A Bridge Of Magpies (19 page)

it began to look rough. I decided to tackle Emmermann and Kenryo first about the electronic gear, and hold back about the
gun.
I'd never get off
Sang A
alive if I mentioned it. They weren't to know I'd glimpsed it: the tarpaulin cover was still in place. Their answer to any request for use of their radio was both a back number and a foregone conclusion now, but I intended to go ahead because it provided my excuse for boarding
Sang A.

I finally reached Emmermann and Kenryo.

Emmermann's face was livid; the cords in his neck stood
out
and there were little nicks from a bad shave

'Order that ship of yours to sheer off or I'll ram her,' he rasped.

'Get off
or I'll throw you off I' added Kenryo.
I
gave his
stocky figure a quick once-over. His threat wasn't an idle one. And I'm a big man. You murderous sod, I thought, it was you who killed Breekbout and Koch. He looked as if he'd come at me any moment.

'See here,' I said. 'There's been another death.
I
want you to signal the fisheries frigate.'

'Who the hell do you think you're ordering about!' Kenryo started towards me but Emmermann stopped him.

'It's no business of ours, whoever it is,' he said.

'It was Dr Koch. I'm making it your business.'

'Why don't you use your own radio?' Kenryo's
eyes were
hot and sly.

'It's out of order,'
I
admitted. Well, yes or no?' '

No,' replied Emmermann.

'Fair enough.'

They both seemed surprised at my ready and unquestioning acceptance of their refusal. But there wasn't any point in pressing the demand, plus another for
Sang A
to request clearance to operate in non-fishing waters. The answer to that one lay back on deck, hidden under a tarpaulin. Also,
I
wanted to keep communications open between myself and
Sang A,
so that
I
could still come aboard under some pretext or other. The whole situation had changed radically since I'd spotted that machine-gun: I'd have to handle things very
carefully
indeed.

.

I was wondering how to play my next card about the electronics business when a man walked on to the cat-walk carrying an echo-sounder, or sonar record
–the
sort of

cardboard cylinder device that revolves on a drum while a pen traces graphs on it. It also proved my point why
Sang A
couldn't speed up to escape
Gaok;
because above twelve knots the noise of a ship's engines confuses the sensitive instruments. I said, keeping my voice as level
as
I could-'You're not a trawler!'

Kenryo's eyes were dirty with anger but the cool way he played the situation showed me what I was up against. He took the cylinder from the newcomer, held it out briefly to me, and then thrust it out of sight into his pocket. But I'd
seen
enough. It was different from and more sophisticated than the ordinary type of echo-sounder record I'd known in the Navy.

'Who said
Sang A was
a trawler? Not us. You came aboard blowing your top about fishing inside the
limits,
when we're not fishing at all.
Sang A's
job is to spot shoals for the fishing
fleet.
You've probably seen this sort of record. Echosounder.'

'Your fancy equipment is a waste of time where you are now-' J retorted. And pointing seawards I indicated a patch of water over which the birds had gathered hunting for fish. '

A little local knowledge would be much more profitable.' ..'

We prefer technology.'

My attempt to lower the temperature seemed to be paying off because Emmermann said, less aggressively.

'You fouled up our run by barging alongside. Sonar cannot .

'I know. Above twelve knots you can't get a decent reading.'

'You're very well informed for a simple island headman.' (

Steady, I reminded myself, steady. Not so simple, as you will discover.)

'These waters are full of ships fitted with special gear.'

The man who had brought out the echo-sounder cylinder came to my rescue by asking Kenryo a question. Now that the heat was off I wanted to get back to
Gaok
and think –

hard. I'd found out what I'd come aboard for. Plus. The man was a Korean like the rest of them but with the air of authority which never brushes off a naval officer. His question was clearly about me; his presence as a neutral bystander helped aJso to defuse the explosive potential of the situation. Kenryo hesitated a second, then said with a feeble attempt 130

at
sociability, 'Captain Mild, our liaison offIcer. He asks to be introduced.'

Mild held out his hand with a puppet-like action as if he'd been trained to it and to the words he now shot out. 'Glad to know you', sir.' Like Kenryo, he had a slight American accent.

I shook hands perfunctorily. J couldn't work up much enthusiasm for being buddies with anyone aboard
Sang A.
All
I
wanted now was to be gone. But Captain Mild just stood there in front of me–I guessed he'd run out of further English–with an odd dazed expression in his eyes as though he were trapped in a mental cage. Either he'd been kicked around a lot or else a 16-inch gun had gone off next to him and he'd never got over the shock.

'Lend me a megaphone,' I asked Emmermann.

call

up my boat to come alongside.'

'Good. Your birds and seals will be starting to miss you? '

No one can accuse us of disturbing them,' added Kenryo with a sneer.

Except when that machine-gun of
Sang A's opens
up, I told myself. Except when all this mysterious gear hidden from sight goes into action. Except .. .

With a derisive half-smile, Kenryo handed me the loudhailer. 'Satisfied?'

His remark made me surer than ever that he was unaware I'

d spotted the machine-gun. I wouldn't be leaving
Sang A
if he'd known.
I
didn't want to spoil things at the last moment, so I didn't answer, merely took the megaphone and busied myself calling up Kaptein Denny. While I did so I was noting the deck lay-out and the various entrances and exits.

Gaok
drew alongside.

'So long.' Captain Mild found two more English words. He seemed to know what they meant, too.

'Totsiens'
–which means no more than
au revoir,
I
meant to be back.

