In the Bleak Midwinter

by Stan Mason

  ‘We’ll disappear into the fog!’ he shouted with a grim smile on his face as the seaspray veered out in an arc on the turn. He gave the engine full throttle and, with a warrior’s cry, headed in the direction of the other vessel, intending to slip past it quickly to hide in the mist. Sadly his lack of experience and skill at sea caused him to underestimate the angle, the capability of steering a small crafts in a heavy swell. Subsequently, he had no chance of getting away. The gap between the two vessels closed and it became obvious that a collision was about to take place. At the point of turning, everyone aboard the Mary Jay was hurled forward violently. Chaos reigned as the air was filled with screams and cries for assistance. The students on deck were tossed overboard and struggled vainly to survive in the choppy water. Those in the cabin, fell on top of each other, most of them lying inert either as a result of the weight of bodies on top of them or because they had been struck senseless. To add to their troubles, water began to pour into the cabin. Arms and legs flailed weakly to free themselves as panic broke out and the students began to fear for their lives. Anna held on to little Ivan grimly as she felt herself being forced downwards into the icy cold water. Then everything went black. The vessel scuttled and, after a moment of severe pain, when her lungs seemed to explode, there was a calm, pleasant floating sensation. She was dead and so was the baby... it was the end of everything!

  The Customs officers searched for the students in the water, using two powerful fog lamps to find them. They were surprised that there were so many people on board the Mary Jay. To their credit, they mounted a swift rescue operation determined to save as many lives as possible, hauling one person after another from the sea, and using an inflatable life-raft as a utility. In due course, they accounted for practically every one of them having hoisted them aboard to safety. Josef declared himself as the ringleader and related their mission to the officials.

  ‘There are three people missing and a child,’ he informed them sadly with sea water rolling down his face from his hair. ‘My sister, her child, my brother-in-law and a student called Polykoff.’

  ‘I saw the child,’ intruded one of the Customs officers, ‘but there was a mighty wave and it was gone.’

  ‘Oh, my God!’ blasphemed Josef bursting into tears.

  ‘An intensive search took place for about twenty minutes but no one else was found. The search did continue for a short while long but, by that time, all hope had faded.

  Anna came to, spluttering and choking, with the cold choppy water rolling across her face. An arm was fixed around her neck and she was being towed backwards. By instinct, she had fixed both arms tightly around little Ivan’s waist, keeping his head as high as possible so that it stayed above the water-line. In his innocence, the child gurgled with delight like an infant enjoying himself in the bath, completely unaware of the danger.

  ‘Don’t struggle,’ called out Peter to his wife, continuing to hold her firmly around the neck, as he swam fiercely to try to reach the Customs vessel. ‘We’re nearly there! Just relax and let me do the work!’

  A few moments later, he called out to the Customs officers and a powerful beam of light played on their faces. They touched the edge of the vessel and hands reached out to pull them to safety. Josef watched the rescue operation with tears of joy running down his cheeks. He hugged the drenched figures of his sister and brother-in-law and then walked away to weep in silence. There was no sign of Polykoff. His journey had irrevocably ended!

  The next morning an enquiry took place in the schoolhouse at St. Just. The authorities were interested in learning the facts regarding the incident. It was an unusual case and charges would be brought in connection with the Mary Jay. Thereafter, the fate of the Russians was to be decided by a committee hastily set up in Cornwall. Josef wanted to explain the story to the Enquiry Board but he left it up to Anna to relate how they were being treated like slaves... and especially how the Government had failed to deal with their asylum. The Board listened with interest recognising that the matter was far beyond their jurisdiction. Ultimately, the Russians were dismissed from the schoolhouse and told to report to the Botallack mine on the following day for work as usual. There would be no change in their routine until word was sent from the capital, and no one knew how long that would take.

  That afternoon, a large wooden plaque carved by one of the students, was set in the corner of the cemetery at St. Just. It said simply: ‘Alex Polykoff... student of destiny!’ and they all passed in front of it in silence in homage as a token of respect for a colleague who wanted to set a new course for their future and had given his life to achieve that aim.

