Ted jumped at the first sound, raced to the door in his pajamas and threw it open. Alvirah was in the hallway looking terrified. “I heard a noise from Celia’s room.” Ted didn’t wait for her to finish her explanation. He sprinted down the hall in the direction of Celia’s suite.
Alvirah’s first instinct was to follow him. But then she stopped, hurried back into her room, went over to the bed and shook Willy. “Willy, Willy, wake up. Celia needs us. Come on, Willy, get up.” As a dazed Willy pulled on the pants he had laid out for the next morning, Alvirah breathlessly explained what she had heard. She then called security and asked them to send help.
In a heavy sleep, Celia had been vaguely aware of a sound coming from the hallway. The metallic click of wire cutters severing the chain lock on her door had integrated itself into a dream she was having about when she was a little girl in a playground with her father. By the time she recognized the sounds of footsteps growing closer, the intruder was already upon her. She managed a brief scream before a strong hand held a cloth over her mouth. Struggling to breathe, she looked up to see a stranger’s face hovering over her. In the stranger’s other hand a pistol was pointed at her forehead.
“Make another sound and you’ll join your friend Lady Em. Do you understand?” Although terrified, Celia nodded her head in agreement. She felt the pressure on the cloth over her mouth ease, only to be replaced by something cool and sticky over her lips and chin. It was some type of tape. Unlike when the cloth had covered her nose, she was now able to breathe freely. She had no idea who her attacker was, but she thought there was something vaguely familiar about his voice.
He started speaking again as he tied her hands in front of her, and then her feet. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly calm and measured. “Celia, it’s up to you, whether or not you die tonight. Give me what I want and your friends will find you here safe in the morning. If you want to live, tell me where the Cleopatra necklace is. And I’m warning you, don’t lie to me. I know you have it.”
Celia nodded her head. She was desperate to buy time so that—so that what? Nobody even knew she was in trouble. I can’t tell him Willy has it. He’ll kill him and Alvirah.
She yelped in pain as he pulled off the masking tape. “Okay, Celia, where is the necklace?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have it. I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
“That’s really too bad, Celia. You know there’s an old expression. There’s nothing like fear to help the mind focus.”
The masking tape was slapped back down over her mouth. Strong arms yanked her out of her bed and dragged her toward the balcony door. Keeping one arm around her waist, he opened the door and pushed her out onto the balcony. It was cold and windy. She began to shiver. He hoisted her up into a sitting position on the railing and leaned her over the dark ocean some sixty feet below. His grip on the rope around her hands was the only thing that prevented her from falling.
“All right, Celia, I’m going to ask you one more time who has the necklace,” he said as he ripped the tape from her mouth. “If you still don’t know, I’ll believe you. But then there won’t be any point to my holding on to this rope.” He loosened his grip and allowed her to fall a little before pulling her back. Celia felt waves of nausea and terror wash over her.
“So what’ll it be, Celia? Who has the necklace?”
“She doesn’t have it,” Ted shouted as he plunged through the door and raced onto the balcony. “Get her down off that railing now!”
The intruder and Ted glared at each other, less than five feet separating them. One hand held the rope that kept Celia from falling; the other held the pistol which now was pointed at Ted’s chest.
“Okay, you want to be a hero, where is the necklace?”
“I don’t have it, but I can get it,” Ted said.
“You’re not going anywhere. Get down on your knees. Put your hands behind your head. NOW!”
Ted complied, never taking his eyes off Celia. Although Celia’s feet were tied together, he noticed that she had managed to hook her one foot behind the post beneath her.
“All right, Mr. Cavanaugh, tell me where the necklace is, or the little lady goes for a swim.”
“Wait,” Alvirah yelled as she opened the door and she and Willy raced onto the balcony. “He doesn’t have it. It’s in our room,” Alvirah said. “Free Celia, and we’ll take you to it.”
As Alvirah was speaking, Willy’s hand reached into his pants pocket. He felt the Cleopatra necklace he had hidden there the previous evening and slipped it out of his pocket.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” Willy shouted, as he dangled it in front of the intruder, whose eyes focused on the treasure. Willy briefly made eye contact with Ted, who nodded. It was a chance they had to take. “You must really want this a lot if you’re willing to kill people for it. Here, take it.”
Willy flipped the necklace high in the air toward the intruder, whose only chance to save it from going over the side of the ship was to use his hand that held the pistol. As he reached for it, he released his grip on the rope that held Celia atop the railing. She started to go over backwards, her foot hooking the post, momentarily slowing her fall.
Ted, Alvirah and Willy sprang into action. Ted leapt up, reached over the railing and grabbed Celia’s arms. The momentum of her fall started to drag him over the railing. Alvirah grabbed hold of Ted’s legs and held on for dear life.
Willy had moved immediately when the intruder’s attention was on catching the necklace. In the time it took for Willy to move across the balcony, the thief had caught the necklace and was bringing his arm with the pistol back in Willy’s direction. With a mighty swipe, Willy smacked the intruder’s hand. The pistol fired, narrowly missing Willy’s head. The pistol and the necklace clattered to the balcony floor. Willy grabbed the intruder’s arms.
Ted was straining every muscle in his body to hold on to Celia. His waist was on the balcony railing as he had broken the momentum of her fall. He had stopped her from falling, but didn’t have the strength to pull her back to the height of the railing. A moment later he felt Alvirah’s strong grip on his legs, holding him from toppling over.
“Ted, let go,” Celia screamed. “You’ll fall. You’ll fall.” Desperately she tried to free her hands from his grip.
Willy and the intruder were glaring at each other. Without his pistol, the intruder was no match for the burly ex-plumber. When Willy glanced at Alvirah and Ted struggling to save Celia, he released his hold on the intruder, who ran off the balcony and through the door.