by Mark Arundel
Alicia called out, ‘Trim the jib.’ I guessed that meant adjusting the sail so it was the correct tension for the wind. I pulled it tighter so it stopped flapping and it pocketed in the breeze. It seemed to be right and Alicia called out to me to come and take the helm while she trimmed the mainsail.
I balanced my way to the stern. Alicia was enjoying herself. I took the wheel and said, ‘Am I doing it right?’
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘just hold her steadily,’ and then she left me and went to trim the mainsail.
Hey, I was a sailor. Perhaps I should have joined the navy instead of the army.
Alicia reclaimed her position as captain and sailed us away from the coast into deeper water. The warmth from the sun shimmered on the deck and the water danced like a pearly queen. A frothy swell held more bark than bite and the sailboat rode steady at around 8 knots. The air was thick with the glinting spray that tasted of salt and adventure. I could imagine why youngsters dreamt of going to sea. I watched Alicia steering the yacht, her lungs full of excitement, and wondered if the smell of danger that hung around me, as with Doctor Jennifer Smithson earlier, was having an influence on her decision-making. If it was, I was grateful. I would take what I could. I was riding my luck that I knew. I wondered for how much longer it would hold.
Chapter 21
One way to take a trick by force is to play a high card that no one else can beat.
Alicia and Dancing Brave were like jockey and racehorse. She held the tiller like reins and the sailboat galloped like a Derby winner to her command.
She was running with the wind. The mainsail was full of air and the strength pulled the jib over to the other side, billowing heavily. She gripped the wheel with deceptive strength and held the sails with poise, skill and experience.
Jennifer, Geoffrey and I were all behind her on the aft deck. She had called us there before she began running so the boom would not hit us if it changed sides.
The boat cut a white slash through the sharp blue water, bucking bow to stern, forcing spray high above our heads and leaving us windswept and breathless. It was an enthralling experience. It almost made me forget my problems.
Alicia turned to us and I saw true happiness on her suntanned face. She called out, ‘Does anyone feel seasick?’ I think Geoffrey wanted to answer in the affirmative, but when he opened his mouth to speak the wind took his breath and it choked away his words before we could hear them.
I called back to her, ‘You’re showing off.’
She looked at me, laughed and then nodded an enthusiastic admission.
It was a while later she turned the wheel and the sailboat dipped and slewed, leaning sharply before slowing and settling. The wind fell from the sails and they flapped and puffed like giant bed sheets on the washing line. ‘Take the wheel.’ She left the poop deck and skipped lithely to the mainsail and then the jib. ‘Who wants to swim?’
With the sails dropped, Alicia weighed anchor and Dancing Brave rested after the strenuous gallop.
Jennifer said, ‘I better check on my patient.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’ll come with you.’ I had the key and anyway, I wasn’t going to give Xing any opportunities, no matter how soon it was since she had had a bullet pulled from her narrow waist.
As we headed for the wooden steps to go below I heard a phone ring and saw Alicia answer hers. We were obviously still close enough to shore to receive a signal. Below deck, I unlocked the cabin door and went in. The bed was empty. The cabin was empty. There was a porthole. I went over and found it ajar. I stuck my head out. I saw a metal railing, which I thought someone gymnastic might use to pull on, and would enable access the deck.
I turned with violent speed, pulling the Glock from my waistband as I moved. I flew past Jennifer and sprinted back on deck. My head moved rapidly and my eyes searched urgently with controlled alarm. If she got to him before I got to her. The deck was bare. Had she taken Geoffrey over the side and was at that moment drowning him? I ran along the side rail, listening and searching, but I couldn’t hear any splashing and the sea was calm. My rapid tour of the boat deck had uncovered nothing. My eye caught movement and I spun with my hands lifting the pistol. It was Jennifer coming back on deck. I lowered the Glock and ran to her. ‘Where are they?’
‘Try the galley,’ she said.
It only took me four strides to reach the opening and a single bound to take me down, crashing in with the pistol held out ready. The galley was crowded. There were three images, which simultaneously bombarded my eyes. I registered them in order of their importance to my immediate state of controlled alarm. Under different circumstances, the order would have been different.
