‘Well, they should have been back by now. Steve left an hour ago.’ They stopped outside the boathouse. ‘Let’s get some lights on here. Where’s the switch?’
‘In the boathouse.’
I felt Leotta grab my arm and I instinctively put a silencing finger to my lips. With the other hand I raised my pistol.
Someone came into the boathouse and shone a torch around. ‘This might be it.’ There was a metallic snap and light flooded into the boathouse from the quay. The man went outside and said, ‘I don’t like her. She spooks me.’
I twisted round and peered through the crack in the door where the hinges were. The two men were standing out on the quay, which was now brightly lit. One was perhaps in his forties and wore a black beard, the other was younger, another beach boy type. He was saying, ‘Well, she cooked up this job. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t be here.’
‘She still spooks me. I don’t like the way she plays with guns. And where the hell is she?’ There was frustration in his voice.
The younger man walked to the edge of the quay. ‘Hey! The boat’s back.’
The older one joined him. ‘Is that the boat Steve took?’
‘Yeah, I came down with him. We must have missed them coming down from the airfield. They’ll be up there by now.’
‘I guess so,’ said Blackbeard. ‘Let’s get back.’ They turned and walked up the quay towards the boathouse. I thought they were going to come inside again to turn off the lights, but they didn’t. Instead they walked past the boathouse and out of sight, and I wondered if they would call in on their colleague in the telephone exchange. I hoped he was still out of action and out of sight in his electrical cupboard.
I needn’t have worried: the gravel crunched again on the road up to the airstrip. The last I heard was the younger man saying, ‘When’s the plane due?’ I’d have liked to know the answer, but Blackbeard’s voice came only as an indistinguishable murmur.
Leotta’s grip on my arm loosened. ‘Come on,’ I said in a low voice. ‘We’ll be back at the house in fifteen minutes or less.’
I tried to remember if the quay could be seen from the road to the airstrip. Now that it was lit up, anyone moving out there would stand out as though illuminated by a searchlight. And I didn’t dare turn the lights off because I didn’t know if anyone was supposed to be around to do it. I ran the reel of memory again and came to the conclusion that the quay was hidden by the swell of the hillside and could not be seen from the road. It was time to move.
‘We make this fast,’ I said. ‘Across the quay, into the boat and away. And we do it now.’
We came out of the boathouse at a dead run, expecting at any moment to hear a shout of alarm. We tumbled into the boat and I snatched loose the painter from the mooring ring, but held on because now that we were below the level of the quay we could not be seen anyway. I didn’t want to push straight out because that would bring us into the circle of illumination from the lights on the quay. The drill this time was to move parallel with the quay wall and into the darkness beyond, and only then to head for the house.
I didn’t want to fire up the engine so I used a paddle I found on the bottom boards. It took us a fair while but we got to the house at last and I moored. Then I called softly, ‘Kemp here. Hold your fire, John.’
‘All right, sir.’
When I went into the house I found I was wringing with sweat.
III
John showed me where the butler’s pantry was and I picked up the telephone, wondering if this was going to work. I grinned when I heard the dialling tone and hastily spun out Hanna’s number. His telephone rang once and was picked up; he must have had his hand poised and ready to grab. ‘Hanna. That you, Kemp?’
‘Here I am,’ I said, almost cheerfully.
‘LH713 took off,’ he said. ‘It’s a Boeing 707 and it’s still on radar. They’re raising the pilot by radio, ordering him to turn back.’
‘That might not work,’ I said. ‘Haslam and Philips are on board. They’ll know something’s up if the plane changes course suddenly.’
‘It’s a chance we have to take. How many do you estimate are in that gang at El Cerco?’
‘How the hell would I know? I’ve spotted five and two of those are now dead. All strangers, apart from Mrs Haslam. There are sure to be guards on the gates and maybe more at the airstrip. For twelve million dollars, Bette Haslam could recruit a bloody army.’
