He added, ‘A little.’ He had the kind of American accent that foreigners pick up from Friends.
‘You know I’m here to help, don’t you? I’m trying to get the three of them back, nothing more.’
I got a sort of nod from the boy. He sat back on the bed, but he was about as relaxed as a high-tensile wire.
Rudy looked as though he’d be a serious candidate for the job of Cap’n Birdseye in a few years’ time. Right now, though, the smile beneath his closely cropped beard was so rigid I thought his face might crack.
‘So what happened, Rudy?’
‘We were attacked by Somalis. It was so far from the African coast, I never thought—’ He was still on his feet. His eyes darted involuntarily in the direction of Mr Lover Man.
‘It’s OK, mate, you don’t have to stand for me. Go on.’
He sat down on the bed.
‘The Maria Feodorovna—’
‘The yacht?’
‘Yes.’
‘What sort is it? A motor yacht? Sailing?’
‘Motor yacht. Forty metres. We were cruising, and then from nowhere two skiffs were coming towards us from the port side.’
The rest of the crew sucked at their cigarettes and kept their eyes down. Either the carpet was really interesting or they didn’t want me to read their expressions.
‘They were travelling very fast — twin seventy-fives on the back. I knew they were pirates even before they attacked. Skiffs so far from the coast. They had to be.
‘We started to make speed and tried to change direction, make it harder for them to board. I shouted for Jez and—’
‘The bodyguard?’
Rudy’s eyes shot across to Mr Lover Man once more. No one else moved, but I knew they were even more uncomfortable at the mention of the BG’s name.
‘Yes, yes. He came up on deck, and he looked, but then he went down below with Stefan and Madame.’
‘Where did he take them? Was there some kind of panic room? Was he armed — did the yacht have any weapons?’
He shook his head. ‘They went into the main cabin. He told me to make more speed. I was trying, but we could not outrun them. They fired a rocket across our bows. Then they aimed the rocket launcher straight at the bridge. I had no choice. I had to come off the power. The other skiff was closing behind. They had grappling hooks.’
I raised a hand. ‘But did you have weapons? Did the BG take them on?’
The boy jumped in: ‘If we had, I would have killed them all.’
Rudy glared at him to stand down. ‘They climbed on the back, maybe five, six, I don’t really know. All with rifles and big knives. I tried to make a mayday call but they must have jammed the radio.’
He sounded close to tears. ‘They got everyone on the bridge. We were on our knees. There was a lot of shouting. They were kicking us, pointing their rifles into the back of our heads. They were high, chewing that drug they like. I could hear Stefan crying behind me. Madame trying so hard to comfort him.’
The crew nodded when they heard the boy’s name. Their expressions seemed to soften.
‘He was scared … so scared.’
A lad with thick dark-brown hair mumbled to the skipper and pointed at me, cigarette in hand.
‘He wants to know that you will get Stefan back home safe.’
‘I’m going to try. But you need to tell me everything you know. Everything.’ I nodded at the questioner. ‘Tell him, of course. I’ll get all three of them back.’
Rudy translated. I caught ‘Stefan’ a couple of times.
I shifted position so I could keep Mr Lover Man in sight. He hadn’t spoken a word of English so far, but he clearly understood every word.
‘You all have watches. Are they new? Didn’t they take money, valuables?’
The boy answered: ‘No, they didn’t let us take anything with us, but also didn’t take anything from us. They didn’t care about us. It was Madame and Stefan they wanted.’
He was quivering with anxiety. He reached suddenly into a red nylon holdall, then had second thoughts and pushed it further under the bed with his heel.
Mr Lover Man said something in Russian. He wanted to know what the fuck was going on. Rudy seemed to be begging him to keep things nice and calm. He turned to me, hands clasped together like he was about to pray. ‘I’m sorry. He has had a terrible time …’
‘What happened next, Rudy?’
He took a deep breath as the boy sat back down. ‘We were all on the bridge, on the floor. They stood over us, shouting and chewing. And then they made me steer a new course west.
‘Maybe half an hour later, we saw their mother-ship, an old fishing trawler with another two skiffs tied up alongside it. They were hundreds of kilometres from home.’ There was a note of profound sadness in his voice. ‘They took us off the Maria Feodorovna. They placed us in the tender and just left us. They took my ship.’ He finally broke down. ‘They took Stefan and his mother …’
The young one sparked up. ‘And Jez …’
The captain shot the boy a warning glance.
‘But, Papa …’
I looked at him. ‘What about the bodyguard? Did he do something? Did he say something?’
His father answered for him: ‘He stayed with Stefan and Madame. Trying to protect them. Please. I’ve spoken to my crew. They know nothing more than I have told you. I wish we knew more, but it was so quick. They came, they took. And then they left us. We never saw the three of them again. I do not even know if they had a plan.’
Of course they had a plan. This was business. There were even established pay differentials for the pirate crew members. The first guy to board a ship got paid more than anyone else. He usually picked up a couple of thousand dollars extra once the ransom money came in. Relative risk and reward, just like any other line of work.
‘I need to know anything at all that anyone can remember, no matter how insignificant. It may help me find them.’ I fixed on the captain. ‘Can you tell them that?’
Mr Lover Man had had enough. He packed away his mobile and got out of his seat. ‘We are done here.’
His English was just as it should have been. Deep and growly.
‘That is all they know. That is all you need to know to make a plan and rescue them. Come.’
As he headed out of the room, the crew looked up at me with a mixture of embarrassment, fear and relief.
I glanced at the door handle and the electronic lock. It looked like the Russian equivalent of a VingCard Classic, the magnetic card reader used in most European and American hotels. If so, the locksets would be high security, with a full one-inch steel deadbolt and three-quarter-inch anti-pick latch for added strength. The electronics worked off standard AA batteries. Their flash memory allowed the lock to be accessed and reprogrammed directly at the hotel-room door.
I followed my escort to the lift. ‘Are you giving me a ride back to my flat? The Metro’s a fucking nightmare around here.’
Mr Lover Man had been with Mr T too long. He didn’t give it a nanosecond’s thought. ‘No.’
We headed down. At the main door, I zipped my parka up to my chin and adjusted the hood to hide my face from the cold. Then Mr Lover Man and I stepped outside. He took a pace or two towards the Range Rover, then spun on his heel.
‘Go now and bring back Stefan.’
The Audi was still two-up. The engine stopped as soon as I turned towards the Metro. A guy in a dark overcoat and beanie stepped out of the car and his mate, in sheepskin, followed suit. Mr T had obviously tuned into Comedy Central. These boys were the spitting image of Ant and Dec. Dec hit the key fob to lock up.