  They all linked hands as Josef offered a prayer in which he included that Alex’s heroism would give value to the cause in the long-term. They left the churchyard more demoralised than ever before. Later on, Peter returned to the churchyard to look at the plaque again but it had been defiled having a piece of cardboard pinned to the front. The message read: ‘Russian bastards! Only sixteen of them left!’

  It was the same the world over. When one was down in spirit, feeling utterly miserable, there was always someone ready to kick you so that you hurt even more. He thought of Alex’s body floating out somewhere in the Atlantic Oceans Only sixteen left to go! Maybe that would be the way it would end for them all!

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was a brilliant morning The sun shone brightly against a backcloth of a clear blue sky with only a few tiny puffs of cloud floating like pieces of cotton-wool close to the horizon. James climbed into his car and sat behind the steering wheel, lighting a cigarette. The atmosphere inside the vehicle became heavily polluted after a while but the mining consultant declined to open the window. He stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray and started the motor. The diary indicated that he had a free day ahead which was not uncommon in his line of business. There was a new Italian restaurant that had just opened in the High Street that he dearly wished to visit and Teddy’s birthday was looming ahead. He wanted to buy her something expensive to please her which meant attending some jewellery shops for the purchase. He had suffered a disturbed night, dreaming about incidents which had happened in his life and he woke thinking about Botallack mine. If something were to happened to him, the shares would lie in limbo with no one inheriting them. Teddy was his ex-wife so she wouldn’t be entitled to them, so what should he do about them. He visited his solicitor directly and asked to make a new Will so that if he departed from this life, his affairs would be settled. After that, with peace in mind, he set off towards Botallack but then changed his mind and turned back. He decided to stay in Plymouth that day and spend his time there doing anything he wanted to do. Life was pretty good! Even so, when the crash came, blame could hardly be attributed to the mining consultant Anyone wishing to join a main road has to give way to traffic moving from the right. Only a broken white line separates them from the main stream of vehicles. However, impatient drivers often move on to the main road irrespective of good behaviour to endanger other people and vehicles who are acting correctly. On this occasion, a car emerged at speed from a side road without due care and James had no option but to take swift action. He swerved hard to the right but before he had a chance to look in his mirror, a car in the right-hand lane smashed into the rear of his vehicle. Although the impact was relatively light, it was sufficient to send his car to the distant side of the road, directly in the path of a large lorry coming from the other direction. Only the most fortunate of drivers could ever hope to escape a crash of that magnitude and stay alive. Four people perished in the collision, one of whom was the mining consultant. Who knew what the future would bring? On the day when he felt on top of the world, he became another fatal road accident statistic!

  ***

  Sadler sat at the desk in his office at the bank with his hands folded in front of him as if in prayer., The sale of the mine had been completed and the price had been paid. The evil deed had been done and
there was no means by which the action could be reversed. He was extremely disappointed that Clement Lancaster had declined to help with the funding because it had left him with no alternative but to steal the money from the dormant accounts deposited at the bank. From the start, however, he recognised that it would be the only way to proceed in the end. When push came to shove, his ambition to hunt for a fortune wa sufficient to overcome his conscience and any pangs of guilt. It took him less than half-a-hour to decide which accounts would be robbed. He then created an account with a false name and transferred all the sums he had taken into it. Thereafter, he needed only to issue one cheque to Hunkin for the purchase of the mine. The next problem was to find a way to replace the monies before the bank inspectors discovered the theft. The fly in the ointment was the switch by Morris who had introduced the banker to the mine. He had decided to make a quick profit and sold his fifty per cent share in the mine to James which included Tucker’s ten per cent share as he also decided to sell out. Without hesitation, the mining consultant approached the bank to make good on the principle provided previously which left Sadler between a rock and a hard place. At least the bank itself had paid for half the mine, taking James’s properties as collateral but the banker had lent James the money on a false application. He had no option of he was going to complete the deal. With his heart in his mouth, Head Office approved the loan to James but Sadler failed to disclose the fact that he owned the other fifty per cent of the shares. The end result was that the bank had been double-crossed twice on the same project.

