Page 31 of Waylaid in Whittier

“Millie and I are down at the gangway. My backpack is being flagged. I need you to override the confiscation and let it through.”

“Flagged for what?”

“Some stuff I thought Millie and I might need for our investigation.”

“Such as?”

“A few hand tools, binoculars, bottles of water…”

Patterson cut him off. “I’m on my way.”

Sharky clipped his radio to his belt and crossed his arms. “He’ll be here in a minute.”

The guard set the backpack on the floor and began scanning the items for the next person in line.

Millie tugged on his arm. “You know Patterson is going to lecture you,” she whispered in his ear.

“It was a chance I had to take to help my girl.”

She glanced at her watch. Millie had promised Danielle she would meet her in the atrium in less than five minutes.

“You don’t have to stay,” Sharky said. “How long before we head back out?”

“The issue involves a group who requested a behind-the-scenes tour.” Millie did a rough mental calculation. “Tours take about an hour and a half. Why don’t we meet at quarter past twelve?”

“Quarter past twelve,” he repeated. “Sounds good. I see Patterson coming now.”

Millie watched as the head of security strode across the gangway to where they stood waiting.

“Before we discuss your backpack, how is it going?” he asked.

Millie tipped her hand back and forth. “Elvira seems to think she’ll be released soon. Someone found her super-secret honey hole. The owner of the bar confirmed Elvira and the woman who was attacked argued right before the attack happened.”

“In other words, it’s not looking good for her,” Patterson summarized.

“Nope. Danielle needs help. There’s some sort of issue with a tour group I need to address, but first.” She made a sweeping motion toward the guard who was scanning bags. “Sharky needs his backpack.”

Patterson heaved a heavy sigh. “You are both fully aware of what items are not allowed on board the ship. Sharky, even more so.”

“I figured maybe security would let it slide, seeing how I was the one who took the items off in the first place.”

“Stay here.” Patterson approached the man working the scanning machine. He said something in a low voice, too low for Millie to hear.

The guard nodded and handed him Sharky’s backpack.

Patterson returned to where they stood waiting.

Millie’s eyes slid to the side, noticing several of the crewmembers were watching them to see what happened. “We have an audience.”

“Let’s go over behind the curtain.” Patterson took the lead, with Millie and Sharky trekking behind.

He set the backpack on top of the metal table and pulled the curtain around them. “Show me what you have.”

Sharky shot Millie a quick glance. He cleared his throat and unzipped the front pocket. Reaching inside, he removed two bottles of unopened water followed by a pair of binoculars which were still inside the case, a tube of sunscreen, lip balm, a plain white t-shirt, a ball cap and a bottle of Advil.

“So far, so good,” Patterson said.

“There’s more. Now, don’t freak out.” Sharky set the hacksaw on the table, along with a pair of vice grips, and a multi-purpose pocketknife. Last, but not least, was a roll of duct tape.

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