“What can I get for you?” she said with a warm smile.

“Another bloody, please, Shirley.” said Madeline. Shirley glanced questioningly at Neal, and he smiled, raising two fingers in a peace sign to let Shirley know to make it two. Shirley nodded understandingly and headed off in the direction of the galley.

“Madeline,” continued Neal as she departed, “whatever happened to James and Laurie out there, we have to assume that it happened because of what they found. We have to assume that either they were being watched or their communications were being monitored.”

She grimaced at his words, and looked at him, asking with her eyes whether they had to talk about this.

“I’m sorry, Madeline, but please, hear me out. If you think I am off base I will never mention any of this again, I promise.”

She thought a moment, then nodded dejectedly, reaching up like a child for her medicine as Shirley returned with their fresh bloodies.

Drink in hand, Madeline gulped at the cold drink a little too enthusiastically, and then cringed as the vodka and spice hit her.

Neal waited a moment, then went on, hesitantly, “Here is what I have been thinking: it seems obvious that something found out what James and Laurie were up to and reacted in a way that James was clearly fearing it would. Now, I’ve been thinking about how they could have found out, and it can only be either by watching them, from a satellite, or by eavesdropping on their communications.”

A question leapt into Madeline’s mind, and she asked, “Then why didn’t whatever happened to them, happen to us too?” she asked.

“I was thinking about that as well, and I have to conclude that the SFR’s encoding saved our particular conversation from being listened in on. After all, it uses two randomly assigned deteriorating algorithms for the encryption, each handset can only talk to its counterpart. It is supposed to be unhackable … by anyone.”

She seemed semi-placated by that explanation, nodding, albeit unenthusiastically.

He plodded on, “That theory is supported by the fact that we were able to talk for so long last night without … interference. So given that I can’t see how even the most detailed visual surveillance would have allowed them to see what was going on inside the boat’s cabins, and they apparently couldn’t hear our conversation, someone on board must have sent some kind of message about the ship’s findings, and that triggered a … response.”

They both cringed, but Neal went on, “An update to Washington, maybe, maybe even sent by James himself, though I doubt he would have been so foolish.” Instantly, he wished he hadn’t used the word ‘fool’ for its unfortunate reference to James’ letter.