‘Yeah. Has it occurred to you that my damsel could well be in distress, really and truly? If I start shooting my way up to Wu-Yang, Chang Huang Lu may reckon he has nothing to lose. He has a reputation.’
Brenda gave a twisted smile. ‘I’m a big girl now. It goes with the job. And if the going gets rough, there’s always the United States Navy, right?’
Lew studied her. It was hard to reconcile this totally confident, apparently totally amoral woman with the breathless girl he had once nearly raped. ‘All this is your idea?’ he asked. ‘I told you, it’s Washington’s idea.’
‘So how come they picked you?’
‘Because I have made a particular study of the Far East. I speak both Mandarin and Japanese, in case you didn’t know. But anyway, I volunteered. Because I knew you were in Shanghai.’
‘Lucky me.’
‘You mean you really would like it all to be an act.’
‘I didn’t say that, Brenda. It’s just that I guess I’m not used to cloaks and daggers. I can’t believe it’ll work.’
‘It’ll work, Lew. But it has to happen naturally, so that no one, and especially not the Japanese, have any idea what we’re about. That means no one in Shanghai, with particular emphasis on Captain Osawa, who is also Kempei-tai, and Captain Hallstrom. So you’ll be sticking your neck out, breaking all the rules, by having an affair and then going to your girl’s rescue when you discover she’s in possibly hostile territory. But I’ve promised you that the truth will find its way into your record back at the Navy Department.’
They gazed at each other.
‘On the other hand,’ she said, ‘you can refuse, and I will have to ask for your secrecy.’
‘And walk out of my life. Seems to me I’m being blackmailed.’
Brenda sat up, and picked up her stockings. ‘I guess people change.’
‘They don’t. I just wanted you to know that I’m not quite the fool some people think I am.’
She raised her head. ‘I never mistook you for a fool, Lew.’
He sat beside her on the bed. ‘But I don’t mind being conned, by you. Only, I hate to think of you putting yourself into danger.’
Her face was very close to his. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’
‘Serious?’
‘Serious. And I’m still around.’
He wondered if he would ever have a woman who would belong to him alone. Well, he nearly had, once. This woman. Now she had escaped him, and soared past him. And he didn’t care, at this moment. But he would have not to care for a good many moments to come. On the other hand, if he didn’t go along with her, she’d just find someone else.
He put his hand down, and found her thigh, and this time she didn’t stop him when his fingers slipped beneath her dress. And they were both absolutely sober. He kissed her on the mouth. ‘So when does the bribery begin?’ he asked.
Chapter Twelve
The Yangste, 1935
It was nearly two years since he had held a naked woman in his arms, and he had only once before held Brenda in his arms anyway. That had been the greatest sexual experience of his life, but the memory had been blurred, by the occasion and the alcohol. This afternoon perception, both emotional and physical, was heightened by the circumstances. In the heat of the tiny cabin they sweated against each other, their bodies slippery with passion. That she could never be totally his made him the more hungry. That for all her apparent confidence she was about to embark upon a highly dangerous mission made her the more compelling. That she was no longer innocent, knew how to use her body and her lips and her smile, made her perfection as a lover. Unlike May, she was in control, all the time, of both herself and her partner. But even more unlike May, he felt that it mattered to Brenda who her partner was.
‘Heck,’ he said, as she lay on his chest and kissed him. ‘To think I could have been married to you, for the past sixteen years.’
‘You’d have got bored.’ She got up, went into his tiny bathroom, and showered.
He joined her, standing against her as the tepid water bounced off their flesh. ‘And you never have the time to be bored.’
She turned her face up to him. ‘Does that bother you?’
‘Sure. Sometimes I dream of a little old fashioned girl.’
‘I was that once.’
‘That’s what I meant.’
She kissed him, stepped out of the shower, used his towel. ‘What’s the saying, man proposes...’
‘And God disposes? I don’t think He’s actually involved with us, or would want to be. Brenda...would you actually go to bed with, say, someone like Chang Huang Lu, if you felt it was necessary?’
