iron pirate

by Unknown Author

  'What do you want, Inger?'

  She touched his mouth with her fingers. I need you to love me.'

  It made no sense, but he wanted to hold her, tell her everything. Hopes, fears, all the things which were bottled up inside him . . . The telephone shattered the silence and she smiled as he reached out to take it.

  It was Theil, his voice hushed and troubled. One of the guests had fallen down a ladder. It was someone important. He thought the captain should know.

  Hechler watched her, the way she smiled as she slipped the other strap from her shoulder and allowed the red silk to fall about her waist. Her breasts were lovely, and she touched one, her lips parted, knowing it would provoke him.

  He said quickly, 'Get the senior medical officer, Viktor.' He had not met the newcomer yet and as he watched the thrust of her breasts he could barely recall his name. 'Stroheim.'

  He put down the phone and looked at her. She was staring at him, her eyes full of disbelief. 'What name?'

  Hechler said, Karl-Heinz Stroheim. He's new on board. I -'

  She struggled into her dress and knocked over her champagne without seeming to notice it.

  Hechler stood up while she looked around the cabin like a trapped animal.

  'You know him?'

  She faced him, her eyes hot. 'Don't you dare question me! I'm not one of your snivelling sailors!' She recovered slightly and glanced at herself in the mirror. 'Take me back. I must go.'

  He blocked her way. 'Tell me! For God's sake, you said you wanted me!'

  She stared at him, and he could see her self-control returning, like a calm on the sea.

  What will you do, Dieter? Knock me down? Rape me?' She tossed her short curls. 'I think not - your precious Andreas would not care for that!

  Hechler could not recall walking back to the wardroom. More curious stares, her bright laugh as her escort lumbered over to claim her. He heard her say something about a headache, and

  then as she turned to look towards him she said, ‘It will be a relief to be alone,'

  Leitner watched as she followed Theil towards the door. He asked softly, 'Not going with her, Dieter? Tch, tch, I am surprised.'

  Hechler turned his back on the others, his voice dangerously calm.

  'You did it deliberately, sir. For one moment I thought He shook himself angrily. 'I don't know what I thought.'

  Leitner glanced towards his willowy aide who had just entered, his eyes everywhere until he had found his lord and master.

  Hechler saw the brief nod. Nothing more.

  Leitner picked up a fresh glass and watched the busy bubbles rising.

  'I shall set an example and retire, Dieter.' He looked at him for several seconds as if making up his mind.' 'First-degree readiness.' He shook his head as Hechler made to speak. 'Not yet. People are watching. We shall weigh tomorrow evening. As soon as the guests have departed, pass the word to the other commanding officers.' Some of his self-control slipped aside. 'You will brief your heads of departments as soon as we clear the anchorage.'

  Hechler watched the crowd of guests thinning soon after Leitner had followed his flag-lieutenant outside. It was like an unspoken command, and he walked to the guardrails opposite Turret Caesar to watch the boats and launches queuing at the * accommodation ladder to collect their passengers.

  Perhaps he hoped to see the red silk gown. He did not know any more. But he could picture her sitting beside him, her lovely body naked to the waist. Then her anger - or was it fear?

  Some of the departing guests were singing. The ship, deep in shadow, must look quite beautiful from the boats in the water, he thought.

  First-degree readiness. Like the opening of sealed orders. Page one.

  The squadron would slip away unseen in the darkness, but not a man in any of the other ships would know Prinz Luitpold's true purpose. When they did there would be few who would wish to change places with them.

  As one of the duty officers, Jaeger, with Stoecker standing close by, stood by the gangway and watched the visitors being

  guided and helped down the long ladder. The sailors were taking much greater care with the women than the men, he noticed.

  He saw the girl pause and look up at him. Shad waited until he returned from rounds, and he had spent the rest of the time speaking with her.

  He raised his hand in salute and saw her blow him a kiss.

  He did not see the pain on Stoecker's face as he spoke her name aloud. Sophie.

  By midnight as the watchkeepers changed round for the next lour hours Hechler still walked the decks alone.

