by Wilbur Smith
table, together with a book, Noel Mostert's Supership, opened face down
and in dire danger of a broken spine; the cupboard door was open and his
suits had been bunched up in one corner to give hanging space to her
slacks and dresses; two very erotic and transparent pairs of panties
hung over the bath to dry; her talcum powder still dusted the tiled
floor and her special fragrance pervaded the entire apartment.
He missed her with a physical ache in the chest, so that when the front
door banged and she arrived like a high wind, shouting for him,
"Nicholas, it's me" as though it could possibly have been anyone else,
her hair tangled and wild with the wind and high colour under the golden
tan of her cheeks, he almost ran to her and seized her with a suppressed
violence.
Wow/ she whispered huskily. Who is a hungry baby, then. And they
tumbled on to the bed clinging to each other with a need that was almost
desperation.
Afterwards they did not turn the light on in the room that had gone dark
except for the dim light of the street lamps filtered by the curtains
and reflected off the ceiling.
What was that all about? she asked, then snuggled against his chest,
not that I'm complaining, mind you. I've had a hell of a day.
I needed you, badly. You saw Duncan Alexander? I saw Duncan. Did you
settle? No. There was never really any chance. I'm hungry/ she said.
Your loving always makes me hungry. So he put on his pants and went
down to the Italian restaurant at the corner for pizzas. They ate them
in bed with a white Chianti from whisky tumblers, and when she was
finished, she sighed and said: Nicholas, I have to go home. You can't
go/ he protested instantly.
I have work to do - also. But/ he felt a physical nausea at the thought
of losing her, but you can't go before the hearing. Why not? It would
be the worst possible luck, you are my fortune. A sort of good-luck
charm? She pulled a face. Is that all I'm good for? You are good for
many things. May I demonstrate one of them? 'Oh, yes please. An hour
later Nick went for more pizzas.
You have to stay until the 27th/he said with his mouth full.
Darling Nicholas, I just don't know You can ring them, tell them your
aunt died, that you are getting married. Even if I were getting
married, it wouldn't lessen the importance of my work. I think you know
that is something I will never give up. Yes, I do know, but it's only a
couple of days more. All right, I'll call Tom Parker tomorrow. Then
she grinned at him. Don't look like that. I'll be just across the
Atlantic, we'll be virtually next-door neighbours. 'Call him now. It's
lunchtime in Florida. She spoke for twenty minutes, wheedling and
charming, while the blood-curdling transatlantic rumblings on the
receiver slowly muted to reluctant and resigned mutterings.
You're going to get me into trouble one of these days, Nicholas Berg/she
told him primly as she hung up.
Now there is a happy thought/Nick agreed, and she hit him with her
pillow.
The telephone rang at two minutes past nine the next morning. They were
in the bath together and Nicholas swore and went through naked and
steaming and dripping suds.
Mr. Berg? James Teacher's voice was sharp and businesslike. You were
right, Christy Marine petitioned for postponement of hearing late
yesterday afternoon. How long? Nicholas snapped.
Ninety days. The bastard/grunted Nick. What grounds? They want time
to prepare their submission. Block them/Nick instructed.
I have a meeting with the Secretary at eleven. I'm going to ask for an
immediate preliminary hearing to set down and confirm the return date.
Get him before the arbitrators/ said Nick.
We'll get him. Samantha welcomed him back to the tub by drawing her
knees up under her chin. Her hair was piled on top of her head, but
damp wisps hung down her neck and on to her cheeks. She looked pink and
dewy as a little girl.
Careful where you put your toes, sir/ she cautioned him, and he felt the
tension along his nerves easing. She had that effect on him.
I'll buy you lunch at Les A if you can tear yourself away from your
microscope and fishy-smelling specimens for an hour or two. Les
Ambassadeurs? I've heard about it! For lunch there I'd walk across
London on freshly amputated stumps. That won't be necessary, but you
will have to charm a tribe of wild desert Sheikhs. I understand they
are very sympathetic towards blondes. Are you going to sell me into a
harem - sounds fun, I've always fancied myself in baggy, transparent
bloomers. You, I'm not selling - icebergs, I am. I'll pick you up at
the front gate of the museum at one o'clock sharp. She went with
laughter and a great clatter and banging of doors and Nicholas settled
at the telephone.
I'd like to speak to Sir Richard personally, it's Nicholas Berg. Sir
Richard was at Lloyd's, an old and good friend.
Then he called and spoke to Charles Gras There were no new delays or
threats to Sea Witch's completion date.
I am sorry for any trouble you had with Alexander. Cq the fait rien,
Nicholas. Good luck at the hearing. I will be watching the Lloyd's
List. Nicholas felt a sense of relief. Charles Gras had risked his
career to show him Golden Dawn. it could have been serious.
