by Oliver Tidy
Over Wallace’s shoulder, Acer caught sight of Niki looking at them with an unfriendly expression stamped on her features. Before he could catch her eye she turned and walked away.
There were other seamen on deck as well as the three passengers. They shook Acer’s hand, fired questions at him and congratulated him on his success, leaving him feeling something of a reluctant hero.
They soon drifted away, back to their posts or back to their drinks and the view of Port Said and their excited conversations. Dominique mouthed a thank you across the few feet of deck separating them before carrying Zoe off to their cabin.
‘Did you see what the bastards did?’ said Acer.
Wallace said, ‘Yes. No use reporting them. We’d only buy ourselves some attention and a delay. Best to appreciate the way things turned out and get away from here as quickly as possible. What happened on shore, Acer?’
Acer felt the previous thirty-six hours settle on him as his adrenalin ebbed, leaving him exhausted. ‘Could it wait until tomorrow? I’m knackered. I haven’t slept since before I left the boat yesterday morning. I just want to get out of these wet clothes, have a shower and collapse into bed.’
Wallace made a face of apology. ‘Of course. Do that. I’ll see you in the morning. Well done, again.’ Wallace clapped him on the shoulder and watched him pick his way across the deck in search of his well-deserved creature comforts.
Dominique was in the living area of their shared cabin when he let himself in. She was sitting in one of the two armchairs with Zoe in her lap. The mother was cradling her daughter and still crying. They both looked up. Acer gave them the best smile he could manage.
‘Zoe’s fine, Dominique. No one hurt her. We had an adventure, didn’t we?’
Zoe nodded and kept her eyes on him.
‘I’ll never be able to thank you enough,’ said Dominique. ‘I thought I’d lost her. I never thought I’d see her again.’ Her tears, a mixture of anguish and joy, ran freely down her cheeks.
‘Zoe’s tough. I couldn’t have done it without her. She was brilliant.’
Acer stood dripping onto the carpet and wondering why Zoe had not spoken to her mother. He wanted her to. He wanted something good to have come out of this for them. He caught the girl’s deep, unblinking stare. Perhaps it was because of his exhaustion but he seemed to feel her communicating with him. She was telling him to keep their secret.
Dominique saw the state of him and it was as though she was seeing something for the first time. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You’re obviously exhausted and soaked. You need to clean up and rest.’ She put Zoe down and stood up wiping at her face. ‘Can I get you anything? Food? Drink?’
‘I’m fine. Thank you. I just want to shower and fall into bed.’
Dominique used their shared bathroom quickly to clean up her daughter and then they retired to their room, leaving Acer alone. He took a long hot shower and then pleasure in dressing in clean clothes. The shower had woken him rather than helped relax him for sleep. And he had something on his mind that wouldn’t wait.
He let himself out into the corridor. He took a long moment to enjoy the cool evening air and his elevated view of Port Said’s skyline as it retreated into the distance and the descending night. He went along to Niki’s cabin and tapped on her door. She opened it and he could see in her eyes that she’d been expecting him.
‘Hi Niki. Can I come in?’
She moved aside and opened the door without replying. He went in. The space was small and orderly. Acer wondered how she spent her time during the voyage. He sat. She took the other chair and fixed him with an aggressive stare.
‘How are you?’ he said.
‘What do you want?’
‘I’ve just come to see how you’ve been. See how you’re doing.’
‘I have been fine. I am doing fine.’
‘Good. How was the Suez Canal?’
‘Is this really what you want to speak with me about?’
‘Aren’t you interested in where I’ve been, what happened?’
‘No. It is none of my business. I have my own concerns to occupy my thoughts.’
‘Of course. Hassan. You’ve heard nothing from him, I suppose?’
Her face turned from blank to questioning. ‘How could I have? You must be very tired to ask me such foolish questions. Why don’t you go to bed?’
He rubbed at his face and eyes. ‘Sorry. It was a stupid thing to say. You’re right; I am tired.’ He stood. ‘I’ll leave you alone. I just thought you might like some company. Sorry.’
She said nothing. She did not stand when he went to the door and let himself out.
He was suddenly tired. He went back to his cabin, changed and lay on the bed with his questions.
***
74
‘Hassan. He knows.’
‘Knows what?’
‘Something. About us. He suspects.’
‘Tell me’
‘He came to see me with questions. He asked if you had been in touch.’
‘What? And what did you tell him?’
‘That he must be tired to ask me such stupid things.’
‘And?’
‘I don’t know. He’s not sure. Did he see you?’
‘No. I don’t think so. So he is not certain?’
‘No. If he was he’d have done something. What shall I do?’
‘You must continue with what we agreed. Can you?’
‘Why would you even ask me that?’
‘Good. Everything is ready for you.’
‘I will call from London.’
***
75
He slept late. Dominique and Zoe had slipped out without disturbing him. He didn’t know if they’d been deliberately quiet or whether it hadn’t mattered how much noise they’d made because he was so unconscious. He found them on deck together, holding hands and admiring the view of a wide open sea with the sun on it. He joined them at the handrail and savoured the rush of warm salt air that flowed over him. The sun was high enough to indicate he’d missed breakfast.
