The Atlas Murders (57 page)

 “Aye-aye skipper, full
throttle it is.” He pushed her up to full speed and she rose in the water
whizzing along at thirty knots.

 They sighted land in an hour
and a half and were rounding the northern tip in two hours. Kerstin shut her
down to half speed and they expected to be off Milligan Cay in a little over an
hour. She asked Henry to get Chen up and have him ready to signal Pedros.

Still handcuffed, he was
bought back on deck. “You see where we are, we’ll be ready to drop in a little
over an hour. Will you take her into the drop position?”

 “Yes, I will signal and take
her in. I’ll show you where to throw the packages into the water.”

 “Good, come with me. Henry
gave Chen a line of cocaine and showed him a thousand U.S. dollars which he
promised to give him if all went well.

 Kerstin shouted down: “ten
minutes to go, bring the stuff on deck.”

Henry hauled the cocaine up from
the cabin and then took Chen to the controls.

“Ok Chen, you take over now. Where’s
the aldis lamp?”

 Chen opened a small locker
and pulled out the lamp. Chen was a master at the controls. He dropped speed
and altered course around the rock. “We must signal from the south side. He
can’t see from the other sides.”

 Henry handed Kerstin the
knife. “If he tries anything funny just use this.”

 Chen looked at the big
knife. “I will do as you say, don’t kill me.”

 “I won’t kill you, but be
careful.”

 He stood off the south side
of the rock and signaled. The wait was interminable. Then the signal was
returned. Chen reversed the launch back into a narrow opening between high
rocks and in the dark this was no mean feat. He shone the lamp to see how close
he was at either side. Then stopped the engines and called to Henry to throw
the packages into the water.

Chen heard the splashes and
Henry shout all gone. Because the drop had taken place in the dark, Henry
reluctantly decided it was too dangerous to tackle Pedros with his high powered
rifle. But he vowed to himself, your time will come, you can be sure of that.

With engines restarted, they
were out and under way heading to Kingstown.

After tying up the boat, Henry
gave Chen the money and all the packets of white powder from the safe. “Now, get
away from these islands and make an honest life for yourself.”

 Chen walked along the pier
looking like the small, insignificant, lonely figure he was.

There was an air of job well
done as they opened a bottle of wine and celebrated.

 “What’s the next procedure
Henry?”

 “We’ll go to the police
tomorrow and report all. Then back to Maiquetia for our Amber Witch.”

 “Great, but I hope they
won’t try to keep us in custody when we report tomorrow.”

 “I doubt that. If they do I’ll
have to invoke all the powers that be in Scotland Yard.”

 First thing next morning
Kerstin insisted in bringing Ayola with them; she wanted to buy some new
clothes for her. They met the police superintendent and told their story from
start to finish, having it all recorded. It took over two hours and young Ayola
was bored sitting in the waiting area. She ran up to Kerstin when she came out
with tears in her eyes. “I thought they were going to keep you there.” She
threw her arms around Kerstin’s waist. “You are my only person I know.”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll look
after you. No one will ever harm you again.”

 After shopping, Henry met Juan
in town and told him what had happened. “We must go back for the Amber Witch and
then we are coming back here. When we return will you and Annabel come to
Havana with us to visit your grandmother?”

 “Yes, but first I would like
to see the fellow who killed Lilja caught.”

 “You will see him caught. I
told the police that he’s on Milligan Cay and they are busy setting a trap for
him and the pick-up launch.”

 “I hope they catch him
Henry. I can’t believe Tukola was such a bad man. He was trying to get so close
to Annabel, and it makes me feel sick when I think of what could have happened.”

 “Juan, we’ll be back in a
week or so. Will you take a photograph of Alicia’s grave to bring to her
mother, and would like to visit her grave when I come back.”

 “Yes of course.”

 They journeyed to
Maiquetia to
collect the Amber Witch and arrived back into Kingstown ten days later. Henry
went to the police and they told him with help from the CIA they caught the
drugs gang and arrested Johnny Pedros who was now in custody. Henry told them
to come down to the yacht with him to get the diving gear with the bullet holes
and the cartridge shells.  They then went to the Windsong and he gave them the
venom that Tukola was using. Henry asked the officer to send on the blood
sample he had taken from the cabin table to Scotland Yard, and an accompanying
letter that he’d drafted. The police superintendent congratulated him and
Kerstin before handing Henry a sealed envelope with an official looking U.S.A.
seal on it.

Henry took Kerstin into a
cabin and closed the door. “Here, I think it might be a private communication
from our friends in the CIA.

 She opened the heavily
embossed envelope and read:

“I want to convey our
sincere thanks and congratulations on your success in helping us to catch and
dismantle a major drug running operation. I believe some of our naval personnel
might have had some confrontations with you on the launch, Windsong/Ayola. Your
evading tactics are still being talked about among our naval men and I want to
convey their admiration and apologies, belated though they may be.

 Yours Sincerely,

- - - - - - - - - - -

In keeping with CIA
protocols, the letter was unsigned.

