Go In and Sink! (34 page)

The doctor’s wife, Megan, beamed at him. ‘Quite a party. Pity we can’t entertain you in proper Welsh style!’

The girl held out her hand. ‘I’m glad you could come.’ Her voice was very quiet. Husky.

Williams said, ‘We’ll do the round tomorrow. Have a look at the pyramids.’ He winked. ‘I understand that you’ve never seen them, Commander?’

Marshall looked at the girl. So she had been speaking about him. Had remembered his clumsy attempt to make her smile.

She said, ‘I expect you can do with some leave after what you have——’ She stiffened and then added, ‘I am sorry. No
shop
talk.’

He saw the others exchanging glances and replied,
‘Just
four days, I’m afraid. But far better than I’d dared to hope.’

She smiled for the first time. ‘You sound as if you mean that.’

‘He does!’ Williams strode to his cabinet. ‘Now we’ll have a couple of drinks while
he
hops off to a shower and some dust-free clothes.’

Marshall followed an impassive houseboy towards the stairs, and heard the doctor’s wife say, ‘What a nice fellow, but he looks so tired, poor lamb.’

Then he heard the girl say simply, ‘His name is Steven. We must try and make his leave a happy one.’

He groped his way up the stairs.
We must try
. For
his
sake. It was a beginning.

The first two days passed only too swiftly. Each was crammed with incident and colour, with cheerful companionship and only a few moments of tension. It was like living in a private hotel, sharing every hour with guests who had somehow chosen the same moment to spend their holiday.

True to his word, Williams took them across the river to Giza and the pyramids. Panting after a nimble-footed guide they had climbed the great Pyramid of Cheops, all four hundred and fifty feet of it. Williams and his wife had stopped halfway, protesting it was too much at their time of life. Marshall suspected Williams had other reasons, and was grateful.

Once at the summit they had looked at the spectacular view with pleasure and awe. The city of Cairo sprawled on the other side of the river, and turning westwards
across
the great wastes of Africa, the deserts. Far below, the coloured sails of the little
feluccas
made them conscious of the breadth of time, as well as distance from the ground.

She had said, ‘I feel free up here. I really do.’ She had been wearing a big, floppy hat which hid her face in shadow, and she had added, ‘Are you happy?’

He had touched her arm. ‘Very.’

She had not drawn away, but had looked down at his hand, as if to test her own reactions.

Williams had been busy with his camera when they had returned to the foot of the pyramid for one more camel ride. Marshall could appreciate why they were called ships of the desert. Getting on the beast’s back was easy enough, but when it rose to its feet in four separate lurches, it was all he could do to hold on. Watched by grinning handlers, and directed by Williams with his, ‘Lean back, Steven! Now forward!
Back
again!’ he had felt as if his spine would snap in two.

When he had found time and breath to turn towards the girl he had seen her watching him, clapping her hands like a delighted schoolgirl.

He did not think much of what they had shared before, and his mind rebelled against going back to that other world of wet steel. This was all he wanted. This and the girl. Especially Chantal.

On the third day Williams had gone into the city with his wife to visit someone at the hospital there. Without their noisy presence the house seemed very quiet, so that as Marshall sat opposite the girl at lunch he could feel a barrier growing between them. Like guilt. Uncertainty.

He said, ‘Can I ask if you are staying in Egypt for a while?’

She pushed a lock of hair from her forehead. ‘I believe
it
may be so.’ She looked at him searchingly. ‘What will you do? Next?’

‘Another job.’ He found he could hardly bear to face it. ‘After that, who knows?’ He hesitated, toying with his fork. ‘You will go to England sometime. I’d like——’ He rejected the word. ‘I
want
to see you again. Very much.’

‘You hardly know me.’

He watched her gravely, seeing the quick thrust of her breasts under the dress. Was she pleased or just startled? Was it the beginning of some new strain?

He said, ‘I want to know you, Chantal. I need to.’

She stood up and walked to the window. ‘I might be bad for you. Bring you unhappiness as I have done for others.’

He moved quickly to her side. ‘You must not say that. It is not true. Any man would give his life for you. I know I would.’

He rested his hand on her shoulder but fell back as she pushed herself away.

‘But don’t you understand, Steven?’ Her voice was shaking with sudden emotion. ‘I might hurt you! Perhaps I will never be able to——’ She turned towards the window again. ‘Never
feel
anything.’

‘I can wait.’ He watched her desperately. ‘As long as you like.’

She relaxed slightly and swung round to face him. ‘I know that, too.’ She reached up and touched his mouth with her fingers. ‘But it would be cruel. I would never hurt you willingly.’

‘Well then.’ He forced a smile. ‘Trust me.’

‘I do.’

He placed his hands on her shoulders again and pulled
her
very gently against his chest. He could feel his heart pounding, matching hers as he rested his chin in her hair.

‘I mustn’t lose you, Chantal. Not after what’s happened. I don’t think I could go on.’

She stood still, quiet, but he felt her breast pressing against him, the quickness of her breathing.

She said in a small voice, ‘What about my husband?’

‘I don’t care about him.’ Something in his tone made her lift her head. He added, ‘We’ll find a way. He’d better not try to see you again!’

She whispered, ‘Oh, Steven, I never thought this would happen. I remember when we first met. How I thought you were involved with Simeon’s wife. Her lover maybe.’

He nodded. ‘That was over a long time ago. I think I must be a slow developer.’

She started to shake, and for a terrible moment he thought she was crying.

