Katherine felt her jaw tighten. She reached behind her back and unclipped the walkie-talkie from her waistband. Holding it low, she pressed the side button. “This is Hartley. Confirm location. Bring full team. Quiet entry. Repeat: quiet entry.” Her voice was calm, but her hands were fists. Justice would not wait.
She turned back to Ahmed. “How did you manage to get a message into that container?” He looked away, then back again. “One night, after another long shift, a few of us tried to fight back. It didn’t go far. The crew found out I was behind it. As punishment, they decided to throw my container overboard.”
“I lived for months in a storage compartment under one of the staircases,” he added quietly. “No windows. No air. They made an example of me.” But before they could dump the container, he’d hidden a message inside a taped plastic bag and sealed it behind a wall panel. “I didn’t know if it would ever be found. But I had to try.”
For a long moment, no one spoke. The people in the container—silent witnesses to Ahmed’s story—watched Katherine with guarded hope. “You’re not alone anymore,” she finally said, standing tall. “We’re getting all of you off this ship.” Around her, the air shifted. It was still heavy—but now, it held something else. Resolve.