Triple (51 page)

TRIPLE

acted with a confidence he did not feel. He adopted a bully~ ing manner

and grabbed hold of Ravlo's sweater. Tyrin was a bulky man, and Ravlo was

somewhat wasted. Tyrin said, "Listen, you're going to do something for

me."

"Sure, anything you say."

Tyrin hesitated. It would be risky. Still, there was no alter4 native.

"I need to stay on board ship when the rest of you go on the Gil

Hamilton. if rm missed, you will say that you have seen me go over."

~"Right, okay, sure."

"If I'm discovered, and I have to board the Gil Hamilton, you can be sure

III tell them your secret."

"I'll do everything I can."

"Yowd better."

Tyrin let him go. He was not reassured: a man like that would promise you

anything, but when it came to the crunch he might fall to pieces.

Ali hands we're summoned on deck for the changeover. Mie sea was too

rough for the Gil Hamilton to come alongside, so she sent a launch.

Everyone had to wear lifebelts for the crossing. Tlie officers and crew

of the Coparelli stood quietly in the pouring rain while they were

counted, then the first sailor went over the side and down the ladder,

jumped into the well of the launch.

The boat would be too small to take the whole crew-they would have to go

over in two or three detachments, Tyrin realized. While everyones

attention was on the first men to go over the rail, Tyrin whispered to

Ravlo, "Try and be last to go. 99

"All right."

The two of them edged out to the back of the crowd on deck. ne officers

were peering over the side at the launch. The men were standing, waiting,

facing toward the Gil Hamilton.

Tyrin slipped back behind a bulkhead.

He was two steps from a lifeboat whose cover he had loosened earlier. The

stem of the boat could be seen from the deck amidships, where the sailors

were standing, but the stem could not. Tyrin moved to the stem, lifted

the cover, got in and from inside put the cover back in place.

He thought: If I'm discovered now Ive had it.

He was a big man, and the life jacket made him bigger.

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Kon Folleff

With some difficulty he crawled the length of the boat to a position from

which he could see the deck through an eyelet in the tarpaulin. Now it was

up to Ravlo.

He watched as a second detachment of men went down the ladder to the

launch, then heard the first officer say, "Where's that radio operator?"

Tyrin looked for Ravlo and located him. Speak, damn you I

Ravlo hesitated. "He went over with the first lot, sir."

Good boyl

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir, I saw him."

The officer nodded and said something about not being able to tell one

from another in this filthy rain.

The captain called to Koch, and the two men stood talking In the lee of

a bulkhead, close to Tyrin's hiding place. The captain said, "rve never

heard of Savile Shipping, have you?"

"No, sir."

"This is all wrong, selling a ship while she's at sea, then leaving the

engineer in charge of her and taking the captain Off."

"Yes, sir. I imagine they're not seafaring people, these new owners."

"They're surely not, or they'd know better. Probably accountants." There

was a pause. "You could refuse to stay alone, of course, then I would

have to stay with you. rd back y6u up afterward."

"rm afraid I'd lose my ticket."

"Right, I shouldn't have suggested it. Well, good luck."

"Thank you, sir.'

The third group of seamen had boarded the launch. The first officer was

at the top of the ladder waiting for the captain, who was still muttering

about accountants as he turned around, crossed the deck and followed the

first officer over the side.

Tyrin turned his attention to Koch, who now thought he was the only man

aboard the Coparelli. The engineer watched the launch go across to the

Gil Hamilton, then climbed the ladder to the bridge.

Tyrin cursed aloud. He wanted Koch to go below so that he could get to

the fbeard store and radio to the Karla. He watched the bridge, and saw

Koch's face appear from time to "2

TIME

time behind the glass. If Koch stayed there, Tyrin would have to wait

until dark before he could contact Rostov and reporL

It looked very much as if Koch planned to remain on the bridge all

day.

Tyrin settled down for a long wait.

When the Nablus reached thee point south of Ibiza where Hassan

expected to encounter the Coparelli, there was not a single ship in

sight.

They circled the point in a widening spiral while H san scanned the

desolate horizon through binoculars.

Mahmoud said, "You have made a mistake."

"Not necessarily." Hassan was determined he would not appear panicked.

.'7bis was just the earliest point at which

99

we could meet her. She doesn't have to travel at top speed.

"Why should she be delayed?"

Hassan shrugged, seeming less worried than he was. "Perhaps the engine

isn't running well. Perhaps they've had worse weather than we have. A lot

of reasons."

"What do you suggest, then?"

Mahmoud was also very uneasy, Hassan realized. On this ship he was not

in control, only Hassan could make the decisions. "We travel southwest,

backing along the CoparelICS route. We must meet her sooner or later."

"Give the order to the captain," Mahmoud said, and went below to his

troops, leaving Hassan on the bridge with the captain.

Mahmoud burned with the irrational anger of tension. So did his troops,

Hassan had observed. They had been expecting a fight at midday, and now

they had to wait, dawdling about in the crew quarters and the galley,

cleaning weapons, playing cards, and bragging about past battles. They

were hyped up for combat, and inclined to play dangerous knifetbrowing

games to prove their courage to each other and to themselves. One of them

had quarreled with two seamen over an imaginary insult, and had cut them

both about the face with a broken glass before the fight was broken up.

Now the crew were staying well away from the Fedayeen.

Hassan wondered how he would handle them if he were Mahmoud. He had

thought along these lines a lot recently. Mahmoud was still the

commander, but be was the one who had done all the important work:

discovered Dickstein,

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brought the news of his plan, conceived the counter-bijacx and established

the Stromberes whereabouts. He was beginning to wonder on what would be

his position in the movement when all this was over.

