Last Out From Roaring Water Bay (49 page)

“Be a little patient.” Morgan remonstrated with Hamer. He turned to me. “You seem to be well informed, Speed. Where did you extract all this information from?”

“I was fortunate to meet a contributor to the daring hijack of the I-52 submarine, whom, I might add, would prefer to remain anonymous because of his failing health.”

Hamer punched me in the side of the head. “Tell me his fucking name.”

My head snapped round, teeth clamped with anger, “Do that again and I’ll break your fingers and stick the digits in every orifice you have.”

Morgan made a harsh gesture that Hamer remains in control of himself.

I went on. “Forget the informant. He has about as much idea where the gold is now as you two. I’m the only one alive who knows where it could be, and I can’t think straight with a gun shoved in my face. So it’s negotiation time.”

“So negotiate then,” Morgan pressed.

I didn’t care for Morgan’s hurriedness. “After you’ve given me one of your pathetic excuses as to why you had my friends killed?”

“Ah-well, Speed, that’s your entire fault. When you decided to break all the ground rules and steal government property, you should have been more considerate towards who you used to lie and cover your tracks.”

I felt my blood pressure rising. “They didn’t deserve to die horribly.”

“They were collaborators to your crime, who, unfortunately, had the same stubbornness you possess. It was you, Speed that forced us to use heavy handed tactics. It was your greed in stealing the camera from the Spitfire that put your friend’s lives in danger and they paid a heavy price. So don’t blame us, just take a look at yourself in the mirror, Speed.”

“There was no need to murder them!”

“Yes there was!” Morgan said acidly. Professionals clean up after themselves; leave no trace of their presence at the scene. That includes no witnesses. Your friends were inconveniences. Therefore it became necessary to eradicate the problems put before us.”

I never even thought about the consequences of my actions when I went for Morgan’s throat like a raging Rhinoceros. But I never got further than a stride when the back of my skull imploded. I assumed at that point that Hamer had smashed his gun twice across my skull with tremendous force. I lost consciousness.

I was still alive. Dead men don’t feel their toes curl up inside their shoes. The cold steel beneath me and the slight swaying sensation told me I was probably still aboard the
Flying Fish
and we were still anchored. I made an uneasy movement and attempted to open my eyes. The blinding flash ripped into my iris’s forcing a momentary shutdown of vision. I could still move my hands and feet, so I knew I hadn’t been bound or chained. Slowly, I pushed myself up from the floor into a sitting position and opened my eyes to a squint. The sharp streak of brightness came from a light fitting on the overhead of what appeared to be a stockade of steel walls and steel bars giving the impression I was in a futuristic brig. Trawlers didn’t have brigs so I had to assume I was in some sort of strong room for another purpose. Gunrunning came to mind.

I massaged my stiff neck, which hurt like hell, and suddenly aware that I wasn’t alone in the room. The last two people I would have expected to see were Deveron and Shayna sitting on an old iron bed in a state of utter dejection while watching my squirming antics of a waking drunk.

My speech sluggish, I said, “Seeing your two depressing faces, I guess I’m not in heavenly paradise. Not unless you’re both dead as well and this is supposed to be a jokers version of the Garden of Eden and you two are my guardian angels. Now isn’t that wild to the imagination, I find you two posing as a couple of angels.”

Shayna responded angrily. “Just because you’ve a large lump on the back of your head, it doesn’t give you the damn right to be an obstinate shit!”

She may have had a point but I was in no mood to apologize. “Oh, while we’re on the subject of being an obstinate shit, aren’t you two on the wrong side of the door?”

“We wouldn’t have find ourselves in this damn mess if we hadn’t come looking for you at your hotel,” she snapped. “Instead we found Morgan and Hamer brandishing steel and on the lookout for you. Good god, you make enemies really fast.”

“Well that does make everything right then. I get the blame for your troubles and Deveron is blameless for something he started. This hero shit is absolutely marvellous.”

“Give your sunken ego a rest Shackleton Speed. Obviously the blow to your head hasn’t changed your attitude. How is your head anyway? Not that I really care a damn at the moment.”

“It hurts like the rest of my body hurts. I feel as if a fat bastard called Hamer decided to kick the frigging shit out of me.”

