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Aran

What do you do if you discovered a conspiracy that could end up changing the world? What if it threatened the fickle balance between rich and poor, and gave those with power the ultimate weapon to enslave the rest of us? And what if those same bigshots who were directly involved in it were meeting on a secret cruise ship?

Rain patters against the windshield of my taxi when I arrive at the port. I tip the driver, grab my duffle bag and head to the assembly point in front of the St. August, which is lit up like a Christmas tree even though it’s the middle of September.

The shitty weather forecast for this month won’t really matter for the luxurious cruise. The behemoth of a ship will sail toward Australia for the next two weeks, with scheduled stops at a couple of small islands the likes of which you only ever see on TV.

“Everyone, line up!” the frowning man with the red bandana wrapped around his tricep yells at us. “Badge check! Then we are boarding! The St. August will depart in twenty minutes.”

I glance at the giant coffin that will be my home for a while. Nerves dance in my stomach, twisting it into a knot. I’m not a fan of sailing. Or cruising. I prefer land or air. But no one even asked me. I had no choice but to come. It was what he requested in exchange for helping us.

And we really, really needed his help. We’d still be twiddling our thumbs otherwise.

You see, if you asked him those questions I’ve been mulling over since we stumbled onto the drug play that the five percent who rule the world are planning to make, he’d grin and tell you that these evil assholes must be stopped. We don’t know what exactly they want to do with the drug, but it can’t be anything good. The only silver lining is that they have an incomplete prototype and not the final product—the formula for it is with us, safely locked away in a secure location so that it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.

Still, these people don’t give up easily, so we can’t let things go unchecked. They have money and resources on their side, making it only a matter of time and trial and error before they synthesize the compound needed to unlock the brainwashing capability of the drug. If this sounds like a horror story, it’s because it is one.

A loud clang sounds from the ship. It could be the crew getting ready for departure, or it could be something breaking… Or someone causing that something to break… God, I hope he stayed put like I instructed him to. I don’t even want to imagine what he might be up to if he didn’t. It’s never anything good.

“You!” the cruise’s Chief of Security, Richard Bates, shoves his ugly bearded mug in my face. His deep accent betrays he’s from a southern US state, but all I can say is that it’s not Texas. “Stop spacing out! Name and post!”

“Aran Suwannarat. Deck Security Supervisor,” I recite in a monotone voice, clasping my hands behind me.

He scowls even more. “Suwan…rat! Pay attention. This is a very high-profile cruise, and I won’t allow any slip-ups. Am I clear?”

“It’s Suwannarat,” I correct him.

His beady eyes narrow even further. I don’t think he appreciates my comment. But as the one in command, he’s supposed to at least know the names of those who report directly to him, at the very least for security reasons. There is the part where he’s never seen me before—I’m the last-minute substitute for the previous guy who became incapacitated under mysterious circumstances three days ago. The company he was contracted from sent over my file though, so Richard Bates should have skimmed through it.

I open my mouth to explain that, but as Richard clenches his jaw and glares at me like I’m a wart that needs immediate surgical removal, I decide to spare him the lecture. I have no business antagonizing him further and I need to remember that I am not in charge here. For the duration of this cruise, I’m not the Chief Security Officer of the Akiyama Group—I’m here undercover as a security supervisor, and I have a mission I must complete at all costs.

Clearing my throat, I rock my heels. “Understood, sir.”

The constipated expression he’s wearing lets up a little, at least until he’s moved onto the man next to me. The ship’s horn screeches, piercing the dark and misty morning. Richard is unfazed and continues to berate his way through our ranks. At this rate, I worry if we will make it on time.

But we do, just barely.

The first shift rushes to their posts when we board. I won’t be needed until the briefing in two hours, so I head to the crew quarters where my cabin is. The closer I get, the more stuffy my black and gray suit becomes. Prickles cover my skin, itchy and annoying.

I take a deep breath and grace the retreating shore with one final quick glance. Everything will be fine. The ship is intact and moving. I didn’t see any reports about anyone getting tossed off it. We’ll be smooth sailing from now on.

Still, leaving him unsupervised like this for extended periods of time makes the hairs on my neck stand. And that is before I even consider how his father must be rolling in his grave because I agreed to go along with this crazy plan.

