‘Bloody hell, you had me scared there,’ she said as she opened the door and James and Fairburn squeezed past her into the lavatory.
‘This him, then?’ she went on, looking Fairburn up and down through narrowed eyes.
‘Yes.’
‘Don’t look much, do he?’
‘Shut up for once and let’s get out of here,’ said James. ‘You go first, Kelly, then try to hold the boat steady. I’ll come last, once I’m sure that Fairburn’s safely down.’
‘I’m not climbing out there,’ said Fairburn as James helped Kelly on to the rope.
‘You’ve got no choice,’ said James. ‘It’s either that or sail to Russia.’
‘I’m not an athletic man.’
‘That’s all right,’ said James. ‘I won’t be scoring you for technique. Jump if you have to, but unless we get off this ship sharpish we’re dead ducks.’
She didn’t do it very gracefully, but Kelly made it down in one piece, sliding the last few feet into the rowing boat.
‘I’m really not sure I can do it,’ said Fairburn. ‘I’ve no head for heights.’
‘Please,’ said James. ‘Don’t think about it, just do it.’
Fairburn saw the desperate look on James’s face.
‘All right.’
James helped Fairburn up to the porthole. He leant out and grabbed hold of the rope, then nervously squeezed through the narrow opening until he was outside, dangling and bumping against the hull.
James could hardly bear to watch as Fairburn slithered down the rope. He had only got halfway when he let go completely. He landed awkwardly, with his legs in the water, and badly winded himself. Luckily the sound of his splash was drowned out by the noise of the churning propellers and the diesel growl from the tugboats that were steering the Amoras out of the dock.
Kelly quickly hauled Fairburn aboard and looked up at James.
The Amoras was pulling the little rowing boat along, and they were gradually picking up speed. The rope, still tied to the seat, was stretched taut, but James was out of the porthole in a flash and shinned down without even thinking about it.
Fairburn was huddled in a heap, shivering with shock.
‘He’ll live,’ said Kelly as she sat down and turned to James. ‘So, now what?’
‘We’ll let the Amoras pull us along until we’re out of sight of the dockside, then we’ll cut loose and try to get ashore on the other side,’ said James.
Once they were in the middle of the dock, James took the knife out from his boot and hacked through the rope, whose knot had been pulled too tight to loosen by hand.
They bobbed in the wake of the Amoras watching and waiting as she was pulled slowly away from them.
Kelly cackled. ‘I wonder how far they’ll get across the North Sea before they discover he’s not aboard,’ she said, but almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth they heard a siren and saw the tugs slow down.
‘What’s happening?’ said Fairburn.
‘She stopping,’ said James. ‘It looks like luck’s not running entirely our way tonight.’
Now the Amoras’s propellers went into a frothing reverse screw and soon she was still. Next lights came on and the whole ship was lit up like a Christmas tree. At the same time James noticed a commotion on the far side of the dock. Big floodlights were fired up and men with torches began to run in all directions, blowing whistles and shouting. Finally, a motor car jumped into life and raced along the dockside.
‘I shouldn’t have said nothing,’ said Kelly quietly.
‘I thought it had all been a bit too easy,’ said James.
‘What are we going to do?’
‘Don’t worry,’ said James. ‘I’ll think of something.’
25
The Empress of the East
James thought quickly. They had to get off the open water before they were spotted, and they couldn’t go back to the north side of the docks where the Amoras had been berthed, as it was swarming with Charnage’s men.
A huge passenger ship was berthed on the south side, sitting serenely in the water, like a vast floating hotel, its windows unlit.
‘What ship is that?’ said James. ‘Do you know?’
‘That’s the Empress of the East,’ said Kelly, following his gaze. ‘She’s not in use any more. They’re going to take her up north to be broken up. They’re stripping everything out of her.’