Dominique looked to have lost some of her lines and some of her years. She seemed more like the woman of early middle age that she was rather than the older woman she had looked recently. And Acer soon found out why.
‘Good morning,’ said Zoe. ‘How are you?’
Before answering, Acer glanced up and caught Dominique’s teary-eyed approval. Bending down to Zoe’s level he said, ‘I feel great, thank you. How about you?’
‘I feel fine.’ She smiled at him.
‘Zoe’s talking,’ said Dominique, quite unnecessarily.
‘So I hear. Have I missed breakfast?’ he said, talking to the girl.
She nodded. ‘Probably they can make you something. They are kind like that. They made something special for mummy and me.’
‘Yes, they are. I’ll go and see.’
He left them to their new conversations and went in search of coffee and, if he was lucky, a bacon sandwich.
***
76
Captain Wallace welcomed him into his room. He offered him a seat and a scotch and although it wasn’t even lunchtime Acer accepted both.
‘It’s good to see you, again,’ said Wallace, and Acer felt he knew enough about the man to know the remark was heartfelt.
He raised his glass by way of a thank you and said, ‘Believe me, it’s good to see you and Arcadia, too.’ He sipped his tipple and it felt good on his tongue.
‘I’d like to know what happened, Acer. It’s your business. I won’t be offended if you’d rather not say or you feel you can’t. But I hope you know that whatever we say to each other in this cabin stays in this cabin.’
‘Thank you. And I want to thank you properly for yesterday. Don’t think I don’t appreciate the risks you’re taking as captain of this vessel to help us.’
‘I feel a personal responsibility for that wee lassie being taken off of my ship.’
‘It wasn’t your fault. None
of us suspected that could happen. If anyone’s to blame it’s me. It’s my job to make sure they get home, safe and sound.’
‘Who were they?’
‘I never got to ask them, but I suspect they were hired by members of VEVAK to get on board and snatch the girl.’
‘To what end?’
‘To shut the mother up, for a start. I followed them to an address in the city, got the girl back before their employers turned up. We only just got away. The rest you know.’
Wallace drained his glass. ‘You’re a resourceful fellow, Acer.’
‘My boss thinks I’m just lucky.’
‘We all need a bit of luck sometimes, but it’s more than that.’
Acer shrugged and changed the subject. ‘I’m sorry I missed the Suez Canal. I was looking forward to it.’
‘Next time you’re in this part of the world with time on your hands, get in touch. You’d be my guest.’
‘Thanks. I might take you up on that. How long ‘til we get to Corfu?’
Wallace thought briefly, ‘We should arrive early morning two days from now.’
‘Good. If you need me, you’ll find me taking it easy on deck. I’ve got a stack of crime novels to finish and sunbathing to catch up on.’
They shook hands again and Acer went out into the glare of the day with the sweet taste of whisky still on his tongue.
***
77
Acer filled much of his remaining time on Arcadia relaxing in the sun with reads and cold drinks. Zoe became more talkative and more sociable. Her appetite for food and interest in the things around her seemed to grow the more of the Mediterranean they put between themselves and the Middle East.
Dominique mirrored the change in her daughter’s health and well-being. A smile was never far from her features as she watched and listened to her daughter’s obvious and rapid recovery.
She did not ask him what had happened ashore in Egypt. Perhaps, he thought, Zoe had told her. Perhaps she had enough horrors to plague her nights without adding to them. He felt that, unlike her daughter’s, Dominique’s improved state of mind would be a fragile thing and wholly dependent on Zoe maintaining her improvement.
Niki ventured out on deck infrequently – early mornings and late evenings mostly. And when she did she did not encourage the company of others. Those who knew something of her situation took her introverted, unfriendly behaviour as a sign of inner torment – a reaction to the loss of her brother, her homeland, and her uncertainty about her future. Those that didn’t, like the men who had been rebuffed from seeking out her company when she had been new aboard, gave her the space and solitude she obviously preferred, privately labelling her an anti-social misery guts.
Acer continued to wrestle with the idea that he’d seen Hassan on the street in Suez. Foremost in his thinking was whether he could have been mistaken. And the more distant the snatched image became the less he trusted it. He wondered if it had simply been his imagination playing tricks on him. When he considered the possibility that it had been Hassan he could not then go on to make sense of anything that had gone before. And if it had been Hassan then Niki would have to be part of the deception, but again there was nothing in anything she had done to suggest she was complicit in such a fabrication. Because of his uncertainty he could do nothing but wait and watch and prepare.
On their last evening together Captain Wallace arranged something special. He asked that everyone make an effort with their clothing and that his officers dressed in their best outfits for dinner. The dining room was transformed during the afternoon, with any sort of decoration the crew could lay their hands on, into something more fitting for hosting a special occasion.
The food on the voyage had always been good. However, the menu for their last supper was something to marvel at when one considered the chef had only the supplies on board the ship to work with. The tables were arranged in a horseshoe instead of their usual island formation. The best wine that could be found was served. A music system was employed to provide an orchestral soundtrack for the feast.