‘I’ve got boats out, which will come into El Cerco from the sea. I’ve raised a couple of helicopters to ferry men across the island to reinforce the police from North End. They’ll seal off the landward side of El Cerco. But all this takes time. Is everything quiet at the house?’
I told him of Blackbeard and friend, and said, ‘I think the younger one could be called Terry.’
‘When Mrs Haslam turns up missing, they might come looking for her,’ he predicted. ‘You’d better be ready for them.’
‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be right now.’
‘Listen carefully,’ Hanna said. ‘We’re going to try to slip a boat into the lagoon very quietly. It will have a doctor on board. For God’s sake, don’t get mixed up and shoot at it.’
‘I won’t.’
‘I’ve got things to do, so …’ He stopped. ‘Wait a minute, Kemp.’ I heard a murmured conversation before he came back on the line. ‘LH713 sent out a distress call and shortly after went off the radar screen. It seems you were right, Kemp.’
‘Of course I was bloody well right,’ I yelled.
‘I only had your word for it,’ he said dryly. ‘But then, I’ve been mobilising the police force and what we have of an army and a navy, all on your word. Sit tight, Mr Kemp. I’m getting busy.’ He rang off.
I went to see how Jill was. John was at the window keeping watch across the lagoon and Leotta was beside Jill on the settee, dabbing her forehead with a damp flannel. ‘How is she doing?’
‘She’s burning up.’
I touched Jill’s cheek with the back of my hand. The sweat had gone and her skin was as dry as paper and very hot. ‘There’s a doctor on the way,’ I said.
‘Thirsty,’ Jill whispered. ‘So thirsty.’
‘I’ll get you some water.’
‘No!’ said Leotta. ‘She mustn’t drink.’
‘Can’t she even swill her mouth out?’ I said, and got up. I went into the kitchen but didn’t turn on the lights. Working by feel, I filled a glass with water.
Jill accepted the drink gratefully, rolling it around her mouth and spitting it out. If a few drops went down her throat I thought it wouldn’t do her any harm, and she seemed the better for it.
After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
IV
‘There’s someone moving across there.’
I put down my coffee cup and joined John at the window. On the brightly lit quay on the mainland, two figures were visible. John passed me binoculars and I put them to my eyes. Blackbeard and another man I hadn’t seen before sprang closer. They appeared to be having an argument. Blackbeard pointed down at the water and then waved his arm up towards the airstrip.
It must have been confusing for them. Bette Haslam and Steve were still missing, and the boat that had been there before was gone. I wondered what interpretation they’d put on that.
Blackbeard pointed straight towards me and then waved at the big work boat moored at the quay. His intention was painfully obvious: they were coming across to have a look at the house.
‘Stand by to repel boarders,’ I said.
Blackbeard walked towards the work boat and stooped to a mooring ring. I lowered the binoculars and took the pistol from my pocket. ‘John,’ I said. ‘Remember to push off the safety catch before you pull the trigger.’
‘Yes, sir.’
The air was suddenly torn apart by an indescribable noise. It swelled from nothing to a high pitch of intensity within a couple of seconds. Something moved above our heads and I looked up to see the Boei
ng 707 coming in right overhead, nose up and flared out for landing. It was so damned low that instinctively I flinched and crouched lower, as if to escape having my head knocked off. The undercarriage was down, the navigation lights flashing, and there was a row of illuminated ports along the side. I could even see the heads of some of the passengers as they looked out.
The noise of those four big jets at that range was deafening and made the windows rattle in their frames. Then the plane moved away towards the mainland and I saw the cherry-red heat of the jet pipes before it settled down over the brow of the hill to land on the runway.
I looked quickly across at the quay, putting the binoculars to my eyes. Blackbeard was looking back towards the airstrip and the line he was holding dropped from his hand. He turned and waved, and the other man climbed out of the work boat, and they both ran towards the road leading to the airstrip and vanished behind the boathouse.
I blew air explosively from my lungs, and said shakily, ‘How old were you when you went grey, John?’
There was a smile in his voice. ‘About sixty-five, sir. But I lived a quiet life.’
