At five kilometres there was nothing to be seen, but Bond remained leaning against the superstructure, gazing in the direction of the small, violent inferno.
‘Coffee?’ Nannie asked.
‘Depends how long we’re staying at sea.’
‘We hired this boat for a day’s fishing,’ she said. ‘I don’t think we should raise suspicion.’
‘No, we’ll even have to try and fish. Is Sukie okay at the wheel?’
Sukie Tempesta turned and nodded, smiling.
‘She’s sailed boats all her life.’ Nannie gestured towards the steps leading below. ‘There’s coffee on . . .’
‘And I want to hear how you managed to find me,’ Bond said, staring at her steadily.
‘I told you. I was minding you, James.’
They were now seated on the bunks in the cramped cabin, facing each other. They nursed mugs of coffee as the boat rolled and the sea thudded against the hull. Sukie had reduced power and they seemed to be performing a series of gentle, wide circles.
‘When Norrich Universal Bodyguards take it upon themselves to look after you, you get looked after.’
Nannie had her long legs tucked under her on the bunk, and had unpinned her hair so that it fell, dark and thick, to her shoulders, giving her face an almost elfin look, and somehow making the grey eyes softer and very interesting. Take care, Bond thought, this lady has to explain herself, and she had better be convincing.
‘So I got looked after.’ He did not smile.
She explained that as soon as he had been paged at Miami International she had left Sukie with the luggage and followed him at a discreet distance.
‘I had plenty of cover – you know how crowded the place – was but I saw the routine. I’m experienced enough to know when a client is being pulled.’
‘But they took me away by car.’
‘Yes. I got its number and then made a quick call – my little NUB has a small branch here, and they put a trace on the limo. I said I’d call them back if I needed assistance. After that I called the flight planning office.’
‘Resourceful lady.’
‘James, in this game you have to be. Apart from the scheduled flights to Key West there was one private exec jet that had filed a flight plan. I took down the details . . .’
‘Which were?’
‘Company called Société pour la Promotion de l’Écologie et de la Civilisation . . .’
SPEC, Bond thought, SPEC. SPECTRE.
‘We had about six minutes to catch the PBA flight to Key West, so I gambled that we’d make it just before the private flight.’
‘You also gambled on my being on board the SPEC jet.’
She nodded. ‘Yes, and you were. If you hadn’t been, I would have had egg on my face. As it happened, we were off the aircraft a good five minutes before you came along. I even had time to hire a car, send Sukie to book into the hotel and follow you to that shopping centre in Searstown.’
‘And then what?’
‘I hung around.’ She paused, not looking at him. ‘To be honest, I didn’t really know what to do. Then, like a small miracle, the big bearded guy came out and went straight to the telephone booth. I was only a few paces away and I’ve got good eyesight. Don’t be fooled by the spectacles. I watched him punch out a number and talk for a while. When he went to the supermarket I slipped into the booth and dialled the number. He had called the Harbour Lights restaurant.’
There was a street guide in the little rented Volkswagen, and the Harbour Lights was easy enough to find. ‘As soon as I got inside I realised it was a fishing and sailing place, full of bronzed, muscular men renting boats, and themselves to sail them. I just asked around. One man – the one who went up in smoke just now – mentioned that he had been hired for an early start. He’d had a bit to drink and even told me what time he was leaving, and that he had three passengers.’
‘So you hired another powered fishing launch.’
‘That’s right. I told the captain I didn’t need help. Sukie can navigate the trickiest waters blindfold and with her hands tied. He took me down to this boat, made a pass and got the push. But he did show me the charts, and told me about the currents and channels, which are not easy. He talked about the reef, the islands and the drop-off into the Gulf of Mexico.’
‘So you went back to Sukie at the hotel . . .’
‘And pored over the charts half the night. We got down to Garrison Bight early and were outside the reef when your boat came out. We watched you on the radar. Then we positioned ourselves near enough to your course, stopped the engines and started firing distress flares. You know the rest.’
‘You tried the soft approach, but they opened up with the Uzi.’
‘To their cost.’ She cocked her head, and gave a sigh. ‘Lord, I’m tired.’
‘You’re not alone. And what about Sukie?’
‘She seems happy enough. She always is with boats.’ Nannie put down her empty coffee mug and started slowly to undo the buttons of her shirt. ‘I really think I’d like to lie down, James. Would you like to lie down with me?’
‘What if we hit a squall? We’ll be thrown all over the place.’ Bond leaned forward to kiss her gently on the mouth.
‘I’d rather meet a swell.’ Her arms came up around his neck, drawing him towards her.
Later, she said that she’d rarely been thanked so well for saving somebody’s life.
‘You should do it again sometime.’
Bond kissed her, running one hand over her naked body.
‘Why not now?’ asked Nannie with an implike grin. ‘It seems a fair price for a life.’
16
GOING DOWN TONIGHT
‘As far as I can tell, there are three islands outside the reef that are privately owned and have some kind of building on them.’ Sukie’s finger roamed around the chart of the Key West vicinity.
It was early afternoon, and they were hove to with fishing lines out. Four large red snapper had come their way, but nothing big – no sharks or swordfish.
‘This one here,’ said Sukie, indicating an island just outside the reef, ‘is owned by the man who built the hotel where we’re staying. There’s another to the north, and this one,’ her finger circled a large patch of land, ‘just on the shelf, before you reach the drop-off. The continental shelf suddenly drops down from 270 metres to over 600. Great fishing water around the drop-off. There have been treasure seekers by the dozen in the area too.’ She prodded the island on the map. ‘Anyway, it looked very much as though that was where you were heading.’
Bond peered closer to see the name. ‘Shark Island,’ he said. ‘How cosy.’
‘Someone seems to think so. I asked around the hotel last night. A couple of years ago a man who called himself Rainey, Tarquin Rainey, bought the place. The boy at the hotel is from an old Key West family and knows all the gossip. He says this fellow Rainey is a mystery man. He arrives by private jet and gets ferried out to Shark Island by helicopter, or by a launch which belongs to the place. He’s also a bit of a go-getter. People who build on the islands usually take a lot of time; it’s always difficult getting the materials taken out to them. Rainey had his place up in the space of one summer and the island landscaped in the second summer. He’s got tropical trees, gardens, the lot. They’re very impressed, the people in Key West, and it takes a great deal to impress them, particularly as they claim to be a republic. The Conch Republic.’