Safe Haven (Book 6): Is This The End of Everything?

by Artinian, Christopher

  He was about to close the drawer again when he saw his Bible. Not the one he used on stage, not the one he had carefully put together by a props team for his live telecasts in years gone by, but his Bible, the one he had owned as a child, the one his father had given him. He took it out of the drawer and placed it down on the desk. How many times had he found sanctuary in it as a boy and young man?

  He flicked through the pages until they fell open at one of his favourite passages. Noah took another drink before beginning to read out loud. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” He sat back in his chair. “What are you doing, Noah? What have you become?”

  There was a knock on the door. “Sir, is everything okay?” Doug asked, popping his head around the corner.

  “Everything’s fine.”

  “It’s just I thought I heard you talking.”

  “Just reading out loud from the good book. Sometimes when you hear the words, it gives them a new perspective.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sorry to have interrupted. I’m right outside if you need me, Mr Jackson.” Doug closed the door behind him.

  Noah flicked through the pages again, and this time the book fell open at Revelations. “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolators, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” He closed the book and sat back once more. Virtually everyone on board this ship was guilty of one if not all of those things, himself included.

  His heart sank further as he thought about all he had done, all he had sanctioned. Why had he allowed Angel and Troy to create that damned fleet of ships? He had bowed to the pressure of Madison and men like him. He knew the supplies were dwindling, he knew the ship was dying, slowly, but why did that make it acceptable to steal and plunder? Love thy neighbour, not murder thy neighbour.

  A single tear ran down Noah’s cheek as he continued to look at the Bible. He had forsaken his Lord, his faith, everything. He had been lured by a demon from his father’s shoe shop, a modern-day Dr Faustus selling his soul to the devil for wealth and bodily pleasure. Yes, he deserved to be on this ship with these people. This was Hell, and none of them deserved to escape.

  He reached out, placed his palm face down on the tatty bottle-green cover, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Lord.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Barnes was virtually catatonic on the return trip to Safe Haven. Hughes and Mike had taken him down to one of the cabins. They had tried to talk to him, to find out what had happened, but he just lay still, staring towards the ceiling; eventually, the pair of them headed above deck.

  “What else did he say to you?”

  “I’ve told you. He said that Beth and Annie are dead. I couldn’t really get any more out of him.”

  “You think suicide?”

  Mike looked out across the blue waves. “Beth’s been through more than most. She’s always been tough, but when I found her the other night… It was like a different person. Grief can do strange things.”

  “Jesus. Barney was devoted to her.”

  “I know. We’re going to have to keep a close eye on him too.”

  A nervous smile appeared on Hughes’s face. “What, Barney? Barney wouldn’t kill himself.”

  “Until today, I’d have said the same about Beth.”

  “Shit!”

  “I know.”

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” April said, coming up behind them with two mugs of tea. They both accepted them gratefully. “It’s a terrible thing. Loss can break the strongest souls.”

  Neither of them was in the mood to exchange platitudes or discuss their friend with a virtual stranger. “Thank you for the tea, it’s very kind,” Mike said.

  April looked at them both for a moment then rolled her sleeves up and showed them her wrists. The two thick scars were old but prominent. “When my husband died, I couldn’t see the point in going on. I couldn’t see what was left for me. A friend found me in the bathtub, got an ambulance, saved me, even though I didn’t want saving. She stayed with me through those dark months. It wasn’t easy.” She rolled her sleeves back down. “Like I said, it can break the strongest souls.” She smiled weakly and disappeared below deck once more.

  “When we get back, we’ll get Lucy to take a look at him,” Mike said. Hughes nodded and started walking away. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to be outside Barney’s room if you need me.”

  chapter 14

  It was still an hour before daybreak when Troy visited the cove just around the corner from the dock. The good folks of Safe Haven had been spending all their time and resources looking for ways to bolster their sea defences while still taking in refugees. He, Angel and the others they had arrived with had settled in without an eyebrow being raised. The good thing about having an international force of mercenaries was there were more than enough British volunteers for the mission. Eight or nine Americans all coming in at different times would have looked suspicious. But one South African, one American man and wife, and seven Brit refugees went unnoticed.

  He had sent out signals from this cove each night. Even though he did not get any back in return, he knew they were being received. Jacobs had never let him down. He looked at his watch. “Any minute now,” he muttered to himself.

  Then he saw them, like seal heads bobbing out of the water, ten frogmen and women. They emerged from the sea, immediately removing one of their oxygen tanks, followed by their masks, then headed straight towards him. “Good to see you, sir,” the leader said.

  Even though this was not strictly a military concern, and these people were no longer soldiers, most still addressed Troy as sir, and he referred to them as his army.

  “Good to see you, Ashton. Is everything in place?”

  Ashton removed what appeared to be a backup oxygen cylinder but was, in fact, a plastic storage container. He opened it up, and Troy saw a pistol, magazines, and knives, but it was the two radios his eyes focused on. Ashton handed him one of the handsets along with an extra battery. “The teams are in position at the two checkpoints as you asked, sir. They’ve been there since last night, and they’re ready to move on your orders.”

