“I’m an American spy,” he answered. “I changed my name, the color of my hair, and shaved my mustache to throw off my pursuers, but they, apparently, thought to look for me on Titanic. If you don’t do what I say, they will discover me, and then they will believe that I passed information to you to deliver it in my stead should something happen to me. Victoria, they will torture you to find out what you know, then they will kill you! We have got to pretend to be lovers until we arrive in New York; that’s the only thing that will throw them off our scent!”

“You planned this, didn’t you?” I asked. “You harassed me at the table because you knew it would arouse my curiosity!”

“I heard your name, but I didn’t recognize it. I knew by that that you were either an unregistered passenger fleeing some kind of danger, a stowaway, or someone sent to do me in. I do apologize for mistreating you the way I did, but you deserve to know that if you had not shown me your injuries, I would have knocked you unconscious and thrown you overboard. I chose A Deck promenade from which to murder you because it was less crowded.”

“Someone would have seen you do it!” I said; feeling my blood run cold at the thought of it.

“I have immunity,” he replied. “Even if they did, nothing could be done to me; Captain Smith has been apprised of my situation and has been told not to interfere with my movements about the ship.”

“Have you killed before?”

“No,” he answered. “And I was not looking forward to having to kill you. I just couldn’t risk anyone finding out who I really am since it would jeopardize my family.”

“You have a wife?”

“No,” he answered. “I have my parents and my siblings. I’m a spy, Victoria; I cannot afford the liability of spouse and offspring.”

“Is that why you want to pretend to be lovers?” I asked, “Because, spies can’t afford such attachments?”

“Exactly,” he affirmed, “By feigning a relationship, we might just fool him long enough to reach America.”

“You already know what he looks like; you have immunity, why don’t you just rid yourself of him?”

“He won’t be alone! Others are on the ship with him, you can be sure of that! The secrets I’m delivering are too important to leave their interception in the hands of a single assassin!”

I thought about his plan for a moment; realizing that I was seen with him had dreadfully complicated things for me! I do have to confess, however, that discovering someone in a similar plight was very comforting; even if it did place my life in greater danger.

“I will not seek your identity and mission if you refrain from seeking mine,” I said after a moment’s contemplation. “If we have to do this, let’s honor one another’s secrets.”

“Indeed,” he replied with a relieved smile. “Have you a weapon?”

“Yes.”

“Keep it close! Once we leave this closet, return to your room and lock yourself inside. Meet me in the dining saloon at supper time; we’ll tell Mrs. Brown and the others that it was a misunderstanding on my part and that we resolved it. Then we’ll cast subtle romantic gestures at one another from time to time to assuage any suspicions they may have.”

“Alright.”

I couldn’t help but notice him recoil when I reached around him to let myself out. I understood later why he did it; and it was as much a shock to me as the reason was for him.

Upon leaving the towel closet, I quickly made my way to the stairs and descended to C Deck, then made my way, as casually as I could, to my room. After making sure the door was not to be disturbed, I closed it and locked it; then sat at the vanity and pulled up my dress to unlatch the thigh holster.

Horror took me at that second, however, when a massive hand reached from behind and pressed against my mouth while the other one instantly locked itself around my wrist and prevented me from unsheathing my pistol! I screamed as loudly as I could through the hand, desperate for someone to hear me, until my assailant began to speak,

“It’s me, Gabriel,” Marku whispered from behind. “Let go of the gun, you’re safe.”

I nearly fainted from the shock of the ambush as he slowly retracted his hand from my mouth,

“Help me...” I begged, feeling suddenly very weak and delirious; he took me before I fell from the chair and helped me to the bed where he laid me down and unstrapped my thigh holster for me.

“You should have been more watchful,” he insisted as he set the holster on the floor, then poured me a glass of water, “Anyone could have been in here waiting for you; never lock yourself in this room until you first assure it to be vacant!”

I took the water and sipped some of it, feeling somewhat reinvigorated by it.

“You will kill me before the operatives do if you make a habit of ambushing me!” He snickered at my rebuke.

