“It’s all right,” she said, pressing closer against hi “Kiss me.”
But the noise of the tempest became so furious that s broke away from him altogether.
“It might sink,” she said breathlessly. “Let’s get back to the house!”
“Elly won’t sink,” he said hoarsely. “She’s be through worse than this. She’s very strong.”
“I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t like the sea.” “It’ll blow over in a minute—the storm,” he said “Don’t let’s go now, Mandy. It’s nothing, really.”
Her eyes on the wooden ceiling, she sat down on a se fixed to the wall. The boat was rocking, slowly but strongly, and the noise of the crunching against the jetty was shivering the old timbers. At one time it sounded if sea was breaking over the decks above them, but no water came through. Thunder crashed with the violence of some mighty artillery drumfire.
Suddenly Amanda put her hands over her ears and shut her eyes. He went to her, protectively, but the boat rocked alarmingly and he was thrown heavily against the bulkhead beside her.
“Something terrible is going to happen!” she cried suddenly. “I know! Let me get out of here!”
She dropped her hands and jumped up as he swayed away from the bulkhead.
“Don’t be a fool, Mandy!” he shouted, and caught her as she tried to reach the deck ladder. “It’s like a flood out there!”
He held her tightly, as if he knew instinctively that to let her go might be to lose her. The roaring from the deck above could only be the bursting of sea over Elly’s decks, and anyone trying to run up there would be swept overboard.
“We’re all right here!” he shouted above the roaring. ‘Don’t be scared, for goodness’ sake.”
She seemed to contract in his arms, and put her face into his shoulder as if to hide her shame and fear. He felt her quivering like a hysterical child. It made him hold her the more tightly.
But while they stood there, uneasily balanced against the rolling of the old barge, he stared anxiously at the boards of the ceiling as if he feared that at any moment he fury of the storm would break through them and sweep away the frightened pair in one final, awful deluge.
V
Harvey ran in through the windows a minute after the storm broke. His suit shone with wet, and he was breathless.
“Good God!” he gasped. “This is the worst yet!”
“Get yourself a dressing gown. You know my room!” Nigel said. “That suit’s saturated.”
But he hardly looked at the doctor. White-faced, Mannel and Harvey exchanged uneasy nods in the absence of Nigel’s introduction. The doctor went through into the hallway.
Nigel watched the brilliant, blinding flare of the lightning. Speech was almost impossible above the almost continuous thunder and the whipping of the rain on the roof and the veranda front. The sea had come up the beach in white anger, the bursting spray flinging against the windows and coming into a patch on the wood block floor where the men stood.
Hal came in and saw her husband staring out at the storm.
“This is worse,” she said, going close to him.
“Much,” he said gruffly.
Mannel wiped his face with a handkerchief. “I’ve see a few storms,” he said. “But blimey!…”
His voice was drowned in another shattering crash of thunder which seemed to zigzag in the heavens, repeating in terrifying laughter.
And after it came unbelievable silence, and, like a magician’s dissolve, the blackness vanished and the calm blue of the evening sky reigned over the smoothing sea. Hal saw Mannel’s hand shaking as he wiped his face again. Nigel turned suddenly to her as Harvey, draped in a silk gown, came in the door.
“Caught out,” he said, with a laugh. “There was just no time. No time at all. No warning. All of a sudden the storm was there.”
“He said it would happen,” Mannel said, jerking hi head at Nigel.
“I said it would happen—but not yet,” Nigel said There was a queer tension on his face. “It wasn’t due.”
Harvey watched a moment. “Something wrong with the figures?” he asked shrewdly.
“No—there can’t be anything wrong with the figures,’ Nigel said. “They’ve been checked, rechecked by man and machine. No. There’s nothing wrong there…. ”
“But the storm came too soon?” Harvey urged.
“Yes.” Nigel went to the window and then turned back. “There’s an acceleration the figures didn’t show, hey gave a dead estimated time. This is altering it!”
“It will happen sooner than you said?” Hal asked. “Yes. Much sooner. There was a slight discrepancy in me last night. Only a few seconds. Now it’s much more, and the thing is gathering speed. The error will be twice as great tomorrow and will multiply hour by hour. You can see the pattern on the figures now.”
“The figures must be wrong,” said Harvey.
“They are not wrong,” Nigel said. “There is no possibility of that.”
“Then how can this be speeding up if the figures are right ?” The doctor was pugnacious now.
“Something has happened,” Nigel said slowly. “The only thing that was not taken into consideration in the calculations was the possibility of further experiments taking place during these last few days.”
“There was an agreement not to do any nuclear weapon test for five years,” Harvey said.
“It hasn’t been signed,” Nigel said. “Perhaps someone is clearing off outstanding tests before it is signed. Just to make sure they’re in the lead.”
He laughed with startling bitterness.
“It’s all cock!” cried Mannel suddenly. “I don’t believe any of it. You’re as mad as coots. You’ve no more bloody idea what you’re talking about than the man in the moon. End of the world, my backside. You can’t scare me, old man! I’ve been about too long.” He laughed and it rasped to a stop in his throat.
