The Midnight Falcon

by Graham Saunders

Chapter 6

  The time ran swiftly and the new day had already brought their last hours on Ikinos. But at this hour the first glimmer of dawn was still more than an hour away. The weather still hung fair across the Greek Islands, there had been a long spell of tranquillity over the Aegean spreading deep into the Mediterranean. Valentina knew it would be unlikely to last much longer as the turbulence of shifting seasons took hold of the climate. Unable to sleep she had walked up to her office to read the latest communications from Sachovia.

  The recent signal confirmed the initial part of the journey. It was intended to confuse anyone who might have an interest in the passage of a man and a child heading to Sachovia. All they had told Valentina was that she was to sail up to Dubrovnik with her two passengers. There was a contact to meet at a place still undecided. Natasha and Colby would pose as an English father and daughter, together on a touring holiday. They would make their way north, by motorcycle. At this early stage of the journey, no indication would be apparent that they were heading anywhere near the troubled state of Sachovia. Their first destination was to be the city of Trieste lying on a narrow strip of Italian territory between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. A city of writers, travellers, exiles and misfits.

  Valentina was to abandon her precious cargo in Dubrovnik; such was the turmoil that constituted her world, it was almost impossible that she would ever see them again. From there Valentina was expected to sail, broken hearted or not, back to the mansion on Ikinos from where she would conclude her business and disappear from view.

  The contact in Dubrovnik, handsomely rewarded for his trouble, would supply the motorcycle, camping equipment and enough Euros to see them safely to Italy. Valentina was fully aware of the need for all this secrecy but it gave her no comfort to be abandoning them in Croatia and even less as she contemplated the uncertainty of what lay ahead for them. Not for the first time she was questioning the sanity of the game she was playing. Once it had all seemed inevitable to her, she had no alternative. But now her sense of moral outrage was starting to drag her to her knees.

  Valentina shook away the dismal dust of her thoughts and busied herself plotting the course for the Falcon. It would take 6 or 7 days to sail the 1200 km to Dubrovnik at least she would have another week to spend with Natasha and Colby, but to return without them... Knowing what lay ahead... She did not know if she could summon the strength for that any more.

  Valentina checked her watch; it was barely five am. She was considering going back to her room and trying for sleep again when she heard a scratching sound coming from the lock on her door, some muffled words of frustration and then the door suddenly opened.

  "Andrej... For God's sake man you scared me half to death." Andrej jumped back, he seemed as shocked as Valentina.

  "Sorry... I er... Thought I heard something. I know you normally keep the door locked."

  "You were expecting burglars perhaps, on this rock in the middle of the sea?"

  "I don't know... I'm not sure everyone here is trustworthy." he said with a sneer.

  "You mean Colby Linden perhaps?" Andrej shrugged avoiding eye contact. "I would trust him with my life Andrej, you need have no concerns there."

  "No of course..." He raised his head and looked over towards Valentina's desk. "I see you have the details of the journey." He said as if he were making small talk. Valentina watched his flicking eyes as he strained to draw some information from her notes. She hastily folded the chart and gathered up the remaining papers into a folder then turned back to him.

  "Yes Andrej they have finally revealed the first stage of the journey to Sachovia."

  "Is it what we expected? Overland via motorbike."

  "Yes... I know you think you could have done this yourself..."

  "I've come to terms with it. I'm sure Linden is more experienced in such things than a simple Sachovian captain like me."

  "I'm glad you can accept that... Andrej, It's the final outcome that is important not who does what. You have been of great service to Sachovia already, don't feel that your efforts have been overlooked. Your name has been mentioned at the highest level." It was a lie but one that placated Andrej and made him bristle with pride. He nodded an acknowledgement of the compliment. "Do we know where they will be heading?" he asked in a voice altogether too casual.

  "That information is on a need to know basis... For you own safety as much as for mission security."

  "Of course, I was just curious." With a non committal smile he slipped quietly back out of the room.

  What was that all about? Valentina wondered. Surely I can trust Andrej Kowalski. Nevertheless she collected all her papers, anything at all sensitive to the mission and locked them securely behind the thick hardened steel of the wall safe. The combination she had chosen was perhaps rather too obvious – Natasha's birth date but it had seemed appropriate enough when she had selected it.