Then Nick spoke for nearly half an hour to Bernard Wackie of Bach Wackie
in Bermuda. Warlock had reported on the telex two hours previously; she
was making good passage with her oil-rig tow, would drop off at Bravo 11
on schedule and pick up her next tow as soon as she had anchored.
David Allen is a good youngster, Bernard told Nick.
But have you got Levoisin for Sea Witch? Jules is playing the prima
donna, he has not said yes, but he'll come. You'll have a good team,
then. What's the latest date for Sea Witch? End March. The sooner the
better, I've got contacts to keep both tugs running hard until the
iceberg project matures. I'm having lunch with the Sheikhs today. I
know. There's a lot of interest. I've got a good feeling.
There is something big brewing, but they are a cagey bunch. The
inscrutable smile on the face of the sphiinx when do we see you? 'I'll
come across just as soon as I've got Duncan Alexander into the
arbitration court - end of the month, hopefully. We've got a lot to
talk about, Nicholas. Nick hesitated for the time it took to smoke the
first cheroot of the day before he called Monte Carlo - for the call
would cost him at least fifty thousand dollars, probably closer to
seventy-five, The best is always the cheapest, he reminded himself,
picked up the receiver and spoke to a secretary in Monte Carlo, giving
his name, While he waited for the connection he thought how his life was
complicating itself once more. Very soon Bach Wackie would not be
enough, there would have to be a London branch of Ocean Salvage,
offices, secretaries, files, accounts, and then a New York branch, a
branch in Saudi, the whole cycle again. He thought suddenly of
Samantha, uncluttered and simple happin
ess, life without its wearisome
trappings - then the connection was made and he heard the thin, high,
almost feminine voice.
Mr. Berg - Claud Lazarus. No other greeting, no expressions of pleasure
at the renewal of contact. Nick imagined him sitting at his desk in the
suite high above the harbour, like a human foetus - preserved in
spirits, bottled on the museum shelf. The huge bald domed head, the
soft putty-coloured rudimentary features, the nose hardly large enough
to support the thick spectacles. The eyes distorted and startled by the
lens, changing shape like those of a fish in an aquarium as the light
moved. The body underdeveloped, as that of a foetus , narrow shoulders,
seemingly tapering away to the bowed question mark of a body.
Mr. Lazarus. Are you in a position to undertake an indepth study for
me? It was the euphemism for financial and industrial espionage; Claud
Lazarus network was not limited by frontiers or continents, it spanned
the globe with delicately probing tentacles.
Of course/ he piped softly.
I want the financial structuring, the lines of control and management,
the names of the nominees and their principals, the location and
inter-relationship of all the elements of the Christy Marine Group and
London European Insurance and Banking Co. Group, with particular
reference to any changes in structure during the previous fourteen
months. Do you have that? This is being recorded, Mr. Berg. 'Of
course. Further, I want the country of registration, the insurers and
underwriters of all bottoms traceable to their holdings. Please
continue. I want an accurate estimate of the reserves of London and
European Insurance in relations to their potential liability., Continue.
I am particularly interested in the vessel Golden Dawn presently
building at the yards of Construction Navale Atlantique at St Nazaire. I
want to know if she has been chartered or has contracted with any oil
company for carriage of crude and, if so, on what routes and at what
rates. Yes? Lazarus squeaked softly.
Time is of the essence - and, as always, so is discretion. You need not
have mentioned that, Mr. Berg. My contact, when you are ready to pass
information, is Back Wacky in Bermuda. I will keep you informed of
progress. Thank you, Mr. Lazarus. Good day, Mr. Berg. It was
refreshing not to have to pretend to be the bosom comrade of somebody
who supplied essentials but nonetheless revolted him, Nick thought, and
comforting to know he had the best man in the world for the job.
He looked at his watch. It was lunchtime, and he felt the quick lift of
his spirits at the thought of being with Samantha.
Lime Street is a narrow alleyway, with tall buildings down each side of
it, which opens off Leadenhall Street. A few yards from the junction,
on the left hand side as you leave the street of shipping, is the
covered entrance to Lloyd's of London.
Nicholas stepped out of James Teacher's Bentley and took Samantha on his
arm. He paused a moment, with a feeling of certain reverence, As a
seaman, the history of this remarkable institution touched him
intimately. Not that the building itself was particularly old or
venerable. Nothing now remained of the original coffee house, except
some of the traditions: the caller who intoned the brokers names like
the offertory in the temple of some exotic religion, the stalls in which
the underwriters conducted their business and the name and uniform of
the institution's servants, the waiters with brass buttons and red
collar tabs.
Rather it was the tradition of concern that was enshrined here, the
concern for ships and for all men who went down to the sea in those
ships and did their business in great waters.