  When he eventually went to his cabin he saw the glasses and ice- bucket had gone, the stain of her champagne all but mopped up from the carpet.

  A light burned beside his bunk, some coffee in a thermos nearby.

  He thought suddenly of the new medical officer, and her expression when he had spoken his name.

  There was so much he wanted to know, so much more he dared not ask.

  When Pirk entered silently to switch off the light he found the captain fast asleep, still fully dressed.

  Pirk sighed and then swung Hechler's legs on to the bunk.

  He thought of the newly installed admiral and what he had heard about him and his flag-lieutenant. If the other stewards knew, it would soon be all over the ship.

  Pirk smiled with satisfaction and switched off the light.

  The capfain would see them all right. He always had.

  Hechler slept on, and with his ship waited for the dawn.

  Chapter Six

  The Unexpected

  Hechler slid from his steel chair on the port side of the bridge and stamped his feet on the scrubbed gratings to restore the circulation. One of the watchkeepers jumped at the sound, and Hechler noted the tense backs of the bridge lookouts as they peered through their powerful glasses, each man to his own allotted sector.

  Hechler glanced at the armoured conning-tower and past it to the fire control position. Beneath and around him the ship vibrated and quivered but the motion was steady, and even some pencils on the chart table remained motionless.

  He tried to dampen down his own anxieties. It was always like this when a ship left the land. For him in any case. Now, with the additional knowledge of what might lie ahead, he had to be certain of everything. Confident.

  There had been no flaws, nothing serious anyway. He looked past two signalmen and saw Lubeck following half a mile astern, her faint funnel vapour streaming out abeam like her flags. The destroyers too were exactly on station, as if they were all on rails. They dipped their bows occasionally and Hechler saw the sea creaming over their forecastles before cascading down through the guardrails again. A small but powerful force, he thought, with air cover to make it easier. Every few minutes, or so it seemed, they sighted one of the big Focke Wulf Condors which acted as their eyes and escorts.

  Two bells chimed out from below the bridge and the men relieved from watch would be having their lunch, the main meal of the day. It had been sixteen hours since they had weighed and with little fuss had steamed out of Salt Fjord, soon to lose Bodo in the gathering dusk.

  Hechler had been on the bridge throughout that time, watching the cable clanking inboard with the usual chipped paint scattering to each massive link.

  Westward to skirt the Lofoten Islands and then north, the ships closing in protectively on either beam.

  All the captains had come aboard just prior to sailing, but l eitner had kept his comments on a general level. They all knew about the enemy convoys, each captain had an intelligence pack as big as a bible. The British might have a change of heart, or perhaps one of the convoys would be re-routed at the last minute.

  Sixteen hours at a relatively gentle fifteen knots, although the destroyers were finding station-keeping hard work.

  It was a strange feeling to be heading out into an ocean instead of sighting land every so often as in the Baltic. Now as Prinz I uitpold's raked bows ploughed across the seventieth parallel nothing la
y ahead unless you counted Spitzbergen or Bear Island. Scenes of other sea-fights, Hechler thought, before every eye had turned to Normandy and the Eastern Front.

  He walked to the chart-table to give himself time to glance at the men around him. Most of them were warmly dressed, for despite the fact it was August, the air had a bite to it. Soon there would be no escape from the ice.

  Their faces looked normal enough, he thought. That morning he had sensed the silence throughout the ship when he had spoken on (he intercom to the whole company.

  Leitner had been ready to make a speech, but Hechler had bluntly asked permission to speak to his men, in his own way.

  He had pictured them as his voice had echoed around each deck and compartment like a stranger's. Gun crews and engineers, the damage-control men and those who cooked and served the hundreds of meals it took to feed the Prinz's people.

  'We are going out into the Atlantic - There should have been rousing music, cheering; instead there was a silence which meant so much more to him, no matter what Leitner might believe.

  Some had tried to tell him privately that they would not let him down. Others, like the huge Gudegast, had merely joked about it. Good a place as any to lose a ship!

  He wondered what Rau would say if he knew'.

