The Spear of Destiny (21 page)

  He was able to grab the edge of the steel where the rope passed through and pulled himself over and dropped to the deck, breathing hard. He saw the departing back of the man who’d spat and Dennis quickly moved into hiding to get his bearings.

  He could now see the helicopter was an MH-65 Dolphin. The model widely used by the United States coastguard.

  Directly opposite him was a door marked ‘Mannschaft nur’ crew only. He crossed to it and went inside, closing the door quietly behind him. He went up two flights of stairs and through another door marked crew only, again in German. He went through this door and into a nicely furnished lounge. The room was carpeted, had large sofas, chairs, tables and a large plasma television, dvd player and play station 3. Another door at the end of the lounge led him to a corridor with bedrooms off to either side. At the end of the corridor were washrooms. It was here that Dennis found tall upright lockers.

  He tried a few that were locked, the names of the users written on them. The second from the right was unlocked and he was pleased to find a pile of T-shirts, two pairs of jeans and some boiler suits inside.

  Kicking his shoes off he quickly took his trousers and blood stained shirt off  and stuffed them into the bottom of the locker. He changed into a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt and then put a boiler suit on. It was stained and smelt faintly of diesel. He was halfway through putting his arms into the sleeves when an announcement in German came out over the internal speakers. It was repeated in English but he wasn’t listening and didn’t hear it. He was just doing the poppers up on the front with his back to the door when he heard the door open.

  “Didn’t you hear the announcement?” a deep voice said, “Everyone is to be on deck. The helicopter is leaving soon.”

  Dennis turned slowly. The man was huge. On the breast of his boiler suit was a patch saying ‘supervisor’

  “Yes sir. Sorry sir,” Dennis said as he made to move past the leviathan.

The supervisor continued to block the way.

  “I thought I knew all the crew on this ship. How come I haven’t seen you before?”

  “I’m the new guy. Replaced the one who was sacked,” Dennis lied, readying himself for the fight, hoping an element of surprise would catch his much larger opponent off guard. To his relief Dennis heard the supervisor say.

  “Oh him! Yeah, well, he was warned about his drinking on duty. Now you’d better get topside,” the man said jerking his thumb at the door.

  Dennis went out into the corridor.

  “Ahem!”

He stopped and turned. The supervisor was tapping the hard hat on his head.

  “Forgotten something?”

Dennis went for a hard hat hanging on the coat hooks.

  “Sorry,” he said putting it on. He went to go left at the end of the corridor.

  “Hey!”

  “For fuck’s sake now what?” Dennis muttered to himself.

The supervisor was staring at him.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the way to the heli-pad as well.

Dennis saw the sign with the helicopter on it on the wall.

  “No of course not,” he smiled.

At the end of the corridor he looked back. The huge man was still glowering at him. Dennis quickly made his way on deck, relieved to be away from confrontation.

  The helicopter rotor blades were already turning, getting faster and faster as the engine powered up. Dennis saw a door open and a man and woman came out. The man was of oriental origin and was carrying a briefcase and was staring at him. Dennis quickly went to the stern and checked the mooring ropes. The man took his eyes off  Dennis and the journalist relaxed.

  The woman was tall, in heels and an above the knee skirt and matching jacket. She stopped as the oriental man opened the helicopter’s passenger door and moved out of her way. She got in, her skirt riding up, revealing shapely legs. Dennis could see as she sat down that she was beautiful. Her hair auburn or possibly ginger.

  The oriental man followed her in and the helicopter’s engine whined as it lifted off the heli-pad and banked immediately and headed out over the dock towards the sea. Dennis watched until it disappeared from view. He heard footsteps behind him and turned. He just had time to see the word supervisor before the heavy adjustable spanner cracked into his jaw and his world went black.

                         CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When Peter Dennis came round the first thing he knew was that he’d been knocked out. He remembered the sight of the adjustable spanner inches from his face and he, unable to avoid it. His jaw hurt and felt swollen. He rolled his tongue around the inside of his mouth and tasted blood. The lower left part of his jaw hurt and the pain made him wince. He pushed his tongue against several of his teeth. They had been jarred and felt loose. There was a lump bitten out of the inside of his left cheek and it stung to poke his tongue there. He felt warmth from the wound and knew that was where the blood had come from.

