CHAPTER 60: A DUMP PLAN

Ethan calmly walked through the docks, heading directly towards the Moon’s whisper in his costume that matched a maritime inspector.

As much as he wouldn’t say out loud, this situation felt straight out of a spy movie and now that he was here, he felt dumb for just coming without any backup plan.

The possibility of being seen as an intruder and shot by one of Irina’s guards was pretty high. But then again, the rewards for succeeding was equally as high.

Ethan adjusted his cap and continued forward. Soon enough, his eyes were drawn to his target, the Moon’s Whisper.

It was a yatch that stood out and spoke exactly of the riches that Irina held. It was white and it was massive, easily the biggest in the docks.

Every entrance, every stairwell and every spot on the yatch was covered by a man with a rifle who stood hidden behind tinted glass.

There were multiple other people dressed in darks suits also, standing straight and their eyes scanning the area like a hawk.

"I guess that’s what you meant by, no guards?" Ethan whispered sarcastically to Athena.

{....} She chose to say nothing, after all, according to her search, there were supposed to be minimal security since Irina wanted to keep this vacation under the wraps as much as possible, but she was wrong.

Ethan walked forward, towards the main entrance of the yatch where two men in tailored black suits flanked the gangway.

One of them, a tall man with a squared jaw and an earpiece tucked neatly behind his ear, shifted his gaze slighly, locking unto Ethan the moment he stepped within range.

"Evening," Ethan greeted before he flashed the laminated badge Athena had whipped up for him, complete with a forged Coast Guard insignia and inspection clearance codes.

"Routine maritime safety inspection," he added, keeping his eyes level with the guard’s. "Shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes."

The guard’s expression didn’t change, but his gaze did move down to the badge for the briefest moment. The other man tilted his head slightly, likely listening to a voice in his earpiece.

Finally, the first guard gave a small nod. "Captain’s orders are no unscheduled visitors."

Ethan kept his face neutral as he answered, "captain’s orders don’t override maritime law. If you’d like, I can call in my supervisor to file a formal obstruction report. In writing. For the Coast Guard’s records."

A tense silence followed, broken only by the distant slap of water against the yacht’s hull. Then, with a grudging step back, the guard motioned him up the gangway.

He calmly walked up the gangwas, into the yatch. He could practically feel the sniper’s scope locked on him, waiting for the slightest suspicious movement from him.

And if he was being honest, Ethan was a bit nervous. This plan was definitely going down in his books as the dumbest.

After all, he was just a a slightly fit dude with a slightly above average intelligence, which he still doubted was there. He wasn’t John Weak who could take down multiple armed men with just a pencil.

But desperate times called for desperate measures and if he allowed Irina to leave right now, getting a whiff of her trail again would be impossible.

’That’s step one complete,’ he thought to himself as he finally walked into the yatch and the presence of the sniper finally disappeared from his senses.

But that didn’t mean the yatch was unguarded. Two men in suits stood by the glass double doors leading deeper into the yacht’s interior.

Another stood casually by the spiral staircase, but his posture was too rigid for a guest, and the bulge under his jacket definitely wasn’t from a phone, except if they had started making phones in that shape.

Ethan kept his expression neutral, running a hand along the nearest wall panel as though inspecting it.

"Quite the vessel," he remarked casually to the steward who had appeared to escort him.

"Only the finest for Ms. Romanova," the man replied politely, though his smile was a bit strained. "We’ll start with the galley, then the emergency gear lockers."

Ethan nodded, playing the part, but his thoughts were already elsewhere.He needed a way to locate and get access to the room Irina was in.

’System,’ he mentally called out.

[Yes host?] It replied as a holographic screen popped up before him.

Ethan had already confirmed that no one else but him could see the system’s screen so he wasn’t worried about the steward noticing anything off.

’Do you by any chance come with a map function?’ he asked, thinking about video games.

[No,] it simply wrote.

’I expected as much,’ Ethan mentally nodded before asking again, ’is there something in the shop that would help in this situation?’

[The shop provides a wide range of blueprints and tech for any and every situation no matter how impossible,] the system answered but before Ethan could say anything else, it added, [although, I must remind you, the shop function is still locked.]

’Can you temporarily give me access to it just this once?’ he asked.

Ethan really was proud of his smarts, but sometimes he wondered if that was all just an illusion and he really was dumb, because a truly smart person would have planned ahead.

[No,] the system replied. [In order to gain access to the system shop, you need to upgrade the system to version 2.0].

Even though it was just a bunch of texts, Ethan had a feeling that it wouldn’t budge no matter how much he asked.

’Figures,’ Ethan thought, resisting the urge to sigh aloud.

[And if I must add, host] the system continued, [this plan of yours seems highly illogical.]

’I know,’ he thought, ’you don’t need to rub it in.’

{You could always improvise,} Athena suggested in his ear, her tone a little too smug for his liking.

"Yeah, thanks, very helpful," he muttered under his breath as the steward led him down the corridor.

The guards didn’t speak, but he could feel their eyes on him, tracking every move.

He glanced at the decorative wall art of metallic sculptures mounted in frames. One of them reflected just enough for him to catch sight of a small camera tucked into the corner of the ceiling.

{This place is wired to the teeth,} Athena spoke in his ear. {Even if you find her room, it’ll be under surveillance.}

’Great. I love it when the odds stack against me,’ he thought.

The steward stopped in front of a door with a brass plaque reading "Galley."

"Here we are," he said, gesturing inside. "All safety equipment is up to date, of course."

Ethan stepped in, pretending to check the fire suppression nozzles and emergency exits while his mind worked overtime. He needed a distraction big enough to pull the guards’ attention away, but subtle enough not to trigger a full lockdown.

An idea began forming in his mind. It was dangerous, reckless, and exactly the kind of thing that would probably make the evening memorable for all the wrong reasons.

But it was also one of the few ideas that had a higher chance of working.

’Athena,’ he thought, ’how hard would it be to make the yacht’s engine room think it’s overheating?’

There was a pause. {Doable. But you’ll need to get within range of the secondary maintenance panel... which is two decks down. Past three more guards.}

She previously couldn’t access any tech on the yatch since none of it was connected to the Internet aka a path for her to enter and neither any of the ’guests’ on board using tech with Internet connection.

But now that Ethan was here, he could easily grant her access to the yatch... Well as easy as it was to gain control of the panel while being watched by multiple guards.

Ethan straightened up from his inspection, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Guess it’s time to take the scenic route."

He left the galley with the steward still glued to his side, the man’s polite smile now bordering on suspicious.

"Next, the emergency gear lockers," the steward said, turning toward a hallway that went deeper into the yacht.

Ethan nodded, but his gaze moved towards a narrow service corridor branching off to the right. It was dimly lit, with a low ceiling and the faint hum of machinery could be heard through the walls.

It was exactly the kind of path that might lead him closer to the secondary maintenance panel Athena needed.

’Athena, can you locate the direction?’ he thought.

{Slightly starboard, one deck down. That corridor’s promising.}

"Mind if I check the electrical room first?" Ethan asked casually, interrupting the steward’s route. "We’ve had a couple of reports of faulty grounding in vessels this size. Protocol says I should check it before inspecting emergency lockers."

The man hesitated, clearly unused to someone deviating from the tour, but having no other choice, he gave in and nodded.

Ms. Romanova was about to leave and denying this inspector’s request would only delay their departure and Ms. Romanova hated delays.

Ethan on the other hand just smiled internally, everything was going smoothly so far.