The Midnight Falcon

by Graham Saunders

  Chapter 7

  A ridge of high pressure hung over the Greek Islands but the forecast was for a rain drenched front to collide with their course unless they could outrun it. Wheels were turning, deadlines were there to be met. The Midnight Falcon was a spirited and courageous craft but no racer. They cruised effortlessly through the night and deep into the next afternoon at the speed of a soaring kittiwake. Reaching for the island of Kithira on a south westerly tack. The island marked the gateway to the end of their Greek odyssey. But by evening of the second day the wind had turned blustery and by midnight it had freshened bringing with it a decent swell that had the Falcon pitching in the darkness.

  With help from Colby, Valentina reduced sail and they ran before the weather for the lee of the island with sea anchor deployed. Then the rain came, gently at first but building as the wind veered westerly. Natasha was in her bunk. She felt sea-sick and frightened, she was no sailor and felt trapped and in constant fear that the boat might at any moment capsize. She suddenly longed for the safety of her prison island. Valentina changed course again and beat northwards, hugging the coast to avoid the worst of the heavy weather. Sometimes the sounds of the storm were deafening. The waves beating across the Falcon's beam rolled them like marbles in a jar. The timbers creaked above the roar of the storm as the Falcon was tossed in the endless solitude of the vast sea. Despite two nights without sleep Valentina seemed to be in her element. Her cheeks coloured, she navigated the waters with the skill of a woman born to the task. Natasha continued to huddle, ears shut with hot fingers against the oppressive noise of an angry sea. This was an alien place for the princess of Sachovia; even more alien than Sachovia.

  Colby thought of nothing, his mind empty as a familiar calmness came to him. He had experienced seas like this before and had complete confidence in Valentina's sailing ability and in truth, his years of withdrawal had left him rather immune to concern for his own safety; a life of little value is easy to abandon. He watched and learned and fell deeper under Valentina's spell.

  By the time the sun rose again, the worst was behind them. Valentina was tired but still invigorated. "She handled that beautifully." She said to Colby with a laugh of adulation as she took a deep swig of the hot aromatic coffee that Colby had managed to conjure up in the galley.

  "Who Natasha?"

  "No you fool the Falcon." She laughed.

  Colby smiled at her, with her soft eyes big enough to drown in. He thought: If she's in love at all, its with this damn boat.

  ...

  Heading north into the Ionian Sea, Valentina edged the Falcon further from the land. There was nothing to see except the rolling waves, often white capped with flecks of foam, and the occasional glimpse of a trawler or sardine fisher under diesel power. Natasha ventured from her cabin and breathed in the clean air. Still withdrawn, the beauty of the day forbade melancholy and slowly she was lifted to feel that life might be worth living if only for moment like these. The calm after the storm can sooth the most troubled breast.

  Colby took the wheel while Valentina slept the dreamless sleep of the exhausted. He kept the ketch heading north, favourable winds now making the going easy. Natasha prepared some stew for the evening meal and when Valentina woke refreshed they ate together in celebration of the end of the bad weather while the Falcon sailed herself ever closer to their shared destiny.

  Colby finally decided to express his concerns about Andrej with Valentina. As he spoke Valentina lifted her eyes from her plate. The stew, little more than cubed beef simmered with onions and potatoes was good, especially to an appetite sharpened by keen hunger and the smell of the briny air.

  "When you get back to Ikinos," Colby said as if it were a matter of little importance, "I think you should reassess your relationship with Kowalski."

  "My relationship... In what way?"

  "I'm not sure you can trust him, I think he's operating to an agenda of his own."

  "What makes you think that Colby?" She smiled at him as if the storm might have washed away his good sense.

  "My observations... And I'm fairly certain that my fall was no accident."

  "You think Andrej was responsible?"

  "I have no proof but yes... The decision to allow no phone contact from Ikinos was undoubtedly a wise one from a security point of view..."

  "But?"

  "Only if others had not made their own provision. I think he has access to a mobile phone. That's what I hoped you would find in the cave when we went back to look."

  "You saw a phone in the cave?"

  "Unless my mind is playing tricks on me."

  "You should have said something earlier Colby."

  "I know..." He said.

  Natasha who had been quietly listening to the conversation added her own criticisms of the captain.

  "I never trusted him, the way he used to look at me..."

  "In what way?" Natasha blushed suddenly wishing she had kept quiet. "Did he ever touch you?" Valentina asked with sudden alarm. Natasha shook her head and fell silent again. Valentina put down her fork. Andrej Kowalski was a problem for another day.

  "That was really good Natasha," the girl lifted her eyes, it was clear that at this point in her life she wanted little more than to please Valentina.

  "It was nothing." She said from the glow of praise from Valentina.

  "As for Andrej, whatever he might have been up to, he will return to Sachovia as soon as I get back to the Mansion... I think, if he did have some scheme in play then he's left it too late. If he did feel the need of a phone there might be an innocent explanation"

  "Such as?" Colby asked.

  "Maybe he had a girlfriend that he wanted to stay in touch with."

