Corey Byrd

As Corey walked away from Milo, he couldn’t help but feel that Milo was right. It was his idea that they should ask the kid that Milo saw outside his door if they knew anything.

Corey was worried about the kids. He thought that he had gotten them mixed up in this dirty business. And while a plain murder was bad enough, a place where the person in the room next to them could be a killer? They must feel terrified.

Corey got down the stairs and emerged into floor 11. The hallway was quiet. Corey didn’t see anyone. He turned left and headed towards his room. As he was walking, he saw one of those orange triangular signs that people put near water spills.

Corey wondered whether or not they could catch this unsub by the time the cruise ended. Most cases take months to solve. If they raced against time to do this, what if they caught the wrong person?

Corey’s phone buzzed. It was Juniper. Everything ok? Her text said.

Corey started to reply, but somebody rammed into him. Pain flared up Corey’s shoulder. He was pretty sure that his arm had dislocated.

In the corner of Corey’s mind, his training instincts kicked in. He looked up. There were no security cameras looking in this area. Corey had walked into a trap.

Corey’s shoulder burned. He leaned against the wall to steady himself.

Corey saw the person who hit him walk by, and he knew that it wasn’t an accident. Why? Because he was holding a knife.

Corey didn’t know what to do. Should he run after the person? Normally he would, but his dominant arm was useless, so he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. And he was undercover. He wasn’t supposed to be able to defend himself.

Corey’s phone on the floor buzzed again. He started to feel dizzy. His attacker walked further away, apparently not caring whether or not Corey saw him, but that didn’t matter; Corey saw everything in doubles and triples so all he could see was a human shaped blob.

Corey tried to walk. His arm was swinging uselessly. He needed a good place to relocate his arm.

He put his arm against a nearby wall and began to push. Suddenly, he heard a scream coming from the direction Corey’s attacker had gone. Great, He thought.

Milo came from the opposite direction. He looked at Corey. “What happened?” he asked.

“The unsub. Went that way.” Corey said through gritted teeth.

Milo nodded. “Be right back.”

Corey regained his stance and pushed again. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck. There was a sickening, POP! And Corey could move his arm again.

“Oh, man.” He said. That was an experience he never wanted to happen again.

Milo came back, and Corey could tell that he had bad news.

“Another one?” Corey asked.

Milo didn’t have to say anything. “The unsub was gone when I got there. I watched the guy die.”

Corey’s phone buzzed multiple times. He bent down to pick it up. It was Juniper again. I think that Chang doesn’t like me. She texted. Then, after a while, she said, There was another murder. Dr. Oliver Winters. The private investigator told me.

“Our victim was I.D.’d.” He said. “A Dr. Oliver Winters. There was a private investigator? He was helping her.”

Milo looked at Corey. “He’s taking out possible enemies.” He said. “We need to find that investigator.”

Milo Chang

It was dinnertime. The dining hall was full of people. Milo and Corey sat with Dr. Rice. The two kids were sitting somewhere else, which was good. Milo didn’t want to worry them.

“So,” Milo fingered his napkin. “Our unsub struck in the middle of the day. This means that he’s devolving, becoming messier with every kill. Either that or he’s become more confident with killing.”

“He’s also been targeting people of either law enforcement or those helping them.” Corey said. He still seemed a bit shaken from his arm popping out of its socket.

“So we should be careful.” Milo said.

“Yeah, definitely.” Corey said.

“What happened?” Milo asked.

“Uh, the unsub got into my room.” Corey spun his fork in his pasta. “He painted the word stop. In blood.”

“Ew.” Said a voice. Milo looked behind him and saw Liberty and Octavio walking by. “That’s disgusting.” Liberty said.

“But that’s a good thing, because that means that the unsub feels trapped.” Dr. Rice said.

“But wouldn’t that make him kill more people?” Octavio asked. Milo didn’t respond, and the two kids left. The scary part? Milo agreed with him. The unsub would probably continue to kill. And if he was right, one of them was next.

