Angel of Destruction

by Christopher Nicole

  Clive looked at Billy, who shrugged. ‘Sometimes her pragmatism frightens me too. It always did. So, Anna, if you’re now working for us at such a high cost, don’t you think we’re entitled to know what else is going on, that might affect you, and therefore us? That long radio call this morning, this sudden, apparently unusual, extra trip to Nassau tomorrow . . .’

  ‘Sorry, Billy. It has nothing to do with you.’

  ‘But I’m coming with you tomorrow,’ Clive said.

  ‘I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t. As I told Mama, I’ll only be gone a few hours.’ She smiled at them, brightly. ‘It’s getting hot. Time for a rum punch.’

  *

  What a way to start an engagement, Anna thought, as she steered Fair Girl through the reef. She had always held the opinion that lovers, when they reached the point of melding, should have no secrets from each other. But then, as a girl, and even as a young woman already launched on her terrifying career, she had held so many opinions that had proved untenable in the cold light of experience.

  For Clive and Billy to realize just how vulnerable the cay had suddenly become would add another weight to the burden she was already carrying, and although Billy had, at least in principle, given her the go-ahead to handle a crisis as she thought fit – and in the only way she knew – she had no idea how he might react to the knowledge that the first crisis might already be upon them, before he had obtained the necessary clearance from London.

  While for Clive even to encounter Jerry Smitten, would not be a good idea; they had been very close, even if briefly, during her mission to Brazil three years ago. If Clive knew that she had slept with several men, as it had been required by her various assignments, he had only ever known of one colleague, apart from himself. And although he and Joe Andrews had been friends for years, and he had accepted that she had been paying a debt – the saving of her life – she knew it still rankled. While his reaction to her acting the prostitute and what that might have involved had been a shade too orthodox. So it was far better to play it this way and rely on time and an ending of the crisis to keep things peaceful.

  Which was not to say that the atmosphere throughout yesterday afternoon and evening, even when softened by pre-lunch and pre-dinner drinks, had not been somewhat frosty. On the other hand, Clive had been as hungry as ever in bed last night, and as she had also been hungry, she felt that she had left him in a contented state.

  She had deliberately left early, and they were in Nassau by eleven. ‘I’m not sure when I’ll be ready to go back,’ she told Tommy. ‘But it won’t be after three.’

  ‘I’ll be here Miss Anna,’ he promised.

  *

  ‘Miss Fitzjohn!’ Charles was delighted to see her again so soon, and looking as attractive as ever, in a pale green frock with matching shoes and handbag, a straw hat with a green ribbon, kid gloves and glowing with jewellery.

  ‘Just for lunch. I’m meeting a Mr Smitten. Has he checked in?’

  ‘Oh, yes, ma’am. He came in last night.’

  ‘Well, will you page him for me? We’ll be lunching together.’

  ‘I will see to that, ma’am. But he ain’t here, right now. He went for a walk after breakfast, and he ain’t come back yet.’

  Some people never change, Anna thought; Jerry had always been inclined to think that the world waited on him rather than accept the true state of affairs. ‘Well, when he does come in, tell him I’m waiting for him, in the bar.’ She turned away, and checked. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen that woman again? The one who was asking for me a couple of days ago?’

  ‘Now that is a funny thing, ma’am.’

  ‘What?’ Anna was totally surprised. ‘You mean she’s been back here?’

  ‘No, no, ma’am. But James saw her this very morning. James,’ he called, ‘come over here.’

  James hurried round the reception desk. ‘Morning, ma’am.’

  ‘Good morning, James. You have something to tell me?’

  ‘Ma’am?’

  Anna looked at Charles.

  ‘That woman who was here a few days back, asking for Miss Fitzjohn. You said you seen her again.’

  ‘Today,’ Anna reminded him.

  ‘Oh, that woman,’ James said. ‘Yes, ma’am. I did see she this very morning.’

  ‘Where, and when?’ Anna asked, patiently.

  ‘At the fisherman dock, ma’am.’

  ‘She was buying fish?’ Charles asked, unhelpfully.

  ‘No, no, Mr Charles. She was hiring a boat.’

  ‘This woman was chartering a fishing boat?’