  On a more optimistic note, the mine was being cleared by the Russian students in preparation for the deposit of nuclear waste. Baker had conferred with James and together they signed the contract with the Government for it to take place. There was also the chance that minerals could be mined and sold to add to the profit and there were a number of miners employed to undertake the task. It was definitely on the cards that Sadler would be able to resign from the bank in a short while. If he did, without repaying the money he had stolen from the dormant accounts there was a possibility that he could avoid being involved and arrested. After all he had closed the account with the false name whereby he had issued the cheque to Hunkin. By resigning from his post at the bank he might well get away with it. At that moment, there was a light knock on the door and Phyllis Roberts entered with a sweet smile on her face. She closed the door behind her and sat in the chair facing him with her pad in the air and a pencil poised in the air.

  ‘I’m not ready to dictate yet,’ he informed her a little surprised at her presence.

  She lowered the pencil and scanned his face. ‘Perhaps we can talk privately then. I mean we spoke about an alliance. Who knows where it will lead. Have you give it any more thought?’

  His heart sank like a lead balloon. ‘No I haven’t. As you know, I’ve had a number of problems... ‘

  ‘With the mine?’ she pried cannily.

  ‘It has nothing to do with the mine,’ he lied.

  ‘We ought to set a date, you know,’ she persisted.

  ‘A date for what? He squired uncomfortably in his chair wishing to terminate the conversation as quickly as possibly. ‘Aren’t you rushing your fences a bit, Miss Roberts?’

  ‘Phyllis!’

  ‘We need to discuss the matter outside banking hours,’ he chided.

  She bridled at the remark. ‘Matter!’ she snapped. ‘Do you consider our future life together as a matter? Like something to keep on file. It’s all very well for you to stay with me at my flat at weekends but when it’s something I want, it’s a ‘matter’!’

  ‘Just a moment, Miss Roberts!’ he reacted angrily, controlling his voice to a lower decibel level so that no one nearby could hear their conversation. ‘You’re the one who’s forcing me to go to your apartment. I don’t want to go.’

  She brought the pencil down on the pad heavily causing the point to snap. ‘So that’s how it is with you! You’re say now that you don’t want to marry me!’

  He paused to allow the thought to pass through his mind. ‘Who wants to marry you?’ he retorted. ‘I don’t even like you! There... I’ve said it.’

  ‘If you let me down, I’ll make you pay for it,’ she warned menacingly.

  ‘When a woman challenged the Duke of Wellington, he said ‘Publish and be damned!’ The same goes for you, Phyllis!’

  ‘How stupid you can be! When a man’s a criminal, how can you trust him... especially when he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Or, in your case, a thief in bank manager’s clothing.’

  He looked at her wryly. ‘Such comments will get you nowhere,’ he countered.

  ‘But my note will, Mr. Sadler.’

  ‘Note? What note?’ He became alarmed but he kept his temper under control.

  ‘I know you better than you know yourself. You seem to resent anything I do. Well if you’re not my friend, you’re my enemy, and you’ll soon learn how I treat my enemies. I don’t take prisoners.’

  He stared at her perceptively. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘I left a note with a friend in Security Department saying that a bank manager in this branch has been stealing funds from dormant accounts. I told her to hold the note until I told her when to release it. You see, I had a suspicion that you would renege on marrying me. So it’s up to you how you want to play it!’

  ‘You’re bluffing!’ he countered with his heart in his mouth.

  ‘Why should I?’

  ‘Because you’d find yourself implicated, that’s why.’

  ‘I’m not connected in any way with your mine. When the bank inspectors look at the accounts, they’ll comment me for my alertness in uncovering a fraud.’ She stared at the clock on the wall. ‘I said I’d phone her within the next hour.’