  Colby had woken as the first rays of light entered his room. He was naturally on edge but his thoughts settled not on the journey that lay ahead but involuntarily on Andrej Kowalski a man who had managed to unsettle him. The captain had gone out of his way to be unpleasant since they had first met and now he was shown to be abusive towards Katrina. Short of dropping him from the cliff-top onto the jagged rocks, an idea that he found not without merit, there was little he could do. Any warning he made towards Andrej would be hollow because in a few short hours he would no longer be there. His father had once told him that the responsibility of a moral man was to act if there was some reasonable intervention possible and not to waste energy worrying if there was not.

  It was good advice but he could not help the concern he felt for the vulnerable young Katrina. As he lay in bed he pondered the feasibility of getting her into Britain where she might be safe and have the prospect of a decent life. He thought fleetingly of an illegal entry; wondered if Equis could do anything. He had not discussed any of this with Katrina, maybe she would not want to go to Britain, maybe her loyalty towards Sachovia and the restoration of its monarchy was a driving passion for her. He realised how little he knew about her; most of it had been filled out by his imagination and probably reflected an idealized version of the girl, the girl he hoped she might be.

  He rolled out of bed and stumbled into the shower. Access to a shower on the journey may not be so easy so he took a long soaking advantage of the hot water. He felt invigorated as he dressed and took a brisk walk round the property in the fresh morning air. He watched as a small boat chugged across the flat sea leaving a shimmering wake that traced its path from somewhere beyond the cluster of islands that lay halfway to the horizon.

  "There's breakfast if you want it."

  Colby turned and saw Natasha standing behind him. She had been sent to find him; the domestic duties of a prospective queen.

  "It's a really special place here." He said. "I could happily call Ikinos my home."

  "It is nice but you'd get bored stuck in the one place. I feel too isolated here, I have no friends my own age."

  "Do you have any contact with the friends you used to know?"

  "I'm not allowed any." she said without emotion; a simple statement of fact.

  "No, maybe I can see why, but it's a shame..." He tried smiling at her but was met with a stone wall. "Are you ready for the journey?" he said.

  Natasha shook her head. She looked inconsolably sad and Colby put his arm out to her.

  "No don't..." She said as she stepped back brushing his arm away.

  "This is not my doing Natasha, don't hate me."

  "Of course it's your doing..." She snapped "You could have said no."

  Colby could do little but shrug, the child was correct. What he was doing was not for her, not for Sachovia, not even really for Valentina. It was an act of personal selfishness, a last chance to salvage his floundering life and self respect.

  "If not me they would have found someone else." He said almost to himself. "Would you be happier if it were Andrej taking you?"

  The
re was anger and despair in her eyes as she twisted away.

  "Just leave me alone..." Colby watched as she ran off, her long fine hair lifting in the air and catching golden in the low morning sun. Suddenly he didn't feel like breakfast. He felt like being alone and made his way to the garden. He had seen an intriguing narrow path that seemed to edge down the northern side of Ikinos and decided to satisfy his curiosity. The path was roughly hewn and far from safe with a scattering of marble sized rocks covering the slope. He slithered down to a small level platform, the natural terrace was covered in tough coastal grass swept almost flat by the sea winds. It was still speckled with pink buttons of thrift and small outcroppings of spiny yellow gorse.

  The edges of the platform were sheer and fell away to the sea-washed rocks maybe twenty metres below. What really caught Colby's interest was what looked like a rope ladder attached to the cliff and disappearing down towards the water. Floating in the waves half seen, was what could have been a small buoy with a short mooring rope attached. Turning away from the edge he saw, partially hidden behind some scrubby gorse, the entrance to a narrow cave in the cliff face. He pushed his way in. The cave, little more than a deep widening fissure, did not extend far into the cliff – maybe two metres. The light that filtered in from the entrance was enough to show that there was little of interest. A long dead shearwater lay in a decay of feathers and bone across the rocky floor but what caught Colby's interest was the shape of a sealed twenty litre plastic drum pushed as far from the opening as possible. Colby wrestled off the lid and inside, wrapped in plastic he found a wet suit, jeans and T shirt and interestingly a mobile phone.

  There was the sudden sound of angry words; the unexpected voice from behind him spat a curse he could not understand but the venom in the man's expression was more than enough to alarm Colby. As he turned to face whoever it was something heavy hit him across the side of his head, he saw a bright light for just an instant before his world turned dark.

  ...

  When he woke he was back in the mansion.

  "What happened?" He asked as the fog began to clear and he lifted his head from the pillow.

  "You must have fallen." Valentina said. "Katrina spotted you from the far side of the garden. We managed to get you back here."