  “Excellent. And everything on board The Ark?”

  “All systems go, sir.”

  Troy smiled. “Okay. Make yourselves scarce and listen for my signal. I’ll see you boys and girls later.” He began to head back to the campground where Angel was still fast asleep under the covers, but then he stopped and looked back.

  None of his soldiers were looking towards him. They had each removed the second dummy oxygen tank from their backs and were sliding out of their suits. He knew he didn’t have to worry, these were his people, professionals; they would do what he asked. Soon Safe Haven would be his. He allowed himself a smile then carried on.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  When Noah woke up, it was as though a sixth sense was telling him something was wrong. Angel had been gone for several days, and that was nothing unexpected or worrying, quite honestly, he was grateful for the peace. But there was something … something he could not quite put his finger on. He climbed out of bed and walked across to the windows where he flung the heavy velvet curtains back.

  His mouth fell open in shock. Normally he would see a vast array of tall ships, tugs, fishing boats and other vessels that went to make up Troy’s pirate fleet. This morning there was nothing … nothing but open sea. “Sweet Jesus,” he said, running across to his neatly folded clothes and flinging them on. He looked at his watch to see it was only six a.m. Most people would not even begin to stir for some time yet, if nothing else he could confirm his worst fears before being assaulted by a barrage of questions from panicked and angry billionaires.

  He bolted out of h
is suite to the one next door, knocked three times and waited. Doug and Viktor had originally been housed in the lower quarters with the rest of the bodyguards, personal assistants and ship’s crew. When Noah’s neighbour, Andrew Markham, chairman of Markham Industries had found out his wife was having an affair with a common porter, he had gone mad. He had killed her, the porter, his children and himself, thus conveniently freeing up the accommodation next door for Doug and Viktor. There had been protestations about two bodyguards getting a suite when other employees lived on the lower levels, but it wasn’t as if The Ark was taking on any new passengers, so eventually things died down.

  “Mr Jackson?” Doug said, opening the door in his robe. “Is everything okay, sir?”

  “No. No, it isn’t, Doug. I think we’re knee-deep in shit.”

  Within two minutes, Doug and Viktor had dressed and were following Noah down through the ship to the pantry. It was called a pantry, but ultimately it was a food warehouse taking up hundreds of square metres. The extra two decks that had been used to store food when The Ark first set sail were emptied long ago, and now every last morsel was stored here. For some time, the stock levels had been getting lower and lower. They had been replenished to an extent by Troy’s fleet, but as the three of them walked past row after row of empty racking, they began to realise just how little time there was left.

  They rounded a corner and suddenly heard raised voices. The conversation was in Spanish, so Noah could not understand it, but he could hear and feel the panic in the air.

  “Señor Jackson,” gasped one of the senior chefs as Noah and his two bodyguards walked around the corner.

  “Thiago, what in tarnation’s going on here?”

  “Sir, I came down here just now and found this.” He gestured around to the empty shelves. It’s nearly all gone. There is a little food on a couple of the higher shelves. There is fish in the freezer, we have some food left in the galleys, but all our staples they have been taken.” Thiago’s eyes were wide and terrified.

  Noah stared at him for a moment then looked around at the empty racking. “How long?”

  “How long for what, Señor Jackson?”

  “How long before we’re out of food completely?”

  “I … I don’t know, sir.”

  Noah took a breath. “Okay, Thiago, this is what you’re going to do. Go wake our inventory officer up. I want a full stocktake of every strand of spaghetti, every baked bean we’ve got left. We don’t even think about serving breakfast until we know what we’re dealing with here.”

  “Yes, Señor Jackson,” he said, turning to his colleague and almost running out of the warehouse.

  Noah turned to look at Doug and Viktor. “Well now, I knew Angel was a lot of things, but even I never saw this one coming.”

  “I’m sorry, sir,” Doug replied.

  “What in hell are you sorry for? I’m the dumb son of a bitch who married her. Look, this is what I need you to do, go get the armoury keys, make sure they didn’t get to that. Then meet me back up in my office. When news of this breaks, I’m going to have a lot of pissed-off people banging on my door.”

  “Yes, Mr Jackson,” Doug replied, and both men left.

  Noah remained there for a few more moments with his hands on his hips looking around in dismay. “God damn you, Angel.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  The final tidying away was still being done as the council members assembled in the village hall. They had been having regular chats in smaller groups, but now all eight of them had come together with the addition of one extra speaker to discuss how the preparations for the enhanced defences were going, what still needed to be done and what further resources were required.

  “I’ve told you before, I prefer being in the background,” George said to Jules quietly as the others took their places around the pushed together rectangle of tables.

  “Ah, stop moaning, you old windbag,” Jules replied. “Shaw only wants you to give everyone a quick update then you’ll be on your way.”

  Mary Stolt and one of her helpers brought out trays with pots of tea and coffee on them and placed them in the centre of the island of tables. “Like a proper boardroom this,” George said with half a smile as he took his place.