“He did,” she said. “After a couple of crewmen threw you in here, Hamer spurted out a mouthful of obscenities in between kicking you about the chest. Mind you, I don’t think he hurt you much, you were out cold and dumb heads don’t feel much pain.”

“Thanks for the compliment, Shayna. As for fat boy, I owe him one.”

I noticed Shayna hadn’t escaped a beating herself judging by the severe bruising around her left cheekbone. She probably deserved it no doubt. Still feeling too giddy to get to my feet I shuffled back against the steel bulkhead.

I flicked my head towards Shayna, and said, “Nasty discolouration around your eye. What’s your pathetic story?”

“Do you really care what happened?”

“Step out of line?”

“What do you mean?”

I uplifted the palms of my hands to gesture our surroundings. “Which murderer or pirate or any other despicable lout did you upset? Perhaps it was Captain Morgan, who I might add, is as bent as a rejected European standard banana. Or maybe you’re all just a bunch of terrorist renegades from different factions fighting amongst yourselves?”

She didn’t answer me.

“What about poor old Deveron here,” I said. “The instigator of this farcical nightmare we find ourselves involved in.”

“You think we’re part of their set-up?”

“It explains a great deal. How everybody seemed to know where to find me so easily.”

“Anybody can find anybody if necessary. My grandfather insisted on meeting you. I tried to dissuade him but he can be very insistent for his age. I used certain resources available to me to find you. There was nothing sinister about it.”

“And you expect me to swallow that?”

“Believe what you want, I’ve more important things to worry about.”

Deveron stirred into life, as if someone had recharged his dead batteries. His tinny voice hadn’t changed either. “You have it all worked out, don’t you, Mister Speed?”

“I’ve worked out who not to trust and you’re both in the top four.”

“My actions during the war may have brought about the misery we’re in. But how was I to know Harris Morgan, after all these years, would continue my quest to find Craven’s Spitfire. In my latter time at the ministry he was nothing but a young pip-squeak who ran errands through the corridors of Whitehall. I misjudged the slimy toad. He obviously had a keen eye to have understood what I was doing every time a plane wreck was unearthed. Thereafter, in his position in Whitehall, he would have had a free run to finish what I began. He was on hand when you found the plane. It’s Morgan that’s the enemy, not Shayna nor I. When Morgan showed up in Baltimore I was as shocked as the next man. It didn’t take much working out that it was Morgan who lured us to your hotel with a false message. Now he has us at his mercy here in this godforsaken prison cell.”

“It’s nothing more than you deserve considering you shot Craven from the sky, so thank yourself lucky prison has only just caught you up.”

Shayna jumped in defensively at that point. “That makes two of you then!”

I think she must have been referring to my exploits in artefact smuggling. But I wasn’t in the mood to argue with Shayna any longer because my chest was hurting bad and I’d trouble breathing. I wondered if Hamer’s boot had perhaps broken a couple of my ribs.

I said to Deveron, “It seems you and McCracken had the same idealistic values; those futuristic Irish dreams of climbing the pinnacle of power to run a terrorist empire. Of course, where your dreams faded and you became the normal and responsible person, McCracken died as savagely as his dreams. But I just can’t make my mind up who took the right path because it seems both of you were experts in shooting people in the back.”

Deveron’s face twisted with hatred. “You can be very cruel, Mister Speed. I’d hate the prospect of you running an old peoples home if I was to frequent one.”

“You have me all wrong, Deveron. I like old people, especially those with pure hearts and minds. Something you don’t have.”

“There’s no forgiveness in you, is there, Mister Speed?”

“I did try but nothing developed.”

Shayna broke in. “Bickering isn’t going to find us a way out of this hole!”

“Well, Shayna,” I sounded cocky and I was. “Unless you can produce one of your magic door opening escapades, I can honestly say I’ll listen to any sensible suggestions. Don’t suppose you have any?”

“We need a diversion for when the guards come back.” Shayna announced, as if she’d everything planned in her head.

“You could strip naked, Shayna, and lure the imbeciles into here. And while their hands are molesting you I can bonk them on the head with my dick because I haven’t much else I can use.”

