A ARON HOLLAND PLANNED TO STAY IN THE ROOM FOR MOST OF THE cruise. It was small and cramped and there wouldn’t be much to do besides watch television and worry. He’d much prefer to lounge out by the pool, or maybe grab a drink from the bar. But that would expose him to other passengers, and every venture out of the cabin presented an opportunity for some memorable incident to occur. Whether it be a casual conversation that someone later recalled, or a minor mishap like spilling his drink, there was no way to know what another passenger might remember. The fewer people he saw, the better the chance that Aaron Holland could exist for only a short few days before disappearing from the world.

Of course, without Meghan Cobb, the vanishing of Aaron Holland would be impossible. The staff and crew, as well as the housekeeping team assigned to every cabin onboard the ship, were well trained. If Mr. Holland simply disappeared and his cabin went empty, it would raise red flags. The housekeeping crew would know to follow strict protocols if a cabin went dormant. A vacant room was to be reported. Fear of passengers, especially overserved vacationers, falling overboard was always a concern. There had been enough negative publicity over the years about cruise lines and passengers disappearing for strict, industry-wide procedures to have been put in place to identify such peculiarities.

But Meghan Cobb solved that problem. Her presence would prevent any red flags from rising. She would be visible on every day of the ten-day cruise. That her recluse travel companion rarely left the cabin would go unnoticed. That she would eventually depart the ship without him at the conclusion of the cruise would be immaterial, because by that time she would be listed as a solo passenger. If Claire was able to pull off what she promised, sometime during the cruise’s ten days at sea, Mr. Aaron Holland’s name would disappear from the formal register of passengers.

CHAPTER 69 - Lake Placid, NY Sunday, July 11, 2021

CHAPTER 69

Lake Placid, NY Sunday, July 11, 2021

WITH THEIR GLOCK .40-CALIBER SIDEARMS TRAINED IN FRONT OF them, the SWAT team cleared each room of the A-frame cabin. Front room, clear. Kitchen, clear. Bedroom, clear. With each empty room, the possibility dawned on Jim Oliver that perhaps, somehow, his intel was bad. Either they had the wrong cabin or his agents had missed their subject escaping the property. On the run for so long, it was not unbelievable that Garth Montgomery would have in place precautions for this exact moment. And as much as Oliver believed he’d run a flawless operation, he knew it was rushed. If more time were available, he’d have put surveillance in place for longer than just three days. He’d have insisted on more definitive confirmation of the subject’s presence instead of relying on the half-assed and blurry photos they had managed to obtain through dirty and curtain-clad windows.