“If a man boasts, give him a shilling—he needs it,” Harvey murmured.
“How can you find out about these tests?” Hal asked. “Some phone—not this one,” Nigel said. “Trouble is, if it’s a secret one, it may be some days before we know. It won’t matter by then.”
“Tell me this,” Mannel said, coming across to Nigel as if he would grab him by the throat. “How is it you know all this and no beggar else knows? Tell me that, old man! How do you know?”
“It’s usually just one man who makes an important discovery,” Harvey cut in. “You must know that.”
“This isn’t a discovery, it’s just a lot of cock,” said Mannel, sweat gathering on his face again. “Do you know what? He bet me that boat the world would blow up on Tuesday! If that isn’t crackpot I don’t know what is!”
Hal looked at Nigel quickly, and there was the brightness of relief in her eyes.
“I stand by it, mad or not,” Nigel said.
Mannel shrugged. “Well, okay. If you want to, that’s all right with me.” He jerked his head suddenly to look out of the window as if scared another storm would sneak up on him. When he looked back again it was with the eyes of suspicion fixed on Nigel. “That was a freak, that storm. You can’t kid me. A freak. You just had a guess and there it was. That’s the way they do conjuring tricks. Just make you look where they want you to. You spotted that storm. That’s all it is. Ruddy conjuring. But I’ll be back, old man. I’ll be back Wednesday. Mark me, friend, I won’t be late and the boat’s mine for nix, don’t forget.” “I won’t forget,” Nigel promised.
Mannel grinned with no humour, picked up his fine white hat and went out of the french windows, giving a nod as he went. He paused on the veranda steps, as if suddenly doubting the weather, then gave one brief glance back at the room and walked off quickly along the sand.
“Thank goodness!” Hal said.
“Not very honest, that bet,” said Harvey, “seeing that you believe everything you say.”
“If I’m wrong, I lose the boat.”
“Hm. But you don’t think
you are, so there’s no bet our side. Only his.”
“The hell with him!” Nigel burst out. “Don’t you realize what’s happening now? The deadline isn’t good any more. It may come any time.”
“It made me think,” Harvey said slowly. “If it is possible for experiments to accelerate it, might it not be as possible for other experiments to retard it—maybe stop it altogether?”
“I suppose it is possible,” Nigel said, wildly. “Yes. It night be. There is a chance, perhaps—that is, if only somebody will do something! That’s the trouble, Harvey, they try to smother it, kill it, do anything to stop people knowing…”
“In this case, it might not be necessary for everybody to be told so long as the right people know,” Harvey aid. “Don’t you see, this acceleration alters the case. There is at last the possibility that scientists who put it wrong can put it right.”
“There is, yes,” Nigel said and looked quickly at Hal.
Overhead the lights, switched on for hours without result, suddenly lit, grew brilliant and burst into darkness again. The flash of illumination had a blinding effect.
“It must be done now, Nigel,” Hal said urgently.
“Yes. It’s got to be done,” he agreed. “I’ll go as soon as it’s daylight.”
“Will there be time then?” Harvey asked.
‘Yes. At the present rate of speed-up there must be two days left.”
“Two days!” Harvey said. “Then why not go now?”
“I can’t,” Nigel said. “It’s just that I can’t. Don’t ask me anything. I’m sick of questions. I know what I’m doing. I’ll be in London in time. Tonight is hopeless. I happen to have met the Defence Minister and I happen to remember that he is the only member of the Government still in London. He’s a dreary, accurate, clock-watching filing system, but he’s always at his desk by nine, and in a case like this that sort of idiocy can be of help. I had to have his co-operation in watching various Service tests, that’s how I know all about him. Don’t worry. He’ll be there.”
Harvey raised his eyebrows. “Can I nip home in this?” he asked. “My suit won’t dry for days.”
“Of course,” Nigel said.
“I’ll look after it,” Hal promised.
Harvey went.
“We’ve got to get the children aboard that barge,” Nigel said. “That’s the essential thing—to organize it so that no one can get at them!”
“But now the time has changed and you don’t know how much….” she began.
“That doesn’t matter, Hal. We stand our chance with everybody else in the world—if there is a chance. But I’m not taking any risks of anything happening before that. I’ve just made up my mind, that’s all. It’s crazy. All right. I’ve always been crazy, so I won’t stop now. We’re getting those kids aboard, Hal, with everything—everything they want. They may have to stay for two or three days. I don’t know how soon this thing will come. It needs new calculations with details I might not be able to obtain. We’ll take the risk like everybody else, but not of the kids. You’re going aboard and Joe is going to have to be the man. He will. Don’t worry. You can take my old twelve- bore and cartridges. And if anybody does try to get there,
Don’t hesitate. There’s no such thing as hanging from now on. We’re starting now. Everything aboard. Food. I’ll run the hose for the water. This has got to be done like an Army operation. Make ready for anything. You never know what they might try. If they’re a couple of real crooks we won’t know what to expect they’ll do, or risk, so we’ve got to plan as if you will not leave that boat at all. Get me? You’ve got to be self-contained, so we must think of everything. Absolutely everything, here mustn’t be anything you have to come out for when I’m away.”
