Cut and Run 3 - Fish and Chips

got to move now,” he said as he tried to recall the layout of the ship’s decks. “Go left and outside, we should be able to cut through a passenger deck to get back to the promenade and up to the bridge.”
    Ty reached for him and pushed him on to take the lead. Then he turned to the woman. “Norina, give me your shoes,” he demanded.
    “They are not your size!” Norina protested as she stepped away from Ty.
    “I’m not going to wear them!” Ty shouted at her in frustration.
    “They are alligator skin Manolo — ”
    “Give him your shoes!” Bianchi urged as he reached down to yank them off her feet.
    Ty took them and shoved one of them under his jacket. Zane knew his partner was dying for a weapon, but he’d have to settle for alligator skin stilettos and taking up the rear guard. Zane took off for the door and ran back out into the night and took the left turn, cutting through the open-air sitting area of a closed coffee shop, heading for another door set into the bulkhead. He stopped in front of this, catching his momentum and weight on one hand, and pulled at the door handle.
    Locked.
    “Oh come on,” Zane growled. He starting digging in his pockets for his key card. Norina and Bianchi stopped beside him.
    “That is a fire hazard,” Bianchi commented after pulling on the handle himself.
    Zane snorted, found his card, and skimmed it through the reader next to the door. The little box blinked red.
    A series of crashes and bangs followed them, accompanied by the odd melody of off-tune Christmas carols being played by a mechanical decoration. Soon Ty rounded the corner, skidding in his expensive Italian leather dress shoes. He had managed to keep his tuxedo shirt tucked in, but it was no longer buttoned. Zane snorted. Just like Ty to find a way to show off his chest as they were being chased by armed men across a cruise ship. He glanced over his shoulder, laughing under his breath at whatever blockade he had managed to devise.
    “Did you buy us a little time?” Zane asked. “We need it. Can’t get in the door. Come on,” he said, taking Norina’s elbow and turning her back to the deck. “We need to find another way in.”
    “I am wishing I joined the aerobics class now, my gioia ,” Bianchi huffed as they took off again. Norina’s tinkling laughter was lighter than Zane expected to hear, considering they were pretty much running for their lives.
    They came upon a maintenance door, which was also locked, but before Zane could try the key card, Ty barked at him to move aside. Zane had barely managed to sidestep out of the way before Ty threw himself, shoulder first, against the edge of the door. The door was heavy, solid metal, but the doorjamb was not. Norina screamed and clapped her hands over her mouth, and Bianchi shouted wordlessly in surprise as the doorjamb splintered under the assault. Ty gave the door a hard kick, but it wasn’t quite enough. He took a step back and then kicked the door again.
    It fell open with a groan of protest.
    “Go,” Zane said, pushing Bianchi and Norina toward the doorway. “It’s got to lead to an inner hallway.” As they moved, he looked Ty over quickly. “Okay?”
    Ty grunted at him, rubbing at his upper arm as he followed the Bianchis upward. Zane pushed the door shut behind them, but it wouldn’t latch. They were in some sort of mechanical room. Lights blinked all over the walls, and wires threaded everywhere.
    Norina was already at the far end of the room, opening a door that led back out onto the deck.
    “No, we want to be inside. We have to get to the bridge,” Zane called out, turning in a circle, looking for another door. But there wasn’t one.
    “Out’s better than trapped,” Ty argued, pointing at the door and moving toward it. He scanned the room as he went. “Anybody know enough about electronics to do damage with any of this stuff?”
    Zane shook his head. There wasn’t time. Bianchi shrugged and looked around the room.
    “Let us go!” Norina whispered urgently, and she opened the door to peer out. Bianchi and Ty were close on her heels.
    They exited back on deck, now a little farther down the side of the ship. They weren’t but fifty yards from the stern now, and doors were getting scarce.
    “You ever watch horror movies and bitch at the girl for running upstairs instead of out?” Ty was saying to no one in particular as they edged cautiously along the outer deck. Zane knew what he meant, because they were doing the