But she was laughing without a sound, her whole body shaking uncontrollably until she gasped, ‘That you are
not
, Steven!’ She patted his face again. ‘You do say silly things.’

He grinned. The relief spreading through him like the removal of physical pain.

‘Maybe. Every so often.’

A car rattled past the window and he guessed it was Williams. He came into the room and glanced from one to the other.

Marshall said, ‘It’s all right, Doc, we’ve not been up to anything.’ He looked at the girl, and they laughed. Like two conspirators.

‘Fine.’ Williams nodded. ‘I really am pleased. For both of you.’ He bit his lip. ‘However …’

Marshall saw the paper in his hand and asked dully, ‘Recall?’

‘I’m afraid so. Sounds urgent. They’re sending a car for you.’ For once he sounded at a complete loss.

He added, ‘I’ll go and console Megan. She’s very upset about it. Doesn’t want you to go. Either of you.’

Alone again, they looked at each other.

She said quietly, ‘Oh, Steven, your face.’ She crossed the room and placed her hands by his throat. ‘I hadn’t realised. I am so full of my troubles.’ She shook her head. ‘You have to go back. And I cannot even begin to share it with you. I saw you once. Just before ‘I was rowed to that fishing boat. You were there. At the periscope. All your men around you. Trusting you. Depending on you.’ She dropped her forehead against his chest. I would like to do that. But to end like this.’ She quivered with sudden despair. ‘It’s not fair. Just one more day. It would not have hurt them!’

He lifted her chin with his fingers and gently removed the glasses. ‘I’ll be back.’ He saw the tears running down her face, as if they had been hoarded for this moment in time. ‘There will be more than one day then.’

She was studying him, the tears pouring down her face quite unheeded.

‘I will remember everything. The little boats. The market. The Great Pyramid.’ She reached up and touched his hair. ‘And how you looked on that camel.
Everything!
’

Marshall heard another car outside. It was over.

Williams and his wife joined him by the door, watching as he half-heartedly checked the contents of his grip.

‘We will take good care of her.’ The doctor’s wife had started to cry. ‘Till you get back.’

‘That’ll do, woman!’ Williams picked up the grip. ‘You’ll have me at it soon.’ He looked at Marshall. ‘I’ll walk with you to the car.’

Marshall stooped and kissed the girl gently on the forehead. Then he turned and followed the doctor into the sunlight.

Beside the car he asked quietly, ‘Well? Can you help her?’

Williams took his hand. ‘I think you are the one now, Steven. The only one.’ He opened the door. ‘Take care,
bach
. We’ll be thinking of you and your men.’

The car bumped towards the road, and when Marshall looked back he saw that she was waving to him. She was still waving when the car rounded the bend in the road and the little house was lost from view.

Frenzel waited just inside the cabin doorway watching as Marshall put his signature on some papers. Overhead feet drummed on the casing, and from the control room came a steady buzz of conversation.

Marshall looked up. ‘All ready to go, Chief?’

Frenzel smiled. ‘The last of the depot ship’s engineers have gone, sir. They’ve made a pretty fair job, considering the shortage of time.’

Marshall stood up and glanced at his watch. It was seven in the evening. Browning had set the sailing time for 2100.

Gerrard edged round the door and said, ‘I’ve made arrangements for our passengers, sir.’ He looked tense. ‘Captain Browning has sent word that he would like to bunk in the wardroom.’

‘Yes.’ Marshall smiled in spite of his other thoughts.
‘He
told me. I offered him this cabin, but he’d rather get the full treatment, apparently.’

Frenzel chuckled. ‘He’ll be one of the boys again. I can understand him feeling like that.’

Buck paused in the passageway. ‘The main brow has been removed, sir. The last mail has been censored and sent over to the F.M.O.’ He seemed very relaxed, better than he had looked for a long while.

Marshall nodded. ‘Thank you. You seem very chirpy.’

Buck showed his teeth. ‘Well, the buzz has it this is the last job, sir. After this, it’s back to sanity again!’ His grin broadened. ‘Not that I’m dripping about it. We’ve had a spate of luck, too.’

He strolled off along the passageway, and they heard him calling to one of his torpedomen.

Gerrard said quietly, ‘I don’t know how he does it. He’s taken to this life better than many regulars.’

A boatswain’s mate stood on tiptoe to peer over Gerrard’s shoulders.

‘Beg pardon, sir, but the O.O.D. reports the first of the passengers comin’ aboard.’ He added as an afterthought, ‘Commander Simeon.’

He hurried away, and Gerrard said bitterly, ‘Damn. We could do without
him
.’

Frenzel stood aside and pulled on his stained engine-room gloves.

‘I’m off then. A last look round.’ He winked. ‘Make sure there’s no lump of waste stuck in anything vital.’

Gerrard waited and then closed the door.

‘I’m sorry about the other day, sir. I’ll be all right. It’s just the thought of Valerie having a baby. All those miles away.’ He tried to smile. ‘I guess I’ll have to get used to the idea.’

‘I can understand, Bob.’ He thought of the girl pressed against his chest. The way she had looked at him.

He added, ‘I’d better go and meet Simeon.’ He shot Gerrard a quick glance. ‘Just take it easy, will you?’

Gerrard ducked beneath the deckhead. ‘Yes. Right now I’ll occupy myself in examining our conning-tower shield. It’s probably rusted solid by now.’

Marshall found Simeon in the wardroom staring at a cup of coffee.

‘Has your gear been stowed, sir?’ He was careful to be formal.

Simeon looked at him calmly. ‘Yes. Captain Browning will be aboard in about an hour with the others.’