Free Targets Entangled by Kennedy Layne Page A

at this rate. She swore she would never tell Scuttlebutt Tami about her personal life, but she had to share with someone. Swinging her legs over the side of her rack, she then quickly scrambled down the three bunks to the deck. Pushing the middle rack up and latching it, she turned and sat on the empty community bunk as she slipped her feet into her running shoes and tied them. Grabbing a hair tie, she quickly put up her hair, not really caring that she was only wearing her grey sweats and a white T-shirt. She needed to talk to someone and Tami was the only one available.
    Glancing over to the bulkhead at the twenty-four hour ship’s clock to make sure that Tami would still be in her cabin, Ferrin then walked out of her compartment trying to think of what she could say and what she should hold back. Did she want advice or just for her friend to listen? It didn’t matter as long as she could go over the pros and cons of what she was about to do this evening. By the time she’d made her way through half the ship, she was still conflicted and wasn’t sure she should now say anything. Arriving in the passageway outside Tami’s cabin, Ferrin was surprised to find the hatch ajar. She rapped her knuckles on the gray metal surface, waiting impatiently for her friend to answer. Tami’s roommate worked first shift, just like Nina, and they didn’t have a third shipmate in their cabin either. After a moment of silence, Ferrin pushed on the hatch as she called out for Tami.
    “Tami? Do you have a minute?”
    Ferrin froze at the vision of Tami lying dead on the rack with her head angled awkwardly toward the hatch, her lifeless milky eyes remaining open while her blue lips appeared to be parted in a final silent scream. It was as if her cry still reverberated in Ferrin’s head as she struggled to comprehend what she was seeing but there was no outlet for the echoes. She stumbled back into the passageway and would have kept going had the opposite bulkhead not stopped her. She had to be having nightmare, but the rapid speed of her heart rate and the nausea that settled in her stomach told her a different story.
    “Ferrin? Are you okay?”
    “Go get help,” Ferrin whispered, pushing forward and forcing herself to enter Tami’s cabin. “Now!”
    Ferrin didn’t look back to see if Matt did what she’d ordered. He was one of the mess chefs on board, but that was irrelevant as she took steps closer to the bunk. In her mind she knew that Tami was dead, but her heart didn’t want to believe it. She held her breath as she slowly reached out trembling fingers to see if she could feel a pulse in Tami’s neck. Nothing. Ferrin felt a sob rise up in her chest, wanting to do everything and anything to bring life back into her vibrant friend. This couldn’t be happening.
    “Oh, fuck,” Matt whispered behind her before he turned away and started to call for help.
    Ferrin lowered herself into one of the desk chairs, unable to draw enough oxygen into her lungs. Her mouth had gone dry, but a tear rolled down her face as she felt herself start to come undone. She swiped at it and welcomed the anger that washed over her. Even she could see the marks around her friend’s neck. It wasn’t like they were back home or in a port. They were on a ship in the middle of the ocean with a crew of over two hundred. Someone aboard had murdered Tami. Someone she had probably met and talked to.
    “Hewitt, I need you to step out of the room.”
    The deep voice penetrated through the hollow sound in her ears. She forced herself to pull her eyes off of Tami to look toward the hatch. Captain Hensel appeared nothing like the firm and resilient man who oversaw a vast combatant ship. His distinguished salt and pepper hair appeared slightly disheveled from having run his hand through it and the lines around his mouth appeared to be deeper as his lips thinned out. He seemed to be having the same issue as Ferrin when it came to observing the hideous and shocking