  “Well, don’t get used to it. The only reason you’re getting drinks is that we’ve just finished breakfast and we still had hot water,” Mary replied.

  “Thanks, Mary. We appreciate it,” Shaw said.

  “Well, if you don’t want anything else, me and my girls will be away.”

  “No, this is great. Thanks again,” Shaw replied.

  The council members continued to make small talk until the kitchen staff left. “I don’t know what it is about that woman, but she scares the living daylights out of me, and I’ve done two tours in Afghanistan,” Hughes said, causing a ripple of laughter to run around the room.

  “Ah, Mary’s alright,” Jules replied. “You’ve just got to know how to handle her.”

  “And how’s that?” Hughes asked.

  “I’ll let you know when I find out.”

  “Okay, well, first things first, thank you all for coming,” Shaw said. “I wanted to get an update from George as to how everything was progressing, so I thought it was appropriate to invite him; that way, if anybody has anything to ask him, they can question him directly.”

  “Question him?” Jules said. “It sounds like he’s taking the stand.”

  Shaw smiled. “Okay, ask him politely. How’s that?” He turned towards their guest. “Well, George, the floor is yours.”

  George sat there for a moment looking a little self-conscious before finally taking a sip of tea. “So, things are coming along well,” he began. “We’ve now got five mangonels fitted on board vessels up and down the coast. As you probably heard, the first of the trebuchets was tested yesterday, and everything went as we’d hoped.”

  “You’re being modest, George,” Hughes interrupted. “The bloody thing’s a marvel.” He looked around at the assembled faces. “It can really cover some distance. With a dozen of those up and down the coastline we’re never going to have to worry about an attack from the sea again.”

  “Well, that’s not really—”

  “Credit where credit’s due, George,” interrupted Shaw. “I was there too, remember? You’ve done incredible work.”

  “It wasn’t just me,” he said, looking at the faces around the tables then finally settling on Ruth. “Richard and David did just as much as I did. They helped draw up the plans, and they were with me for the building of the prototype.”

  “Well, if they were here, we’d thank them too, but just take some praise where it’s due, old man,” Jules said, placing a friendly hand on his arm.

  George smiled, more than a little embarrassed, but then continued. “Well, anyway, the tests were successful, and we started work straight away on building the next one. In the interim, the other team has been working on the giant crossbow, and we’re hoping to have the first of those ready this afternoon for a test.”

  “Wow!” Lucy said. “You really don’t mess about, do you?”

  “I’m working with good people.”

  “Obviously, what you’re doing is of the utmost importance, and all our resources are available to you. Is there anything you need that will speed this process up or make things easier for you and your teams?” Shaw asked.

  George pondered the question for a moment. “Well, I was thinking about something, and it is just a thought, mind.” He turned to look at Emma and Lucy. “Up at your place there’s a kiln, isn’t there?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Emma replied. “Gran used to make earthenware.”

  “Well, I was wanting to do a little experiment.”

  “What kind of experiment, George?” Shaw asked.

  “Obviously, the trebuchets, fire boulders, stones, rocks, whatever we can fit in them. We can cover them in oil and set fire to them, but what if we could construct a kind of giant Molotov cocktail? Y’k
now, like a big hollow cannonball that we could fill with something flammable.”

  “For such a sweet old man, you’ve got a bit of a dark side,” Lucy said, and everyone around the table laughed.

  “Well, it was just a thought,” George said.

  “Whatever you need. You’d be welcome to come down and experiment whenever you want,” Emma replied.

  “That’s an interesting idea,” Shaw added. “But shouldn’t our priority be building these weapons first?”

  “Of course, but it was just something that I’d been pondering … a way to enhance their effectiveness.”

  “We really need to find you a nice lady to spend your evenings with. You’ve obviously got far too much time on your hands,” Jules said.

  “I’ve got a nice lady to spend my evenings with.”

  “Wren’s your granddaughter, that wasn’t the kind of lady I had in mind. Plus, I think she might be a bad influence on you.”

  George smiled. “Well, I can’t really argue with that.”

  “So, George, before we let you get back to work, do you have any kind of timescale in mind as to how soon we might have all this completed?” Shaw asked.

  George raised his eyebrows. “We’ve only just begun.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that. I just wanted an idea, not to put you under pressure.”

  “The siege crossbows are going to be faster to construct than the trebuchets. Once we’ve got the first one done, I was thinking about splitting the team into two and getting another couple of helpers and then having two production lines.”

  “Good ... excellent.”

  “The trebuchets, they’re a little different. The sheer size, scale and complexity mean that they’re a little slower to put together.”

  “Slower?” Jenny said. “You don’t seem to have been hanging around to me. You’ve got this done in an amazing time.”

  “Well, as I said, I have a good team. But anyway, we’ll probably be able to build two or more giant crossbows for each trebuchet. As successful as the test-firing was yesterday, there still needs to be a little bit of fine-tuning and—”