  "Where's Andrej?" Colby asked as his thoughts started to reorder themselves.

  "We really could have used him earlier to help carry you back but he took the launch out to get oil for the generator." Colby sat up; his colour was slowly returning and with it a dull ache across the back of his skull. "How are you feeling?" Valentina said as she brushed her cool hand across his forehead.

  "Yes, I'm OK, – a little confused."

  "That's not unexpected, Colby. I think maybe we should delay our journey a day or two."

  "No, no I'm fine we need to stick to the schedule."

  Valentina nodded, her relief was palpable. "That would be best if you're up to it."

  "I really am... got a pretty thick skull."

  "Thick maybe... Pretty is up for debate." She said with an endearing wrinkle of a smile.

  Colby laughed but it was probably a mistake as sharp pain seared across his temples. He closed his eyes for an instant as if he had suddenly got soap in them. "When, by the way, did Andrej leave in the launch?" He said.

  "Why do you ask?"

  "I thought I saw him... Just before my... fall."

  "I don't think you could have seen him, he took the launch out straight after breakfast."

  Colby nodded "OK... I must be mistaken."

  By the time they had eaten lunch Andrej had still not returned. Colby wanted to see him, his original view that it had been Andrej who hit him was starting to seem less plausible. In any case he resolved never to turn his back on the captain again.

  "Where exactly was I when Katrina found me?" He asked Valentina who was nibbling at the core of her apple dropping unnoticed seeds into her lap.

  "On the slippery path just before the grassy platform. She wouldn't have noticed you if you'd been further down."

  "Did you know that there's a small cave down there by the grassy plateau."

  "I've more to do than go climbing the cliffs Colby."

  "It's easy to access, no climbing involved... Do me a favour if you get time go and see if there's anything in there."

  "What are you expecting? A cache of Spanish gold?"

  "Maybe."

  "Why don't we go now together if this is so important to you. Do you feel up to it?"

  "OK, it takes more than a bump on the head to sideline me for long."

  "I seem to remember." Valentina said.

  It took little more than ten minutes to scramble their way to the cave. The slipperiness did lend support to the idea that Colby had simply slipped and banged his head with the rest belonging to an unconscious imagination.

  "What do you see?" He asked.

  "Colby there's nothing here."

  "No plastic drum?"

  "Nothing... Look for yourself."

  The low grumble of a boat's engine drifted across the air.

  "Can you hear that? " Colby said

  "It sounds like the launch... It must be Andrej, it's about time he was back."

  In the ten minutes it took them to return to the south side of the island Andrej was already operating the power winch and lifting drums of fuel oil up in a cargo net to the service entrance of the mansion.

  "You were a long time Andrej... Have any problems?"

  He turned towards the voice and at least from Colby's perspective seemed startled when he saw the Englishman standing next to Valentina.

  "Er... No not really. I had to wait for them to load up the launch so I went to the tavern and had some lunch, a couple of beers."

  Colby narrowed his eyes and looked long and hard at Andrej as he stood silhouetted against the afternoon sky. The captain's expression was sullen but essentially unreadable.

  ...

  Valentina took Natasha to one side, she could see that her nervousness was starting to unravel her; she needed a distraction.

  "Katrina's preparing a special meal for us tonight, she might need some help if you feel like it. It will be a farewell to Ikinos for you. We'll eat early so that we can set sail as the sun sets. I know this isn't what you want Natasha but try to think of what it means for Sachovia."

  "I hate all this Valentina but what can I do? Some accident of my birth has pushed me into a future that I have no control of. I feel as if I'm drowning in... what's the word?... la responsabilité"

  "It's the same word in English, responsibility.... I understand how you feel Natasha."

  "Then why can't I just be left alone to be a normal teenager?"

  "I can't answer that darling... There's nothing you can do but try to make the best of it. None of us know what the future holds, no matter how hard we try to control it. Your future may be far better than you imagine." Valentina spoke with softness and a certainty that she wished could have been real. Thank God she has no idea what really lays in store for her. Valentina thought. She caught herself frowning and lifted her look of anguish with a smile. She brushed the child's cheek with her soft fingers and felt like a venomous snake hypnotising its prey.

  "You've been like a mother to me Valentina, why can't you come with me. If I must go to this foreign country, I need a friend by my side."

  Valentina took the child in her arms and drew her close. "I can't do that... don't ask that of me Natasha, my heart is already breaking."