James pulled on the oars and steered towards the Empress. Soon they were swallowed up by her shadow and James carefully manoeuvred the rowing boat round the stern. There was just space enough between the great sloping hull of the ship and the dockside for them to fit and they floated into the gloom. The water slapped and echoed, and, as they nudged against her side, there was a deep, metallic boom.
‘Now what?’ said Fairburn. ‘We can’t stay here all night. It’s freezing.’
‘We might have to,’ said James.
There were shouts and the sounds of vehicles and running feet in the far distance.
‘We can’t risk trying to get away through the docks,’ said James. ‘Charnage will have his men everywhere.’
‘And there’s the Russians,’ said Fairburn wearily.
‘The two who took you to your cabin?’ said James.
‘Yes,’ said Fairburn. ‘They are Menzhinsky’s men – OGPU, Russian secret police. You do not want to tangle with them, Bond. They are cold-hearted killers. They came over here to assassinate a Foreign Office clerk called Ernest Oldham in September, and stayed on.’
‘And who’s the woman?’ asked James. ‘Is she one of them?’
‘She’s running the whole thing for Menzhinsky,’ said Fairburn. ‘Colonel Irina Sedova, but they call her Babushka, the Grandmother. She might look harmless but she’s the worst of the lot.’
‘We can’t stay here,’ said Kelly anxiously. ‘We just can’t.’
James looked up. ‘Stay put and keep quiet,’ he said. ‘I’ll go up top and see if I can’t find out what’s going on.’
‘Be careful,’ said Fairburn.
‘I intend to,’ said James.
There was a ladder fixed to the wharf. James grabbed hold of it and climbed up. As he neared the top he went slowly and cautiously until his head was above the lip and he could see along the dockside. He was well hidden here, beneath a platform and a gangplank that connected the Empress to the dockside.
There were men down at the far end. They appeared to be searching the area with torches. So far, though, this part of the docks appeared quiet and deserted.
James took one last look around, then scrambled back down the ladder to the boat.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to sneak on to the Empress, find somewhere safe to hide out for a few hours and, once we’re sure the coast is clear, we’ll make a run for it. And before you say anything, there’s no time to argue, just follow me and, for God’s sake, keep quiet.’
Without waiting for a response, he scurried up the ladder, and then crawled on to the dockside and checked the area. The wharf was fenced off and guarded by a hut next to a flimsy gate, where two nightwatchmen sat. Luckily they had their backs to the ship and were watching the excitement further along the dock.
The search party was still some way off, but it was getting nearer.
Kelly was next up. James signalled to her to keep low and she dropped on to her belly and crawled up alongside him. Soon Fairburn was with them, breathing heavily and shaking.
James glanced up the gangplank.
‘Are you ready?’ he said quietly.
‘As I’ll ever be,’ said Fairburn.
‘Come on, then.’
Keeping in a low crouch, they hurried up the gangplank and on to the ship. They found themselves on a narrow stretch of open-sided decking.
‘We need to get inside as quickly as possible,’ said James as they ran along, keeping in the shadows. All the doors and windows they tried were fastened tight, however.
‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ said James.
James had spotted a rolled-up hose next to a rusted bucket and a box labelled IN CASE OF FIRE.
He opened the lid of the box and took out a fire axe.
‘There you are,’ he said, grinning.
‘What are you doing?’ said Fairburn.
‘It’s a skeleton key,’ said James. ‘I think you’ll find it’ll open anything.’
‘You can’t just break in,’ said Fairburn.
‘Can’t I?’ James moved closer to Fairburn. ‘The ship’s about to be broken up for scrap. I don’t think anyone’s going to complain much about a broken window.’
So saying, James pulled off his jacket, folded it double, and got Kelly to hold it against a large square pane of glass.
The coat muffled his blows as he swung the axe. It took him several goes before the window, designed to keep out heavy Atlantic storms, at last gave way. There was a satisfying crack, then another, and finally the glass fell inwards and rattled on to the floor.