‘I hear it’s strongly recommended.’ I put the pistol back in my pocket. ‘I’m going to the other side of the house. If you want me, just shout. If anything moves across there I want to know.’
I stood up and walked across the room, pausing to flash a light at Jill, who still lay cramped in the same position. There wasn’t anything I could do for her. Leotta was sitting in the armchair, her hands clasped over her ears, staring up disbelievingly at where the passenger jet had almost landed on top of us. I took hold of her hand and led her outside.
There was a sort of garden on the other side of the house with a bench facing the sea. I sat down wearily and looked out towards the coral reef. Leotta sat beside me in silence and, after a moment, leaned her head against me. I curled my arm behind her shoulders, pulling her in against my chest. The sun was long since down but the air was still stickily warm. Even though the night was dark, I could see the occasional flash of white in the distance as a heavy sea pounded against the coral to send up a fountain of foam. The distant roar was somehow comforting. It was something that had been going on for a long time before that night and would go on when the events of the night, no matter how they turned out, would be forgotten history. The sound would have sent me to sleep had I been in the mood.
Three-quarters of an hour later, the sound changed fractionally. It was interspersed with a thrumming noise that had a hint of a burble in it, and there was a blacker patch against the darkness of the lagoon. Then there was a splashing and I disentangled myself from a somnolent Leotta, stood up and walked to the low wall. I shone the flashlamp into the lagoon.
It illuminated a small boat being rowed towards the house and there was a grimly smiling face that I recognised. Hanna said, ‘Put out that light, Kemp.’
I flicked it off and waited until the boat came up to the wall. The first man ashore was carrying a large bag. ‘I’m Dr Baines.’
‘You’re needed,’ I said. ‘This way, doctor.’
‘Hold on,’ said Hanna from the boat. ‘I’m coming, too.’ As I helped him ashore he said, ‘All quiet?’
‘The Boeing arrived three-quarters of an hour ago. How did you get here so fast?’
‘We had a boat coming in. The doctor and I flew by helicopter and transferred at sea. Not something I ever want to do again.’ He turned around and bent over the wall. ‘Captain, get your men ashore as fast as you can.’
I gathered up Leotta then led the doctor and Hanna to the other side of the house. I showed the doctor where Jill was lying and bent down beside her. ‘Jill,’ I said. ‘The cavalry’s arrived.’
When I flashed the light on her she was in the same position as when I had last seen her. ‘Jill,’ I said. ‘We’ve been rescued.’ She still didn’t move, and I said to the doctor in a low voice, ‘I think she’s in shock.’
Hanna moved forwards from the door and stumbled over something. ‘What the …?’ I flashed my light on the body of Steve at his feet.
‘That’s the one I shot.’
The doctor said, ‘I must have light. I can’t do anything without light.’
‘I don’t want to light this place up yet,’ said Hanna slowly. ‘Perhaps if we find a room on the other side and screen the windows.’
We went back and I realised that the house was filling with men – tough young men in army uniforms carrying automatic weapons. Hanna had a word with the captain and a couple of his men began to screen the windows of a room, using blankets from a bed. Presently Jill was brought in and laid on the stripped bed and Dr Baines was at her side.
I went back and found John still at the window, looking towards the mainland. Leotta was standing beside him, staring into the blackness. I tapped John on the shoulder. ‘All right, John.’ I indicated the soldier behind me armed with a submachine-gun. ‘Let’s let the professionals take over.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ he said gravely, and hesitated. ‘I was pretty nasty to you once, sir. I’m sorry.’
‘Water under the bridge,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and have a drink. Oh, but you don’t, do you?’
‘I drink,’ he said. ‘I’m just careful who I drink with.’
V
‘Here’s my problem,’ said Hanna. ‘It doesn’t matter a damn if I have the whole Campanillan police force and a division of infantry as long as those bastards up there hold a hundred hostages. As it is, I don’t have too many men here. More are coming but it takes time, which is something we haven’t got.’
