Wilbur Smith's Smashing Thrillers (56 page)

Then abruptly, the dream image changed in his mind.
The projected opening in the trumpet shell expanded, articulating on
jaw-hinges and he was gaping into the deep and terrible maw of some
great predatory sea-creature, lined with multiple rows of serrated
triangular teeth, - sharklike, terrifying, so he
cried out in half-sleep, startling him
self
awake, and he rolled quickly on to his side and raised himself on one
elbow. Her perfume still lingered on his skin, mingled with the smell
of his own sweat, but the bed beside him was empty, though warm and
redolent with the memory of her body.

Across the room, the early sun struck a long sliver of light through a
narrow chink in the curtains. It looked like a blade, a golden blade.
It reminded him instantly of Samantha Silver. He saw her again wearing
sunlight like a cloak, barefoot in the sand - and it seemed that the
blade of sunlight was being driven up slowly under his ribs.

He swung his feet off the wide bed and padded softly across to the gold
and onyx bathroom. There was a dull ache of sleeplessness and remorse
behind his eyes and as he ran hot water from the dolphin's mouth into
the basin, he looked at himself in the mirror although the steam slowly
clouded the image of his own face. There were dark smears below his
eyes and his features were gaunt, harsh angles of bone beneath drawn
skin.

You bastard
,’
he whispered at the shadowy face in the mirror.
"You bloody bastard.
’

They were waiting breakfast for him, in the
sunlight on the terrace under the gaily coloured umbrellas. Peter had
preserved the mood of the previous evening, and he ran laughing to meet
Nicholas.

‘
Dad, hey Dad.
’
He seized Nicholas
’
hand and led him to the table.

Chantelle wore a long loose housegown, and her hair was down on her
shoulders, so soft that it stirred like spun silk in even that whisper
of breeze. It was calculated, Chantelle did nothing by chance; the
intimately elegant attire and the loose fall of her hair set the mood of
domesticity - and Nicholas found himself resisting it fiercely.

Peter sensed his father's change of mood with an intuitive understanding
beyond his years, and his dismay was a palpable thing, the hurt and
reproach in his eyes as he looked at Nicholas; and then the chatter died
on his lips and he bent his head studiously over his plate and ate in
silence.

Nicholas deliberately refused the festival array of food, took only a
cup of coffee, and lit a cheroot, without asking Chantelle's permission,
knowing how she would resent that. He waited in silence and as soon as
Peter had eaten he said:

‘
I'd like to speak to your mother, Peter.
’
The
boy stood up obediently.

‘
Will I see you before you leave, sir?
’

‘
Yes.
’
Nicholas felt his heart
wrung again.
‘
Of course.
’

‘
We could sail again?
’

‘
I'm sorry, my boy. We
won't have time. Not today.
’

‘
Very well, sir.
’
Peter walked to the end
of the terrace, very erect and dignified, then suddenly he began to run,
taking the steps down two at a time, and he fled into the pine forest
beyond the boathouse as though pursued, feet flying and arms pumping
wildly.

‘
He needs you, Nicky
,’
said Chantelle softly.

‘
You should have thought about that two years ago.
’

She poured fresh
coffee into his cup.
‘
Both of us have been stupid - all right, worse
than that. We've been wicked. I have had my Duncan, and you have had
that American child.
’

‘
Don't make me angry now
,’
he warned her softly.
‘
You've done enough for one day.
’

‘
It's as simple as this, Nicholas. I
love you, I have always loved you - God, since I was a gawky
school-girl
,’
she had never been that, but Nicholas let it pass, 'since I
saw you that first day on the bridge of old Golden Eagle, the dashing
ship's captain
–‘

‘
Chantelle. All we have to discuss is Golden Dawn and
Christy Marine.
’

‘
No, Nicholas. We were born for each other, Daddy saw
that immediately, we both knew it at the same time - it was only a
madness, a crazy whim that made me doubt it for a moment.
’

"Stop it, Chantelle.
’

‘
Duncan was a stupid mistake. But it's unimportant
-‘

‘
No, it's not unimportant. It changed everything. It can never be the
same again, besides
–‘

‘
Besides, what? Nicky, what were you going to
say?
’

‘
Besides, I am building myself another life now.
With another very different person.
’

‘
Oh God, Nicky, you aren't serious?
’
She laughed then, genuine amusement, clapping her hands delightedly.
‘
My dear, she's young enough to be your daughter. It's the forty
syndrome, the Lolita complex.
’
Then she saw his real anger, and she was
quick, retrieving the situation neatly, aware that she had carried it
too far.