She handed it to Henry. “I’m
so proud of you.”

 “Proud of me? you were the
heroine, I just followed you!”

Juan came down to the dock when he heard they’d
arrived back. Secrets don’t stay secret very long on small islands such as St.
Vincent, and they were treated like celebrities wherever they went. Annabel and
Juan threw their bags on board. Ayola was a little apprehensive when Annabel
arrived but they quickly became friends. Juan took Henry out to Alicia’s grave
where they laid two fresh floral wreaths, and Henry said his private, belated
goodbye. They took some more photos for Martha and returned to the yacht.

Chapter
Forty-Three

They sailed next day and had
some enjoyable adventures before arriving in Havana. It was a wonderful home-coming
for Juan and he remembered some of the streets and his house. Martha welcomed
her lost family and the beautiful Annabel. She cried and laughed, hugged and
kissed; she called in all the neighbors and for the first time in many years, her
heart was full of joy.

Henry visited his old friend,
Enrique. While he was there they planned between them a trip around the island
for all, to include a visit to Enrique’s family’s farm. A week later they hired
two cars; Juan drove one and Henry the other. They experienced an enthralling
week touring around the island. The day they spent at the farm brought bitter-sweet
memories for Enrique as he recalled the happy times before it was confiscated
by the state.

In a quieter moment, Kerstin
took Henry to one side and kissed him passionately. “You know our love life has
suffered since all this excitement. We’ll have to make up for lost time!”

 “I didn’t notice,” he joked
as he playfully pinched her bottom.

 Returning the pinch, she
pursed up her lips and put on her most seductive coy look. “I need a husband.”

He held her in a bear hug and
kissed her. “Well look no further.”

“Oh Henry dearest. But I have
a kind of ulterior motive besides loving you. I also want your permission for
us to adopt Ayola.”

 He held her hands in his. “You’ve
made me the happiest man in the world, but a family?” he pondered, as if it was
some great surprise.

 “Yes Henry, the family I
could never have and the family you have never had.”

“But first Kerstin we will
have to think of Ayola. Have you said anything about adoption to her?”

“Yes, I spoke to her this
morning. She has no family that she knows of in Venezuela; they were all lost
except one young sister in the terrible mud slides that engulfed their village.
She and her sister survived because they were away collecting firewood and took
shelter in a mountain cave. They were rescued after five days and she later
found out that all her family had perished in the disaster. Ayola was sent to a
home for young girls and later snatched by that old woman you saw with Tukola.
Her younger sister was taken into a UNICEF orphanage and she hasn’t heard of
her since. She never wants to go back there again and asked if we could keep
her.”

“I would want nothing more than
to adopt her, but we must do it legally for her sake as well as ours. We have
no papers for her, and how can we go about it here in a foreign country?”

Her lip trembled with emotion.

“Kerstin,” he brushed a
little tear from her cheek; we will go to the Cuban authorities today and
enquire to see if we can get some kind of legal custody of the child; then we
can take things from there.”

She hugged him. “My goodness
Henry, what would I do without you? That’s good thinking and knowing the close relations
between Cuba and Venezuela, hopefully, it shouldn’t be too much hassle.”

The Cuban authorities
couldn’t be more helpful and sent off to Caracas for her birth certificate. They
insisted that Henry and Kerstin would have to be married before they could legally
adopt her. The couple didn’t have to think twice about tying the knot. The news
delighted Martha who dutifully insisted in taking control of all arrangements!

The wedding took place in the
Christ Cathedral in Havana. It was a joyous occasion which attracted hundreds
of onlookers who filled the streets around the cathedral.

Two weeks later, Annabel and
Juan went back to St. Vincent. The local government eventually took control of
the hotel and asked Juan to continue in his role as manager. Annabel stayed with
her grandparents in Helsinki where she carried on with her studies. Henry and
Kerstin rented a berth for the Amber Witch at the yacht club in Havana and took
up residence in a spacious house in the Mirimar district. Ayola, who was now their
legally adopted daughter, attended a leading school in Havana.

Henry received a letter from
Scotland Yard confirming that the DNA from Tukola’s blood sample matched the
DNA taken from Shirley’s body back in 1958. He opened the draw in his office
desk and took out the dusty box file where he kept all the documents relating
to Shirley’s murder. As he filed away the final piece of evidence, he noticed
his trusty old atlas. Turning to the last page, he took out his pen and with a
tear in his eye he wrote in large letters:  ‘CASE CLOSED.’

Thank
you for reading
The Atlas Murders
. I have done my bit by writing what I
hope you have found to be an entertaining novel. Now, if I may be so bold, I
would like to ask of you a small favor. Like many authors, feedback from readers
is always appreciated. The best way to let me, and other potential readers know
what you think about my book, is to go online and write a review. Unlike my
book, it doesn’t have to be long! Just a few words expressing your thoughts
would be great.

Many Thanks

John Molloy

US English Edition first
published in 2013

Published by
The Electronic Book Company

www.theelectronicebookcompany.com

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