Leotta said, ‘Does anyone know how much the stuff weighs – the money, I mean, the twelve million dollars?’
Hanna shrugged. ‘Can’t be much less than two tons. Maybe more.’
‘It’s an hour since they landed,’ she said. ‘How long do you think it would take them to move the stuff from the Boeing to the Lear?’
‘Depends on how many of them there are.’
‘At least seven,’ I said. ‘That’s by my count. Probably four who hijacked the Boeing and three here. Four, if the chap in the exchange has got loose. But Bette Haslam was talking about using the passengers as slave labour as well.’
‘Let’s go into what she said in a little more detail,’ said Hanna. ‘What’s all this about crashing the Boeing into San Martin harbour?’
‘That was going to be down to Philips,’ I said. ‘According to Bette, he’s an expert parachutist. My guess is he’d set the auto-pilot on a long glide and jump over the sea. She said there’d be a boat to pick him up.’
‘We can do something about that,’ said Hanna. He turned to the army captain. ‘See if you can get the San Martin harbour police on that radio of yours.’
The captain vanished and Hanna said, ‘Did Mrs Haslam say anything about the passengers on this last flight of the Boeing?’
‘No,’ I said flatly. ‘And that’s what scares me. You’d have to be damned ruthless to consider dumping a hundred innocent passengers into the sea simply to cause a diversion.’
‘Her record came in on the teletype just before I left,’ said Hanna. ‘She is ruthless. Utterly ruthless. She has a rap sheet as long as your arm and it’s not pleasant reading: she escalated from petty drug offences to become one of America’s most wanted criminals. You name it, she did time for it – burglary, fraud, assault, armed robbery. You won’t be surprised to learn that there are several murders with her fingerprints all over them, although she was never charged.’
‘So all that guff she gave me about being an air hostess …’
‘Just that – guff.’
Leotta said, ‘I don’t understand. How on earth did she fetch up all the way out here, with Haslam?’
‘Good question. They weren’t married that long before he signed up with Salton. It seems to me that she might have targeted him specially for this job.’
I said, ‘She told us she’d been planning it for two years.’
‘My guess is that was a conservat
ive estimate.’ Hanna’s sleepy look had returned. ‘She may not have known exactly what she was going to do with him, but Haslam was on her radar a long while back. And it takes a certain kind of woman to go as far as marrying a man to achieve her nefarious ends.’
‘Sounds like he’s better off without her,’ I said mirthlessly.
‘Frankly, I think the world is. But what I need to know now is this: will that gang up there still carry out her plan in her absence?’
My stomach lurched. ‘You can’t let either of those planes take off.’
‘How am I going to stop them?’ he demanded. ‘I have three armoured riot trucks coming up, which I can slam on to the runway to stop anything taking off. But they’ll be another hour. That makes two hours they’ll have had, and I don’t think they’ll need that much time.’
The captain popped his head around the door. ‘I’ve raised the harbour police.’
‘Good.’ Hanna went out and Leotta and I followed more slowly. Outside the door we bumped into Dr Baines, who was wiping his hands on a towel. Leotta said, ‘How is Mrs Salton?’
The doctor put the towel on a table. ‘Easier, but we must get her into hospital.’
‘I thought it looked bad.’
Baines blew out his cheeks. ‘A bullet in the abdomen scrambles things up. I could do an emergency operation here, but I’m hoping I won’t have to.’
I said, ‘Where is the nearest hospital?’
‘North End, about ten miles from here.’
‘And how long before you … have to make up your mind?’
‘An hour at the most,’ he said. ‘I’m going to start sterilising my instruments now, just in case.’
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ said Leotta.
Dr Baines looked at her, then me. I shrugged. ‘I’d take her up on that if I were you. You should see what she can do with a bandage.’
I went into the operations room Hanna had rigged up. He was just putting down the handset on the field radio. I said, ‘Hanna, I’ve been talking to the doctor. We must get Jill to a hospital fast. She’ll die if we don’t.’
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