Liberty Gray

Sometimes I hate Octavio. He’s too smart and makes all of these ‘educated guesses’ that are really dark and scary and are probably correct. Like last night when he asked if what that lady said meant that the unsub person was going to kill more people. And deep down, I thought the same thing. That was scary! I was starting to feel something, like an impending storm. It did not feel good, that’s for sure.

It was the morning when the reporter came to see me in the cruise lounge. I was sitting in one of those really plushy chairs, scrolling through social media on my phone. Occasionally there was an interesting post, but most of the time it was bland. Then a short person with blonde hair and a pencil behind her ear and really nerdy glasses came up to me.

“Hi there.” She said. “My name is Ocean Wise. I’m a reporter for the wall street journal.”

“Um, okay?” I turned off my phone.

“So, I saw you with that private investigator, and I figured that asking you would be easier than asking her – no offense.”

“None taken.” I felt relieved. At least the reporter didn’t know about the undercover FBI agents.

“So, I did some digging, cause that’s what I do, and I found some weird stuff.”

I suddenly became interested. “What happened?”

“Are you going to be okay with what I’m about to tell you?” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“Yeah.” I said. I really needed to know this. Whatever information she had, I could totally use it to get agent Chang to let me and Octavio help.

“Okay….”

Corey Byrd

“Is your arm okay?” Juniper asked.

Corey stretched his arm. “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”

“It better.” Juniper said. Her eyes gleamed. “Or else you’re not going to be able to catch this unsub.”

Corey and Juniper were near the swimming pool on the ship. Kids were laughing and splashing water in their friend’s faces.

“You’re worried about the kids.” Juniper said.

Corey nodded. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Juniper said.

“What happens if they get hurt?” Corey asked. “The unsub knows where my room is. He might go after the kids. What am I going to do then? I can’t not worry about it.”

“Woah, calm down.” Juniper said. “I meant you don’t need to worry about it because their parents are going to.”

“Oh.” Corey imagined being a parent on that ship. He would be really worried about his kid. “You think?”

Juniper shrugged. “It’s what I would do.” She said.

Milo Chang

Milo took his card out of his pocket and unlocked his room door. He walked in.

Milo’s room was pretty small, with a bed in the corner and a counter with a chair near the door. Milo looked at his credentials on the counter, remembering the deadline for catching the unsub. Four more days.

Something next to his credentials caught Milo’s eye. It was a small slip of paper. Milo suddenly became alert. Had he left his door unlocked? He remembered getting a call from his boss DeVito while he was leaving his room. He had forgotten to lock his door.

Milo took two steps forward. He made sure that the entire room was clear. He made his way to the counter and opened the note. Milo almost dropped the piece of paper.

It had said: I AM WATCHING.

And below it was a picture of Corey going into his room.

This unsub was dangerous, and Milo knew what was going to happen. And it wasn’t good.

Octavio Jordan Jr

“Otto, we need to have a talk.” Octavio was with his parents in their room. He had been talking with Liberty (she told him some really surprising news about Henry Clark) when his parents came to get him for a ‘talk’. Octavio didn’t like talks. The last one he had was when his parents had a talk about Octavio cheating on his math quiz.

Octavio tapped his leg nervously. His parents were sitting down on their bed and Octavio had opted to stay standing.

“Stop fidgeting.” His dad said. He was tall and skinny, and his hairline had just started to recede.

Octavio stopped tapping.

“Anyway,” Octavio’s mom smiled. “We wanted to talk to you about what happened on the cruise.” She said. “We thought that it would be good if you stayed here for a while. We just don’t like the idea of you roaming around.”

Octavio’s heart started to race. Stayed here? No roaming around?

He started to negotiate. “What if I’m with Liberty?”

His parents looked at each other. “I suppose that’s all right,” Octavio’s mom said. “As long as you ask permission to where you’re going.”

What? Octavio thought. Really? He figured that he was the safest on the ship when he was by the FBI agents. Nevertheless, he nodded. “Okay.” He said. “Me and Liberty were going to meet at the lounge. Can I go?”

Octavio’s mom nodded. “Of course, Otto.”

Octavio left his room.

What if he wasn’t safe around the agents? They had kept that shocking information from him and Liberty. What else could they be hiding? Or worse, were they really FBI agents anyway? How did Octavio know that he could trust them?