“I needed to gauge your preparation, child; you leave much to be desired!”

“Is that why you hid yourself in my cabin? To test me?”

“I saw the target you practiced shooting at,” he deflected, “You honed your aiming skill pretty quick, but you still need practice; there were more hits outside the silhouette than inside.”

“I nearly shattered my wrist,” I protested, “That practice weapon has left my hand in agony!”

“Because you tried to use it single-handed?”

There was nothing to do at that point but to fall silent.

“Yes, I thought so! Now that you’ve learned your lesson, you won’t be doing that again!”

“No, sir.” I meekly concurred. After this, he then took on a humorous expression,

“I saw you and the young man on the promenade,” he replied, inflicting a secondary shock. “He seemed put off by you at first, then the two of you kissed like you were lovers in Paris; he’s an unregistered passenger, isn’t he?”

I didn’t know what to say at first; it was dawning on me at that moment that Thomas had not seen his pursuer, he had seen my protector,

“Yes,” I finally answered. “He’s an American spy; he must have seen you and mistook you for an assassin; oh, thank God!”

“A spy, is he? Well now...”

A wave of relief surged through me, yet it was only to last a moment before the grim reality of the situation had to be delivered by Marku,

“We’re not out of the woods yet, Gabriel,” he remarked rather gloomily, “The trees just got thicker for us! I want you to get close to that young man; if he’s an American spy then he will know how to protect you.”

“We already have a plan,” I confessed, pulling myself to a seated position on the edge of the bed, “To pretend to be lovers; he thinks it will throw them off.”

“Good,” said Marku as he rubbed his head in deep thought, “I know it will be awkward for you, boy, but be assured, your Victoria disguise is impenetrable, so say nothing to him of being male; that would destroy the ruse the two of you have crafted!”

“It is very awkward,” I insisted, feeling embarrassed that Marku saw me kissing Thomas, “What if he insists on kissing me again? How far do we have to take the deception?”

“The answer should be clear to you,” he said, “Everything short of the bed! You have to stick this through, Gabriel; I cannot deliver you to the Founder dead; you’re too important!”

“The documents are important,” I protested, but he would have none of it,

“Not as important as you,” he insisted, casting a stern look my way, “Everything those documents contain is in my head; this effort is for you, not for them! The stolen papers are only important if I should meet my end before this voyage concludes.”

“Don’t say that,” I pleaded, “Please, don’t even think it!”

“It’s a possibility, Gabriel; not a certainty. But, we’d be foolish not to consider the possibility,”

“Stop it,” I insisted, “You know how sensitive I am; if you can’t speak hope to me then don’t speak anything at all; I’m in enough despair!”

His stoic expression brightened to a smile; he then came and sat next to me, then laid his powerful arm gently around my shoulders,

“I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’m a soldier, you know? And, being such, it’s difficult for me to be tender.”

“You were tender with me in the forest,” I reminded him. “When I couldn’t go another step, you allowed me to take sleep and held vigil over me until I could run again. You don’t know it, but I looked at you before falling asleep and thought what a wonderful father you would make.”

The look on his face softened so much that it nearly reduced me to tears.

“Thank you for that, boy,” he said, “And, if I had a son, I’d want him to be just like you.”

“You’re too kind to me.”

“No, I’m not,” he contested, “Here I am, scolding you for not being a soldier when it’s not in your nature to be; I won’t do that to you again. Art is your gift; that is the tool you need most right now, and from what I saw earlier, you put it to good use; you have the makings of a fine actor!”

“Did I really look convincing on the promenade?”

“Very convincing,” he affirmed. “You kissed him with the look of passion and abandon! Thrust yourself into this new role, boy; be subtle and seductive; make that young man want you: you might just have another protector on this ship; one who can keep you safe while I do what must be done.”

He stood up and started pacing slowly; his change from tenderness to brooding calculation was so stark that it terrified me,

“What are you going to do?”

“Assassins,” he groaned angrily, “I have assassins to hunt now; blast it!”

