Dr. Greenshaw approached Gregson. (Td like to have a look at what you’ve left of those quarters. Maybe there’s someone still alive in there . . .”
Gregson pointed to an iron door. 4Tm more interested in who’s in there. Spicer”—this to one of his men—”a bazooka shot at that lock.”
‘That’s hardly necessary,” Greenshaw said mildly. “A knock from me is all that’s needed. That’s Commander Larsen, the boss of the oil rig. He’s no enemy of yours. He just sleeps here because he likes his privacy.” Dr. Greenshaw knocked. “Commander Larsen, ifs okay. It’s me, Greenshaw. Come on out If you don’t,
274
Seawitch
there’re some people who’re going to blast your door down and you with it. Come on, man.”
There was the turning of a heavy key and Larsen emerged. He looked dazed, almost shell-shocked, as well he might. He said: “What the hell goes on?”
“You’ve been taken over, friend,” Gregson said. Larsen was dressed, Greenshaw was pleased to note, in a voluminous lumberjacket cinched at the waist. “Search him.” They searched and found nothing.
“Where’s Scoffield?” Larsen said. Greenshaw said: “In the other quarters. He should be okay.” “Palermo?”
“Dead. And all his men. At least I think so. I’m just going to have a look.” Stooping his shoulders to look more nearly eighty than seventy, Dr. Greenshaw shambled along the shattered corridor, but he could have saved himself the trouble of acting. Gregson had just met Cronkite outside the doorway and the two men “were talking in animated and clearly self-congratulatory terms.
After the first few steps, Greenshaw realized that there could be nobody left alive in that charnel house. Those who were dead were very dead indeed, most of them destroyed beyond recognition, either cut up by machine-gun fire, shattered by bazookas or shriveled by the fiame-
275
Alistair MaeLeaa
throwers. But he did find the primary reason of his visit—a box of hand grenades in prime condition and a couple of Schmeisser subautomatics, fully loaded. A few of the grenades he stuffed into the bottom of his medical bag. He peered out one of the shattered windows at the back and found the area below in deep shadow. He carefully lowered some grenades to the platform and the two Schmeissers beside them. Then he made his way outside again.
It was apparent that Cronkite and Lord Worth had already met, although the meeting could not have been a normal one. Lord Worth was lying apparently senseless on his back, blood flowing from smashed lips and apparently broken nose, while both cheeks were badly bruised. Marina was bending over him, daubing at his wounds with a flimsy handkerchief. Cronkite, his face unmarked but his knuckles bleeding, had apparently, for the moment at least, lost interest in Lord Worth, no doubt waiting until Lord Worth had regained full consciousness before starting in on him again.
Lord Worth whispered between smashed lips: “Sorry, my darling; sorry, my beloved. My fault and all my fault. The end of the road.”
“Yes.” Her voice was as low as his own, but strangely there were no tears in her eyes. “But not for us. Not while Michael is alive.”
Lord Worth looked at Michael through rapidly closing eyes. “What can a cripple like that do?”
378
Sea witch
She said quietly but with utter conviction: “He’ll kill Cronkite and his whole mob.”
He tried to smile through his smashed lips. “I thought you hated killing.”
“Not vermin. Not people who do things like this to you.”
Mitchell spoke quietly to Dr. Greenshaw, then botH men approached Cronkite and Gregson, who broke off what appeared to be either a discussion or an argument. Dr. Greenshaw said: “You’ve done your damn murderous work all too well, Gregson. There’s hardly a soul hi there even recognizable as a human being.”
Cronkite said: “Who’s he?”
“A doctor.”
Cronkite looked at Mitchell, who was looking worse by the minute, “And this?”
“A scientist. Shot by mistake.”
“He’s in great pain,” Greenshaw said. “Fve no X-ray equipment, but I suspect the arm’s broken just below the shoulder.”
Cronkite was almost jovial, the joviality of a man now almost detached from reality. “An hour from now he won’t be feeling a thing.”
Greenshaw said wearily: “I don’t know what you mean. I want to take him back to the sick bay and give him a pain-killing injection.”
“Why, sure: I want everyone to be fully prepared for what’s about to happen.”
“And what’s that?”
