Wilbur Smith's Smashing Thrillers (63 page)

There had been enough fuss to excite the interest of
‘
The Today and
Tomorrow Show.
’
They had invited the parties
to meet their accuser
and both Christy Marine and
Orient Amex had fielded their first teams. Duncan Alexander with all his
charisma had come to speak for Christy Marine, and Orient Amex had
selected one of their directors who looked like Gary Cooper. With his
craggy honest face and the silver hairs at his temple he looked like the
kind of man you wanted flying your airliner or looking after your money.

The make-up girl dusted Nicholas face with powder.

‘
I'm going to invite you to speak first. Tell us about this stuff - what
is it, cadmium?
’
the interviewer checked his script.

Nicholas nodded, he could not speak for he was suffering the ultimate
indignity. The girl was painting his lips.

The television studio was the size of an aircraft hangar, the concrete
floor strewn with thick black cables and the roof lost in the gloomy
heights, but they had created the illusion of intimacy in the small
shell of the stage around which the big mobile cameras cluttered like
mechanical crabs around the carcass of a dead fish.

The egg-shaped chairs made it impossible either to loll or to sit
upright, and the merciless white glare of the arc lamps fried the thick
layer of greasy make-up on Nicholas
’
skin. it was small consolation that
across the table Duncan looked like a Japanese Kabuki dancer in make-up
too white for his coppery hair.

An assistant director in a sweatshirt and jeans clipped the small
microphone into Nicholas lapel and whispered,
‘
Give them hell, ducky.
’

Somebody else in the darkness beyond the lights was intoning solemnly,
‘
Four, three, two, one - you're on!
’
and the red light lit on the middle
camera.

‘
Welcome to The Today and Tomorrow Show
,’
the anchor-man's voice was
suddenly warm and intimate and mellifluous.
‘
Last week in the French
ship-building port of St Na
zaire, the largest ship in the world was
launched
-’
In a dozen sentences he sketched out the facts, while on the
repeating screens beyond the cameras Nicholas saw that they were running
newsreel footage of Golden Dawn's launching. He remembered the
helicopter hovering over the dockyard, and he was so fascinated by the
aerial views of the enormous vessel taking to the water that when the
cameras switched suddenly to him, he was taken by surprise and saw
himself start on the little screen as the interviewer began introducing
him, swiftly running a thumbnail portrait and then going on:

‘
Mr. Berg
has some very definite views on this ship.

‘
In her present design and
construction, she is not safe to carry even regular crude petroleum oil
,’
Nicholas said.
‘
However, she will be employed in the carriage of crude oil that has been
contaminated by cadmium sulphide in such concentrations as to make it
one of the more toxic substances in nature.
’

‘
Your first statement, Mr.
Berg, does anyone else share your doubts as to the safety of her design?
’

‘
She does not carry the Al rating by the marine inspectors of Lloyd's of
London
,’
said Nicholas.

‘
Now can you tell us about the cargo she will carry - the so-called
cad-rich crudes?
’

Nicholas knew he had perhaps fifteen seconds to draw a
verbal picture of the Atlantic Ocean turned into a sterile poisoned
desert; it was too short a time, and twice Duncan Alexander interjected,
skilfully breaking up the logic of Nicholas presentation and before he
had finished, the anchor-man glanced at his watch and cut him short.

‘
Thank you, Mr. Berg. Now Mr. Kemp is a director of the oil company.
’

‘
My
company., Orient Amex, last year allocated the sum of two million U.S.
dollars as grants to assist in the scientific study of world
environmental problems. I can tell you folks, right now, that we at
Orient Amex are very conscious of the problems of modern technology He
was projecting the oil-company image, the benefactors of all humanity.
’

‘
Your company's profit last year, after taxation, was four hundred and
twenty-five million dollars
,’
Nicholas cut in clearly.
‘
That makes point
four seven percent on environmental research - all of it tax deductible.
Congratulations, Mr. Kemp.
’

The oil man looked pained and went on:
‘
Now
we at Orient Amex
,’
plugging the company
nam
e again neatly,
‘
are working
towards a better quality of life for all peoples.
But we do realize that it is impossible to put back the clock a hundred
years. We cannot allow ourselves to be blinded by the romantic wishful
thinking of amateur environmentalists, the weekend scientists and the
doom-criers who
–‘

‘
Cry Torrey Canyon,
’
Nicholas suggested helpfully, and
the oil man suppressed a shudder and went on quickly.
‘
-who would have us
discontinue such research as the revolutionary cadmium cracking process,
which could extend the world's utilization of fossil fuels by a
staggering forty percent and give the world's oil reserves an extended
life of twenty years or more.
’
Again the anchor-man glanced at his
watch, cut the oil off in mid-flow and switched his attention to Duncan
Alexander.

