The Savage Gorge (25 page)

'We're gliding over the sea as though it were a skat
ing rink. But no engine sound.'

'Ben explained that,' Marler said, glancing at the com
pass and turning the wheel a fraction. 'The genius who
built this vessel installed a special engine. If you listen
carefully it makes no more sound than the purring of a
cat. Another reason Noak won't know we're coming.
Besides radar they'll have listening posts, I'm sure.'

Half an hour later someone was kicking the far side
of the door from the stateroom. Tweed opened it and
a glorious aroma offish and chips entered his nostrils.
Paula stood with a large plastic tray. It had depressions
for servings and smaller ones for plastic cups of Evian
water. As a matter of form she served the master of
the ship first. Ben stared as though he couldn't believe
it. Then, greedily, he grabbed a plate offish and chips
and a cup of water.

'
You.
'
He gave her a great big toothy grin. 'You was
windin' me up.'

'Shut up and eat,' she snapped back at him.

For a while there was no conversation on the bridge
as they concentrated on eating. Paula had fetched her
own meal on a separate tray. She whispered to Tweed,
'I haven't seen Bob Newman anywhere. Is he still in
London?'

'No, he's one of my secret weapons,' Tweed whis
pered back. 'By now Guile will think he has identified
my whole team. You, me, Harry and Marler. He won't
know about Newman, who stays at one of those
houses to let up the High Street. Don't know which
one, don't want to know. He's wearing country
clothes, a wide-brimmed straw hat and sunglasses. He

mooches around, posing as an architect with his nose
in a book. But I'll bet he doesn't miss a thing.'

On the bridge by the wheel Ben had gripped Marler
hard by the arm. He was peering ahead at a dark bulk
with a red light shining high up. Noak Island.

'That's why I switched off all my lights,' Ben
explained, 'but somehow they've spotted us.'

'Well, at least it was such a calm voyage,' Paula called out to introduce a note of optimism.

'Won't be if we ever return,' growled Ben. 'Forecast
is for a real twister of a storm which should hit us
halfway back.'

'I think I've entered the gap in the radar zone,'
Marler said.

'You have,' Ben agreed. As he spoke there was an
explosion to starboard.

'They know we're coming,' Tweed warned.

'No, they don't,' called out Ben. 'That was an old
wartime mine deciding to welcome us. Never heard of
one being this far out, though.'

They were close in to what appeared to be a giant
chunk of rock. Ben turned on a searchlight and Tweed
stared. He had expected another dangerous gulch
entrance like the one at Seaward Cove they had left far
behind. Instead in the glare of Ben's light was a wide harbour enclosed by high stone walls.

'This map is out of date,' Marler complained.

'Unless Neville Guile has blasted rock to create a favourable entrance for large vessels,' Tweed sug
gested.

'Like that one over there just going under,' Paula
called out, and pointed.

Well over to port, away from Noak and the explod
ing mine, the hull of a large vessel which had turned
turtle protruded briefly above the surface of the
smooth sea. Tweed felt sure it was a huge tanker as it
slid below the sea, leaving behind a small ripple of
waves.

'That were a tanker going down,' Ben said. 'Big job.
What's it doin' 'ere?'

'The tanker that pirates hijacked in the East,' Marler
said with a flash of inspiration.

'I think you're right,' Tweed agreed. 'And no oil seeping out - because it was all pumped ashore first
onto Noak. I don't like pirates but I'll bet their bodies,
each with a bullet in the back of the head, are lying in
the hold. After they'd helped pump the oil ashore. No witnesses is one of Neville Guise's rules of business.
And look at that cliff.'

A monster of a black cliff sheered up from the har
bour. By now Ben had brought
Tiger
alongside an
inner wall of one of the stone jetties. He picked up a
great coil of rope, threw it at Harry.

'Get ashore with that, tie it round one of those stone
bollards, then make fast the stern. I'll be there with more rope.'

Harry jumped to his feet, grabbed the rope coil and
followed Ben down a ladder from the bridge to the
main deck. Leaping over the narrow gap onto the jetty,
he wound lengths of rope round the stone bollard.