The corner of her lip curled up in hatred of me. I didn’t care anymore who I upset. I’d every right to be nasty. I’d been battered, clubbed, and I wanted to kill two certain individuals promptly.

There’s a saying: talk about the devil and in through the door the creature walks. Only there were two devils of equal status: Morgan and Hamer; a distinguished pair of bastards between them. I’d have found a great deal of satisfaction if I could have reached through the bars to rip their throats out. Even if I’d gotten the chance, I’d have been cut down by the two armed crewmen that followed behind them.

“Well look at this,” I said to nobody in particular. “We have a personal escort to breakfast. Bacon on toast will do nicely and a hot cup of tea.”

Hamer put his face nearer to the bars. “Shut the fuck up, Speed!”

If I’d have moved fast enough I could have punched him through the bars and flattened his nose, but he moved away. I said, “Ah, service with a smile as usual. You can’t beat such politeness from a bunch of bastards.”

“I should shoot you now, you interfering fuck!”

I smirked. I had the advantage. “Think of the gold, Hamer.”

Morgan, on the other hand was calmer. He said, “Speed, don’t mock us. We could always revert to torture. I wonder how long you would last before you spilled what you know.”

“I’ll probably die.”

Morgan smiled. “We could work on the lovely Shayna instead?”

“She’d die too.”

“You wouldn’t save her from the distress and pain?”

“I wouldn’t piss on her if she was on fire.”

“And I thought you were Lionhearted. How wrong I am. Of course there is another outcome for you to consider that might change your mind.”

I expressed mild surprise. “I’m to be given a choice?”

“You can have a share of the proceeds for your loyalty to us.”

“I thought you didn’t like sharing?” I said.

“Sometimes one has to reconsider their options.”

“What percentage had you in mind?” I thought I’d ask.

“Equal shares for all concerned.”

By the look on Hamer’s face I guessed that Morgan hadn’t discussed his proposal with anyone else and had probably only thought of the solution the moment he walked through the door. I didn’t like the sound of it. I said, “What about Deveron and Shayna?”

Morgan shrugged his shoulders. “What about them?”

“I want their safety guaranteed.”

Morgan was blunt to the point. “I’m afraid they’re not part of the deal. Now where’s the gold?”

“Go and frigging stick your head up Hamer’s arse! Their safety or nothing from me, it’s your move.”

Morgan did indeed make a move but not the way I expected. There was no warning, no verbal threat and definitely no hesitation as Morgan drew an automatic handgun with a silencer attached, aimed between the bars and shot Deveron in the middle of his chest.

Shayna screamed.

I seized.

My mouth dropped open in shock as I watched Deveron, in slow motion, slump across the bed, his body jerked twice and then coughed up phlegm mixed with blood. I saw where the bullet had hit him, or rather the red stain seeping through his clothing, spreading out like a twisting kaleidoscopic image, showed me where he was hit.

Rage engulfed me, suppressing the pains in my chest. I jumped to my feet and lunged towards the bars, spittle flying from my mouth as I screamed obscenities. “You frigging spineless murdering bastard, Morgan. He was no threat to you. He was just an old man who came to end a chapter in his life. You told me that you didn’t kill people?”

Morgan angled the gun towards Shayna and calmly said, “I lie a lot; learned it from the politicians; it gets you further in life.”

“Until you’re caught out,” I said. “And your reputation is destroyed.”

“The problem with you Speed is you’re getting too sentimental. I thought you were tough and resilient, not squeamish. Now I’ve little time to waste. The girl gets it next. Where’s the gold located? I wouldn’t hesitate too long because if I dispose of you all, I’ll only lose a fortune I never had. I’ll still get my large pension from the government. I’ll still reap in money from lucrative business deals. I’ll be rich and you’ll be dead.”

“Get rich by gun running?” I broke in, probably unwisely.

Morgan smiled confidently. “Business is business, Speed, and I’ll still enjoy its rich pickings while all of you are buried in the confines of a pauper’s coffin together.”

Inside I was panicking, but outside I didn’t show he had me worried. I had to rethink my strategy quickly.

“Hurry now, Speed! My finger is curling to the point of squeezing the trigger.”

“Spare the girl!”

“You know I’ll kill her, Speed.”

“She can’t harm you, now.”