‘
Mr. Alexander, your so-called ultra-tanker will carry the cad-rich
crudes. How would you reply to Mr. Berg?
’

Duncan smiled, a deep secret
smile.
‘
When Mr. Berg had my job as head of Christy Marine, the Golden
Dawn was the best idea in the world. Since he was fired, it's suddenly
the worst.
’
They laughed, even one of the cameramen out beyond the
lights guffawed uncontrollably, and Nicholas felt the hot red rush of
his anger.

‘
Is the Golden Dawn rated Al at Lloyd's? asked the anchor-man.

‘
Christy
Marine has not applied for a Llo
yd's listing
,
we arranged our
insurance in other markets.
’
Even through his anger Nicholas had to
concede how good he was, he had a mind like quicksilver.

‘
How safe is your ship, Mr. Alexander?
’
Now Duncan turned his head and
looked directly across the table at Nicholas.

‘
I believe she is as safe as the world's leading marine architects and
naval engineers can make her.
’
He paused, and there was a malevolent
gleam in his eyes now,
‘
So safe, that I have decided to end this
ridiculous controversy by a display of my personal confidence.
’

‘
What form will this show of faith take, Mr. Alexander?
’
The anchor-man
sensed the sensational line for which he had been groping and he leaned
forward eagerly.

‘
On Golden Dawn s maiden voyage, when she returns from the Persian Gulf
fully laden with the El Barras crudes, I and my family, my wife and my
step-son, will travel aboard her for the final six thousand miles of her
voyage from Cape Town on the Cape of Good Hope to Galveston in the Gulf
of Mexico.
’
As Nicholas gaped at him wordlessly, he went on evenly,
‘
That's how convinced I am that Golden Dawn is capable of performing her
task in perfect safety.
’

‘
Thank you.
’
The anchor-man recognized a good
exit line, when he heard one.
‘Thank you, Mr. Alexander. Y
ou have convinced me - and I am sure many of our viewers. We are now
crossing to Washington via satellite where
-‘

The moment the red in use
light flickered out on the television camera, Nicholas was on his feet
and facing the real Duncan Alexander. His anger was fanned by the
realization that Duncan had easily grandstanded him with that adroit
display of showmanship, and by the stabbing anxiety at the threat to
take Peter aboard Golden Down on her hazardous maiden voyage.

‘
You're not taking Peter on that death trap of yours,
’
he snapped.

‘
That
’
s his mother's decision
,’
said Duncan evenly.
‘
As the daughter of
Arthur Christy, she's decided to give the company her full support
,’
he
emphasized the word
‘
full'.

‘
I won
’
t let either of you endanger my son's life for a wild
public-relations stunt.
’

‘
I'm sure you will try to prevent it,
’
Duncan
nodded and smiled,
‘
and I'm sure your efforts will be as ineffectual as
your attempts to stop Golden Dawn.
’
He deliberately turned his back on
Nicholas and spoke to the oil man.
’
I do think that went off rather
well
,’
he said,
‘
don't you?
’

James Teacher gave a graphic demonstration of
why he could charge the highest fees in London and still have his desk
piled high with important briefs. He had Nicholas
’
urgent application
before a Judge-in-Chambers within seventy hours, petitioning for a writ
to restrain Chantelle Alexander from allowing the son of their former
marriage, one Peter Nicholas Berg, aged twelve years, to accompany her
on an intended voyage from Cape Town in the Republic of South Africa to
Galveston in the state of Texas aboard the bulk crude-carrier Golden
Dawn, and
/
or to prevent the said Chantelle Alexander from allowing the
child to undertake any other voyage aboard the said vessel.

The judge heard the petition during a recess in the criminal trial of a
young post-office worker standing accused of multiple rape. The judge's
oak-panelled book-lined chambers were overcrowded by the two parties,
their lawyers, the judge's registrar and the considerable bulk of the
judge himself.

Still in his wig and robes from the public court, the judge read swiftly
through the written submission of both sides, listened attentively to
James Teacher's short address and the rebuttal by his opposite number,
before turning sternly to Chantelle.

‘
Mrs. Alexander.
’
The stern expression wavered slightly as he looked upon
the devastating beauty which sat demurely before him.
’
Do you love your
son
?’

‘
More than anything else in this life.
’
Chantelle looked at him
steadily out of those vast dark eyes
.

‘
And you are happy to take him on
this journey with you?
’