Take another deep breath. Everything is fine. Don’t overthink and stress over things until you actually need to.

All cabin doors are ID-controlled. They house between three and four people, with only a couple of them accommodating pairs. That kind is reserved for the senior staff and supervisors, and it was a giant headache securing one. It’s why I hold the position of Deck Supervisor, or else I wouldn’t have been eligible. As for my ‘ roommate’ …

I pause at the door, my stomach churning. I don’t know what he did exactly to cause the giant mess that ended up placing us together. Kitchen staff and security just aren’t supposed to mingle, but I know better than to question the way he does things. It makes my head hurt more often than not.

Scanning my staff ID, I push the door and slip inside the cabin. The narrow hallway is dim and the smell of cotton candy wafts out from the open bathroom. The stuffy humidity of a recent shower sticks to my skin. I loosen the collar of my shirt and swallow.

I don’t like this.

I don’t like this one bit.

When I reach the lounge, I pause at the door. If I remember his schedule correctly, his break should’ve just ended. The coast should be clear.

I can do this.

Slowly and carefully, I slide the wooden door, revealing the cramped but functional space. There is a small kitchen corner by the giant window, a TV unit, a modular couch, and across it, a table with two chairs. That’s what catches my eye first. The table is crowded with monitors connected to a laptop and two tablets. Scattered around the devices are various types of candy and snacks, soda, energy drinks…

It’s a mess. And I hate messes. He knows that damn well.

Sighing, I rub my forehead and begin tidying up. But I don’t get far. No, that would be too uneventful. Too… anticlimactic. Too boring. And Aran Suwannarat’s life is anything but that as of late.

The bedroom door behind me creaks open quietly. It’s intended to be sneaky and if not for my high alertness, I might have missed it. But I don’t, and as I turn, someone rams into my side. They take advantage of my blind spot to make their attack a success, causing me to stumble back and struggle a little to maintain my foothold.

I convinced myself, and rather conveniently if I may add, that things will go according to our agreed-upon plan. That each of us will stick to the role he has to play, and as such, I expected the cabin to be clear when I arrive. So, I let my guard down, and that’s never a good thing.

My leg hits the edge of the brown modular couch. I plop onto it sideways, still at the mercy of my attacker.

“Yes! I’ve got you now!”

Seriously? Does he never learn?

With ease that comes naturally to me, I grab whichever body part I can get to first and flip us around. That puts me on top. I slide one leg between my attacker’s two and cage him against the couch. He tries to grab me by the neck, but I coil my fingers around his delicate hand and twist his arm until I have it pinned behind his back.

The little shit cackles and tries to kiss me.

But I’m faster. And I know all his moves. The back of my free hand meets his plush lips before they can do any real damage.

“ Tien . Why are you still here? Your shift at the kitchens should’ve started twenty minutes ago,” I say, doing my best impression of an angry and disappointed parent.

He snorts and rolls his eyes, batting those unfairly long black lashes at me. “Chopping vegetables is hard. And boring. I switched up the roster a tiny bit. I won’t be required in the kitchen for the foreseeable future because I had a chance of post.”

Leave it up to him to pull something like that when I explicitly warned him to behave. It’s like he does it on purpose.

Shaking my head, I give him a look . As usual, it does absolutely nothing to make him feel even a smidge of remorse, and all I get for my troubles is an even wider grin. His entire face lights up, especially his expressive brown eyes, and worse yet, he looks proud of himself.

“I told you not to do anything until I get here. You are putting the entire mission in jeopardy.”

Pouting his lips, he averts his gaze. A lock of his blue hair flops in front of his face, tickling the golden hoop piercing that graces his right nostril. “No, I am not. I was careful. Besides, I’m the one who made it possible for us to even be here, and all you’ve done since walking into this room is to scold me. Where is my thanks?”

Blue is my favorite color, but I try not to focus on that. “I’m not the best pick for this, Tien. You knew that. You could’ve taken Kieran or Leo with you,” I remind him. “It’s probably not too late to get one of them to replace me…”

They are a way better choice than an old man like me. Both of them are in their twenties. Leo is the bodyguard for the Akiyama Group’s heir, and Kieran is an ex-CIA agent. They are capable and they are also still hungry for adventures, whereas I’d much rather remain on the sidelines. The years I served at the Thai Military Special Division were enough for me. Now that I am almost forty, I want a simple life. A boring life. It’s why I stepped down as Kwanchai Akiyama’s bodyguard and took on the Chief Security Officer role.