James cleared away the last few jagged pieces, put his jacket back on and climbed inside.
‘I must say,’ said Kelly, climbing in after him, ‘a night out with you is certainly memorable.’
They found themselves in a fancy cocktail lounge with an ornate bar, murals on the walls, a plush carpet but no furniture.
Kelly whistled as she took it all in.
‘I ain’t ever seen nothing like this before,’ she said. ‘It’s like a palace, or something. I can’t believe they’re going to smash the whole thing up. It don’t seem right.’
‘Why are they doing it?’ said James. ‘She seems perfectly seaworthy.’
‘They got bigger, faster ships now,’ said Kelly. ‘Everything’s changing. They’re building a new passenger ship up in Clydeside, the Queen Mary; she’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.’
James rummaged around behind the bar and found some candles and a tray of matchbooks with the name of the ship on them.
‘We can’t risk lighting these here,’ he said, handing out the candles. ‘Someone outside might see. But we’ll need them once we’re down below. Now, let’s find somewhere to hole up.’
‘You know,’ said Fairburn, ‘this is all really rather exciting!’
‘Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t get any more exciting,’ said James. ‘Right now all I want to do is eat and sleep.’
A quarter of an hour later they were standing outside a row of first-class cabins on a lower deck. The doors were secured shut, but James picked one and easily splintered the lock with his axe.
‘Better put out the lights,’ he said, before opening the door, and as they blew out the candles they were thrown into cold, inky darkness.
As the door swung open it revealed a room lit by silver moonlight, and through the windows they could see the Amoras, waiting out in the middle of the docks, its lights blazing.
As their eyes adjusted, Kelly gasped.
‘Look at this,’ she said. ‘It’s not real.’
There was a small sitting room furnished with sofas and chairs, and from there a door led through to a separate bedroom and bathroom.
‘I’m utterly shattered,’ said Fairburn, testing the bed. ‘Mind if I take this one?’
‘Go ahead,’ said James. ‘I’ll try to find some bedding.’
James eventually found some boxes in the steward’s quarters along the corridor. They had been stapled shut, but he ripped one open to reveal a pile of moth-eaten blankets. He gave a couple to Fairburn and an armful to Kelly before going to smash open another cabin for her.
‘Where you going to sleep?’ she asked.
‘Plenty of cabins to choose from,’ said James. ‘But I want to try and find some food first.’
‘Do you think there’ll be anything on board?’ said Kelly.
‘I don’t know; everything’s packed up, but it’s worth trying.’
‘I’m coming with you,’ said Kelly.
‘Fine,’ said James. ‘I could do with the company.’
They told Fairburn where they were going and set off to explore the Empress.
James felt like he was becoming an old hand at finding his way around ships and he set off with some confidence. The Empress was much larger than the Amoras, however, and in the candlelight it was quite confusing. It was a good half an hour before they found the galley, a huge, industrial affair, designed to cook meals for a thousand people at a time.
It had been stripped clean, though. The cupboards were bare, the cold-storage areas empty and mouldy. Some of the stoves had already been dismantled and taken away. They were just about to give up hope, when Kelly forced open a locker and found a pile of forgotten tin cans.
‘Look at this,’ she said. ‘Pilchards, beans, tomatoes, peas, peaches, pear halves. We can have a right royal feast.’
James opened some cans with his knife and they set to, sitting on a worktop with their legs dangling over the edge. The food was cold and tasteless, but James didn’t care. He couldn’t remember when he had ever been so hungry. Or so thirsty. He drank the liquid from the fruit tins as greedily as if it had been mountain spring water.
‘Just think of all the places this ship’s been,’ said Kelly. ‘All the stories it could tell. I never been out of the East End.’
‘Really?’ said James, amazed.
‘Yeah, really,’ said Kelly. ‘What would I want to go anywhere else for? I wouldn’t know anyone.’
‘You must have been somewhere,’ said James.
