‘Werner’s dead,’ Sabrina repeated in exasperation.
‘So you’ve said, but I’ve got no reason to believe you.’
‘I’ve had enough of this crap,’ Graham interjected and pulled the Beretta from Sabrina’s belt before she could stop him. He held it inches from Flaherty’s unshaven face. ‘Give the order to change course for Dubrovnik.’
Flaherty swallowed nervously, silently cursing the apparent lethargy of his officers in responding to the emergency. ‘I don’t know who you are or what organization you represent but I can’t believe you’d actually hijack a grain ship bound for Africa. If you’ve got a grudge against Mr Werner why take it out on the thousands of starving people whose lives depend on this shipment reaching the relief camps in time?’
‘I said, give the order!’ Graham snarled.
The helmsman glanced at Flaherty. ‘What must I do, sir?’
‘Nothing,’ Flaherty replied defiantly.
The door leading on to the bridge burst open and two men entered, each toting a dated Thompson sub-machine-gun. Graham swivelled Flaherty around to face the sub-machine guns, the Beretta tucked into the folds of the captain’s sweaty neck.
‘Mike, wait!’ Sabrina said, then addressed Flaherty. ‘We’ll make a deal with you.’
‘I don’t think you’re in any position to make a deal.’
‘Perhaps not, but then neither are you. Here’s the deal. We release you unharmed if you give the order to drop anchor then contact the authorities personally and ask them to come on board.’
Flaherty chuckled. ‘You want me to contact the authorities?’
‘It would be to your advantage, unless you’ve got something to hide,’ she replied in a challenging tone.
‘I’ve got nothing to hide,’ Flaherty answered, then gave the order to stop engines.
It would take the Napoli another three miles to come to a halt.
‘Now to contact the authorities,’ Flaherty said, still amazed at the terms.
Suddenly there was the sound of feet pounding up the metal stairs leading to the bridge, then the door was wrenched open. The two armed officers swivelled round to face the intruder.
Milchan stood in the doorway, his flickering eyes taking in the scene before him.
‘He’s okay, he works for Mr Werner,’ Flaherty said, then gave Sabrina a sidelong glance. ‘You’re becoming heavily outnumbered in here.’
Milchan closed the door behind him then stood behind the two officers and banged their heads together. They both crumpled to the ground. He picked up the sub-machine-guns and extended them towards Sabrina as though in offering. She took them from him, half expecting it to be some kind of trap. No sooner had she taken them than he turned and balled his fist menacingly at Graham. He tapped his clenched fist, then his chin, and gave Graham a thumbs-up sign.
‘What’s he trying to say?’
‘That you’ve got a good punch,’ she replied.
Milchan nodded in agreement.
‘What happens now?’ Flaherty asked, his voice apprehensive.
‘You and I take a walk to the radio room to contact the proper authorities,’ Graham said behind him.
‘Mike?’ Sabrina said, holding out her hand. ‘Our fight isn’t with the captain.’
Graham scowled at her, then reluctantly handed back her Beretta.
Flaherty pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his sweating face. ‘Who are you?’
‘We’re not at liberty to tell you,’ Sabrina replied.
Graham gestured to the door. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
‘As the ship’s captain I have the right to know what’s going on.’
‘You really don’t know what’s in that crate, do you?’ Sabrina said.
‘Crate? What–’ he trailed off, and suddenly he looked frightened. ‘You mean the one the Sikorsky brought aboard last night?’
‘What did Stefan say it contained?’
‘Machine parts,’ Flaherty replied, then looked from Sabrina to Graham. ‘Mother of God, what does it contain? And don’t say you’re not at liberty to tell me.’
‘We don’t make the rules, Captain,’ she said apologetically. ‘But the sooner we contact the authorities the sooner we can have the crate removed.’
Flaherty crossed himself. ‘Of course. I’ll take you to the radio room.’ He paused at the door to glance back at Sabrina. ‘I take it you were telling the truth when you said Mr Werner was dead?’
‘His plane crashed half an hour ago. It’ll be in all the papers tomorrow.’
‘He was a good man,’ Flaherty said, then led Graham down the metal stairs.
Four crewmen appeared and carried the two unconscious officers from the bridge.
‘How did you get here?’ Sabrina asked Milchan.
He made undulating movements with his hand.
‘Boat?’
He nodded.
‘Why are you helping us?’
He bent both sets of fingers inwards and interlocked them.
She understood the sign language gesture. Friend. ‘But I thought Hendrique was your friend?’
He shrugged his massive shoulders then rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.
‘You stayed with Hendrique for the money?’ she said with a smile.
He pointed at her, then balled his fist, which she took to represent Graham, and placed his hand on the table. He then reached up his other hand and made a jerking movement, representing the flex being ripped from the light socket. He made the ‘friends’ gesture again with his hands.
She decided against telling him about the helicopter. He was probably closer to Hendrique than anyone else.
Graham and Flaherty returned.
‘How long before the boss gets here?’ she asked.
‘Five, ten minutes,’ Graham replied.
‘Five, ten minutes? I thought he was still in Prato.’
‘So did I, but it seems he arrived in Dubrovnik an hour ago.’
‘I didn’t know that crate was contraband,’ Flaherty said, getting between them. ‘Honest to God I didn’t. You’ve got to believe me.’
‘Weren’t you ever suspicious of the way Werner handled the situation? Didn’t it seem strange to you that he had this obsessive interest in one particular crate?’
‘Well, as I said to your superior–’
‘Partner!’ Sabrina interceded indignantly. ‘How many times must I say it? We’re partners.’
‘Partner. Sorry. Well, Mr Werner told me the crate contained machine parts for a laboratory in Libya and what with all this anti-Gadaffi sentiment doing the rounds he wanted to play down the fact that his company was actually doing business with them. He thought it might have given his opponents some ammunition to use against him. He assured me it was all above board. Who was I to argue? As I said earlier, I always considered Mr Werner to be a good and just man.’
A crewman appeared at the door. ‘Helicopter coming in from the south, sir.’
‘Has an area of the deck been cleared for it to land?’ Flaherty asked.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘You’ll want to go and meet it,’ Flaherty said to Graham.
‘Yeah,’ Graham replied without much enthusiasm.
‘You’ll be fine as long as you cooperate,’ Sabrina said, noticing Flaherty’s dejected look.
‘You can count on my cooperation,’ Flaherty replied.
Milchan, sitting on a wooden box in the corner of the bridge, looked up and smiled sadly at her.
‘We’ll put in a good word for you, I promise,’ she said, returning his smile.
Milchan gave her an indifferent shrug as though he had already resigned himself to the inevitability of a lengthy prison sentence.
Philpott was the first out of the Lynx helicopter after it had landed aft of the bridge. Graham indicated to the pilot not to shut down the engine then he, Philpott and Sabrina moved to the railing at the stern of the ship. Philpott listened silently as they filled him in on the latest developments.