Perhaps later, Nicholas would find time to take Samantha through the
Nelson rooms and show her the displays of memorabilia associated with
the greatest of Britain's sailors, the plate and letters and awards.
Certainly he would have her as lunch guest in the big dining-room, at
the table set aside specifically for visiting sea captains.
But now there were more important considerations to demand all his
attention. He had come to hear the verdict given on his future - within
a few hours he would know just how high and how fast the wave of his
fortune had carried him.
Come/ he said to Samantha, and led her up the short flight of steps into
the lobby, where there was a waiter alerted to receive them.
We will be using the Committee Room today, sir. The earlier submissions
by both parties had been heard in one of the smaller offices, leading
off the high gallery above the vast floor of the exchange with its rows
of underwriters stalls. However, due to the extraordinary nature of
this action, the Committee of Lloyd's had made a unique decision - to
have their arbitrators give their findings and make their award in
surroundings more in keeping with the importance of the occasion.
They rode up in silence, all of them too tense to make the effort of
small-talk. and the waiter led them down the wide corridor, past the
Chairman's suite of offices and through the double doors into the
grandeur of the room designed by Adam for Bowood House, the country home
of the Marquess of Lansdowne. It had been taken to pieces, panel by
panel, floor, ceiling, fireplace and plaster mouldings, transported to
London and re-erected in its entirety with such care and attention that
when Lord Lansdowne inspected it, he found that the floorboards squeaked
in exactly the same places as they had before.
At the long table, under the massive glittering pyramids of the three
chandeliers, the two arbitrators were already seated. Both of them were
master mariners, selected for their deep knowledge and experience of the
sea, and their faces were toughened and leathery from the effects of sea
and salt water. They talked quietly together, without acknowledging in
any way the rows of quietly attentive faces in the rows of chairs facing
them - until the minute hand of the antique clock on the Adam fireplace
touched its zenith. Then the President of the court looked across at
the waiter who obediently closed the double doors and stood to attention
before them.
This Arbitration Court has been set up under the Committee of Lloyd's
and empowered to receive evidence in the matter between the Christy
Marine Steamship Co. Ltd.
and the Ocean Salvage and Towage Co. Ltd. This Court finds common
ground in the following areas Firstly, a contract of salvage under
Lloyd's Open Form "No cure no pay" for the recovery of the passenger
liner Golden Adventurer, a ship of .22,000 tons gross burden and
registered at Southampton, exists between the parties.
Secondly, that the Master of the Golden Adventurer while steaming on a
south-westerly heading during the night of December 16th at or near 72
16 south and 32 12 west - The President let no dramatics intrude on his
assembly of the facts. He recounted it all in the driest possible
terms, succeeding in making Golden Adventurer's plight and t
he desperate
endeavours of her rescuers sound boring. indeed, his colleague seemed
to descend into a condition of coma at the telling of it. His eyes
slowly closed, and his head sagged gently sideways, his lips vibrating
slightly at each breath - a volume not quite sufficient to make it a
snore.
It took nearly an hour, with the occasional consultation of the ship's
log books and a loose volume of hand-written and typed notes, before the
President was satisfied that he had recounted all the facts, and now he
rocked back in his chair and hooked his thumbs into his waistcoat. His
expression became decisive, and while he surveyed the crowded room, his
colleague stirred, opened his eyes, took out a white linen handkerchief
and blew two sharp blasts, one for each nostril, like the herald angel
sounding the crack of doom.
There was a stir of reawakened interest, they all recognized the moment
of decision, and for the first time Duncan Alexinder and Nicholas Berg
looked directly at each other over the heads of the lawyers and company
men. Neither of them changed expression, no smile nor scowl, but
something implacable and clearly understood passed between them. They
did not unlock their gaze, until the President began to speak again.
Taking into consideration the foregoing, this Court is of the firm
opinion that a fair and good salvage of the vessel was effected by the
salvors, and that therefore, they are entitled to salvage awards
commensurate with the services rendered to the owners and underwriters.
Nicholas felt Samantha's fingers groping for his. He took her hand, and
it was slim and cold and dry; he interlocked their fingers and laid
their hands upon his upper thigh.
This Court, in arriving at the value of the salvor's services, has taken
into consideration, firstly, the situation and conditions existing on
the site of operations. We have heard evidence that much of the work
was carried out in extreme weather conditions. Temperatures of thirty
degrees below freezing, wind forces exceeding twelve on the Beaufort
scale, and extreme icing.
We have also considered that the vessel Golden Adventurer was no longer
under command. That she had been abandoned by her passengers, her crew
and her Master. She was aground on a remote and hostile coast.
We have further noted that the salvors undertook a voyage of many