Everyone who would normally attend the evening meal, except Niki, was present. Such was her reputation on board that few of those who noticed commented on her absence.
At the end of the meal Captain Wallace tapped his glass with his knife, stood and asked for a bit of quiet. He made a short but moving speech in which he celebrated the ship’s good fortune at having such wonderful female company on board, to which Dominique blushed and Zoe smiled. They would, he said, be greatly missed and welcomed back anytime. He then looked in Acer’s direction and left no one in any doubt that if it hadn’t been for his bravery and actions during the pirate attack then it would be likely none of them would be eating such wonderful food and enjoying such wonderful wine in such good company. That got him a decent round of applause.
The evening finished with hard liquor and cigars for the men and bed and story time for the ladies.
***
78
Acer was up at dawn the following day. He was eager to see the Greek island rise up out of the sea as they approached. He collected a coffee from the lounge and clunked his way up the steel stairs to the viewing deck. It was a beautifully clear morning. There was not a cloud in the sky, which was tinged with the sunburnt orange of the rising sun. The sea was like a rippling sheet of silk and the air was fresh, pure and intoxicating. He was surprised to find Niki at the rail gazing out over the Mediterranean with a blanket around her shoulders.
Since his return to Arcadia it seemed she had become more withdrawn, more dejected. She spent no time with the others from her group and she never joined them for meals, preferring to collect only meagre rations and take them back to her room. Acer had seen from the looks some of the others gave each other when she was around that she had gained an unenviable reputation for herself through her sullen, taciturn ways. If she understood this it clearly didn’t bother her.
Despite her behaviour and his confusion, Acer felt a personal loyalty to her. They would not be where they were if it had not been for her. If she had not pulled the trigger on the pirate who had Acer at his mercy it would be likely that Acer would not be alive. He owed her his life. And Acer had come to value those sorts of debts and the people he owed them to regardless of how they behaved towards him.
Once again, he tried some civility: ‘It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it?’
She turned to look at him for a couple of seconds before turning back to the view. ‘Why do you do it?’ she said.
‘Do what?’
‘Continue to try to be nice. Are you stupid? Or are you just thick-skinned? Or is it your Britishness?’
Despite her rudeness, his good spirits would not allow him to be offended so easily. ‘Why do I continue to make an effort with you, Niki? If it were not for you and Hassan we wouldn’t be here. If you had not shot that pirate, I wouldn’t be here. These are the reasons I continue to be nice to you.’
‘So it is because you feel obliged to me?’
Struggling to contain his exasperation, he said, ‘No. It’s not that simple. Yes, I owe you. But it’s more than that. Why are you so anti-everything and everyone?’
‘You wouldn’t understand.’
‘Try me?’
She turned to meet his stare again. The wind played her hair across her face. Her clear brown eyes stared deeply into Acer’s and he found himself wondering what she was trying to say to him. Her eyes welled up with tears and Acer felt a great sadness pierce him for this lonely, vulnerable young woman. He was about to reach out to touch her when she said, ‘No.’ She turned away from him and he watched her head back to her room, trailing her unhappiness and grief behind her.
He breathed in and out heavily, turned his gaze back to the sea and his thoughts back to something that had been niggling away at him since Suez.
***
79
The lack of available berths in Corfu’s port obliged the man from the British Consulate to take a small boat o
ut to deal with them. Captain Wallace offered the privacy of his cabin for Acer and the man in the good suit to discuss their business.
The suit introduced himself as Roberts and that might have been his real name. But Acer doubted it. He hadn’t met many spooks and other than Crouch, his temporary boss, and Havers from Turkey those he had met had not endeared themselves to him. Some of them had even tried to kill him. Acer’s first impression was that Roberts was cast from the same mould as those arrogant few from the service who’d strayed into his orbit in England.
Roberts did not ooze friendliness. His handshake was necessary rather than warm. His smile was business not pleasure. His aura was one of suspicion not trust. Which was all unfortunate, because Acer needed someone he could trust, someone to confide in, someone to bounce his ideas off and to be taken seriously.
It occurred to Acer as his visitor helped himself to coffee and sugar that if Roberts were a spook then the chances were he’d know all about Acer’s recent brush with his service. The intelligence services probably had a grapevine just like everywhere else, although Acer fancied they’d whisper their gossip in code. Probably Roberts would also know that Acer had disposed of some of his colleagues. Maybe they had been acquaintances, friends even. Maybe all the rotten wood had not yet been cut out of that particular department and those of the old ways and the old days harboured resentment for those who had introduced the hatchet and drawn blood.
Acer found his thoughts unhelpful and mildly depressing. He tried to be more positive. If Crouch had sent this man then Crouch must value him.
Roberts removed his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair. He wore no weapon. He loosened his tie a notch and said, ‘Right. Where were we?’
‘Stuck in Corfu with no papers, no money and no winning tickets. Are you local? What do you know about us and our situation? And while we’re about it, do you mind showing me some identification?’
