"Monkey Brando."
Bernadette softly repeated the name, as though pondering something. A moment later, she raised her head and looked at Alger again.
"Where is that suitcase?" she asked. "And everything else inside it."
"Here, ma'am." Alger dared not delay. He hurried over to the cabinet in the Captain's Cabin, lifted the somewhat battered suitcase with both hands, and placed it on the table.
Bernadette did not touch it. She merely waved a hand.
Click.
The suitcase's clasps sprang open on their own. Then several documents slowly floated out, as though supported by an invisible hand, and hovered before her.
Bernadette's gaze swept quickly over those pages detailing Roselle's uninhibited "amorous exploits." Then several other sheets covered in research notes caught her attention.
"Antigonus..."
At the sight of that ancient, forbidden name, a barely perceptible flicker passed through Bernadette's otherwise placid eyes.
"Killed because of 'Flame' Danitz." She quietly repeated Alger's earlier words, her voice betraying no emotion.
Suddenly, the gold coin with the unusual design rose out of the suitcase and landed in Bernadette's hand.
"I'll take this as payment for saving you."
A moment later, Bernadette's figure shimmered slightly in the air and vanished from the room, as though she had never been there.
Only after she left did the suffocating pressure enveloping the entire Captain's Cabin finally dissipate.
"Huff... huff..."
Alger felt as though every bone had been pulled from his body. His legs gave way, and he collapsed into the chair, gasping for breath. Cold sweat had long since soaked his back.
Everything he had experienced that night had been far too intense, and far too dangerous.
He sat in the chair for a long time before finally managing to calm his pounding heart. He staggered out onto the deck, letting the bitterly cold sea breeze