  Colby nodded. He was not necessarily in agreement with Valentina's opinion but felt that he had done his duty by raising the concern. "OK... I wonder would it be appropriate for me to make contact with Equis again?"

  Equis she thought... Ah yes that place. London seemed a million miles away. A place to dress for seduction, a place to betray those you care most for, a city of beguilement. "Yes, of course... I need to explain the workings of the satellite phone to you anyway, you'll be relying on one to keep in touch during the journey." Colby was familiar with such things and was soon connected with the office.

  "Jane... Hi it's Colby. If I'm right it should be late afternoon where you are."

  "Yes good guess... Better line this time... How are you?"

  "I'm fine, everything is going to plan so far." He briefly explained all he knew about the journey.

  "It all sounds idyllic..." She said with hardly any trace of irony in her voice. "Listen Colby, can you talk freely?"

  "Yes the girls are below deck, I'm pretending to sail the boat on my own at the moment. What is it?"

  "I'm assuming you are still living in a news media vacuum..."

  "Pretty much."

  "Mm. The trouble in Sachovia does not seem to be going away; usual sort of civil unrest but there's a harsh edge to the protest marches and rallies. There's a general call for the government to resign and hold new elections. The streets are awash with tear gas."

  "That's not what I want to hear Jane; I'm struggling with the implications of taking Natasha back there as it is."

  "It's just a job Colby. Our client has engaged us to complete a simple contract; the moral implications are not our concern as long as what we have been asked to do is legal. In any case the unrest may well pass over, these things often do but I thought you should be kept up to speed."

  "I'm not sure I can gloss over the moral implications of what I'm doing that easily Jane but I take your point... Thanks for the warning anyway... So how's life in London?"

  "It's as if you never left dear boy. Trust me no one misses you."

  "I hope you're smiling when you said that."

  "I never smile Colby, I think the last recorded event was the summer of 2004." She laughed which rather collapsed her argument. "Actually Penny does keep bringing your name up...
Maybe you made a conquest there."

  "I really don't think so Jane. Look, this was really just a touching base call if there's nothing else I'll get back to my sailing. I have an urgent course correction to make in about an hour or so."

  "I wouldn't want to interfere with that Colby but actually there might be something that could be critical to your mission but I'm waiting to get confirmation before I worry you."

  "Before you worry me... You can't leave it like that Jane..."

  "Trust me Colby as soon as I feel you need to know I'll tell you... Speaking of which is there any way I can contact you?"

  "No I'm sorry this call is being routed through a series of firewalls run by the Sachovian Security technicians. I'll try and make regular calls."

  "OK Colby... Miss you."

  What was meant to have been a quick 'I'm OK' call had taken on a slightly sinister edge. Not knowing what the issue that Jane had hinted at, had opened up troubling doors into his imagination that should have been kept tightly shut. However he trusted the Equis team and thought: Out here on the Midnight Falcon in the middle of the Ionian sea, there's really nothing to worry about... is there?

  As the evening drew on Natasha retired to her cabin, she was starting to feel more at ease on the Falcon now and sleep came easily to her as she was rocked by the gentle motion of the vessel. Valentina sat alone on the aft deck. In quiet conditions like this with the self steering set the Falcon needed little input to guide her to their destination. She watched Colby as the moonlight shone across his back. He was leaning against the white enamelled side rail lost in thought. There was that familiar stab of guilt for the way she had seduced him into taking her commission. Over the weeks as she had re-acquainted her self with him, she was beginning to regret every lost minute of the near ten years they had been apart. Colby had been, if not quite her first lover then certainly the first man she had ever really loved and now as she watched him in the moonlight, he unaware of the caress of her eyes, she knew that she still loved him. Only her young brother Sascha held claim to as much of her love.

  Sascha with his innocent dark eyes, the courage of an eagle and heart of an angel. She could see him now smiling at her; telling her that everything would be all right. She wondered how many lives she must condemn for the sake of her sweet Sascha. He had played a courageous role in the civil war acting for the men who would inherit the new government and bring stability to the rich and poor alike. If Valentina knew one thing with any certainty, it was that after all he had sacrificed during the war, Sascha was owed a future.

  Valentina quietly moved to where Colby stood against the rail. It was his eyes that had first caught her attention all those years ago. A twist of her head and there he was across the room; a bar full of the heavy aroma of alcohol and hazed with cigarette smoke. Maybe she had drunk too much but her eyes had seen something special. This man sent from England, a commission to undertake and then be on his way leaving no trace. But he had left a trace, a trace that ran deep. It was before the 06 war had really started but there was already enough horror in the streets even then that only the obstinately blind could not see the tragedy slowly, inevitably unfolding before their eyes. The dominoes had already started to tumble when Colby stole her heart.

  As the Falcon gently yawed in the currents, Valentina moved closer to him until she could smell his musk against the salt air.

  "I'm sorry." She said.

  "What for?"

  "For tangling you up in all this... This bullshit."

  "Is it bullshit?"

