Angel's Ransom (23 page)

This time Holtz
’s
suspicions were more than mere drunken distrust. A deadly purposiveness was on his face.
His eyes went around the pilot-house for some sign of unusual activity, stopping briefly at the thermos jug and the
instruments lying on the chart table. He did not look twice
at the radiophone. Quite unexpectedly he began to smirk,
in a way that made Marian remember the taunts he had
thrown at her after her first meeting with Blake.

‘I beg your pardon, Captain.’ He made an
over-elaborate
gesture of apology. ‘I did not know I would be interrupting
a lesson in navigation. My business with you can wait until
you are less agreeably occupied.’

He stepped back, closing the door behind him. Through the windscreen they could see him waiting on the bridge
wing, still smirking.

It was the reference to a navigation lesson, by some quirk of association, that made Blake recognize at that moment
the significance of the puzzling cross Jules had
penciled
on the chart. A full
understanding of the opportunity it
presented did not come to him at the same moment. But the
germ of an idea was born instantaneously, and the success
of the deception that had just been worked on Holtz
encouraged
him to believe it could be continued. He reached
for Marian
’s
wrist, drawing her into an embrace that put his
lips to her ear.

She came to him without he
sitation. He said, ‘Put your
arms around me and listen carefully. The key to Laura di Lucca
’s
cabin is in the side pocket of the jacket I’m wearing,
right under your hand. Get it out while I’m talking to you.
In three hours’ - he calculated swiftly, seeing the chart
again in his mind
’s
eye - ‘
no, two and a half, to be safe –
lock her in and take the key with you. Then get out with
Freddy and Valentina on the foredeck where I can see you.
All of you. Do you understand?’

‘Yes. But what does it mean?’ Her answer was breathless. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I haven’t time to explain.’ Holding her, a lover whispering a last intimacy into the ear of his beloved, he watched Holtz through the windscreen, alert for any sign of returning
suspicion. The gang leader had half-turned his back in a
pretense
of tactfulness, but not so much that he was unable
to see what went on in the pilot-house. ‘I expect Jules to
relieve the wheel soon after you’re out on deck. If Holtz is
where you can see him, do nothing. If he
’s
out of sight, tell
Freddy and Valentina to have a fight as soon as Jules comes
up here. I want Freddy to hit her. Hard. Knock her down if
possible.’

‘What are you going to
do
?'

‘Have you found the key?’

‘Yes.’

He could feel her heart thudding against his chest, the small movement of her cheek against his lips as she
whispered
, ‘Please - tell me - I’ve got to know
–’

‘Holtz is getting restless. You’d better go.’

He pushed her away, not roughly, and turned his full attention to the wheel.

The
Angel
had wandered off course. He brought it back on bearing, heard the pilot-house door open and close when
Marian left, heard it open and close again as Holtz entered.

‘I would not have thought her to your taste, Captain,’ Holtz purred at his back. ‘Twice you have surprised me;
once by rebuffing the
Polonaise
, now by accepting the na
ï
ve
adoration of the American. Can it be that you are repelled
by sophistication and attracted by artlessness?’

‘It was a friendly gesture,’ Blake said.
‘s
he was feeling unhappy about her part in this; I was trying to make her feel better. That
’s
all.’

Holtz laughed. ‘Come, come, Captain. You are not that imperceptive. She is obviously deeply infatuated - and why
not? You are mature, courageous, strong, resolute, upright,
a knight in
armor
for her maidenly fancy, even if a knight
temporarily unhorsed.’ The mocking jocularity changed
suddenly to a sneer. ‘Besides, she is a fool.’

Blake made no reply. His eyes watched the empty sea beyond the
Angel
’s
bow. In his mind he saw the line of her course on the chart creep toward a
penciled
cross on the
open blankness. He thought, Two hours and a half. Maybe three.

Holtz went on moodily, ‘I used her because she was a fool, as you tried to use Jules, who is less of a fool. Did you
really hope to be able to bribe him away from me with a
promise?’

‘I could try.’

‘You should not have tried.’

Blake shrugged.

‘Was it your idea, or Farr
’s
?’

‘Mine.’

‘That was bad
judgment
on your part, if you are telling the truth. It shows that while you have been pretending to
consider the offer I made you, you have no intention of
joining me.’

‘I’m not capable of murder.’

Holtz made a noise of angry disgust.

‘Murder! The word frightens you! What, you say, blood on my hands? Human blood? No, no! Animal blood, bird
blood, fish blood, the blood of snakes and insects. Those we
kill for sport, or because they have no right to exist in a
world where we do not want them. But sacred human blood?
Horror!’

Close to Blake
’s
back now, so close that he drew
instinctively
away from the expected jab of the Walther in his spinal column, the sneering, contemptuous voice went on:
‘I would kill a dozen useless old women for half of what I
offered you! I would kill you now for no other reason than
that you think you have been clever, except that I prefer to
let you live and know that you live just so long as I permit
it!’ Venom dripped from his final promise. ‘The word
frightens you, Captain. The act is no more to me than a
movement of the fingers! Bear it in mind!’