  ‘You know, that is just what that boy Clarence did say. I was there. He said, “Ma’am, if you want a boat for the day you should go to the Prince George Dock. They got cabin cruiser and thing there. And skippers who knowing the waters. These boats, you can smell them from here, ma’am. They ain’t got nothing but fish, and they engines old, and they ain’t got no . . . well . . .”’ He paused, embarrassed.

  ‘Toilet facilities,’ Anna suggested.

  ‘That is the very thing, ma’am. But the woman said, “I will pay you two hundred American dollars for the use of your boat for today.” Well, ma’am, Clarence ain’t going pass up two hundred dollars. So he said, “If that’s what you wanting.”’

  ‘So he hired her his boat. How big a crew did it have?’

  ‘She didn’t want no crew, ma’am. She took it, like they say, bareboat.’

  Anna looked at Charles for an explanation.

  ‘A bareboat charter is without a crew, ma’am.’

  ‘You mean this woman has taken this boat out by herself?’

  ‘Well, no, ma’am,’ James said. ‘She had a man with her. Big guy.’

  ‘I see. And what time was this?’

  ‘Not too long. Maybe an hour ago.’

  Anna frowned. She and Tommy should have noticed the boat leaving the harbour. ‘So she left at ten o’clock.’

  ‘I don’t know if she left right then, ma’am, or if she had gear to load.’

  ‘Thank you, James. You’ve been a great help.’ Anna gave him a ten-pound note, and he retired behind his desk.

  ‘That must be one strange woman,’ Charles commented.

  ‘Yes,’ Anna agreed. ‘Charles, would you have any idea how fast one of those fishing boats can go?’

  ‘Oh, not very fast, ma’am. Them engines does be all beat up. Six, maybe eight knots.’

  ‘Thank you, Charles.’ She considered the situation. Obviously she would be able to overtake the fishing boat, even if it had an hour’s start, before it could reach the cay, supposing that was where it was heading, and she didn’t doubt that. But only if she left herself, immediately. But she didn’t want to involve Tommy in the professional side of her life; she had no idea what his reaction might be. So where the hell was Jerry?

  And there he was, coming up the steps from the garden., removing his panama hat as he did so. ‘Anna!’ he cried. ‘I can’t tell you what a treat it is to see you again.’

  She allowed him a hug. ‘Right this minute, Jerry, I feel the same about you.’

  He held her shoulders to look into her eyes. ‘I’m not quite sure how I should take that.’

  Jerry Smitten was a large young man, taller than her, which she always appreciated – her erstwhile Nazi masters had all been little men – with footballer’s shoulders, and narrow hips, displayed by his sports shirt and casual pants, a mop of curly yellow hair, and pleasant features. Although he had a splendid body, as she well remembered, he looked completely harmless, and she had had her doubts when he had appeared in Brazil to act as her back-up in the quest for Martin Bormann. But Joe Andrews had said he was one of the CIA’s best, and she had been prepared to accept that, until they had been cornered by the four MGB agents sent by Beria to arrest her and take her back to Moscow for trial.

  As they had been travelling in separate cars, two of the Russians had come after her, and two had gone for Jerry. She had disposed of her two antagonists easily eno
ugh, but Jerry had apparently been unable to believe that they meant to kill him, as they would have done had she not been able to return to his rescue soon enough.

  But again Joe had assured her that he was now an experienced agent. So she said, ‘Believe it or not, I need your help, now. Charles, I’m afraid I’m going to have to renege on lunch. Mr Smitten and I have somewhere to go.’

  ‘Oh!’ Charles was disappointed. ‘Of course, ma’am.’

  ‘But I’ll see you soon, and thanks for your help.’ She tipped him, and grasped Jerry’s arm to take him aside.

  ‘Say,’ he protested. ‘What’s going on? Joe said—’

  ‘That you’d give me a hand. Do you still have that howitzer you used to carry?’

  ‘My Colt forty-five? Well, I have a new one. I believe you threw my old one away.’

  ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. Is it on you?’ But as she looked at his distinctly tropical dress she realized it couldn’t be.

  ‘It’s in my room. I didn’t reckon on needing it, in a place like Nassau.’

