She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 300

The boy was remarkably sharp.

After a moment's thought, Loyce pushed open the ventilation grate and dropped silently into the cabin.

The other children started to cry out in alarm, but the boy's voice cut through the noise. "Be quiet!"

Instantly, they clapped their hands over their mouths, their wide, terrified eyes fixed on Loyce.

"I'm not one of them," Loyce said, sitting down among them. She recognized the boy was their de facto leader and addressed him directly. "I'm a police officer, undercover on this ship to investigate an organ trafficking ring."

The boy's dead eyes flickered with a faint spark. "My name is Aaron. When are the police coming?"

"Three days, at the earliest," Loyce told him.

The light in Aaron's eyes died. "We won't last three days. Besides, this ship is rigged with bombs."

Loyce's eyes narrowed. "Bombs?"

"I overheard them," Aaron said. "The owner of this ship... he's afraid of getting caught. He's wired the whole hull with explosives. If he gets word that the police are coming, he'll detonate it and sink the ship."

"So it's useless even if you came," the boy concluded, leaning back like an old man. "The second they're compromised, we all die."

"The owner of this ship is personally overseeing this transport because of an important piece of cargo," Loyce stated.

"He has a backup boat on the freighter," Aaron countered. "He'll transfer his own people and then send the rest of us to our deaths. I'm resistant to anesthesia. I was awake during part of my 'surgery' and I heard them talking. I have no reason to lie to you."

Loyce and Lucian had planned for many contingencies, but they hadn't anticipated this level of ruthless self-preservation. If Lucian's forces and the pirates arrived in three days, even if they won the battle, Gavin would simply drag them all to hell with him. It seemed his motto was 'if I go down, I'm taking you with me.'

"Then it seems we only have one option," Loyce said. "We have to disarm the bombs. Do you know where they are?"

Aaron shifted and slapped the floorboards. "I only heard it was down here somewhere. But on these old freighters, below this is just the coal bunker and the cargo hold. If he wants to kill all of us instantly, he probably put the main charge near the engine."

Loyce's eyes blinked. "I think I might know where that is."

When Sapphire had come to check on her, the door had been open, and she'd overheard the crew talking about a fuel leak and warnings not to smoke.

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