‘
I'm sorry, Nicky. I should never have said that.
’
She paused, and then
went on.
’
I will say she's a pretty little thing, and I'm sure she's
sweet - Peter liked her.
’
She damned Samantha with light condescension,
and then dismissed her as though she were merely a childlike prank of
Nicholas', a light and passing folly of no real significance.

‘
I understand, Nicholas, truly I do. However, when you are ready, as you
will be soon, then Peter and I and Christy Marine are waiting for you
still. This is your world, Nicholas.
’
She made a gesture which embraced
it all.
‘
This is your world, you will never really leave it.
’

‘
You are wrong, Chantelle.
’

‘
No.
’
She shook her head.
‘
I am very seldom
wrong, and on this I cannot be wrong. Last night proved that, it is
still there - every bit of it. But let's discuss the other thing now,
Golden Dawn and Christy Marine.

Chantelle Alexander lifted her face to
the sky and
watched the big silver bird fly.
It climbed nose high,
glinting in the sunlight, twin trails of dark unconsumed fuel spinning
out behind it as the engines howled under the full thrust.
With the wind in this quarter, the extended centreline of the main Nice
runway brought it out over Cap Ferrat.

Beside Chantelle, only an inch or two shorter than she was, Peter stood
and watched it also and she took his arm, tucking her small dainty hand
into the crook of his elbow.

‘
He stayed such a short time
,’
Peter said, and overhead the big airbus
turned steeply on to its crosswind leg.

‘
We will have him with us again soon,
’
Chantelle promised, and then she
went on.
‘
Where were you, Peter? We hunted all over when it was time
for Daddy to go?
’

‘
I was in the forest,
’
he said evasively.
He had heard them calling, but Peter was hidden in the secret place, the
smuggler's cleft in the yellow rock of the cliff; he would have killed
himself rather than let Nicholas Berg see him weeping.

‘
Wouldn't it be lovely if it was like the old times again?
’
Chantelle asked softly, and the boy stirred beside her, but unable to
take his gaze from the aircraft,
‘
Just the three of us again?
’

‘
Without
Uncle Duncan?
’
he asked incredulously, and high above them the aircraft,
with a last twinkle of sunlight, dove deeply into the banks of cumulus
cloud that buttressed the northern sky. Peter turned at last to face
her.

‘
Without Uncle Duncan?
’
he demanded again.
‘
But that's impossible.
’

‘
Not
if you help me, darling.
’
She took his face in her cupped hands.
‘
You
will help me, won't you?
’
she asked, and he nodded once, a sharply
incisive gesture of assent; she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly
on the forehead
.

‘
That's my man,
’
she whispered.

‘
Mr. Alexander is not available. May I take a message?
’

‘
This is Mrs.
Alexander. Tell my husband that it's urgent.
’

‘
Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Alexander.
,’
The secretary's voice changed
instantly, cool caution becoming effusive servility.
‘
I didn't recognize
your voice. The line is dreadful, Mr. Alexander will speak to you
directly.
’

Chantelle waited, staring impatiently from the study windows.
The weather had changed in the middle of the morning with the cold front
sweeping down off the mountains, and now icy wind and rain battered at
the windows.

‘
Chantelle, my dear
,’
the rich glossy voice that had once so dazzled her,
‘
is this my call to you?
’

‘
It's mine, Duncan. I must speak to you
urgently.
’

‘
Good, he agreed with her. I wanted to speak to you also.
Things are happening swiftly here. It's necessary for you to come up to
St Nazaire next Tuesday, instead of my joining you at Cap Ferrat.
’

‘
Duncan
-‘

But he went on over her protest, his voice as full of self-confidence,
as ebullient as she had not heard it in over a year.

‘
I have been able to save almost four weeks on Golden Dawn.
’

‘
Duncan, listen to me.
’

‘
We will be able to launch on Tuesday. it will be
a makeshift ceremony, I'm afraid, at such short notice.
’
He was
inordinately proud of his own achievement. It annoyed her to hear him.
‘
What I have arranged is that the pod tanks will be delivered direct to
the Gulf from the Japanese yards.
They are towing them in their ballast with four American tugs. I will
launch the hull here, with workmen still aboard her, and they will
finish her off at sea during the passage around Good Hope, in time for
her to take on her tanks and cargo at El Barras. We'll save nearly
seven and a half million
-‘

‘
Duncan! Chantelle cried again, and this time
some
thing in her tone stopped him.