Alistair MacLean
“Later, later.”
Greenshaw and the unsteady Mitchell moved off. They reached the sick bay, passed inside, went through the opposite side and made their unobserved way to the radio room. Greenshaw stood guard just inside the door while Mitchell, ignoring the bound operator, went straight to the transceiver. He raised the Roamer inside twenty seconds.
“Give me Captain Conde.”
“Speaking.”
“On your next circuit out to the oil tank get around behind it, then head south at full speed. The Seawitch has been taken over, but I’m sure there’s nobody here who can operate the antiaircraft guns. Stop at twenty miles and issue a general warning to all ships and aircraft not to approach within twenty miles of the Seawitch. You have its co-ordinates.”
“Yes. But why—”
“Because there’s going to be a mighty big bang. Christ’s sake, don’t argue.”
“Don’t argue about what?” a voice behind Mitchell said.
Mitchell turned round slowly. The man behind the pistol was smiling a smile that somehow lacked a genuine warmth. Greenshaw had been pushed to one side and the gun moved in a slow arc covering them both. “I got a hunch Gregsoa would like to see you both.”
278
Seawiteh
Mitchell rose, turned, half-staggered and clutched his right forearm inside the sling. Greenshaw said sharply: “God’s sake, man, can’t you see he’s ill?”
The man glanced at Greenshaw for just a second, but a second was all that Mitchell required. The bullet from the silenced .38 took the gunman through the heart. Mitchell peered through the doorway. There was a fair degree of shadow there, no one in sight and the edge of the platform not more than twenty feet away. A few seconds later the dead man vanished over the edge. Mitchell and Greenshaw returned to the main body of the company via the sick bay. Cronkite and Gregson were still in deep discussion. Larsen stood some distance apart, apparently in a state of profound dejection. Greenshaw approached him and said quietly: “How do you feel?”
“How would you feel if you knew they intended to kill us all?”
“You’ll feel better soon. Round the back of the building, when you get the chance, you’ll find some hand grenades which should rest comfortably inside that lumberjacket of yours. You’ll also find two loaded Schmeissers. I have a few grenades in my bag here. And Mitchell has his .38 inside his sling.”
Larsen took care not to show his feelings. He looked as morose as ever. All he said was: “Boy, oh boy, oh boy.”
279
Alistalr MaeLean
Lord Worth was on his feet now, supported by his daughter. Mitchell joined them. “How do you feel?”
Lord Worth mouthed his words with understandable bitterness. “I’m in great shape.’*
“You’ll feel better soon.” He lowered his voice and spoke to Marina. “When I give the word, say you want to go to the ladies’ room. But don’t go there. Go to the generator room. You’ll see a red lever there marked ‘Deck Lights.’ Pull it down. After you count twenty, throw it back on again.”
Cronkite and Gregson appeared to have finished their discussion. From Cronkite’s smile it appeared that his view had prevailed. Lord Worth, Marina, Larsen, Greenshaw and Mitchell stood together, a forlorn and huddled group. Facing them were the ranks of Cronkite, Mul-hooney, Easton, and the bogus Colonel Farqu-harson, Lieutenant-Colonel Dewings, Major Breckley, Gregson and his killers, a formidable group and armed to the teeth.
Cronkite spoke to a man by his side. “Check.”
The man lifted a walkie-talkie, spoke into it and nodded. He said to Cronkite: “Charges secured in position.”
“Excellent. Teh1 them to go due north for twenty miles and stay there.” This was done. Unfortunately for Cronkite, his view to the west was blocked by the shattered building behind him and he could not see that the Roomer was already proceeding steadily to the south.
38O
Scawiteh
Cronkite smiled. “Well, Worth, it’s the end of the road for both you and the Seawitch.” He dug into a pocket and produced a black pear-shaped metal container. “This is a radioactive detonating device. Note this small switch here. It’s supposed to be good for sixty minutes, but I have already run off ten minutes of it. Fifty more minutes and poof: the Seawitch, you, Worth, and everyone aboard will be vaporized. Nobody’s going to feel a thing, I assure you.”
“You mean you intend to kill all my innocent employees aboard the rig? Cronkite, you are stark raving mad.”