“Why do you need to hunt them?”

“Because,” he said, “They may have already seen the two of you together; we cannot afford to presume otherwise! And if they suspect that young man of being their target, they might use you to get to him; no one is more dangerous to a spy than someone he loves; and that is the game the two of you are playing now!”

“Have you found the Romanian operatives?”

“I found one of them,” he replied. “My sources in third-class have assured me that there were only two.”

“Were?”

“There were two men asking about you in steerage,” he explained, “I dispatched one of them a few hours ago! The other is in hiding, presumably because he can’t find his partner. There are many places one could hide on a ship of this size; shut the door after me and lock it; remember what I said about checking your room before you fasten yourself in!”

“I will,” I said, standing up and following him to the door, “Be careful, Marku; you’re the only connection left to me of my parents; I can’t lose you as well.”

He turned around and caressed my cheek as I pulled away the hairpiece,

“I’ll be careful, little one. Just do everything I say.”

He turned and exited the room, and I shut and locked the door behind him. My breast still hurt from the fright he gave me, but I understood his reason for doing it; I was much too careless!

For hours, I sat on the bed with my pistol next to me; it felt marvelous having finally peeled off my dress and undergarments to let my bruises and injuries breathe. They ached, burned, and prickled in the warm air of my room after having chaffed for so long against the attire I was expected to wear; that monster’s bite left me in constant agony until the wounds finally healed! I find it remarkable that I was able to conceal the pain I was in well enough to avert attention; I suppose the ever present threat of being confined on Titanic with people trying to find and kill me instilled me with that capacity. I certainly couldn’t bear it so well now if I had to!

When I looked at the clock on the vanity I could see that dinner was about to be laid out in the saloon; I didn’t want to move, my body hurt so much that sitting naked on the bed seemed almost preferable to the delicious food I could delight in if I would simply get dressed and convert myself to the adventurous minx I was, apparently, good at portraying; Marku’s affirmation gave me great confidence in my disguise.

When, however, the air of the evening’s meal began wafting under my door my belly made the decision for me; I could not endure such scents confined to my room; even if it meant having to endure the pain of my injuries; so with Marku’s command to win the heart of Thomas, I made sure to leave the room with the look of a seductress.

After leaping from the bed, I slid on my undergarments and, once again, latched my holster to my upper right leg; keeping the pistol tucked firmly between my thighs to avoid the bulge it would have made on the other side.

I took a black dress from the wardrobe and a pair of black lace stockings, and after sliding into them, I took the hairpiece and reapplied it to my head; brushing it to get all the tangles out. Then I began applying the make up, giving myself a dark and mysterious look; more to my liking since that was my usual style.

After I had gotten the look just right, it was time to get into character; I sat at the vanity looking at myself and began saying things with a British accent, comporting myself as the misfitted girl I was supposed to be,

“Hello, my love,” I quoted to myself, using various seductive facial expressions, “You look so handsome this evening!”, “My darling; would you like to retire to the promenade?”, “Oh, Mrs. Brown; the food was simply delightful!”, “Mr. Astor, your wife is positively angelic!”, “Oh, I’m stuffed; I think I’ll go for a walk; join me darling?”

I started feeling a little silly,

“Alright Gabriel, don’t poor on so much honey, they’ll see right through it. Be subtle, be seductive,”

I continued,

“Let us retire to the promenade; I want to see the sun set.”, “Come with me to the promenade; the sun will be setting soon.”, “Let us watch the sunset together.”

At that moment a few raps on the door startled me and I instinctively pulled up my skirt and unsheathed my weapon,

“Who is it?” I asked in my Victoria voice.

“Thomas.” came the soft reply. I pushed my skirt back down and stood to approach the door, holding the pistol with both hands,

“Tell me something only the two of us would know,” I said as I slowly approached. “I will not open until you do.”

“I tricked you to coming to A Deck promenade,” he whispered, “I intended to kill you if you failed my inquisition!”

I unlocked the door then opened it,

“If you had failed my inquisition just now, I would have shot you through the door!”