  ‘You wouldn’t destroy our relationship however apart we are at present.’

  ‘What relationship? If you want to gamble with your career... your life... it’s your decision. I think you have more chance playing Russian roulette.’

  He sat thinking hard for a few moments and then pressed his lips together firmly. ‘Okay,’ he conceded under duress. ‘I’ll marry you.’

  ‘You’ll what?’ she asked teasingly.

  ‘I said I’ll marry you.

  She turned to go to the door. ‘If you mean it, I want you to come out into the main office with me and ask for my hand in front of the rest of the staff.’

  A wry smile crossed his lips. There came a moment in everyone’s life when a critical situation arose which relied on a bluff by another person. It created a moment of indecision yet it was one of paramount importance. Sadler was in two minds whether to brave the bluff or to give her an assurance that he would marry her by telling all the staff in the branch. If he did that, it would allow him more time to plan ahead and he could continue the pretence for many months. However there would come a time when he had to face reality. If she was bluffing now, and had no intention of reporting him to the bank inspectors, she certainly would if he reneged on his agreement to marry her. One way or the other, she would be on his back ostensibly for the rest of his life. It was the second time that he had been wrong on a major issue. When he had been a tycoon, operating a number of companies under a Holding Company, he had made a number of tactical errors and poor decisions which brought him to his downfall. He went with her into the outer office and she clapped her hands loudly to gain the attention of the others.

  ‘Mr. Sadler has an announcement to make,’ she informed them.

  The banker got down on one knee and faced his secretary with a sincere expression on his face. ‘I love you dearly, Phyllis Roberts and I’m asking you for your hand in marriage. Please say ‘Yes!’’

  She looked at him triumphantly and took his hand. ‘Of course I will,’ she responded and everyone in the room uttered sighs and applauded. ‘I can’t tell you how happy it
makes me feel that we’ll be together,’ she went on.

  He stood up and kissed his secretary on the cheek but she pulled his head towards her so that he could kiss her properly. They returned to his office and he sat in his chair smiling at her. ‘I didn’t have to do that, you know,’ he told her frankly. ‘I had a feeling that you’d turn on me one day. If that happened, the ceiling would fall in on me. So I took some preliminary precautions.’

  ‘What kind of precautions?’ The euphoria that she was enjoying began to drift slowly away.

  ‘I drew some money from each of the dormant accounts into a second account in your name. Then I drew a cheque forging your signature, on the new account and sent it to your mother, whom you haven’t spoken to for a long time. She cashed the cheque. I hope you haven’t sent that note to the Security Department or you’ll be facing a police sentence as well. The proof is there for all to see. Even your mother will testify against you.’

  Phyllis Roberts’s face turned extremely white. She had been hoist by her own petard. She shifted uneasily in her chair assessing the impact and realised that he had painted her into a corner.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?’

  ‘You never asked me,’ he retorted. ‘And now you’ve agreed to marry me, the bank inspectors will know that we’re in this together.

  She reached for the telephone quickly and dialled a number. ‘I want to speak with Deirdre please,’ she asked urgently. There was a pause. ‘How long ago did she leave?’ She replaced the receiver slowly as the conversation ended. ‘It’s too late!’ she bleated. ‘It’s too late!’

  Sadler grimaced believing that the matter was now in the hands of senior officials in the bank. He had played and lost again. It was one thing to ensure that Phyllis Roberts got her deserts but he had underestimated he actions. The sacrifice was going to be substantial. He would be suspended immediately but the bank was more interested in recovering the money than punishing delinquent employees. He had a plan in mind to rescue the situation and was confident that the bank would accept it. He would be asked to resign but no action would be taken against him. The fate of Phyllis Roberts was another matter altogether. For her there would be a loss of salary, a loss of status and transfer to a department which had no direct involvement with money. She would never be able to blackmail anyone in the bank again. Sadler would not only escape from having to marry her but she would be off his back permanently.