After going on for a while in silence, he and Dr Beck finally stopped by a door. They’d taken lots of turnings and Martin had lost his sense of direction.

‘Where are we now?’ he asked.

In most of the corridors they’d bumped into people from a variety of countries in their work gear. But since they’d passed the staff canteen, where he’d mainly seen Asians at the buffet, they hadn’t met a soul.

‘There are three areas on a cruise ship,’ Elena explained. ‘One for the passengers, one for the staff and crew. And a third area, which nobody from either of these groups would ever enter voluntarily.’

She took her key card from the back pocket of her uniform trousers and pulled it through the reader by the lift door.

‘We call this no-go area “Hell’s Kitchen”. It’s where we put Anouk.’

17

Hell’s Kitchen?

The doors opened, revealing a lift, on the other side of which was another door.

‘Why does everyone avoid this area?’

‘Superstition. This is the quarantine section.’

The doctor entered first and Martin followed her with mixed feelings.

‘If we have someone ill on board with an infectious virus or a serious bacterial infection, they’re relocated here to prevent an epidemic from breaking out. Which, after a fire, is the biggest nightmare on a passenger ship,’ Dr Beck said, waiting for the electric aluminium doors to shut behind them.

‘Looks new,’ said Martin, who couldn’t see any signs of wear on the stainless steel walls. Nor any buttons to set the lift in motion.

‘It is. Hell’s Kitchen hasn’t ever been used. It would be extremely impractical in a real emergency, too. Although there’s a goods lift you can transport beds in, the trip down here is asking too much of a seriously ill person. There’s a persistent rumour that the cruise line is carrying out human experiments with insubordinate employees down here.’ She laughed. ‘Or on passengers who can’t pay their bills. Sheer nonsense, of course, but the staff avoid Hell’s Kitchen as a vegetarian does the meat counter. I’ve heard that cleaners offer each other money to avoid having to work down here.’

The lift doors opposite whooshed open and they got out again at the same level.

Martin was puzzled at first, then realised that it had been an airlock rather than a lift.

‘In an emergency this area can be sealed off hermetically. It’s got its own air and water systems as well as an independent electricity supply. And now the two of us have to put on protective suits.’

They crossed an anteroom with a rounded reception desk, where nobody was waiting for patients.