She handed him the towel, began to dress. ‘If I felt it was absolutely necessary.’
‘But you hope it won’t be.’
She gazed at him as she fastened her suspender belt. ‘I haven’t met him yet.’
‘For God’s sake...’
‘Lew, if you are going to get creased about me, you won’t be any good to me.’
‘You knew I was creased about you before you came here. So maybe you made a bad choice.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I made a good choice. You remember that. When is your next patrol?’
Three days’ time.’
‘So, would you like to wine me and dine me for those three days, as publicly as possible?’
‘The things I do for women,’ he said, and took her face between his hands to kiss her mouth. ‘Remember what I once told you?’
‘I’ve never forgotten. To sleep with me, you’d go to hell and back. Well, I guess you’ve begun the journey.’
*
He supposed he had to be out of his mind. It was all very well for Brenda to guarantee that whatever he did would be condoned by Washington; if it was all so secret he could have no certainty of the form Washington’s support would take. But to be Brenda’s lover transcended fear of the future, and what future did he have, anyway? Besides, he was human enough to hope that he could have his cake and eat it, too. That Chang Huang Lu would not resist the appearance of an American gunboat in his territory. After all, if he really was unaware that there was a plot against him, why should he?
Meanwhile, their sudden romance was the talk of the Concession, as she had intended it to be. That Lieutenant-Commander McGann would eventually have a romance had been expected by the gossips. Certainly they resented the fact that he had waited for some complete outsider to turn up before falling, but for that very reason they looked for nothing more than sexual attraction, and Brenda revealed a good deal of that whenever they were in public.
Hallstrom liked the situation least of all. ‘The sooner that dame gets on her way the better,’ he told Lew. ‘And the sooner you get on yours the happier I will be. Seems to me you’ve been stepping out of line, mister.’
‘You worry about how I run a ship, Captain,’ Lew told him. ‘I’ll worry about my private life.’
Which was about the most direct challenge he could make, given the possible circumstances.
That night they slept together at the Pierces’ house. At Brenda’s request he had carefully not discussed the situation with Bridget Pierce, but he could tell she was highly nervous. As was her husband. By now they no doubt knew that Lew was involved, but gave no sign of it, and like everyone else merely appeared to accept that he was Brenda’s lover — for a very good reason: they had Chinese servants, and nothing said even in their own home could be guaranteed private.
But privacy was available in one’s bed. ‘Are you sure she’s going to be okay?’ he whispered into Brenda’s ear.
‘She’ll be okay,’ Brenda said.
‘When do you leave?’
‘Two days’ time. We’ll pass you on the river.’
‘Christ, I am going to be sweating blood.
And then how long?’
‘I’m told it’s about a week to Hankow, then another couple of days to Wu-Yang. I’m going to have to consider the situation there, and I want a word with
Kang Lee before I make a move. Say a fortnight to three weeks. Where will you be?’
‘I aim to be in Hankow, if I can. Say, I can meet you there when you come off the ferry.’
‘Only if it happens by chance, Lew. And you must do nothing unusual. Promise me, that.’
He kissed. ‘Everything I do is unusual, my darling.’
*
The gunboat, even cruising at her usual slow speed, and anchoring for each night, kept ahead of the ferry, which not only followed the same pattern but also stopped at least once in every day as well. It was the strangest sensation, to be carrying out the duty and the manoeuvres he had undertaken so often in the last two years, yet this time to such purpose. To know that Brenda was following him, and that together they were going to stick their necks out further than was reasonable. And that none of his crew knew it. That hurt him, because they had turned out such a great set of guys. He knew they would support him in whatever he determined to do. And some of them might get killed.
For what? To stop another war? Maybe. But he had only Brenda’s word for that. He had only Brenda’s word for everything, he realised. Even that she loved him. But it was a word he wanted to take.