Clearly, Mahmoud was wondering the same thing.

Well. If there was to be a power struggle between the two of them, it

would have to wait. First they had to hijack the Coparellf and ambush

Dickstein. Hassan felt a little nauseous when he thought about that. It

was all very well for the battle-hardened men below to convince

themselves they looked forward to a fight, but Hassan bad never been in

war, never even had a gun pointed at him except by Cortone in the ruined

villa. He was afraid, and he was even more afraid of disgracing himself

by showing his fear, by turning and running away, by throwing up as he

had done in the villa. But he also felt excited, for if they won-if

they.wonf

There was a false alarm at four-thirty in the afternoon when they sighted

another ship coming toward them, but after examining her through

binoculars Hassan announced she was not the Copareffl, and as she passed

they were able to read the name on her side: Gil Hamilton.

As daylight began to fade Hassan became worried. In this weather, even

with navigation lights, two ships could pass withinhalf a mile of one

another at night without seeing each other. And there had been not a

sound out of the Coparelli's secret radio all afternoon, although Yaacov

had reported that Rostov was trying to raise Tyrin. To be certain that

the COparelli did not pass the Nablus in the night they would have to go

about and spend the night traveling toward Genoa at the Coparelli's

speed, then resume searching in the morning. But by that time the

Stromberg would be close by and the Fedayeen might lose the chance of

springing a trap on Dickstein.

Hassan was about to explain this to Mahmoud-who had Jim returned to the

bridge-when a single light winked on in the distance.

"She's at anchor," said the captain.

"How can you tell?" Mahmoud asked.

'naes what a single white light means."

Hassan said, "That would explain why she wasn't off Thiza when we

expected her. If that's the Coparelli, you should prepare to board."

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TRIPLE

'!I agree," said Mahmoud, and went off to tell his men.

"Turn out your navigation lights," Hassan told the captain.

As the Nablus closed with the other ship, night fen.

"I'm almost certain that's the Coparelli," Hassan said.

The captain lowered his binoculars. "She has three cranes on deck, and

all her upperworks are aft of the hatches."

"Your eyesight is better than mine," Hassan said. I'Shes the Coparellf."

He went below to the galley, where Malurfoud was addressing his troops.

Mahmoud looked at him as he stepped inside. Hassan nodded. "This is it."

I Mahmoud turned back to his men. "We do not expect much resistance. The

ship is crewed by ordinary seamen, and there is no reason for them to be

armed. We go in two boats, one to attack the port side and one the

starboard. On board our first task is to take the bridge and prevent the

crew from using the radio. Next we round up the crew on deck." He paused

and turned to Hassan. "Tell the captain to get as close ible to the

Caparelli and then stop engines."

as posst

Hassan turned. Suddenly he was errand boy again: Mahmoud was

demonstrating that he was still the battle leader. Hassan felt the

humiliation bring a rush of blood to his cheeks.

"Yasif."

He turned back.

"Your weapon." Mahmoud threw him a gun. Hassan caught it. It was a small

pistol, almost a toy, the kind of gun a woman might carry in her handbag.

The Fedayeen roared with laughter.

Hassan thought: I can play these games too. He found what looked like the

safety catch and released it. He pointed the gun at the floor and pulled

the trigger. The report was very loud. He emptied the gun into the deck.

There was a silence.

Hassan said, "I thought I saw a mouse." He threw the gun back to Mahmoud.

The Fedayeen laughed even louder.

Hassan went out. He went back to the bridge, passed the message to the

captain, and returned to the deck. It was very dark now. For a time all

that could be seen of the Coparelli was its light Then, as he strained

his eyes, a silhouette of

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Kon Folieff

solid black became distinguishable against the wash of dark gray-

The Fedayeen, quiet now, had emerged from the galley and stood on deck

with the crew. The NabWa engines (Red The crew lowered the boats.

Hassan and his Fedayeen went ever the side.

Hassan was in the same boat as Mahmoud. The little launch bobbed on the

waves, which now seemed immense. 7bey approached the sheer side of the

Coparelli. 77here was no sip of activity on the ship. Surely, Hassan

thought, the officer on watch must bear the sound of two engines ap-

proaching? But no alarms sounded, no lights flooded the deck, no one

shouted orders or came to the rail.

Mahmoud was first up the ladder.

By the time Hassan reached the Coparelli's deck the other team was

swarming over the starboard gunwale.

Men poured down the companionways and up the ladders. Still there was no

sign of the Coparegirs crew. Hassan bad a dreadful premonition that

something had gone terribly wrong.

He followed Mahmoud up to the bridge. Two of the men were already there.

Hassan asked, "Did they have time to use the radior,

"%Fho?" Mahmoud said.

They went back down to the deck. Slowly the men were emerging from the

bowels of the boat, looking puzzled, their cold gum in their hands.

Mahmoud said: "Ibe wreck of the Marie Celeste."

Two men came across the deck -with a frightened looking sailor between

them.

Hassan, spoke to the sailor in English. 'Vhaes happened here?"

The sailor replied in some other language.

Hassan had a sudden terrifying thought. "Let's check the bold," he said

to Mahmoud.

7bey found a companionway leading below and went down into the hold.

Hassan found a light switch and turned it on.

The hold was full of large oil drums, sealed and secured with wooden

wedges. The drums had the word PLumBAT stenciled on their sides.

"nat's it," said Hassan. '11at's the uranium."

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