The first image was Geoffrey sitting at the table, relaxed and unharmed. The second image was Xing standing at the sink gulping water from a tall glass held double-handed because of the cuffs. The third image was Alicia standing by the fridge wearing nothing but a tiny red bikini. They all looked up at me with surprise and then their eyes all dropped to the gun. There was a shocked, unanticipated silence.
Xing was the first to speak. She swallowed her mouthful of water and with wet lips that still dripped said, ‘I was really thirsty.’ Then she smiled at me. I put the Glock away in my waistband and fought back a relieved smile of my own. ‘You had locked me in. I banged on the door but nobody heard. So I climbed through the window.’ She took another mouthful of water. I couldn’t stop the smile from touching my lips and I saw her notice.
Alicia stepped past me and said, ‘I’m going for a swim.’
Geoffrey took a sideways glance at Xing and announced, ‘I’m coming with you—to watch.’ He stood up and hurriedly followed Alicia. I let him go.
The galley was silent and Xing smiled again. She said, ‘You were worried.’
I ignored her remark and made one of my own. I said, ‘I see you’re feeling better.’
She nodded. ‘Yes, thank you. Still tired and it hurts, but alive.’
‘Yes.’ I was hardly going to forget. ‘Why didn’t you kill him?’
She drank more water and then said, ‘It would have been clumsy and anyway, what chance do I have of escape. You would have caught me and killed me; we shouldn’t upset our hostess with our silly business and spoil such a lovely day at sea.’
Before I could reply, Jennifer entered the galley. She walked past me and went to her patient. I watched her perform her Doctor’s duties and pronounce Xing to be well on the way to recovery. Yes, I could see that for myself. There weren’t many people who could have made that porthole manoeuvre, and probably none with a recently stitched bullet wound and wearing cuffs.
I took Xing on deck and handcuffed her to a railing post on the starboard side close to the deckhouse. I found her a blanket and a towel to sit on or, to shelter under. Depending on which way the boat was pointing, she could be in either shade or direct sunlight. She settled on the blanket like a leopard in a cage and closed her eyes.
Alicia was swimming off the port side and when she looked up and saw me standing on the deck watching her she called out, ‘Come in, it’s nice,’ and she beckoned me with her hand. It was a very tempting invitation. Jennifer had come up beside me. ‘Are you going in?’ I considered how safe it was. I went back over to Xing and checked the cuffs. They were secure.
‘Are you going for a swim?’ she said.
‘Rest some more. We’ll talk later and try to resolve things between us. Agreed?’
She nodded her head and said. ‘Yes, agreed.’
I walked back to Jennifer, pulling my t-shirt off over my head as I went. She saw the dressing over the knife wound, which I had forgotten about and exclaimed, ‘What happened to you?’
‘It’s just a cut.’
She grabbed me, removed the bandage and examined the wound. It was purple, but clean and beginning to scab.
Jennifer said, ‘Who did the stitches?’
‘I did.’
‘Do you want me to redo them? These are going to scar badly; they’re f
ar too tight.’
I pulled away from her, kicked off my shoes and readied myself. I pulled the Glock from my waistband and gave it to Geoffrey. ‘It’s ready to fire. Just point and squeeze the trigger. But like last time, don’t point it at me.’ He took the gun without much enthusiasm. I emptied my pockets and wearing just my shorts went to the edge. As I leapt out and dived towards the ocean, I heard Jennifer call after me, ‘the salt water will...'
I didn’t hear the rest because the sea covered my ears as I went under. I surfaced beside Alicia who was smiling happily. Jennifer was right; my wound was stinging sharply. I didn’t mind. It was easy to bear, confronted as I was by the shining, bikini swimming Alicia. She put her arms on my shoulders excitedly and laughed, and then splashed away with her feet kicking. I swam after her. Geoffrey and Jennifer watched us from the boat. After only a minute or so, Geoffrey shouted down to me, ‘Hadn’t you better come back aboard now?’ I dipped my head underwater and my ears made that gurgling sound; I closed my eyes and for a few seconds my body eased, the tension fell away from my aching muscles and my soul was free. I was happy, relaxed and in the company of an older woman. Her face was unclear. Then she turned and I saw it was my mother. It was a shock. I resurfaced and the distress of my situation returned like the four galloping horsemen of the apocalypse. Death was leading them. I had a vision of Xing standing at the rail on the deck looking down at me and smiling. She had her arm raised and in her hand, she held the freshly severed head of Geoffrey Button. I wiped the water from my face and blinked my eyes clearing the gruesome image from my mind. I swam over to the rope ladder and pulled myself up with saltwater streaming from my body. I stepped back aboard and felt strangely refreshed and strengthened as though the seawater had energised my corpse. Hallelujah, I was still alive.