“I understand,” she said. “Well, let’s get everything on the boat and take the children last of all.”
“Right, darling. I’ll take the hose aboard. Make a list of what you want. We’ll do it that way. Oil, matches— ‘you know. They’ll want hot drinks and so on. Just like he holidays.” He laughed suddenly and kissed her. “I’m out of it. Out of the slough. I’ve got something real to do at last!”
Tears came to her eyes as she watched him go out of the windows, then she turned, took the telephone pad and pencil and went out to the kitchen, writing as she went. She had most things together already.
As she went there came into the back of her mind that one overwhelming fact… that there was a chance, after all.
In the front of her mind were the children, and those two implacable, immovable men who had stopped her only a few hours ago. That was
a fight that she could understand, and she was grateful it was there.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I
The barge operation was successful. At six a.m. Nigel drank a cup of coffee and stared out at the old hulk lying on the tranquil sea and felt relief. Then he turned again to the problem of how to leave the house.
It was then that Leila came in. She had not been to bed, but she had changed. Her look was deliberately cold. “Leila, of course!” he said.
“Why of course ? What’s the matter, Ni ?”
“I’ve been trying to think of a way of getting out of here,” he said urgently. “I must get to London.”
“You’re going to do something?” She was quizzical. ‘Yes. It’s got to be done, now. There’s a chance.” “What!” She was startled, suddenly emptied as if some great belief had crumbled within her.
“Yes, there is. But I’ve got to get to London, and there are a couple of men out there waiting to stop me. I couldn’t explain anything to them and I can’t get through to anybody else. The phone’s quite gone. The fuses just go one after the other. Like the lights.”
“Do you mean a couple of strong-arm men out there?” “Just that. They’ve got a shooting brake. They stopped Hal yesterday. It’s Rex.”
‘You could get in the boot of my car.”
“I think that’s the first place I would look,” Nigel said. ‘Most other people would, too. And what makes you think they’ll let you go by?”
“Then how?”
“Straightforward war,” he said suddenly. “What other way is there? ’
“You might lose.”
“Can’t afford that,” he said. “Got to make sure I win.’
“Have you got a gun?”
“No. Hal has it.”
“I think I need to be explained to,” Leila said slowly.
“Plenty of time for that,” he said. “Listen, I think open tactics are the best. I’ll go ahead on foot. Start the row. You drive-up when I’ve started. I should be able to sock one by surprise and you can run down the other.”
“Run down….” She shuddered.
“This is a chance, perhaps, of saving the world,” he said. “There’s very little time.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“The lane will be blocked. They use the brake for that.
I have to down one man and get into the brake to shift it while you get the other. And whatever you do, don’t wreck the car. We need that.”
He lit a cigarette and went towards the door.
“I’d just like a drink,” Leila said.
He stopped and looked back.
“Of course. Help yourself. There are some papers I must have.”
He went out, leaving the door open. She walked over to the sideboard and poured a brandy. It made her shiver to drink it, but she was shivering already inside. She took the drink to the window and looked out at the barge, her eyes narrow.
He came back and looked in at the door.
“Ready?” he said.
She nodded, finished the brandy and went with him. Some of the animals in the garden started kicking up. a fuss as they went by to get Leila’s car. Pigeons in their cage cooed, expecting a handful of meal.
“What’s the matter?” Leila said as he hesitated.
“We forgot the zoo,” he said. “I shall have to feed them when I get back. Can’t let
them starve.”
They walked on.
“Sometimes I’m sure you’re crazy,” Leila said. “Nice crazy. What in hell do a few wretched animals matter now?”
“Everything matters, I suppose,” he said. “It’s just how you feel about it.”
They got to the car.
“Better see if it starts,” he said.
It had difficulty, but after a minute or more it went. “Something’s wrong with it,” Leila said.
“It’ll get better out of this electrical swamp area,” he said. “Keep it going, anyhow. I’m walking ahead now. You mustn’t be far behind. You’ll have to judge the timing.”
She snatched his wrist as he was about to go. “Supposing they’re armed?” she asked.
“They’ll be all the more surprised,” he replied, and laughed suddenly. “Let’s go.”
She let him go and watched his big shape moving away down the drive to the lane, a man not frightened for himself any more. She felt a savage pride in him, and in that moment she resolved he would be hers.
She started the car crawling after him up the lane. The lane wound and he could not see far ahead. He marvelled at the way the stunned attitude of his brain during the last two days had suddenly ended. He felt he could deal with what lay ahead of him; his head was clear because of its resolve to get through and do what he had to do.
He saw the roof of the brake above the hedge. It made him quicken his pace to get in sight of it. As he rounded the bend he saw it, slanted across the lane. One door was open and a man was sitting on the car floor, feet on the road, eating. The other man was standing, back to Nigel, staring away into the distance. The sitting man said something and the Top Man turned round. He seemed surprised to see Nigel coming. The other man got up and threw his meal into the brake.
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