was excuse enough to start drinking so early in the day. He watched the people and wondered how he was going to find a target in all of this, he had over seven thousand suspects – and that was just the passengers. Plus, he didn’t know what they were suspected of doing? Hell, he did not even know what he was doing there, one thing was sure, if it were nothing, Steel knew the others wouldn’t let him hear the last of it when he got back to the precinct.

Steel’s mind drifted back to the meeting with Darius Johnson at Battersea Park in London. Darius was an old friend of the family. Steel’s father had given Darius a job after he’d left the army, back in the seventies. The man was in his late fifties, an average-sized Jamaican, but he had the strength of an ox, he was strangely handsome with his short hair that had flexes of grey and a trimmed beard that made him look more like a professor. Darius often dressed in loud shirts and baggy jeans which seemed to be two sizes too big for him.

The two men sat at one of the chess tables that were set up, so the public to come and enjoy a quick game. Of course, the half-empty bottle of wine between them told many that the two men had been there awhile.

“Looks like I beat you again Jonny,” the man said, as he moved his queen into the checkmate position. He grinned with pleasure as he knocked over Steel’s King. “You must learn to concentrate my boy,” his accent was heavy with a Caribbean tone. Steel just smiled and sat back in his chair.

“Concentrate, with that shirt?” Steel laughed. Darius looked down at his shirt and pulled the bottom forwards, the multi-patterned shirt screamed with colour.

“What’s wrong with my shirt? Your problem is you have no style.” They both laughed.

“It’s good to see you again, old friend,” Steel’s voice sounded calm and refreshed, Darius returned the smile.

“So, what brings you home, last I heard you were a Detective in New York,” Darius said, with a curious wink.

“I still am, Homicide Department” Steel replied, picking up the small bottle of mineral water and taking a quick mouthful. Darius’s eyes widened and gave a carp-mouthed nod.

“Homicide, well, well. Funny, I remember you used to make the bodies, and ironically you now detect them, “Darius laughed and took a sip from the plastic wine glass. “And what about THEM?” Darius’s voice sounded bitter, and his expression was sour.

“I get to hear a lot about THEM, don’t worry,” Steel replied, as he took another hit from the bottle. Darius nodded as he reset the board.

“You always did make the strangest moves for the right reasons; I can’t believe you suck at chess,” Darius laughed.

“Too many rules, if you change the rules it confuses your opponent,” Steel shrugged with a broken smile. Darius nodded in agreement.

“Ok, so what rules are you bending now?” He could feel Steel’s eyes on him. Steel was silent at first as he moved his pawn into the middle of the board.

“Leads in New York have gone silent, so I thought I would try back here,” Steel replied. Darius’s eyes looked up without moving his head.

“Uh-huh, you know something, like I say, you don’t just do things without reason, so what or who are you after?” Steel smiled, and leant back in his chair and breathed in the fresh air.

“God, I miss this sometimes,” he looked around at the people as they went about their day to day, enjoying the morning sun.

“London, Britain or suckin' at chess?” Darius laughed. Steel just gave him the finger as he readjusted his sunglasses at the nose bridge.

“A woman named Teresa Benning,” Steel said, leaning back after moving a pawn. Darius thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, don’t know that one,” Darius admitted, with a shake of his head. Steel smiled, which made Darius feel very nervous, very quickly.

“What?” Darius asked, looking up from the board and sitting back in his chair. A look of mistrust covered his face.

“Don’t worry; I know roughly where she is,” Steel laughed. Darius gave Steel an uneasy look.

“Cool, where is she?” He followed Steel’s gaze to a woman playing on one of the other tables. She was pretty, with long red hair, large blue eyes, and a set of full pouting lips.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Darius asked, suddenly figuring out that him being here was no coincidence.

“Nothing much, just you know talk to her, keep her busy for a while,” Steel said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Darius chanced another look over his shoulder at the redhead.

“And you will be…?” Darius turned around to find an empty chair where Steel had been sitting.

“Man, I hate it when he does that,” Darius growled as he grabbed his drink and stood up.

Her apartment was a minute’s walk away from the park, the place itself was set above a small grocery store, the entrance was a red door at the side of the store, through which a staircase led upwards to the apartment above. As Steel approached the front door of the apartment, he checked for signs of cameras or alarms but only found graffiti and spiders webs. Picking the lock took seconds as the bump key found its mark, and with a click, he was inside.

Pulling the door slightly ajar, Steel took out a dentist’s mirror and scanned for an alarm. He almost seemed disappointed at how easy this was, Steel thought for a moment the information he’d acquired was false, but he had to check it out nevertheless. The flat was homely and tidy with potted plants in nearly every room. The long corridor ended with the kitchen at one end and the sitting room at the other; in the middle of the wooden-floored hallway lay the doors to the bedroom and a bathroom. The walls of the corridor had been painted terracotta, and the ceiling was white with Victorian-style edgings, the doors to each room were glossed white as were the skirting on the floor – giving the effect that the room was longer than what it was. He started in the kitchen - this had a brown marble effect vinyl floor, the surrounding pinewood cupboards, and work surfaces stood out from the white walls. Steel carefully looked through draws and paid particular attention to the photographs and postcards magnetically pinned to the refrigerator door. The cards had been sent from various locations – and all from a couple named “Stewart.” Steel took one last look then proceeded to the bathroom, the white-tiled room gave nothing up, and with a shrug, he entered the bedroom. The pink coloured walls clashed with the brass bed and the white furnishings, her clothes hung arranged in almost military fashion, Steel smiled at the thought of the phrase knowing most military people were not the tidiest of people. He started to have a bad feeling as he left the bedroom and entered the sitting room – so far, he had found nothing.