Xing was sitting cross-legged on the blanket watching me. I returned her gaze. Was she admiring my wet torso or thinking of where she would aim the bullets when she killed me?
Jennifer exclaimed, ‘Look.’ she was pointing into the ocean. Something was in the water. She said, ‘A dolphin.’
It did look like a dolphin.
Geoffrey said, ‘It’s actually a pilot whale. They’re similar looking to a bottle-nosed dolphin but bigger with a more pronounced bulge on their heads.’
Jennifer said excitedly, ‘A whale!’
Geoffrey said, ‘In some parts they’re known as blackfish.’
It had probably come to look at Alicia swimming in her bikini. On the other hand, the boat may have attracted it. Either way, Alicia didn’t take much notice. She had obviously seen a blackfish plenty of times before. The fish swam past.
Alicia climbed aboard dripping seawater onto the deck. She twisted and squeezed the excess from her long hair and then positioned a towel and stretched out in the sun to dry. It was not a bad washing line. Her phone rang again. She checked the caller ID, but this time, she rejected the call. I wondered who it was.
Geoffrey was sitting in the shade working on papers from his satchel. He seemed, for the moment anyway, to have forgotten about the near presence of Xing.
Jennifer was standing by the rail on the port side, whale watching. ‘Look.’ She pointed. ‘There are lots of them.’
Geoffrey was intrigued. He got up and went to the rail. ‘Those aren’t pilot whales; those are bottle-nosed dolphins.’
Jennifer said, ‘Dolphins!’
Alicia didn’t even raise her head. She had obviously seen a school of bottle-nosed dolphins before, too.
Xing was silent. I had positioned myself so I could see everyone on deck. Xing was still staring at me. It was strange, though, because it didn’t feel awkward. I think we had recognised a little of ourselves in each other. I still had to have the talk with her as we had agreed. I hoped I could do a deal with her.
Alicia turned over onto her front. Her phone rang again, and again she didn’t answer. It had started to bother me. I had the feeling I’d missed something.
I was glad we had made it to the boat and were safely away from land, bobbing gently on the open water. I remembered from the guidebook that the distance between Tenerife and its neighbour island was about ten miles. As I gazed across at the mysterious jutting rock, I guessed we were about equidistant between the two.
I looked at Xing; she was still watching me. I picked up her rucksack and went over to her. She smiled and shifted on her blanket. I sat down and tipped out the contents of her rucksack onto the deck between us. I picked up her phone and said, ‘I want to do a deal.’
‘Yes, what deal?’
‘When the man from London next calls you tell him you’ve been successful; tell him you’ve killed both Geoffrey and me.’
‘Why?’
‘Misinformation has a way of uncovering the truth.’
‘What do I get in return?’
‘To see home again.’
Xing’s eyes never left my face. She said, ‘I don’t have a home.’
I said, ‘Your father was British, which means you’re a British citizen. Help me, and when it’s over, I’ll tell them what you did. You can make a new home in Britain; a new life.’
‘And if I refuse to help?’
‘You’re too dangerous to keep around.’ I held her stare and said, ‘You’re making Geoffrey nervous.’
She still didn’t look in his direction or even register his existence. Her eyes stayed on me. She asked, ‘and you.’
‘I shall miss you,’ I said coldly.
She nodded and said, ‘I’ll help.’
We were still making eye contact when I heard the roar of the approaching engine. I stood and scanned the sea in the direction of the sound. It was probably the worst thing I could have possibly seen. Heading straight for us was a police boat.
Chapter 22
The skills required to be a good player are memory, tactics, probability and communication.
This was what I’d missed and what it was that had been troubling me. I stood on the deck and looked out over the water. Without a doubt, the police boat was steering directly for us. It was a high-speed patrol boat with a big motor hanging off the back and a sharp, purposeful bow that jutted directly at me saying, give it up; you cannot escape. The police probably used the boat for chasing down drug smugglers, people smugglers or just tourists who were fishing without a permit.
