CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"We're getting nowhere at the mass transit areas," said Ghost. "I think we might be better off checking to see if they tried to hire private planes."

"That's a lot of money, and it would have to be a pretty impressive private jet to get them from here to Tokyo, which would be the closest. Even if they got to Tokyo, they'd have to get through security to a plane to Bangkok," said Nine.

"What about a ship?" said Ian. "What if they tried to stow away on a freighter or buy passage? In this area, they might find someone willing to sail them across."

"Again, big ass ship or boat needed, but it's possible," said Gaspar.

"Let's head down to the shipyards on the San Francisco side."

Nine, Ian, Gaspar, and Ghost worked their way back over the Oakland Bridge and along the bay toward the shipyards. Although not as large as they once were, the shipyards were often the first stop for cruise ships and other vessels.

"Two freighters and a cruise ship, but the cruise ship would be checking passports," said Ian. "Unless. Unless they somehow weaseled jobs on the ship. Ace? Can you see if any new crewmembers were hired in the last three days aboard the Majestic Sea?"

" On it."

"Come on, we'll check out the freighters first and then get back with Ace. Two freighters, but one is based in Alaska, and the other heads to Hawaii from here," said Ghost, looking at his tablet. "I can't imagine either of these would be what they needed."

"We'll check them out just to be sure," said Gaspar, walking toward the first ship. He spoke to the guard at the bottom of the gangplank, and the young man nodded, pointing to the top deck. He radioed the captain, and he waved at them to board.

"Afternoon," said the captain. "I hear you're looking for two fugitives."

"Yes, sir," said Gaspar. He held up the photo of the two men, and the captain smirked, putting on his glasses. "Sorry. I'm old as dirt. I don't recognize them."

"Have you hired anyone new in the last few days?" asked Ian.

"Only a cook, and he's from Trinidad. Doesn't look anything like those boys. These ships are a lot tighter than they were years ago. You have to have proper paperwork, passports, work visas, all of it. It's not easy to get a job on these things."

"I appreciate it," said Ghost.

They made their way to the second freighter and found the same response. It seemed both captains ran extremely tight ships and hadn't had anyone new other than the one cook. The cruise ship was different.

"We arrived yesterday from Anchorage," said the captain. "We'll be heading back that way tomorrow."

"Anyone that looks like these men on your crew right now?" asked Nine. The captain laughed at him, shaking his head.

"Gentlemen, I have more than a thousand crew members. I'd like to tell you that I know all their faces, but I do not. Let me call my ship's human resource officer," he said. "Please, have a seat in the lounge, and they'll bring you something to eat and drink."

The foursome sat in the sun-filled room, feeling the cool breezes of the Pacific blowing through the windows. At night, it would get extremely cold, but during the day, with the sun out, it was beautiful.

A server brought them waters, took their orders for other drinks, and came back with two tiered trays of sandwiches, pastries, and cookies.

"It's all I had prepared," smiled the young man. "We do a welcome tea when the guests board tomorrow."

"This is great, thank you," said Gaspar.

There were several pots of tea but a large pot of coffee was what the men all reached for first. Thirty minutes later, the captain and an older woman walked up to them.

"Gentleman, this is Helen, my shipboard HR partner."

"Hello," she smiled. "The captain has shown me the photos. I haven't hired anyone who looked like that. I have hired a few people, but they were all vetted by corporate. However, I did get a call last night from a man asking if they could work off their passage to Anchorage. He said that their families were located there, and they wanted to get home.

"I thought it might be a case of a homeless person or perhaps a military man down on his luck, so I referred him to several agencies that I know of. He obviously wasn't happy about it, given the number of expletives he used as he hung up on me."

"Was it a local number?" asked Ian.

"I honestly don't know," she said, shaking her head. "It's all routed through a call center for us. I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

"It's alright. If you hear from them again, please let us know," said Ghost, handing her a card.

"What now?" asked Nine as they stepped off the ships.

"I don't know," said Gaspar, shaking his head. "Let's head back to the house. We've got dinner reservations. Maybe the others have found something."