I reboarded
Gaok
and we headed for Possession. I told Jutta and Kaptein Denny about the machine-gun and echo-sounder. In my own mind I'd resolved to take a closer look at
Sang
A's other concealed deck gear but didn't mention that It could wait I had other things laid on for them.

131

Kaptein Denny's reaction
to
my news was to become completely silent. But Jutta asked, 'What can they be after on the ocean floor, Struan?'

'Not a clue. But if it's fish it's. illegal and if it's treasure or diamonds it's doubly illegal.'

She was still on the lost city tack; she wasn't to know that I now discounted it. 'What's left–where they are now?'

'I don't know,' I replied. 'But the whole thing has got out of hand. Kaptein Denny,
I
would like you to take a message from me to the police and port captain at Luderitz. You can make tracks at once., I'll write it down so there won't be any mistake.'

He didn't answer.

Jutta's eyes were all over my face. 'And me?'

'I'd like you to go along too.'

Her eyes called me traitor.

'Not again. I went once.'

Kaptein Denny had given the channel one of his long quartering surveys. Then he said, 'I'll let you know my decision in an hour when I've had time to study the weather.'

'Hell's teeth!' I burst out. 'Weather! Temperament! Mood maintenance! Both of you! You'd think we were a crowd of kids playing cops and robbers and deciding who's going to be next to hide! This is murder! Two men are dead!'

'There may be a third, Struan, if we leave you alone. No dice!'

The emotional seesaw I'd ridden previously now came up and smacked me hard under the chin. The first part of my plan had worked but the second was in danger of being sabotaged by my
awn
side.

I thought I'd give them a cooling-off period so I switched to a neutral topic–so I thought.

'One of their own people gave away the echo-sounder,' I told them. 'An odd-looking guy came on to the bridge carrying the cylinder. I'd have thought he was an ex-navy type. Kenryo introduced him as Captain Miki.'

'Who did you say?'

I almost felt Denny's Stock-wave strike me.

'Captain Miki.'

He'd half-turned from the wheel and now he put in a terrific effort to pretend he was concentrating on
Gaok's
132

course. It meant I couldn't see what was going on in his face. But his bands on the wheel gave him away. The knuckles were white and the fingers tight clenched.

'Mean anything?'

'Nothing.'

But it did. It changed his mood from preoccupation to reserved consternation. He didn't speak again all the way back to the island and when we landed, went off by himself. It gave me the opportunity to speak alone to Jutta. We went and sat on some rocks by the bunkhouse

'I'm not side-lining you, Jutta, I'm front-lining you by asking you to go to Luderitz:

'Don't
twist
my arm-Struan. It isn't that way.'

'Why I want you to go is that you must get on the blower direct to the C-in-C. I'll give you the Silvermine code number. Tell him what's happened. Say
Sang A
is fitted with a sophisticated echo-sounder and
is
searching the sea-bed for something with it.'

'You don't need me
to
do the legwork. Denny can do that just
as
well. Have him tell the police what he knows. They can pass it on to the C-in-C. He'll then make his own deductions about the echo-sounding gear?

'No. I want you to describe to the C-in-C Denny's reactions all along the
line.
Especially after I returned from
Sang A.'
'

He seems burned up about Captain Miki.'

'I mean to find out about that too. He's playing a lone band, Jutta. I can't get on to his wavelength. Sometimes I think that weather line of his is a bluff: at other times I fall for it. I just don't know the key to the man,'

Jutta said nothing, but wouldn't meet my look.

'Ask the admiral-too-whether he saw 'Captain Denny's boat the day after be rescued your mother.'

'What did you say?'

'He was in the corvette
Vggie off
Possession . . I ex plained briefly his war-time association with Convoy WV.5BX

She was all ears.

I added, 'By speaking direct to him you can give your search for your father's identity a big boost. If anyone is in a position to help you it could be the C-in-C. By doing this for me you have a unique opportunity of getting his ear.'

That ended her objections; and her eyes were very bright,
as
if the sun's reflectlon off the sea were being mirrored in 133

them. Then she knelt down impulsively and found one of the smooth, white-marble-sized pebbles penguins roll to each other when courtlng. She squeezed it into my palm and touched my knuckles with her lips.

'I'm a stupid clot...I'll

go ...

I
won't mistrust you

again.'

But she did.

She and Denny sailed a couple of hours later, after he had come to me and announced, to my surprise, that the weather signs were right. He was
as
reserved as before.
I
didn't know whether to believe him or not; nevertheless I gave him
a
written message for the authorities in Luderitz. After
Gaok had
sailed I began to feel Possession's special quality of loneliness. Not even
Sang A
was in sight. The island seemed as ancient and companionable as a sabretoothed tiger. I hung around while it was light and at sunset
Sang A
returned. She kept well away from the lost city area and made straight for her mooring.

When darkness came I lit Breekbout's ghost lights. I rationalized my action
as
being a kind of tribute to the dead.

The fog came, the wind ceased, the sea boomed.

Every time condensation splashed off the roof I thought it was a footfall.
I
loaded the rifle after I'd heard the noise half-a-dozen times. Listen, I told myself, you'd better get a grip on yourself or you'll be heading the same crazy way as Van Rensburg. It didn't help my hypter-acute state of aJertness, though, and I went to bed with the gun by my hand. I slept dressed, on a hair trigger.

It was a real footfall outside the bunkhouse which woke me around midnight.

I groped for the gun, set my finger
to
the trigger, and went in a low crouch to the door. I eased it open and edged out. The ghost lights were a yellow reflected patch against the fog. There was also a blurred human outline.