‘I been to Epping Forest a couple of times and last year we all went down to Southend,’ said Kelly. ‘But nowhere foreign. You ever been anywhere foreign? Any other countries? I know you went to Scotland that time with Red, but anywhere else?’
‘I’ve been to Italy,’ said James. ‘Germany, Switzerland, France –’
‘All right, there’s no need to show off.’
‘You did ask.’ James laughed and jumped down off the worktop. ‘Come on,’ he said, wiping his mouth. ‘Let’s get to bed.’
‘You think you can find your way back?’
‘I hope so,’ said James. ‘I wouldn’t want to lose Fairburn after we’ve been to all this trouble.’
As it was, five minutes after leaving the galley they were hopelessly lost.
‘You don’t know where you’re going, do you?’ said Kelly, as they tramped along a passageway deep in the freezing interior of the ship, their candles sending flickering shapes across the walls.
‘I just need to get my bearings,’ said James. ‘I think we should have gone up instead of down at that last stairway.’
‘And here I was thinking you knew what you was doing.’
‘Your moaning’s not helping much, Kelly.’
‘I like to moan,’ said Kelly. ‘Don’t worry about it, none. I only have a go at people I like.’
‘And what do you do to people you don’t like?’
‘You know the answer to that,’ said Kelly.
‘You kick them to death.’
‘Something like that.’
‘Well, I’m glad you’re on my side,’ said James.
‘Me too. I never met anyone like you before’ said Kelly. ‘Anyone posh. I don’t get the chance much round our way. I though all posh people were stuck-up snobs, but you’re all right.’
They came to another stairway and ran up it. It led to a very grand part of the ship. Very different to the drab, dull passageways they had been walking along. A lot of the fittings had been removed, but there was still enough left to show what the ship had once been like. There were carved wooden banisters, carpeted floors, and glittery light fittings, like cascades of diamonds and crystals, falling from the ceiling.
James pushed open two double doors and they came into a ballroom. The windowless walls were covered in mirrors and gold gi
lt; there was ornate moulded plasterwork everywhere and a few elegant circular tables shoved into a corner. A low stage at one end was still set out with the chairs of the last orchestra to have played there.
Kelly looked around in wonder and laughed. Then she ran across the great wide-open expanse of the floor, skirts flying, arms outstretched, twirling round and round and whooping.
Her candle blew out and James came over to relight it.
‘We should stay here forever, Jimmy,’ she said. ‘We could come and live here. I could be the queen and you could be a prince, or something. No, I should be an empress.’
‘The Empress of the East End,’ said James.
‘Yeah, that’s me!’ She spun away across the dance floor again. ‘Empress Kelly.’
‘We should get back,’ said James.
‘Why? What’s your hurry?’ said Kelly. ‘We’re never gonna get the chance to come somewhere like this again. At least I’m not. Maybe you will in France or Italy or some other fancy country. What have I got to look forward to, eh? You know what my life is like, Jimmy? No. Course you don’t. I been looking after me younger brothers and sisters since I was seven. I quit school two year ago and now I work at the biscuit factory. I sleep four to a room, with me two sisters and me Auntie Ruby. The only place I ever seen as big as this before was in a dream. So let me dream for a bit, OK?’
She searched around among the shadows and James heard the sound of a radio set being tuned. He ran over.
‘Kelly, I really don’t think you should do that. Someone might hear it.’
‘Who?’ said Kelly. ‘Who’s going to hear anything outside this room? I’ll only play it quiet.’
As band music came out of the speaker, she grabbed James by the hand.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s dance. You do know how to dance, I suppose?’
‘A little,’ said James. ‘My aunt taught me a few steps.’
‘Well, teach me some then.’
James held on to Kelly and they clumsily stumbled around the dance floor, collapsing into laughter every couple of minutes. Slowly, though, they worked out a dance of sorts with their own steps until they were spinning and gliding across the room without thinking.
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