  Hechler shaded his eyes to look at the horizon. It was so eerie. A great, unbroken swell which roamed on and on for ever. And the sky, which was salmon-pink, painted the ragged clouds in a deeper hue, like copper. The ship's upperworks too were shining in the strange glow. Endless daylight, empty seas.

  Another Focke Wulf droned overhead; a lamp winked briefly to the ships below.

  The camera team had been on the bridge for much of the forenoon, but they seemed to have exhausted their ideas, and even the big four-engined Condor did not lure the cameras on deck again.

  Oberleutnant Ahlmann, who was officer-of-the-watch, put down a handset and said, The lady flier wishes to come to the bridge, sir.'

  Hechler thrust his hands deep into his pockets. He had not seen her since they had left Bodgf, except once when she had been on the admiral's bridge with Leitner. Like the two girls who were in the camera team, her presence gave a sense of unreality. According to Leitner, they would be transferred before the ship headed deep into the Atlantic. Their films would be invaluable, he had said with all of his usual enthusiasm. A tonic to the people at home. It all depended on the first move. Von Hanke would decide after that.

  Hechler had the feeling that the rear-admiral intended to use von Hanke as an excuse for almost everything.

  He said, 'Very well.' He might get to the bottom of it by asking her what exactly she was doing aboard, in his ship.

  Her voice came up the ladder and he pictured Inger, as he had a hundred times since the party. Her anger, her contempt, were so different from that earlier seduction. If it was to happen again . . .

  He turned to face her as she was ushered into the bridge.

  She wore a black leather jacket with a fur collar turned up over her hair. Her skin was very fresh from the wind and he guessed she had been exploring the upper deck.

  A wonderful view, Captain!' She climbed on to the gratings and peered through the salt-blotched screen. 'I should love to fly right now!'

  Hechler watched her profile, her neat hands which gripped the rail as the deck tilted slightly to a change of course.

  Ahlmann looked up from a voice-pipe and reported, 'Steady on Zero-Two-Two, sir. Revolutions one-one-zero.'

  He turned and saw her watching him.

  She shrugged. 'So different.' She gestured towards the upper bridge and radar, I.eitner's flag leaping stiffly to the wind. 'So huge. You feel as if nothing would stop her, as if she could run away with you.'

  Hechler nodded. 'When I was a young watchkeeper I often I bought that. Especially during the night, the captain asleep, nobody to ask. I used to look at the stars and -'

  'Gunnery Officer requires permission to train A and B turrets,

  sir.'

  Hechler replied, 'Yes. Ten minutes.'

  It never stops for you, does it?'

  He looked at her. I hadn't thought about it.' Together they w.itched as the two forward turrets swung silently on to the same bearing.

  Kroll never missed a chance, which was why he had given him ,1 time limit for this, another drill. At any moment, any second, the alarms might scream out. Men had to be clear-minded and not confused by too many exercises.

  I le thought of what Inger had said about this quiet-eyed girl. In some sort of trouble.

  She said, 'Seeing those great guns makes me realise what your kind of war is all about.'

  Are you afraid?'

  She seemed to consider it. '1 don't think so. It's like flying.

  [ here are only certain things you can do if the plane gets out of control.' She shrugged again. 'I don't feel I have any hold on things here.'

  Then she laughed and one of the lookouts tore his eyes from his binoculars to glance at her.

  1 know you are going to ask me, Captain, but like you, I am under orders. I am on board your ship because I have been so ordered. I am a civilian but 1 fly for the Luftwaffe.'

  1 heard what you did.' Hechler tried to adapt to her direct manner. 'It's more than I'd care to do.' He scraped the gratings with his boot. 'Give me something solid . . .'

  Theil appeared at the rear of the bridge and saluted, although his eyes were on the girl.

  'The admiral sends his compliments, sir, and would you see him.'

  Yes.' Hechler was annoyed at the interruption. Being captain usually gave him all he needed, but he craved a conversation with someone who was not committed or involved with the same things. Leitner had probably seen them chatting, and wras merely calling him away although it could hardly be from jealousy.

