Dead Sea (34 page)

The three of them burst on to the bridge, adding some disorder to the ordered pandemonium there. Captain Chang was rapping out orders at the top of her voice and everyone there was bustling to their emergency stations as
Poseidon
, partway through her fastest and tightest emergency turn, tore away southwards. And away from
Flint
. The abrupt manoeuvre had simply snapped
Flint
's mooring line.
Poseidon
was racing on to a southerly heading at the kind of speed the captain had refused to countenance less than half an hour ago.

The entire ocean to the north of them seemed to be on fire. From east to west, almost as far as the eye could see, the surface of the water was a sheet of flame. And only the southerly wind was keeping
Poseidon
safe. For it was blowing the wildfire up towards
Dagupan Maru
in a wall that reached more than fifty feet high in places and was already pouring thick black fumes hundreds of feet further up into the wide blue sky.

But Richard wasn't worried about the Japanese freighter. He had much more immediate concerns. For there, just ahead of the wall of flame, just behind
Poseidon
's racing stern, came
Katapult
. Sails in, poles bare, pushing forward into the southerly gale as fast as her onboard motor could move her. Richard hesitated for a nanosecond, his mind racing. ‘Cut speed,' he called to Chang. ‘Give her a chance to catch up . . .'

‘Why risk my command?' snapped Chang ruthlessly. ‘It is
lost cause
.'

‘I think I can get a line to her,' answered Richard desperately. ‘We can tow her out.'

Chang hesitated. Her face twisted with disbelief. Then they both were distracted by a cry from Liberty. Pushed by the strengthening southerly,
Flint
was drifting into the fire wall, and even as they watched, the flames seemed to leap out and claim her. The sturdy composite hull seemed to wilt. The tall mast toppled and she exploded into a ball of flame.

‘Very well,' snapped Chang. ‘I give you five minutes. Take headset. Stay in contact for my orders. Remember, Captain. You are owner. I am
commander
!'

Richard and Nic ran side by side on to the poop deck, past the Changhe with its floats still attached and down to the ship's square stern. Even as they were racing aft through her bridge house, they had felt the way come off her as the motors powered down. And now, they saw all too clearly the risk that Captain Chang had agreed to run for them. The heat was astonishing. The noise disorientating. The wall of fire simply petrifying. And there, between the high stern of the adapted corvette and the terrifying flames, came
Katapult
, doggedly, refusing to give up. Her decks steaming, her tall mast seeming to writhe and waver as the heat fought the brutal headwind and sought to claim her at last. And there, like some kind of figurehead at her forepeak stood the flame-haired figure of Florence Weary. ‘Captain Mariner!' barked a peremptory voice in Richard's ear. ‘You running out of time!'

And he wasn't the only one.

Suddenly the radio operator came on to the captain's waveband and into Richard's headset. ‘Captain! I have a helicopter asking permission to land. It's from
Dagupan Maru
. There's a man and two women aboard as well as the pilot.'

‘
No!
We are wasting enough time already. I would have to throw our own chopper overboard to give him room. Tell him he cannot come aboard.'

And that was that
, thought Richard as he grabbed the handles of the gun Fatfist had used to fire the magnetic bolt at
Neptune
and took aim.
Sod off, Sittart
. Then he dismissed all thoughts of the professor and focused on the job in hand. Dismissed also all thoughts of Robin and her crew – thoughts that would simply incapacitate him if he indulged in them now.

He knew there was nothing metallic aboard
Katapult
for the magnetic bolt to fasten on to. But Flo was no fool. If she saw a line coming aboard she would certainly secure it to something. The wind pounded him distractingly on the back like a drunk in a bar. Somewhere deep in his subconscious he calculated that the breeze blowing up from the south must be strengthening pretty rapidly as the updraft of the colossal fire sucked yet more air in to feed the furnace at its heart. Would that work to
Katapult
's advantage? Or add to the likelihood of her destruction? Robin's life hung in that terrible balance . . .

‘Captain Mariner . . .' came Chang's voice. ‘
Time's up!
'

And he fired.

The bolt flew straight and true, the line arching behind it, streaking off the spool beside the gun. It slammed into
Katapult
's central deck and Flo dived desperately after it. Richard felt
Poseidon
's deck shiver as the engines raced up towards full power once again. Flo was on her knees, securing the line to the starboard cleat and Richard let the line continue to run as the corvette gathered way. Playing the beautiful multihull like Ironwrist playing a fish. As soon as Flo rolled clear, he eased the brake on to the line, watching it come taut and quiver with the strain. The three forepeaks behind him rose and three white bow waves added their complications to
Poseidon
's racing wake.

Away to the north, behind the scarifying wall of flame, something exploded like an atomic bomb, sending a mushroom cloud to tower high against the smoke clouded sky. That would be
Dagupan Maru
, he thought numbly. Her hold packed full of thousands of tons of priceless timber and the temperature around it reaching 350 degrees Celsius, hot enough for spontaneous combustion. The power of the explosion was so colossal that it seemed to suck the flames northwards towards the massive vacuum so much instantaneous devastation must have caused. A wind thundered northward, to fill the vast vacancy at the heart of the explosion even as a blast wall ran counter to it, making the flames gutter and die for a moment. Richard was thrown back and forward like a puppet. So were
Poseidon
and
Katapult
.

Then the pounding on his shoulder stopped being the wind. It was Nic. He let go of the gun handles, looked dazedly down at his blistered palms; up at his beaming friend; out at the brave vessel that held his wife still safe.

‘
Katapult
secured, Captain Chang!' he bellowed into the headset.

‘Good job!' she answered. ‘We go full ahead now.'

The captain must have switched on to a general band then, for Richard suddenly found himself in the middle of a conversation between
Poseidon
's radio operator and Robin. ‘. . . reporting all aboard
Katapult
well . . .' came her familiar voice. ‘A little scorched, and smelling more like Sunday roast than sailors, but we're fine. Glad to hear Liberty and the girls are safe and that Ironwrist thinks he can get
Neptune
back in one piece. Sorry about
Flint
though . . .'

‘Robin?' he said hesitantly, suddenly choked and shaking.

‘Hello, sailor,' she answered, her voice softening. ‘Good thing you were here after all, eh?'

‘Looks like it,' he answered, suddenly feeling very sore and shaky. Looking for a place to sit down.

‘We'd never have won without you,' she persisted.

‘Won?' he asked, simply astonished. ‘What do you mean you
won
?'

‘We have the professor's bottle, of course,' she chuckled. ‘Not that it was worth all this trouble in the end.
What price glory
, eh?'

Now Richard really did need to sit down. ‘Robin, do you know what that thing's
worth
?' he gasped.

‘I dunno,' she answered dismissively. ‘A battered old second-hand plastic drink bottle? Not a lot, I'd say . . .

‘Now what on earth's amusing you, Richard? What are you laughing at? Come on, you bloody man, share the joke, why don't you?'