  Natasha held her tight.

  "I'm sorry..." She whispered in a voice almost too soft to hear. "I would never want to cause you pain Valentina, you have been so kind to me."

  They sat holding each other for a long peaceful moment until Natasha pulled away from the embrace. "What route are we going to take?" She said as she seemed finally to have accepted the inevitable. She sniffed hard and wiped her hand across her eyes.

  "We'll head north. It will take a week or so to sail to Dubrovnik.
I don't know all of the route I'm just following what they choose to tell me. Try to think of the journey as an adventure, a holiday. All I know is that you are heading up to Trieste from Dubrovnik. They have planned three leisurely days of motorcycling for you to get there."

  Valentina turned and saw a shadow flit away round the corner of the wall as if someone might have been listening. But it was of no importance, the future was set in motion. Nothing could stop it now.

  Colby had taken Andrej by the arm and swung him against the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him and sting his tongue with the taste of blood.

  "Overhear anything of interest Captain Kowalski?"

  "I don't know what you mean... Take your hands off me you bastard Englishman."

  Colby pinned him tight against the wall his forearm crushing against the captain's neck.

  "Thought you'd left me for dead out there did you?"

  "I don't know what you're talking about, you're full of shit." He struggled but Colby held him firm.

  "Just a warning Andrej... You can come after me if you like. I guess I'm fair play, but if I hear you've raised a hand to Katrina again... Once this is over I WILL come looking for you." Colby increased the weight against the captain's throat. "Do you understand me?"

  "Yes, yes," Andrej spluttered "Katrina is just a fucking whore, you can have her for all I care. Why would I waste my time with a street slut."

  Colby drove his fist into the man's stomach and Andrej doubled up in pain. Once more he felt humiliated by the Englishman, the anger rose up from the pain... One day Colby fucking tough-guy Linden... but for now he had his own game to play which offered more reward than troubling to break Linden's neck might.

  The special meal was meant to be a celebration of the summer days spent on Ikinos and an expression of hope for Natasha's future. None of the participants were really in any mood to celebrate. The festivities, such as they were, were forced and artificial. Katrina's culinary skill must have been gifted from the gods as she had no formal training. Despite this she had roasted a suckling pig stuffed with onions, celery, carrots and wild herbs. Natasha had been finally coaxed into helping with the preparation of a layered chocolate cake thick with whipped cream and dark Belgian chocolate. Although the preparation of the meal was down to Katrina she hardly ate anything. From Colby's observations the girl seemed to exist almost entirely on Perrier water. Not a good proposition for a girl hovering dangerously on the edge of anorexia. Colby's gran would have prescribed steak and kidney pudding with mashed potatoes with plum duff and custard to follow. To be taken twice daily until further notice.

  Colby, a silent observer, watched the interplay as Andrej now studiously ignored Katrina while she fawned over him like a rejected puppy. He wondered with a measure of distaste if maybe she didn't deserve the loathsome captain after all. No doubt there would be some form of reconciliation once they were left on their own in the mansion.

  Colby had spent just a few scant days on Ikinos, a jewel that sparkled in the azure sea. He had been entranced by the place; the remoteness ideally matched his nature which leaned towards solitude. The ever changing seascape was constantly uplifting had magically helped in the restoration of his battered spirit. For Natasha the island had been her Elba, little more than a prison. She was glad to leave but terrified of what lay ahead. She clung to Katrina as they stood on the jetty. She was losing another friend, all she could see was loneliness and a tragic life in a country ravaged by war... if she survived long enough to see it.

  "We should go Natasha." Valentina urged. The child nodded but was still reluctant to let go of Katrina.

  "Here take this darling..." Katrina slipped off her silk scarf and hung it round Natasha's neck. "Think of me when they make you Queen. Remember I was like your sister..."

  "You are my sister..." Natasha said as she kissed Katrina and finally climbed unsteadily aboard the Midnight Falcon... as if she were ascending to the gallows.

  The Ketch set sail into the purple dusk. With a following wind it was calm and tranquil as the Falcon did what she was built for. There was almost a feeling that the pretty craft had come to life as she drove on with a rolling gait into a soft mist that lay low on the water. Colby held out his hand to Natasha and she took hold of his fingers, a last straw of kindness to grasp in silent desperation. She shivered as the cool evening air kissed her shoulders.

  Colby looked back across the swirling evening mist but already Ikinos was fading into his mythology as if it had never really existed.