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“I didn’t know who they were.”

“That makes it acceptable?”

“No.”

Marcus looks older than he did an hour ago.

Defeated.

“I stopped asking questions a long time ago.”

“And that’s how Simon kept using you,” Ben says.

Marcus raises his gaze toward the monitor.

“Yes.”

I think of the people aboard that ship.

Naomi.

Three unidentified prisoners.

Possibly more.

Simon knows we won’t fire on the Argent Star while innocent people remain aboard.

He didn’t take one hostage.

He filled the ship with them.

Marquez contacts the Coast Guard commander following the vessel.

“Maintain distance. Do not attempt to disable the Argent Star until we know the location of every hostage.”

“We have to board it,” Ivy says.

Keating shakes his head. “Not while it’s moving and possibly rigged with explosives.”

“Then stop it.”

“We can’t shoot the engines without risking the fuel system.”

“What about the propellers?” Storm asks.

“A cable across its path could foul them,” Thomas says.

Keating looks at him.

“Would that stop the ship?”

“It would stop one engine if the cable caught correctly. Maybe both.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Simon will know you tried.”

“He already knows we’re trying,” Storm says.