As he looked around, Steel noticed that the apartment had been correctly set out, maybe too perfect. The sitting room was long, with a large window at the opposite side of the room to the door. A fireplace with a dark wood surround was situated in the middle of the left wall – the flooring was the same as the hallway, and so was the paintwork. In the middle of the floor, facing the fireplace, was a black, cloth couch, and near the window on the right wall, there was a computer desk, proudly. Steel took his time looking at the room as he made his way to the desk; he did not want to miss anything. Sitting in the swivel chair, he turned on the computer; he knew that the computer would be password protected. Steel smiled, true enough the screen asking for the password. Steel began to search through draws at the desk for a clue to the password. Soon he found her passport – typing in her date of birth, he pressed the ENTER key, but only got a resounding “Ding” for failure. Then he remembered on the refrigerator she had put up many types of post-it as a reminder for her, regarding shopping items and who had called. He smiled.

“Could she be that obvious?” Steel thought. He tilted the keyboard, and a disappointed look came over him. There at the underside was a piece small piece of paper sellotaped with the words UNITY1. Steel frowned and typed in the code, the screen opened. Steel looked at his watch, he knew that Darius wouldn’t be able to stall her forever, he had to hurry. Her folders drew a blank, so Steel went for emails, she had several spams from weight loss companies, dating agencies the standard stuff that clogs up the inbox, but then he saw several letters from “The Stewarts,” he clicked on to the latest one, his eyes widened.

“Dear Teresa,

Hope you are well and everything is going well at work.

We have found the perfect trip. Also, Daddy says that NEPTUNE is good as gold.

Don’t forget to pick up the goods and speak to Callan reference the industrial cleaner.

All the best,

The Stewarts"

He closed down the computer and stepped back to think. Steel had an uneasy feeling.

“What the hell is Neptune?” His words faded into a whisper, he had to go and find Darius, he was a wealth of information, and his memory was almost computer-like. Darius remembered every fact he came in contact with; if anyone would know – it was him.

Darius sat outside a local pub, sipping tea. The pub was just around the corner from her apartment – meaning it was possibly her local watering hole, not that Darius was interested, his mind was on other things.

“Damn it, Jonny, where the hell are you?” Darius said, studying his watch. He had waited nearly ten minutes after she had left him at that very pub. They had played chess and talked until she noticed the time, then insisted she had to go to work. Darius had walked her this far before she kissed him on the cheek for his gallantry and left. Darius looked behind him to see if Steel was approaching from the street behind. No luck, he cursed under his breath, thinking the worst. Images of her coming home and finding him there flooded into his head, but Darius knew Steel was too slick for that. He shook the thought from his head and turned back round to take another sip of the tea.

“Jesus” he cried out at the sight of Steel sitting in the chair opposite. Darius’s yelp had caught the attention of a plump barmaid, and she made her way over. She had a cute smile, her black hair matched the colour of her skirt and waistcoat of her uniform, her white blouse straining to hold her large breasts, and her black stockings stretched over her large short legs.

“What can I get you, gents?” She asked, chewing gum as she spoke, Steel looked up at her and smiled, her face was round but pretty.

“Just a coffee, for now, thank you,” Steel replied, with a winning smile. She blushed and returned the smile.

“Man, what it is with you and women?” Darius groaned, and shook his head. Steel sat back and looked innocent.

“OK, Casanova what did you find at her place?” Darius took another sip after blowing on the fresh brew.

“Don’t know, there was something to do with NEPTUNE, I found an email from a friend named

“The Stewarts" but that was certainly a cover for something” he shrugged, and picked up the menu card.

“Have you heard of anything called NEPTUNE on your travels or someone called Callan who might be linked to the organisation?” Steel asked, as he checked out the steak and ale pie on the menu. Darius shook his head.

“Neptune, mmm,” Darius said, stroking his beard. “Other than the Roman god and several ships and spacecraft, what can I say?” Darius said, taking out a pipe from his pocket and filling it with tobacco from a pouch.

“As for Callan, that could be CALLAN Industries?” Darius, said lighting up his pipe.

“What do they do?” Steel asked, curiously.

“Mostly bio tech and s**t, weapons for the government, or anyone with the right cash,” Darius laughed. Steel knew that asking him about Neptune was a long shot, but he had to try. Steel’s gaze fell on the table opposite theirs, and to a man reading the daily paper. As the man lifted it to put the pages back to their original fold, Steel caught a glimpse at the front page.

He waited until the man left, leaving the tabloid on the table, Steel shot up to grab it before anyone else had a chance. Steel held the paper up, hiding his face.

“Hey man, do you want to share with the rest of the class?” Darius barked impatiently, knowing his friend had found something. Steel folded the paper down; Darius saw the huge grin of satisfaction on Steel’s face.

“What you won the lotto, not that you need the money?” Darius smiled. Steel turned the paper round, so the front page was in full view. The new ship launched read the headlines, New flagship of the ocean travel group launched today, THE NEPTUNE is the largest passenger ship ever built at 3,800 feet long and able to hold over 7,500 passengers. Darius’s mouth fell open.

“Do you think that…?” Darius went to ask, then saw Steel nodding wildly with a childish grin.

The barmaid brought Steel his coffee; he smiled up at her and thanked her.

“Well my friend, I think I better ready for a trip,” Steel said, taking a sip from his black coffee. Darius sat back and put his cup down.

“You got a feeling about this boat?” Darius asked, with a curious look on his face. Steel nodded and sipped his coffee. “Well, I hope the fuckers have got insurance?” Darius laughed.