Hankow was a busy, bustling city, where there was a considerable European population. Tombstone arrived two days before the ferry, but the gunboat usually spent at least three days in the port before beginning her journey back down the river, so Lew was on hand to greet the ladies when they arrived. They checked into an hotel, while waiting for McIntyre, and Lew joined them there, Bridget Pierce willingly playing gooseberry while they spent a last night together. McIntyre arrived the next day and shook hands with Lew. ‘This is a man-sized assignment you’ve taken on, Commander,’ he said.
Lew grinned at him. ‘I would have said a woman-sized.’ He looked at Brenda. ‘How long?’
‘Just as rapidly as I can make it.’
‘Christ,’ he said. ‘To think of you...you going to take care of her, McIntyre?’
‘If you’ll take care of all of us, Commander.’
‘I’ll be around,’ Lew promised.
They left on horseback, another of Brenda’s surprising range of accomplishments, and he stood on the hotel steps and watched them winding their way through the crowded street until they disappeared from sight. He felt utterly bereft, with the strangest feeling that he would never see her again, at least alive, and then with an equally strange feeling of emptiness, that she could so confidently submit herself to such a risk.
‘Well, sir,’ Fulton commented. ‘What now?’
‘I think we’ll hang about here for a while,’ Lew said. ‘Time we gave the old girl a coat of paint.’ The crew were surprised, but accepted it was to do with his woman and got to work, while Lew was like a cat on hot bricks for fear that things might start to happen at some time while he was out of radio contact. He delayed his departure from Hankow for ten days, but at last had to leave after a peremptory summons from Hallstrom; then he travelled as slowly as he could, wondering what on earth was happening up-river, what unthinkable situations Brenda might have got herself into. For all his dilatoriness he had yet reached Chin Kiang when there was a call from Hallstrom. ‘Just what the hell is going on?’ Hallstrom demanded, ignoring the rule that there should be no swearing on the air.
‘Say again?’ Lew requested, politely.
‘Did you know that Lloyd dame you were fooling with was going up to Wu-Yang with Mrs Pierce?’
‘I believe they were,’ Lew agreed.
‘Well, we’ve had a call from that crazy McIntyre asking for help. Seems the ladies have been arrested, or something. Jesus Christ! People like that ought to be locked up.’
‘They have been,’ Lew said. ‘Arrested, by God. I can be back there in five days.’ Five days! Arrested! Something had gone wrong. Or was that just part of Brenda’s ploy?
‘Just forget that,’ Hallstrom said. ‘They got themselves into trouble, they can get themselves back out. I told you, McGann, we’re not here to start a war.’
‘Let me get this straight,’ Lew said. ‘You intend to abandon Mrs Lloyd and Mrs Pierce to Chang Huang Lu?’
‘I’m getting in touch with Washington. It’s their decision.’
‘After they’ve all been beheaded,’ Lew said. ‘You can forget that, Hallstrom.’
‘Now you listen to me, McGann...’
‘No, Hallstrom. You listen to me. I am going in and I am going to bring the two women back out. And the McIntyres if they want to come.’
‘McGann, I know you are soft on that dame but in my book it’ll do her a world of good to have a Chinese rod up her ass. So you are to remain where you are, pending my instructions.’
‘The hell with your instructions,’ Lew told him. ‘Tombstone over and out.’
Fulton had heard the exchange and was looking anxious. ‘You could be sticking your neck out, Commander,’ he remarked.
‘All of our necks, Bobby. You with me?’
‘You bet,’ Fulton said. ‘God damn, how I’ve wanted to take a shot at these rascals.’
Lew again wished he could take him, all of them, into his confidence, but he couldn’t. And maybe it wasn’t necessary; there wasn’t a man on board not spoiling for a fight even before they heard what had happened — they had been fired at too often without replying. He ordered steam raised immediately, and issued ammunition both for the quick-firers and for his men’s rifles. Then he turned Tombstone up-river, and three days later, to the surprise of the onlookers in Hankow, steamed straight past the city. The wires would be buzzing tonight, he thought grimly. But there was no one could suppose he had acted except on impulse, seeking the safety of his mistress.