  The thought made him smile and she said quietly, 'You should do that more often, Captain.' She turned away as the two forward turrets purred back to point fore-and-aft again.

  Theil stepped forward so that he seemed to loom between them.

  Hechler said, 'If there is anything I can do while you are aboard . . .'

  She watched him, her eyes tawny in the strange light. 'Attend your ship, Captain. Her needs are greater than mine, I feel.'

  Hechler turned away. The brief contact was broken. And why not? His own self-pity was a poor enough bridge to begin with.

  He found Leitner on his armoured bridge, leaning with his arms spread wide on the plot-table.

  Leitner glanced up, his neat hair glossy beneath the lights. 'All intelligence reports confirm my own thinking, Dieter. Tomorrow, we shall meet with the eastbound convoy. The British will know we are on the move. No matter, they will expect us to strike at the westbound one, to protect their friend Ivan's supplies, eh?' He nodded, satisfied. 'All working out. There are six U-boats in this area, and round-the-clock air patrols.' He stood up and clasped his hands at his sides. 'I can't wait to begin. Into the Atlantic, all that planning and von Hanke's preparations. God, it makes one feel quite humble!'

  Hechler watched his emotion. It came and went like the wind. He thought of the reams of orders, the methods of fuelling, rendezvous, and alternatives. This would be a million times different from previous raiding sorties.

  Leitner said, 'I know it is important to you, Dieter, the close comradeship amongst your people. I heard it in your broadcast this morning. Saw it on their faces. Just boys, some of them, but the older ones who can be so hard and cynical -' he gave an elaborate sigh you had them eating out of your hand.'

  Hechler replied, 'Comradeship is everything.'

  'I knew it.' Leitner looked down at his plot-table again. 'Your second-in-command. I had a private signal about him.'

  'Viktor Theil?'

  'His wife has gone missing.' He sounded almost matter-of-fact. 'Of course I'm certain it will be all right. After all, ration books, identity cards, a civilian can't just vanish, eh?'

  Hechler recalled Theil's face, the way he had parried questions ab
out his leave.

  Leitner said softly, 'I know what you're thinking, Dieter. Don't! He is a good officer, I'm sure, but he is the second-in-command. Should anything happen to you, well . . .' He shrugged.

  1 trust him, sir.'

  Good. I shall remember it. But if he trips up on his mission, he goes, do I make myself clear?'

  Hechler nodded. 'Very.'

  I .eitner yawned. Pretty girl, that Franke woman, eh? I wonder il she's as good in bed as in the cockpit.'

  Fortunately a telephone rang and the flag-lieutenant appeared again like magic to answer it.

  Hechler returned to the bridge. He felt strangely disappointed to find she was no longer there. Theil had gone too. For that at least he was glad.

  He climbed into his steel seat and listened to the deep throb of engines, the occasional clatter of a morse lamp as signals were exchanged between the ships. Tomorrow that would ail cease. He glanced over the screen at the same heavy guns. Moving targets, not rubble and houses, or a position on a range map.

  He tried not to let Inger into his thoughts, to recall how she had looked, and shifted uneasily in the chair. He was getting rattled just when he needed every thought honed to a knife-edge. Tomorrow they would engage the enemy. Right now, at this very moment the convoy was being attacked by U-boats. Like sheepdogs gone mad who were driving the convoy on a converging course.

  He thought of Theil, then of himself. Two deserted husbands. It was laughable when you considered it. Was that all it meant? Voices muttered in voice-pipes, while guns moved in their mountings as the faithful Condor droned past the formation yet again. No, it was anything but laughable. He gripped the arms of his seat. Men would die, cursing his name, ships would burn.

  Wives and petty squabbles were as nothing.

  The bows dipped and he saw his reflection in the smeared glass. No, that too was a lie.

  I Ians Stoecker slammed yet another watertight door behind him and wedged the clips into place. Below the ship's waterline where one compartment was sealed from another the air felt cool and damp, the motion more pronounced. He passed the brightly lit door to the forward starshell room.