The Last Passenger Read Online Free Page A

but even so, the number of lifeboats was unbelievable. Not a single one was missing.
    They appeared to be fastened securely with weatherproof covers stretched across each one. There were no signs they had ever been moved. O’Leary would have wagered his life savings that the only boat not secured was the wrecked one, which dangled from the side of the ship some fifty yards back, without which they never would have been able to climb aboard.
    A metallic thumping a few feet ahead broke the silence. The off-kilter click-clack started loud and became quieter. The three men seized up, not moving a muscle.
    “Hello?” shouted O’Leary in a voice less firm than he intended. “Anyone there? Hello? Who’s there?”
    They heard a frenzied rustling and a raspy sound of something sliding around, but nothing more moved in the darkness.
    “Zdravo Marijo, milosti puna, Gospodin s tobom, blagoslovljena ti medu ženam a . . . ” Stepanek prayed under his breath for the second time that evening as his eyes tried to penetrate the darkness.
    “All right, that’s enough.” O’Leary suddenly felt very irritated. Not only was he shivering and exhausted, but he also found himself aboard an unknown ship with some twisted bastard who wanted to play a game of ghost. It was too much for one night.
    “I am First Officer O’Leary of the British liner Pass of Ballaster ,” he shouted. “Whoever you are, there’s nothing to fear. We are here!”
    Nothing happened. No response.
    Until they heard a whispering behind them.
    Weeee’re heeeere!
    Stepanek turned around so fast that he bumped into a frazzled Duff, and the two of them stumbled into O’Leary. Before they knew it, all three were on the ground, a pile of arms and legs.
    “Who’s there? Who’s fucking there? Who?” Stepanek’s lantern spun around as he tried to get up.
    “Let’s get out of here! Let’s get the hell out of here!” Duff’s voice was hysterical.
    “Shut up, you idiots,” roared O’Leary, replacing his hat. He was so nervous he spat as he spoke. “We’re not going anywhere! Got it?” His bloodshot eyes studied his sailors fidgeting like nervous schoolchildren. “What do you want to do? Return to the ship, and tell the captain we’ve just escaped from a bunch of ghosts? He’d dress us down and send us back. Now act like men. We just need to get up to the command bridge and find out if the ship is empty. If she is, we can throw a cable back to the Ballaster and tow her to port.” Here, he changed his tone of voice, trying to be persuasive. “As soon as we’re finished, we can go back to the Ballaster and get the hell out of this fog. Then, we can forget this ever happened until we get back to Bristol. Is that clear?”
    The two sailors, accustomed to maritime discipline, agreed with more doubt than faith in their eyes.
    “But that voice,” said Duff.
    “That was just an echo, idiot,” replied O’Leary. “Some acoustic effect must have made it sound like it came from behind us. Probably the fog, or a thousand other things. I studied it at the academy, years ago.”
    Duff and Stepanek nodded again, somewhat more calm. But as they continued walking, O’Leary didn’t exactly feel at peace. He knew his reasoning had been a tremendous lie, and that there was no explanation for such an acoustic phenomenon. Plus, there was one other small detail.
    O’Leary was certain the voice of the echo had not been his own.

IV
    The officer kept his thoughts to himself as they approached a wide open door.
    “Do you think this door made that noise earlier?” asked Duff nervously.
    “Maybe,” answered Stepanek as he slowly swung the door back and forth, causing the hinges to squeak. “Or maybe it was the wind.”
    “It would seem so,” said O’Leary, hardly convinced.
    The three men crossed the threshold and ventured into the Valkyrie but not without one last dubious look back at the mist that covered the horizon.
    The interior was completely dark, but