Intense browns snap to me, partially outraged. But they are also beautiful. They remind me of times past with friends, of the crazy stuff that we used to get up to in the Special Division when I was the same age. They also pierce my soul like they do every time I make the mistake of gazing into them, because they see only me. For them, no one else exists, no other person can ever come close.

It’s humbling… Scary. Forbidden.

“No. If you get off this ship, so will I, mission be damned. I don’t care how good Leo and Kieran are. It can only be you. Always.”

My heart races and my skin tingles. He’s shameless, like usual. He speaks his mind, he doesn’t care if any of this is appropriate. He’s also conveniently forgotten his profession that we must stop the bad guys so they can’t use their mind-controlling drug to take over the world.

I take a shuddering breath and let go of him. We both stand, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me. They map and devour, gleaming like the surface of the ocean at first light. It takes everything in me not to drown in them, to look away and restrain myself before it’s too late.

This was a mistake. I should’ve never agreed to come here with him. But it was the only way to find out who’s pulling the strings behind that nasty drug. We stopped its spread in Japan for the time being, but since the CIA and the US government are involved, it’s only a matter of time before we can no longer prevent that. We need to know who our enemies are—what they are planning and where they might hit us from—or we won’t be able to fight back.

I straighten my shirt’s collar and jerk my head at the clutter on the table. “Help me clean up. My shift starts in two hours, but maybe we can get the passenger manifest before I have to leave. All that was shared with us during the briefing was the number of passengers and their designations.”

“Designations?”

I grab a few empty snack packets and toss them in the bin by the cupboard. “Yes. They are like codenames. It’s to prevent the guests’ identities from leaking. Everyone will also be wearing masks in the public spaces for that same reason.”

“Oh. That’s kind of smart.” He sits cross-legged on the office chair he must’ve brought as part of his luggage. “It also explains why all I kept coming across were weirdly colored animals. I knew a pet convention sounded too good to be true.”

Discreetly shaking my head, I watch his lean fingers fly across the multiple keyboards. It’s so like him to even consider that as an option, but then again, he’s the kind of person that gives everyone a fair chance, whether they deserve it or not. Perhaps that makes him a little na?ve, but it comes with the territory. He doesn’t know people the way I do; he doesn’t need to in order to be amazing at what he does.

Speaking of which, it’s always impressive to observe him while he works. He’s a real genius. He could work for the biggest and most prestigious organizations in the world if he wanted to. But he doesn’t. He works for the Akiyama Group when I personally ask him, and when we don’t need his help, he freelances. People pay premium for his services and he is well-known not just in Japan, but also abroad.

Hovering back so I don’t distract him, I lean my shoulder against the pastel green wall. My lips upturn into a subtle smile that surprises me a little, but ultimately, I don’t fight it. It’s not like he’ll see it since he’s too focused on his task. It will be my little, harmless secret or I won’t ever hear the end of it.

He really is something else when he gets into it, though. He can’t multitask, so once he’s in the Zone, he’ll stay there until the Zone decides to let him out. There’s no point fighting that, or trying to get him away from the computer—it just doesn’t work. I’ve tried it.

So, pouring hot water and a packet of instant coffee in a mug I snatch from the sink dryer, I sit on the edge of the counter behind his makeshift workstation and keep watch. Saengtien Thanan is his real name, but people don’t know him by it, for obvious reasons. To everyone else but me, he’s the legendary Sudo Hex , Japan’s most capable gray hat hacker.

I’ll be stuck on this cruise with him for two weeks… maybe less, depending on how much trouble he gets us into. If I’m being honest, I don’t know how I will survive it. But I have no choice. As much as I’d have loved to stay back and help from Nagoya, it really wasn’t an option, and not just because of how important it is to get to the bottom of this international conspiracy.

There is another reason, one that runs personal for me. I made a promise to my best friend and that promise can never be broken.

For as long as I am alive, I will watch over his troublesome son because he is no longer around to do that himself.