  Over his head was a hood that surprisingly let in a lot of light, though he could see nothing at all. It felt like it was hessian, a hessian sack, and smelt strongly of coffee. It was loose over his head but tied with rope around his neck. Tight enough to keep it on but not to restrict his breathing.   He moved his head quickly this way and that but was unable to dislodge the hood.

  He was sitting on a chair, his arms tied behind it. He tried to move his hands but realised they were tied too tightly. The ropes cutting into his wrists. His fingers numb with pins and needles. His feet were also tied together but not to the chair and there was something else. A strange inaudible rumbling beneath his feet. He couldn’t hear but sensed and felt it. Then he felt his stomach move from within and he knew that he was still on the ship and the strange rumbling meant that the ship had set sail. His senses told him it was turning.

  “I wonder if we’re out at sea,” he was thinking, “And if so how far. God I hope Hutchinson’s still on board. Did I tell De Luca what I was going to do?”

  He racked his memory for what had happened before he’d been knocked out.

  ‘How long was I out for? Minutes? Hours? Days? The phone battery failed before I told him what I was doing’

  He tried to move his shoulders, they were aching. His backside hurt as well and he squirmed to try and ease the cramp. He felt the chair move under him and he was sure it was wooden. He was able to move his legs.

  ‘So they’re not tied to the chair’

He tried to stand but couldn’t. He could rock the chair. It began to tip backwards and forwards and he used his leg muscles until they ached. The chair was getting higher and higher with each effort and then finally he felt it begin to tip. He quickly threw his weight the other way and the chair tilted past its zenith and then fell sending him crashing to the floor. Instinctively he craned his neck so that his head would avoid contact with the floor. He felt the chair crack when he landed and he wriggled about on the floor and though he was still tied to the chair he had more freedom of movement with his arms. The ropes were still cutting into his wrists but he now found he could move his hands apart. He struggled against his bonds. Then suddenly he felt himself free of the chair. Now he was able to roll onto his back and roll himself into a ball. He brought his legs up to his chest and slowly and painfully was able to bring his hands up and over his feet and now his arms were in front of him.

  Struggling to get air through the hood, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling he reached behind his neck and scrabbled at the knot holding the hood. Finally he was able to yank the hood off and take a huge gulp of air. At first the bright light temporarily blinded him and he raised his hands up to his face to shield his eyes from the light until they adjusted.

  Dennis reached forward to tackle the knots around his ankles. They were too tight. Then he felt one of them give a little, just a touch, but it was enough to give him hope. The tips of his fingers were by now numb and then the knot loosened. Dennis paused and opened and closed his fingers, flexing them. Then as some feeling flowed back to his fingertips he reached forward again and attacked the knot. Suddenly it came loose and he undid the ropes around his shins. Now he was able to roll over and get to his knees and slowly stand up. He did a quick scan of his surroundings. He was obviously in the hold of the ship. There were lights at even intervals along the walls. Running the entire length of one of the walls was a metal workbench with a large vice at one end. There were also some large tool chests fixed to the wall and Dennis rushed over to them. He opened very stiff drawers. He found some chisels and picking one up he tried to position it in his hands to cut the ropes. It was no good. He dropped the chisel and continued to rummage in the chest. Then his eyes lit up when he saw the Stanley knife. He pulled it from the drawer, slid the blade out with the little switch, turned the knife and began sawing at the ropes with the very thin blade. It was slow and difficult but eventually one of the rope cords was cut and the two ends peeled away from each other. Dennis set to work on the next one. He felt the ship turn again and he had to lean in to the worktop to keep his balance. Finally his hands were free and he pulled the ropes away.

  Dennis continued searching the drawers for anything he could use. In the bottom drawer were some heavy spanners. He took a heavy two foot long one out and did a couple of practice swings with it. It would be slow but very effective.

  Dennis closed the drawers gently then stopped. He could hear voices and laughter. He ran to the door and listened. The voices were directly outside. Dennis ran back to the overturned chair. He grabbed the cut ropes from the floor, picked the hood up and quickly shoved it over his head, wrapped the ropes loosely around his hands and threw himself down next to the chair. Dennis heard the hand wheel on the door being turned and the heavy door creaked open. When the four men entered the compartment Dennis was writhing on the floor and groaning.