Paula had skipped down the ladder behind Ben. He
placed a huge ugly-looking knife beside the rope on
deck.

'What's the knife for?' she asked.

'Always curious, you ladies. If we have to run for it
in a hurry, that knife can cut through the rope in sec
onds. Now I'm off to the stern. That Harry doesn't
waste time.'

Paula shinned back up the ladder onto the bridge.
Tweed was adjusting the glare light up the side of the
precipitous cliff. At intervals he paused briefly. Paula
saw a series of thick large rubber loops attached to the
rock.

'What on earth
—' she began.

'They attach a thick hose inside those loops and use
a system to suck up the oil from the tanker berthed
about where the
Tiger
is now.' He looked back to
where Harry had appeared. 'Leather climbing boots
for everyone except Ben. We've got to get to the top of
this brute.'

Harry produced the boots from his capacious bag. On the soles were hard projections for clinging to
ledges. At a fresh order from Tweed, Harry took out a
backpack, slipped inside the torpedo-shaped weapons
he had shown Paula - the firebombs. They began
climbing, Tweed in the lead.

It was a difficult climb. The cliff face was almost vertical. Paula went up quickly, but tested her weight
on every protruding spike of rock before trusting it.
Harry was close behind her. She was about to turn to

say something to him when Tweed's sharp whisper
reached her as though he'd sensed what she was about
to do.

'Nobody look down. That's a direct order. Look
up!
'

She hauled herself over the top before she realized
how close to the summit she was. She pulled herself
up the final few feet and sat still for a moment, breathing heavily. She looked down as Harry scrambled over
with Marler close behind. Her mind began to swim with vertigo so she turned to look inland, amazed at
the view.

A shallow slope led down no more than a hundred
feet. She was staring at four vast container tanks, their
roofs slightly curved. Beyond, the ground climbed
steeply but at the far end of the island a long runway
was laid out. A large plane stood at the takeoff end.

'You see,' said Tweed, seated close to her with the
others very near, 'refineries and oil storage tanks.
Contents - from that pirated tanker. Worth millions.
Over on the far coast you can see a smaller fleet of
tankers flying the Otranto flag. Neville planned on
selling oil he'd not paid a penny for - to desperate
countries who'd pay $100 a barrel for the stuff. Harry,
I want all four of those oil tanks destroyed.'

'No sooner said than done,' Harry replied. Til hike
to the one furthest away.'

'Can I help you?' Paula suggested.

'Yes. By sitting there and not getting in my bloody
way.'

They all knew he'd been deliberately rude to stop
her coming with him on what could be a suicide mis
sion.

'Maybe I
—' began Marler.

'If you'll all shut your big mouths maybe I can con
centrate,' Harry told them.

Then he was gone. Running, crouched, down the
slope, he was about to pass the nearest tank. Then he
saw the ladder curving up its side. It would give him
height and he must now be near the more distant
tank. He had his backpack turned to rest on his stom
ach. Arriving at the top he was closer to all four oil
tanks than he'd expected. He extracted the first explo
sive firebomb.

Taking a deep breath he hurled it with all his
strength at the most distant tank. His bomb landed
dead centre on its curved surface. As he hurtled a
fresh bomb at a nearer tank his first bomb detonated
with a sinister crack. There was a dull explosion, then
it blew apart, emanating a fireball. His second bomb
was increasing the blinding blaze over the whole stor
age area.

He ran down the ladder, already feeling the heat
from the fire. Running back up the slope, he paused,
hurled two more bombs, one for each nearer tank.
Then he ran like hell up the slope to join the others,
gazing with disbelief at the spectacle. The flames from
all four tanks had now merged into one massive
inferno.

Paula had her binoculars pressed against her eyes.

They were aimed at the long runway with the large
plane at the take-off point.

'They're all running for it. They're flying out.
Plane's on the move. Guile has taken fright.'

'Didn't know how many of us there were,' Marler
explained. 'It could have been a whole army.'