  "All politics is bullshit Colby. Its just words and posturing to get the outcome that benefits the one with the loudest voice. Natasha doesn't care about the Monarchy, she doesn't care about Sachovia and yet we are making a martyr of her because some people with loud voices think it serves their purpose." Colby found himself in complete agreement with Valentina, he was unable to mount any reasonable counter argument and made no effort to.

  "Then turn the boat round," he said "we could find a desert island somewhere and live on coconuts."

  Valentina smiled at the image, it was not without attraction.

  "Don't tempt me..." she said as she put her arms round Colby's neck and drew her lips up to his.

  "Make love to me." She whispered "Out here under the stars where there are no politics just the sea and the sky and eternal innocence."

  Colby felt her breath on his cheek the taste of the sea wind on her lips as she gathered herself tightly round him. They lay together with only the Moon as chaperone and for an instant captured the taste of bliss from the times in her room at the Sachovian Excelsior, a place long since vanished to the ravages of war.

  "I want you to have this." Colby said.

  "What is it?"

  "It used to be my mother's wedding ring. I've kept it all these years."

  "I can't take this Colby... What does it mean?"

  "It's not a proposal or anything stupid like that... Look it would just make me feel happy to know you care enough for me to keep it safe."

  "I won't wear it."

  "I'm not asking you to."

  "Are you sure about this?"

  "Certain."

  "You are a sentimental old fool you know..."

  "I know."

  She lifted her face to his and kissed him again while inside she wept.

  ...

  They had crossed over half the distance to their destination now. The Falcon had become home again, familiar, comfortable. Colby watched Natasha as she lay on the deck catching the rays of the afternoon sun. Valentina was trimming the sails and easing the wheel to ensure that their heading matched the GPS coordinates.

  "Tell me about your life in France." Colby said. Natasha raised herself up on her elbow and shaded her eyes from the sun with the palm of her hand.

  "What's this? Sweet talk so that you can deliver me to my fate with a clear conscience?"

  "I'm just curious."

  "Tell me about your life first Colby, then I might tell you about mine."

  "My life... Not much to tell... after school I was in the army. Learned to box a little which I liked, learned to really hurt people which on the whole I didn't. I did some sailing in my youth that might have been the best times... Then I joined Equis. Became an Executive Protection Officer I was sent to do some close personnel support in Sachovia as the war started to unwind. I met Valentina... Then I had a troubling failed mission in Saudi that put me into a decline for a while. Now I'm here to see you safely home."

  "No wife, no kids."

  "No... " He said with no intention of elaborating. "Now your turn."

  Natasha shrugged as if her life story was of no importance, no interest to a foreign mercenary.

  "I have never seen Sachovia, my family moved to France in my great-grandfather's time when the Bolsheviks came. I was just an ordinary schoolgirl. My parents were quite well off... We had a nice life. My elder brother was in the army like you." Natasha's eyes seemed to drift off into a place where memory and sadness had become the same thing. Colby watched her without speaking, waiting with infinite patience for whatever words would come next.

  Natasha absently twisted the fabric of her T shirt and then finally continued, her eyes unfocussed, she was really speaking to herself now, Colby merely an observer. "Then one day, I can still remember the smell of distant wood smoke in the air, the chatter of children's voices that fell suddenly silent when they came for me. They took me from my classroom... I can still see Mademoiselle Filbert who always smelled of lavender and wore the prettiest of dresses... The shocked look on her face. They said that there had been a car accident with the Citroen, mama and papa... were dead, both of them. Gregori came to find me but I was alone for two days waiting silently for my brother. He was a handsome man in his officer's uniform, I loved him so much." A half smile briefly shadowed across her face at the tender memory. "After the funeral we went away and spend time together. He found a cottage for rent in the Camargue near the Petit Rhône and we
lived through our sadness together. It was a painful time but I remember those precious days with fondness. Then one day he took me in his car, a day out he said. We had a picnic in the sun... I think there was sun... We stopped at a little village and Gregori bought me a pretty little bedside light with a carousel that turned when the light was on. He said it was a gift to show that he loved me. Then we drove into the evening eating chocolate and singing along with the songs that were on the car radio. Finally we came to a gate with a metal coat of arms above it. There was a big house beyond the gates. The windows were full of lights sparkling in the distance and as we drove up the driveway Gregori would not sing any more. I saw tears in his eyes, he would not look at me. I was put in a room with other girls... I waited for my brother to come back. I did not know what I had done to be punished like this but I knew if I was good and did as I was told and never moved far from my room he would find me again... I put my lamp by my window so that he would know where I was... still waiting for him. My darling brother. And I knew he would take me home some day."

  Natasha stood slowly, she wiped the tears from her face. "Is that what you want to know?"

  Colby had no words.

  "Be honest Mr Linden, this is just another job for you, when I'm delivered like a package of meat, you will never think of me again."

  ...

  The Midnight Falcon continued ploughing its furrow across the sea ever closer, drawn by the capricious winds, to Dubrovnik an ancient city in southern Croatia flirting with the Adriatic Sea. The Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls and battlements completed in the 16th century was waiting with total indifference to the ketch's distant approach. Somewhere in the town was a man with a motorcycle and from the town a road that traced its way up to Trieste.