of you have been up to?” Ian looked at Geordie, who said, “Well, it’s
like this, Mike.
I thought a guard was all very well in its way, but a bit negative, if
you know what I mean. So I sent a couple of boys ashore to scout
around. They found a lot of the crew of that hooker in a pub, drinking
themselves silly. A tough-looking mob, true, but they’re almost out of
it already. All dagoes.” “And no Kane or Hadley?” “No one spotted
them.
Anyway with your lot at the hotel, there are precious few bodies left
on Ramirez’s ship.” I said, “They’ll be keeping a watch too. Ramirez
isn’t a damn fool, and he knows we’re here.” “Right enough,” agreed
Geordie. “But I’ve gone into that too.
I sent Taffy and Bill Hunter out in a boat to have a look.
Bill’s the best swimmer we’ve got, and he had a good look at that
ship.”He chuckled suddenly. “Do you know what he did?
He swam right round her first, then he hauled himself aboard on the
port side, had a good look round the deck, then let himself into the
water on the starboard side and came back to report. That’s the sort
of watch they’re keeping over there.” “It would have to be done very
quietly,” I mused.
“Ach, that’s no trouble,”said Ian. “We’re a quiet lot.” “Just about
as quiet as a bunch of sharks. They don’t make much noise either.”
“Well, what about itTsaid Geordie imploringly.
“There would have to be no guns. No killing. Just bare fists.”
“Or maybe the odd belaying pin,” offered Ian gently.
“Z “You’re a bloodthirsty lot. It’s a damn silly idea, but I’ll agree
to it – conditionally.” Geordie grinned delightedly. “I knew you had
something of your father in you, Mike!” I said, “Dad would have had
you court-martialled for disobedience and subordination, and you damn
well know it.
All right, here are the conditions. One – if you find Kane or Hadley
we hand them over to the police intact to the last hair of their
heads.
We don’t want to ruin our own case. Two – if we don’t find them you
get back here fast. We’ll have to get the hell out of Nuku’alofa
anyway Ramirez will be looking for us and maybe the cops too. That
means, three – that Campbell and the girls will have to be got
aboard.”
Geordie’s face fell. “That means the whole thing’s off.
He’ll never stand for it, not with the girls along.” “He doesn’t have
to know about it too soon – if we time it right. You send someone up
to the hotel and get him aboard at just the right time.” “The right
time being when it’s too late to stop us,” said Geordie. “Mike,
laddie, you’re going to have a hell of a time explaining to the old man
what we’re doing.”
“I’ll leave the explanations until afterwards,” I said. “I’ve got
another condition, number four – I’m coming with you.
I’ve got scores to settle myself.”
The timing was a bit tricky. We didn’t know how long Ramirez and
company were going to stay in the hotel, nor even if they intended
returning to their ship that night. We didn’t want to bump into them
because then there certainly would be noise.
Again, Campbell and the girls had to be got out of the hotel under the
nose of Ramirez, another tricky bit. So we made a plan.
Geordie had picked Nick Dugan to bring Campbell from the hotel.
‘he’s probably the best scrapper of the lot of us,” he said. “But he’s
never quiet in his fighting. It’s best we keep him out of the main
operation, and he’ll not take it well.” I had a word with Nick and
sent him off immediately.
“You’ve got two jobs,” I told him. “The first is to keep an eye on
Ramirez. If any of them make a move to go back to their ship, you nip
down to the waterfront and flash a signal to us.
Then the operation is definitely off. Got that.” “Right.” As it
turned out he was surprisingly meek.
“We’ll be starting off at eleven-thirty. At exactly that you get into
Mr Campbell’s room and give him a note I’ll write. No sooner and no
later than eleven-thirty – that’s important.” “I understand,” said
Nick.
“Have you got a watch?” He showed me his wrist watch and, as we
synchronized, I wondered how many times my father had done the same
before an operation.
“I settled their bills along with mine – they don’t need to stop at the
desk. No porters. Get them back here as fast as you can, and as
quietly – and don’t let Ramirez or any of his crowd see you.”
I also had a word with Bill Hunter. “What sort of watch are they
keeping over there, Bill?” He smiled. “I suppose they think they’re
keeping a good one – by their standards. It’s nothing to worry about,
though.
It’ll be a piece of cake.” “Geordie tells me you’re the best swimmer,
so you’ll go first. But you must be quiet about it or the balloon will
go up.
Your job will be to find the quietest spot on board to get the rest of
us up.”
“Not to worry,” he said easily.” It’ll be like the old times.” As I
turned away he said, “Er – Mike. . .
:Yes, Bill?” It’s good to work with a Trevelyan again.” I was
touched.
“Thanks, Bill. You don’t know how I appreciate that.” At last we were
ready. Six of us were going – Geordie, Ian, Taffy, Jim, Bill Hunter
and myself. Danny Williams was left in command of the ship and the
rest of Geordie’s noncommando crew, and I said to him, “Danny, if
anything goes wrong, get the hell out of here as fast as you can, once
Mr. Campbell and the girls and Nick are back on board, even if means
leaving us behind. Mr Campbell mustn’t be involved with this, you
understand?” “I gotcha,”he said. “But you’ll be all right.” Geordie
was fussing. “Jimm, got all your bits and pieces?” I’m okay,”said
Jim.
“Stop binding, skipper.” I stepped over to Geordie. “What are these
bits and pieces?” “Nothing much,” he said airily. “A few tools.
Belaying pins and stuff like that. What time is it? I looked at the
luminous hands of my watch. “Eleven twenty-eight.” It had been a rush
to get ready but the last few minutes crawled.
“Let’s go,” he said. “It’ll be a doddle.” We dropped into the larger
of our two dinghies, Ian and Taffy took the oars and pulled quietly,
and the boat moved out. We rounded the stern of Esmerelda and Ian
steered us across the harbour.
I was thinking of all the things that could go wrong and what Campbell
would say when we got back, and damning myself for an idiot.
I leaned over to Geordie and whispered, “If Taffy’s got that damned
knife of his, tell him to leave it in the bottom of the boat. We don’t
want even the possibility of him using it.” “It’s all right,” he said
in a low voice. “He left it aboard – I told him to.”
It wasn’t long before Ian and Taffy stopped pulling and the boat glided
to a stop, rocking gently. Bill was dressed in dark clothing and all I
saw of him was the flash of his teeth in the moonlight as he slipped
over the side.
“Are you sure the torch is waterproof?” Geordie murmured.
“It’s okay,” Bill replied. “I’ll give you a flash as soon as I’m
ready.” He moved away without a single splash and we sat quietly
waiting for his signal. It seemed a long time coming and as I sat
there I wondered what I was doing in this Pacific harbour,
contemplating an act of piracy. It seemed a long way from my office at
the Institute.
I said to Geordie, “He’s a long time, isn’t he?” “Stop worrying,” said
Geordie. “We’re professionals.” I let out my breath and tried to
relax on the hard thwart, never taking my eyes off Ramirez’s ship.
Suddenly there was a flicker of light, so faint and so quickly doused
that I wondered if I’d really seen it or whether my eyes were playing
tricks.
“That’s it,”said Geordie softly. “Pull together. Gently no We moved
on under the measured slow strokes of the oars until the side of the
ship loomed above us. Something hit my face and I started violently.
Geordie said in my ear, “Be still, for God’s sake.” I felt him moving
about and he said, always in that low, murmur that was so much more
effective than a whisper, “Bill’s been a good boy. He’s dropped us a
line. Make fast there.” Jim, in the bows, made fast and Geordie said,