knew. But the day he put his hands on me he pulled back broken fingers."
"What happened to him?"
"That day I also broke my silence and he was arrested, but the damage to three of my teammates had already been done. I could have ended it sooner."
"You can't beat yourself up over this. Those other boys could have come forward too and you said yourself that you weren't sure."
"I know. I know." He let out a long, slow breath and shook his head. "I take sexual assault very seriously, especially if the victim is a child or a woman, but even an elderly man deserves justice."
A genuine tear streamed down her face. "I was, um… I was almost raped myself."
Waterbrook narrowed his eyes angrily.
"I did something stupid and put myself in a dangerous situation and—"
"No means no! Miss Wilde. I don't care if you're wearing sexy clothes or acting a certain way, no is still no."
"Yes, I know. The man I'm on the cruise with saved me that day and I'm so grateful and he's… he's a wonderful guy."
Waterbrook shot her a proud look. "I'd love to shake his hand."
Pulling a tissue from her purse, she dabbed her eyes, then grabbed another and handed it to the captain. He turned to look behind him and upon finding them alone, he wiped his eyes and they shared a gentle smile.
For a brief moment she felt terribly guilty, but she shook off that thought remembering that there was no real rapist onboard and that her story, at least her near-rape story, was, in fact, true. She sighed then looked at him with genuine concern. "Now I understand what's going on here. I get it and I want to help."
"Thank you, Agent. Now, what else can I tell you?"
"Do you have any security camera images of the hooded man's face?"
"We do, but they're so grainy that at this point they're unusable. I have two members of our audio visual staff trying to enhance the best images we have and a dozen other officers searching through the security footage now looking for clues."
Victoria sighed. "Your staff is probably overwhelmed with this search and I'm sure they have so much other work to do, that isn't getting done. You have four thousand passengers to keep safe onboard and I'd hate to see another incident occur while everyone is preoccupied with the search."
"I appreciate your concern, but if we don't solve this before we reach our next port the individual responsible might slip away when we dock."
"My unit has developed an advanced facial recognition system which is currently in use in seven airports throughout the United States. I have access to this system."
"Okay."
"Now, this project is so highly classified that I shouldn't even be mentioning it to you."
"You can trust me, Agent."
"I know I can. If you give me access to the Internet along with access to the suspect's image and your passenger database I can help. In less than thirty minutes I will be able to tell you with absolute certainty whether or not you can identify your subject with the footage you have."
"You can do that?"
"Yes, this software is so advanced that if it can't find the match, no crew ten times the size of yours spending months searching will find it. Either I will find the match or you can sleep easier knowing you did all that you could."
"Okay, let's do it."
"I'll need private access to a computer. No one without Level 1 United States government security clearance can even know what I'm doing. Can we keep it our little secret?"
"Yes." Waterbrook rose to his feet. "Follow me, Agent."
15
The captain led Victoria to the bottom floor of the ship and its information systems area. Inside a room ten crew members sat in front of screens viewing security camera footage.
Bobby Garboni, a sweaty, overweight, nerdy-looking guy with greasy hair scowled at the captain. "I can't give her full access to our system! Who is she?"
"That's classified."
"But, what if she—"
"Garboni, I want you to give Miss Wilde whatever access she needs right now and I want this room cleared."
The
"What happened to him?"
"That day I also broke my silence and he was arrested, but the damage to three of my teammates had already been done. I could have ended it sooner."
"You can't beat yourself up over this. Those other boys could have come forward too and you said yourself that you weren't sure."
"I know. I know." He let out a long, slow breath and shook his head. "I take sexual assault very seriously, especially if the victim is a child or a woman, but even an elderly man deserves justice."
A genuine tear streamed down her face. "I was, um… I was almost raped myself."
Waterbrook narrowed his eyes angrily.
"I did something stupid and put myself in a dangerous situation and—"
"No means no! Miss Wilde. I don't care if you're wearing sexy clothes or acting a certain way, no is still no."
"Yes, I know. The man I'm on the cruise with saved me that day and I'm so grateful and he's… he's a wonderful guy."
Waterbrook shot her a proud look. "I'd love to shake his hand."
Pulling a tissue from her purse, she dabbed her eyes, then grabbed another and handed it to the captain. He turned to look behind him and upon finding them alone, he wiped his eyes and they shared a gentle smile.
For a brief moment she felt terribly guilty, but she shook off that thought remembering that there was no real rapist onboard and that her story, at least her near-rape story, was, in fact, true. She sighed then looked at him with genuine concern. "Now I understand what's going on here. I get it and I want to help."
"Thank you, Agent. Now, what else can I tell you?"
"Do you have any security camera images of the hooded man's face?"
"We do, but they're so grainy that at this point they're unusable. I have two members of our audio visual staff trying to enhance the best images we have and a dozen other officers searching through the security footage now looking for clues."
Victoria sighed. "Your staff is probably overwhelmed with this search and I'm sure they have so much other work to do, that isn't getting done. You have four thousand passengers to keep safe onboard and I'd hate to see another incident occur while everyone is preoccupied with the search."
"I appreciate your concern, but if we don't solve this before we reach our next port the individual responsible might slip away when we dock."
"My unit has developed an advanced facial recognition system which is currently in use in seven airports throughout the United States. I have access to this system."
"Okay."
"Now, this project is so highly classified that I shouldn't even be mentioning it to you."
"You can trust me, Agent."
"I know I can. If you give me access to the Internet along with access to the suspect's image and your passenger database I can help. In less than thirty minutes I will be able to tell you with absolute certainty whether or not you can identify your subject with the footage you have."
"You can do that?"
"Yes, this software is so advanced that if it can't find the match, no crew ten times the size of yours spending months searching will find it. Either I will find the match or you can sleep easier knowing you did all that you could."
"Okay, let's do it."
"I'll need private access to a computer. No one without Level 1 United States government security clearance can even know what I'm doing. Can we keep it our little secret?"
"Yes." Waterbrook rose to his feet. "Follow me, Agent."
15
The captain led Victoria to the bottom floor of the ship and its information systems area. Inside a room ten crew members sat in front of screens viewing security camera footage.
Bobby Garboni, a sweaty, overweight, nerdy-looking guy with greasy hair scowled at the captain. "I can't give her full access to our system! Who is she?"
"That's classified."
"But, what if she—"
"Garboni, I want you to give Miss Wilde whatever access she needs right now and I want this room cleared."
The
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