Perspiration was running down Blake
’s
back under his shirt when Holtz left him alone. He thought,
Jules may beat
you to it, little man. In two hours and a half, maybe three.
But he
knew, even in his bravado, that Jules could never make him
afraid as Holtz made him afraid. The little man
’s
complete
viciousness was unnerving. He shut Holtz out of his mind
by concentrating his thoughts on the moment that lay
ahead.

His plan of attack against Jules stemmed from his
recognition
of the cryptic chart marking as a point where the sailor intended to change the
Angel
’s
bearing again. Jules was not
taking the cruiser northward over precisely the same course
he had followed coming south, but by a shorter route, inside
and flatter than the outward bound dogleg. The yacht
’s
bearing was then thirty degrees, a course which would bring
her to the sailor
’s
marking by late forenoon, due south of
Monaco and, because of the shortened route and prevailing
winds, within a fourteen- or fifteen-hour run of the
Principality
. So far Jules had made all changes of course himself,
during his irregular and, until now, unpredictable reliefs of
the wheel.

Blake went over the scheme in his mind, checking step by step for possible oversight. A tray of food would serve Marian
as a legitimate excuse to reach Laura di Lucca
’s
cabin.
No danger in that part of it. If Holtz chose to investigate
afterwards, the cabin doo
r would be locked, not a circum
stance to excite suspicion. With the cabin
’s
single available
key beyond his reach, Laura di Lucca would be in a position
of maximum safety. Blake could not make her absolutely
safe. He could not make any of the prisoners absolutely safe,
only provide them with a protection against Holtz, and that
protection only if he were
successful
in using the smuggled
wrench. But with Jules
’s
gun in his hands, Laura di Lucca
safely locked away, and the other captives under his eye
where he could defend them, Holtz would be stalemated.

After that the man who held the
Angel
’s
wheel would be her master, not her prisoner.

The minutes dragge
d. He watched the patent log rep
eater, the chronometer and the weather with increasing anxiety, tempted more than once to advance the throttles
but fearful that any change in the steady drum of the motors
would invite Jules
’s
attention prematurely. The weather was
worsening. An overcast promised rain, and a stiff breeze
was beginning to whip spray from the wave tops. Freddy and
Valentina had disappeared from sight while Holtz was in the
pilot-house, but it was imperative that they be on the foredeck when Jules arrived, and free to do more than cling to a
stanchion. If the weather continued to worsen, a pitching,
spray-swept deck could nullify Blake
’s
whole scheme.

He felt both frustration and a shamed relief at the thought that heavy weather could take things out of his hands. His
mouth was dry. Waiting was by far the most difficult
part.

The weather held moderately bad. The
Angel
rolled steadily over the long waves, pitching a little now. The line
creeping toward the cross on the chart that was in Blake
’s
mind lengthened steadily. He found himself mentally checking the yacht
’s
probable northing against the time that had
elapsed since Marian
’s
departure. The first moment when
Jules might be expected to come to the wheel had arrived.

Marian appeared on the
foredeck, alone. She stood look
ing up at the pilot-house for a long time, the wind
molding
her dress to her slim figure. She maintained her equilibrium
against the roll and swing of the cruiser
’s
deck with a
dancer
’s
easy balance, yet for all her physical poise she
looked oddly uncertain, insecure. Blake had the windscreen-wipers going against the spray that was coming aboard, but
even then the glass was too blurred by wind and weather to
let him see her expression. He did not understand why she
stood there so long; not
signaling
, not trying to convey a
message, only looking up with the wind whipping at her
dress. He gestured sharply, imperatively, hoping she could
see him and would understand that time was running out.
She turned and left the deck.

The minutes that elapsed before she reappeared with Freddy and Valentina were long. All three had put on
slickers, a development that Blake had not foreseen. The
success of the plot depended on Valentina
’s
ability to catch
and hold Jules
’s
eye, and even her physical charms could
not penetrate the sexless, heavy-weather clothing. But she
had left her blonde head uncovered, and her identity was
clear enough. So was Freddy
’s
, marked by the sling on his
arm. All three stood with their heads together, huddled in a
small protective group. Now and then they looked up at the
pilot-house.

Blake shifted the weight of the wrench in his pocket, making sure it would come free easily, and wiped his damp
hands on his jacket. His mouth was drier than before, his
heart pumping hard. The windscreen-wipers clacked at the
blurred glass. The three figures on the foredeck were visible
at one moment, obscured at the next by a new sweep of
spray. Through the blur he saw the group break, draw
quickly apart, and arrange itself in a different pattern.
Valentina
’s
blonde head and Freddy
’s
sling had paired off.
Marian walked away in a conspicuous withdrawal from
what appeared to be a too-personal conversation at the
same moment that Jules came into the pilot-house, holding
the door to keep it from slamming on his heels from the push
of the wind behind it.