  The four stopped and chuckled when they saw him. Dennis’ senses were tuned and he heard the footsteps as they got closer. Somebody said something in French and Dennis could tell by the accent that the person was a negro. Someone replied to the man and there was more laughter. Then Dennis sensed someone standing over him and rough hands grabbed the boiler suit he was wearing and hauled him to his feet.

  “Did you hurt yourself when you fell off your chair?” the man said in a baby voice in English, mocking the journalist.

  The others chuckled. Dennis pretended to still be groggy. The man holding him was trying to steady him. Dennis suddenly launched himself forward and head butted the man in the face. As the man fell away holding a broken nose and howling with pain, Dennis ripped the hood off and lunged at the next man nearest him hoping he still had the element of surprise. This man was also caught unawares and Dennis was able to land a few punches to this man’s face. Dennis ducked as a fist came at him from the side and as the arm sailed past above his head he turned and landed punches in the man’s abdomen, winding him. This man collapsed to his knees unable to draw a breath. The man whose nose had been broken was slowly getting back to his feet. With his eyes watering he was unable to see clearly. Dennis readied himself to attack him again when he was suddenly grabbed from behind, his arms pinned. Whoever held him was taller, bigger and stronger and though Dennis wriggled he was held easily. The black man with the broken nose shook his head and snorted blood and snot on the floor. Then focusing his eyes on Dennis he bared his teeth, bellowed and rushed at the journalist. Dennis was able to push against the man holding him and he jumped up while still being pinioned. He kicked the man with the broken nose in the chest which sent him crashing away and in the same instant Dennis threw his head back and butted the man holding him in the face. This man released his grip and as Dennis fought out of the way a fist from the fourth man crashed into his temple. Dennis saw stars and he groped for the work bench. His fingers found the heavy spanner and he grabbed it, turned and swung it into the face of this man. He sank to the floor without a sound. The big man that had been holding him let out a bellow of rage and at rushed Dennis. The first two punches were swung wildly with both arms and Dennis was able to easily duck under them. He hammered his fists into the man’s ribs and met solid muscle. The big man roared with rage and brought a foot up and kicked Dennis in the chest. Winded, Dennis fell against the work top. The large spanner was where he’d dropped it and his fingers closed around the handle. The big man hammered blows at Dennis with huge fists. The journalist instinctively brought the spanner up just in time with both hands to deflect the blows. Dennis heard the crunch as flesh and blood connected with the inch thick heavy steel. The man turned his knuckles towards himself and stared in disbelief at his shattered fingers. Dennis calmly took a step forward and brought the spanner up in both hands in an uppercut and connected it with the man’s jaw. The big man grunted and fell onto his back. Dennis let the spanner clang to the floor. He took a few gulps of air, leaning on the work bench. The first man he’d headbutted with the broken nose was trying to get to his knees and Dennis slid over to him and crashed his fist into the side of the man’s head. The man went out. Dennis got up and surveyed the scene. The four crewmen were prone on the floor. Three appeared to be unconscious, completely out cold. The fourth, the big man, was still moaning and groaning, though he didn’t appear to be with it. His eyes were open but distant.

  Dennis took off the boiler suit he was wearing and wiped the sweat from his brow before throwing it to the floor. He quickly searched the men’s pockets for mobile phones. There weren’t any. He picked up the heavy two foot long adjustable spanner and dashed over to the watertight door. He checked that the coast was clear and stepped out into the corridor. He pulled the heavy watertight door behind him and closed it and began winding the hand wheel until it clicked. Then he placed the heavy spanner between the hand wheel and the door and pulled with all his strength until the hand wheel began to move. Dennis paused to get his breath. He then filled his lungs with air and held his breath and gave another supreme effort. Then just as spots appeared in front  of his eyes and he thought he would pass out he felt the wheel move away from the door as the thread was stripped. He put a foot up against the door and snatched at the spanner and suddenly the hand wheel came spinning off. It clattered on the steel corridor floor and Dennis kicked it to one side. He dropped the spanner with a clang and flexed his hands from the pain of having used all his strength. The muscles in his forearms were aching. He looked at his ribs and saw fresh blood on the T-shirt. He’d opened the cut from the razor wire.