The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 59

'You're going to have to be truthful with me if you want to go back to your family,' Ivo said, staring me down. 'It's the only way I can trust you.'

I nodded quickly, realising what was at stake. If I could get Ivo to do this, I could try to free Hendrick, Peter and Oliver at the same time, as well as Sara if she felt like she could escape the ship with us. But now I had to fulfil my part of the deal.

'Why do you want Ol-him here?' I asked, nearly giving away his identity.

I really needed to be more careful with what I said.

'You mean Oliver?' Ivo said knowingly.

'How do you-' I started at once, scared that I had given his name away.

'We've been trying to track down Oliver and his friends for some time now,' Ivo explained, pacing around the room. 'They know where The Hōzen is; the coordinates, if you will, to the last supply of Mirakuru. We need it, since you got rid of the other supply and don't seem to remember where the journal is.'

'How do you know this 'Hōzen' has the coordinates?' I asked, hoping that I wasn't going to have to do anything to Oliver. I really didn't want to, and I knew that it was going to be much harder to try and talk to Oliver as his friend whilst I was in this deal.

'I just know,' Ivo claimed. 'And he has some other friends too. We need to find out where they are, so we can get rid of them. They know Oliver is missing. They'll come for us. And they'd kill you without a blink of an eye for their 'friend'.'

'How are we supposed to track them down?' I asked forlornly. 'We can't exactly rely on your cameras.'

'No,' Ivo agreed. 'But we can use Oliver.'

'He wouldn't listen to you,' I pointed out. 'Not in a million years.'

'But he would listen to Sara,' we both turned to Sara, who had been quiet all this time. 'Wouldn't he, Sara?'

'I'm sorry, Ivo,' Sara shook get head. 'I can't. I'd give the plan away. I'd slip up!'

She didn't want to hurt Oliver either. We were both his friends. But Sara, she had known him since childhood. She had even developed romantic feelings for him. And I was pretty sure that her and Oliver had been having an affair on the boat.

I had had a long time to think about these things.

'But Sara, he needs someone he can trust,' Ivo said. 'And I think you've known him more than Aria. When I found you, you said you had been with a man. And, in some coincidence, a man from your boat turns up, and you know him straightaway.'

'What do you want me to do, Anthony?' Sara asked, subdued. Ivo had really talked her down.

'We need to wait,' Ivo declared. 'I will tell you when I need you very soon. You may go.'

As Sara and I got up to get out the room, Ivo grabbed hold of my wrist.

'Not you,' Ivo looked at me. 'We're not finished.'

He poured himself a glass of whiskey, offering me some as well. I refused.

'All the more for me,' he smiled. 'You see, Aria, I know what you're up to. That little trick of whispering so I don't hear you doesn't work, I'm afraid. I know you want to escape the boat with those two other men. What are their names... er, Peter? Hendrick?'

I gulped nervously. Ivo knew everything. He was sure right about no secrets on the ship.

'I will tell you this once, Aria, and only once. The deal's off if you mess with me, if you plot your escape route, if you try to get out of your part of the deal. You said it yourself; you swore an oath of loyalty. To me. You said you would do anything.'