  ‘Well, you do now. Nip up and fetch it. But keep it concealed.’

  ‘You figure on shooting someone?’

  ‘I may need you to make a hole in a boat. And I only have my two-two.’

  *

  He went off, clearly in a fog, and she returned to the desk. ‘James, there is one more thing I forgot to ask you; this boat we were talking about just now, did it have a name? Or a number?’

  ‘Oh, it had a number, ma’am. 216.’

  ‘216. Thank you, James. You’ve been a great help.’

  She summoned one of the taxis, had it waiting when Jerry returned, carrying his hat in his hand; it obviously concealed the revolver. ‘You gonna tell me what this is all about?’ he asked, as he sat beside her, his hat on his lap.

  ‘When we’re on board.’

  ‘On board what?’

  ‘My boat.’

  ‘You have a boat?’

  ‘Well, of course I have a boat. Didn’t Joe put you in the picture?’

  ‘He said you’d do that when I got here.’

  ‘Hm. But you do know boats?’

  ‘Well . . . I’m from Kansas.’

  ‘Ah. About as far away from the sea as it’s possible to be. But wait a minute. You told me that you’d been in the Navy during the war. That you had commanded a submarine.’

  ‘That’s right. Subs go under the water.’

  ‘But you must have had some kind of initial training, on a boat?’

  ‘Not really. I volunteered for subs, and things being kind of fraught after Pearl Harbor, it was a rush job. I can tie a bowline,’ he added brightly. ‘Well, I could once.’

  ‘Shit!’

  ‘Something wrong?’

  ‘I guess we’ll manage.’ They reached the dock and she paid the driver.

  Jerry, still holding his hat in front of him like a shield, was surveying Fair Girl. ‘Say, that’s swell. But there’s nobody on board.’

  ‘Well, of course there’s nobody on board, Jerry. We’re here.’

  ‘I meant, there’s no crew.’

  Anna went down the steps. ‘You’re the crew.’

  ‘Eh? I . . .’

  ‘You’ll remember it all as we go along. And –’ she looked down at his soft shoes – ‘you’re perfectly dressed for the part. Mind how you go.’

  She took off her shoes, stepped on board, and went below to change her clothes and check that the Walther was fully loaded, less the one bullet she had used on Capillano, but she also had her spare magazine, although if it came to a sea battle Jerry’s forty-five would be the superior weapon – provided he got around to using it.

  The boat trembled as his weight boarded, and a moment later he appeared in the cabin doorway. ‘Some lay-out. Say –’ she had taken off her dress – ‘you’re even more beautiful than I remember.’

  ‘You say the sweetest things.’ She buttoned her shirt, pulled up her pants, pocketed the little pistol and the magazine.

  ‘Couldn’t we leave this going to sea bit for a while?’

  ‘You know the drill, Jerry. Business before pleasure.’

  She attempted to step past him, and he put his arms round her waist. ‘I never did thank you for saving my life.’

  ‘That also seemed a good idea. At the time.’

  ‘And that was the last time I saw you. Staring at me along the barrel of a gun.’

  ‘And fortunately for you, there were two Russians in between us. You need to remember that they aren’t there today.’

  He released her, followed her on deck. ‘The people at the hospital told me you packed my wound with mud.’

  ‘If I hadn’t, you’d have bled to death long before you reached that hospital. One has to make these instant decisions from time to time, even if one realizes they might have been the wrong decisions, afterwards.’ She climbed up to the bridge, watched Tommy pounding along the dock above her.

  ‘Miss Anna?!’

  ‘Tommy! Listen, this gentleman and I are going out for a short spin. I’ll be back for you. Hopefully in about three hours.’

  He came down the steps, gazed at her reproachfully as she turned the keys to start the engines.

  ‘Only three hours. But you can cast us off.’

  He did so, reluctantly, and the boat glided away from the dock.

  ‘You know that guy?’ Jerry asked from the after deck.

  ‘My crew?’

  ‘You don’t think we might need him?’

  ‘I don’t want him to be involved. Besides, I have a crew.’

  He didn’t seem to have a reply to that, but she didn’t feel he could be risked on the narrow side deck, and as the harbour was somnolent in the noonday heat of a Sunday afternoon, once she was clear of the various docks she put the engines in neutral and let the boat come to a stop and drift while she took in the fenders and coiled the warps.

