daughter quickly loaded their weapons and Clare discarded the jagged
bottle with obvious relief.
In our cabin Geordie and I found our two pistols untouched, and as we
loaded them Campbell nodded with approval. “Now we’ve a fighting
chance,” he said.
We crept on without interruption to the after companionway.
Geordie climbed up cautiously, then aucked back. There was a man
standing above on the deck silhouetted against that yellow-glowing
sky.
He was holding a rifle. Geordie laid his own weapon aside and moved
slowly up the steps. Then he motioned me to follow – Ian was the.
professional but, being much slighter than the Scot, I had a better
chance of reaching the deck simultaneously with Geordie.
Geordie leapt swiftly up and took the guard from behind, one arm
swinging round his neck and the other grabbing the rifle. I scrambled
after him and clubbed the man with the butt, of my gun. He collapsed
in a heap.
We dropped him down the companionway like a sack of potatoes.
With a grim smile Geordie said to me, “You’re learning, laddie.”We
followed the body down again.
We now had three rifles and a small assortment of guns. The odds were
getting better all the time. Geordie, making his disposition of his
troops, said, “Mike, I want to take a look at Falcon. You come with
me.
Ian, cover Mr Campbell, you and Clare keep watch down here shoot
anybody who tries to come down that passageway, long as they aren’t
ours.” We slipped quietly on deck and I got my first full look. at
Falcon.
The yellow glow seemed to be diminishing but there was a lot more
steam, and sheets of a rain-like substance falling to one side of the
troubled area.
In the middle the dense black smoke billowed upwards with a fleetin of
red intermingled in it. The sea there was heaN broken, but the ships
were still in an area of all troubled ocean, save for the – hurrying
turbulent surface. The whistle of high-pressure steam was deafening, a
bad sign, and the smell was gut-wrenching. I stare, in fascination.
But once on deck Geordie was more concerned with the ship. He looked
up at the foremast. “Christ, what a mess!
They haven’t cleared her yet.” In the dazzle of sunlight looking
upwards I could see that the two masts were almost separated; they now
seemed to be locked only somewhere high up. The taller Sirena leaned
over Esmerelda at an angle and there was a hellish tangle of lines,
broken spars and general debris scattered everywhere. The motor launch
still hung astern but from where we stood there was no sign of our
dinghy.
“They’re still busy,” Geordie murmured. “We’ll make for the winch. We
can hide there while we try to open the cable hold.” There was nobody
at the wheel but ahead I could see knots of men at the foot of each
mast. Some were up the masts working to free the wreckage, and I hoped
to God they were too occupied to look down and spot us.
“We’ll have to chance it,” Geordie said, and gestured to Ian to follow
us. We ran forward in a crouch, keeping to the shadow of the deck
house. At the end of it Geordie paused, caught my arm and pointed.
There was a slight movement in the shadow of the winch drum, and to get
there we would have no further cover.
“Bill – or Taffy,” he breathed.
A. hand came out into the light and fumbled with the fastenings of the
hatch cover. Ahead the men on board Sirena seemed to be watching the
attempt to clear the mast or looking back towards Falcon, and there was
a good chance that they wouldn’t see a man if he moved stealthily
across the deck. A wild dash would be suicide.
The disembodied hand was still working on the hatch cover. “I’m going
to undo the -other side,” I said quietly to Geordie. “Cover me.”
A rumble came clearly across the water from Falcon cutting through all
other noises, and the red flashes of light in the black cloud suddenly
flared higher. Voices were raised in alarm and there was a stampede of
running footsteps. The diversion was well timed and I slid along the
deck, clutching for the edge of the hatch, and pulled myself to lie
close alongside. Groping for the catches, I saw that my companion
was
Bill Hunter. I had released one catch and was attacking the other when
there was the sharp crackle of gunfire and a thunder of feet. Ian
and
Geordie were on their knees, firing at Sirena’s men who were pounding
aft towards us.
A contorted face loomed over me, the butt of a rifle poised over my
skull. I jerked to one side and it slammed into the deck. Then I
heard the distinctive’spaat’of Campbell’s target pistol and my
assailant grew a third eye in the middle of his forehead and crashed on
top of me.
I shoved his body aside and grabbed for the hatch. The second catch
came free and Bill and I heaved the cover up and flung it open.
Four men came boiling out of it, ready for blood.
Geordie screamed, “Aft! Get aftV We all tumbled down behind the
deckhouse. More shots rang out and Ian scored a hit. The rest of
Sirena’s crew retreated back to the mast as covering fire came from on
board their ship. It seemed to come from their deckhouse, but it was
hard to tell in the confusion. Geordie looked us over, counting heads
and to my intense pleasure the face of Jim Taylor was amongst them.
At least one of the dinghy crew was safe, which gave me hope for Rex
Larkin. Bill gave me a quick thumbs-up sign Sporadic fire came from
Sirena. There was at least one sharpshooter up the mainmast, and
Geordie ducked as a bullet sent splinters flying just above his head.
“This is no good,” he said. “There’s not enough cover, and, we’re
running out of ammo.” Then came the methodically spaced shots from
Campbell’s pistol. There was a scream from the yardarm and a dark
fipre, fell, all spinning arms and legs, to Sirena’s deck.
Geordie got us moving aft, leaving Nick and Ian to cover our retreat.
In the companionway Campbell was reloading the pistol as we swarmed
below. His lips were curled back in a fierce grin. He motioned us
aside curtly and aimed at the yardarm, crouching to steady himself in
the hatch, Another body plummetted down, this time into the sea.
I jaw, “That’s the lot,”Campbell said. He looked drawn and white and
near the end of his endurance. In the passageway Clare was standing
with her pistol held in a steady hand. The alarm in her face subsided
when she saw us. I caught and held her briefly.
The men gathered below and there was a swift redistribution of
weapons.
Nick lifted a brawny fist. “I won’t need a gun,” he said.
He was holding a huge stillson wrench.
A few more shots came from above but they died away, and a short time
later Nick and Taffy reported that Esmerelda was clear of enemies below
decks at least. With the exception of my brother.
Jim and Geordie went to reconnoitre the forward companionway, after a
brief word with Campbell. Somehow he persuaded the Canadian to stay
back in the saloon with Mark, Paula and Clare, and I forebore to ask
him whether he’d done it by tact or threat. I was deeply relieved,
either way.
“They’ve retreated – they’re all aboard Sirena.” Geordie was back with
a report. “I didn’t see any sign of Ramirez, but Hadley’s all over the
place, bellowing orders. He’s making a right foul-up of the job too.
We’re still locked on, damn them.” “What about Falcon?” I asked.
“The same as before – it’s pretty fierce out there. But we’ve checked
the engines and there’s no sabotage there, thank the lord.
We’re going to have to get clear of Sirena and away bloody fast as soon
as we can.
But how?” We all looked at one another, desperately searching for
ideas.
Geordie swung round to Hunter. “Bill, how did you get back on board?
And where’s Rex. Is he okay?” Bill didn’t know about Danny yet, but
I’d seen his eyes scanning our bunch and he looked grim. It took him a
moment to reply.
“I’m sorry, skipper – we lost him. We saw some of Sirena’s lot take
over the launch. They held guns on our lads and threw them a line to
haul them in. They hadn’t seen us, so I got Rex and Jim here to
slipover the dinghy side and we swamped her.
Jim and I got back on board okay, up our ladder, but we had Rex between
us and when Esmerelda lurched over he – let go.
God, Geordie, I-‘ “You did your best. It’s another one to chalk up to