Alicia had sat up and was staring in the same direction I was. She looked at me, and by way of explanation said, ‘My father...’
‘...your father.’
‘He’s the chief of police,’ she said.
There it was. The unhappy expression on the policeman’s face, back at the marina, when Alicia had shown up and told him we were spending the day with her on her yacht. Her father was his boss. The reason her father couldn’t come sailing; something had come up at work. Yeah, two of his officers were receiving hospital treatment after a dangerous suspect had attacked them and was still on the loose. The first phone call, the one she had taken, and then the subsequent calls that she hadn’t taken were all from her father, the police chief who was probably telling his daughter to return to the marina. Then, when she refused and stopped taking his calls, he decided to come out, in his fast boat, to his yacht and deal with the matter by taking direct action. They were here for Geoffrey and me.
I was glaring at Alicia, demanding a fuller explanation.
Again, she said, ‘My father.’ Then her face softened and she said, ‘He called me on my phone; he said I was to bring you back. The policeman, at the marina, he went to the café where you had had breakfast and got the cups you used. They took the fingerprints and compared them with the fingerprints in the police car, the one that was taken, and they matched.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I was going to.’ She said and shrugged. ‘I didn’t think he’d come out here.’
Well, he had.
I turned back to Xing. She was sitting up as far as the cuffs would allow. She was listening and she was watching my face
. She said, ‘Release me and give me a gun. I will help you.’
As tempting an offer as that was I wasn’t about to put my complete trust in the kung fu assassin. I had to go with the premise that Xing was still likely to choose to complete her mission given the chance. Free, and with a gun in her hand a bullet might find its way into me and then one into Geoffrey.
I didn’t respond to her offer of help. Instead, I said to her, ‘How did you hook up with the security firm?’
Xing thought it an odd question but she answered, ‘The London voice arranged it. It told me the local police were looking for you and when they knew something, I would get a call. The voice arranged for me to travel with the security van, which took me to where you were. The guard knew nothing about my intentions.’ She stopped; I knew the rest. She said, ‘Well…?’
I shook my head. '…I can’t take the risk.’
She didn’t seem surprised. She said, ‘Then how are you going to get out of this?’ It was a very good question.
I moved towards Geoffrey whose eyes were already on me. I raised my eyebrows and communicated a look to him. He was becoming experienced by our situation and he was getting to know my body language; he immediately began collecting his papers together and preparing his satchel.
I realised the most sensible approach was to shoot the policemen. I could wait until they boarded and then use my Glock to take them down. I looked at Alicia who had stood up and tied a silk wrap under her arms that dropped to her thighs. I couldn’t do it to her. I wasn’t going to kill her father while she watched. I hoped they would come aboard without their own guns drawn. I was going to have to rely on simple unarmed combat and an element of good fortune.
I checked on the police boat. It would be alongside in a matter of seconds. I could see the policemen aboard now, and there were three of them. I had been hoping for only two.
I made a hurried consideration of everyone with me on the yacht. Geoffrey, of course, was coming with me. I wasn’t going to allow the policemen to get anywhere near him. Doctor Jennifer Smithson was going to be okay. She could say I made her do it at the point of a gun. Anyway, medical doctors had a duty to assist the wounded. Alicia probably loved her father very much, but growing up with a dad who wanted to become chief of police and then became chief of police may have bred a rebel teenager who had grown into a young woman who sometimes still felt the need to rebel. Her father would tell her off as he had when she was a teenager, but the loving bond between father and daughter would not be broken over this. Then there was Xing. With a cold professional eye, I should have revisited the bullet to her brain idea. It had the benefit of removing any future risk. However, there were two problems with doing that. The first was a practical one. If the policemen on the boat heard a gunshot and the likely associated screaming from, say, Alicia at witnessing such a shocking act then they would almost certainly come aboard with their guns drawn and be prepared to fire; and I wanted to avoid a fire-fight. The second was more personal. A dead Xing couldn’t help me by answering her phone to the London caller and informing the person that she had accomplished her mission. A part of me wanted her to help and hoped she would do it. No, I was not going to kill her, not unless something meant I had no alternative. Inside, I hoped that would not happen.