  ‘Anything I can do to help?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘Yes, there is. See that dock over there? The one crowded with fishing boats?’

  ‘I got it.’

  ‘Right. In the cabin you’ll find a pair of binoculars. Fetch them and have a good look at the boats. They all have numbers painted on the bows. I want you to find 216.’

  ‘Aye aye, skipper. That’s what they used to say in the Navy.’

  ‘There too,’ Anna agreed.

  She finished her chores and returned to the after deck.

  ‘No joy,’ Jerry said. ‘Nothing like 216.’

  ‘That means she must have left. Come up to the bridge and sit down. Bring the glasses and your hat or you’ll get sunstroke.’

  ‘What about the gun?’

  ‘Leave that in the cabin for the time being.’

  She waited for him to join her, somewhat precariously, and when he was settled beside her, pushed the throttles forward.

  ‘You sure you know how to handle this thing?’ he asked as they gathered way.

  ‘What do you think I’m doing?’

  He digested this, while they approached the eastern exit, then asked, ‘What’s that white stuff over there? Looks like surf.’

  ‘It is surf. That’s water breaking on a reef.’

  ‘Holy shit! It looks kind of close.’

  ‘It is. You can close your eyes, if you like.’

  As she was concentrating on the passage, she didn’t know if he did or not. But when they were through to the open water, he asked, ‘You gonna tell me what this is all about?’

  ‘You know about Mexico City?’

  ‘Oh, yeah. Joe said you were tremendous, as always.’

  ‘It’s nice to be noticed. By the right people.’

  ‘And you got clean away, didn’t you? As usual.’

  ‘I thought I’d got clean away. But a couple of days ago this woman tuned up, in Nassau, asking questions.’

  ‘About you? Don’t you use a different name in Nassau?’

  ‘Yes. But she had a photograph.’

  ‘Shit!
But . . .’

  ‘That is exactly it. How the fuck did she get hold of a photo?’

  ‘Search me.’

  ‘That is one of the things I want you to do. Get Joe to search his department and make sure there hasn’t been a leak. Now, I’ve just discovered that this woman, having identified me, and obviously having discovered where I live, has chartered a boat.’

  ‘You mean she’s what we’re after? But . . . out there?’

  Apart from the islands to their right, the noonday sea looked entirely empty.

  ‘She’ll be making for the cay, but we should catch her up before she gets there. What I want you to do is use the glasses and sweep the horizon.’

  ‘Um. Say, this motion . . .’

  ‘It’s normal.’ The sea was calm with a light westerly breeze and a low swell; the Chris-Craft rose and fell rhythmically.

  ‘Shit!’ He levelled the glasses. ‘You reckon she’s alone?’

  ‘No. She has a man with her.’

  ‘And what are you aiming to do?’

  ‘That depends on what she’s aiming to do. If she’s just checking out the cay, we’ll frighten her off. But if she’s meaning to finish the job here and now, well . . .’

  ‘Finish the job? You mean you think she could be on a hit? And you have no idea who she’s working for?’

  ‘Not right now. Although I would very much like to find out.’

  ‘Snap! I have a boat out there.’

  Anna switched on the autopilot, took the glasses; the boat was further to the west than she would have expected. But . . . ‘It’s a fishing boat all right. She’s giving the islands a wide berth. I suppose she’s afraid of the reefs. We’ll close her.’ She handed him the glasses and resumed the helm to alter course.

  ‘Anna . . .’ he suddenly panted.

  Anna glanced at his stricken expression. ‘Oh, shit! Give me those.’ She took back the binoculars. ‘Now hang your head over the rail.’

  He did, and vomited violently. Anna put the new course on auto, and studied the distant boat, which was becoming larger by the moment. She reckoned it wasn’t more than five miles off, and they should catch it up in an hour. Just in time, as she could make out Fair Cay on the starboard horizon, just a cloud still about thirty miles off. She did not want the people on the cay to have any idea what was happening out here. As for the other cays in the immediate vicinity, as far as she knew they were all uninhabited, although she couldn’t be sure. But they were all now a good ten miles off.