*
They left Hankow astern in the afternoon, taking the right hand bifurcation of the river. Now they were in strange waters, and it was necessary to proceed only just fast enough to breast the current; the Han Kuang was considerably narrower than the main stream, and was more cluttered with obstacles. But Lew had no doubt news that an American gunboat had crossed his frontier had by now reached Chang Huang Lu. Certainly they were being overlooked from the bank, and had indeed accumulated quite an escort of mounted men. Lew presumed there was some danger of attack when they anchored, and ordered double watches, but the night passed quietly, and next day they proceeded up-river without mishap until, again in the afternoon, they rounded a bend and came across a chain stretched across the channel in front of them, and anchored to buoys moored by the bank. Lew proceeded right up to the chain, and there dropped anchor.
By now there was a considerable number of men gathered on the bank, and he watched a sampan being propelled towards the gunboat by its sweeps, above the chain. Standing in the bow was a man in khaki uniform. The sampan in turn anchored, by the stern, so close that the bows of the two ships were separated by no more than the width of the barrier.
Lew left his men under cover and went up into the bow himself. ‘You had no business on this river, Yankee,’ said the Chinese officer in good English. ‘The great Chang is displeased with this.’
‘Well, we’re not too happy with the great Chang, either,’ Lew told him. ‘My mission is to take the Americans you are holding captive down-river.’
‘They have broken our laws,’ the officer told him.
Lew felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach. Because he had been hoping, and trusting, that the message had just been part of the plan, despite his fears. Now his fears were proved correct. He kept his voice even with an effort. ‘They are American citizens,’ he said. ‘And if one hair of their heads has been harmed, someone is going to be hanged.’
The officer considered this. Then he said, ‘They will be sent down the river in due course.’
Lew gave a sigh of relief. They had not been executed, at the least. ‘They must accompany me,’ he said. ‘Now remove this barrier.’
‘You cannot ascend the river,’ the officer said. ‘This is the law of the great Chang.’
‘If you do no
t remove this chain,’ Lew told him. ‘I will break it.’
‘If you attack the chain, my men will fire into you.’
‘Hallelujah,’ Lew agreed.
The officer considered this too, then gave orders to his crew. The anchor was taken up, the sweeps dug into the water, and the sampan withdrew.
Lew returned to the bridge. ‘Reckon they’ll fight?’ Fulton asked him.
‘I reckon they have to, if they want to keep their heads,’ Lew said. ‘But I’d like to know what the hell has happened.’
Both Fulton, and Cody, who had come up to the bridge, looked at him, as what had happened seemed obvious from the message. But he wasn’t going to enlighten them. ‘Think we can drive through that chain, Chief?’ he asked.
‘I reckon we’re more likely to drag those buoys out, which means we’ll have the chain wrapped around us all the way up-river. But it doesn’t look all that powerful. We can cut it.’
‘Like right now,’ Lew suggested.
‘Might be better to wait until dark.’
‘That’s just what they expect us to do, Chief. We’ll do it now, before they get organised.’ Through his binoculars he could make out that the Chinese officer had not yet regained the bank, so presumably the soldiers were at this moment lacking command.
Cody got to work with a will, and there were more than enough volunteers for the work. They went over the side into the small boat, away from the north bank, but of course came into view as soon as they hitched up to the chain and began cutting. Then there was great excitement on the bank, and Lew had the two quick-firers swung to point at the onlookers, while he lined his deck with riflemen.
For several minutes nothing happened, while the sound of the hacksaws seared across the evening, and Lew began to feel they might be going to get away with it. Then a shot rang out, and another.
‘Open fire,’ he snapped. ‘Drive them from that bank.’
The sound of the saws was lost in the boom-boom of the quick-firers, the cracks of the rifles. Certainly several of the Chinese were hit, and the exploding shells, although small, had them diving for shelter. Yet they kept up their fire, and he heard a cry from forward. The wounded man was brought on board, and another volunteer went to take his place, yet two more men were hit before the chain fell apart; fortunately, the Chinese were using old rifles and it seemed even older cartridges, and their bullets had little penetrating power.
Raging Sea, Searing Sky Page 30
