'You're just ordinary men.'
'I'm eighty-five years old, Tora, and yet I have the strength of a man in his fifties. How ordinary is that?'
'Richard,' called Gair, 'I think I can hear an engine. I need to go up top and signal. Can you take the helm?'
Richard started to turn. 'Believe me if you can, my dear. It will make the next few months easier.'
He turned and left the cabin, closing the door and shutting me inside with the motionless Freya. I felt a moment of surprise that he hadn't sedated me. Maybe all that showing off about his so-called special powers had made him forget. Or more likely he figured the pain and blood loss would be enough to keep me immobile. I looked up at my leg. Blood was no longer pumping out and it was possible the artery wasn't severed after all. I risked lowering it and then raised myself up so that I was sitting on the bunk. The bleeding increased but not alarmingly. I looked at Freya. Still breathing, possibly not as heavily as before, but otherwise no real signs of life. I could expect no help from that quarter.
I sat on the bunk, thinking. It would be just about impossible to get the better of Richard and Gair, injured as I was, but I had to try. While they were separated, Gair on deck, Richard driving the boat and with his back to me, I had the best chance. Once the other boat arrived, Dana would go overboard and I'd be guarded, possibly drugged, until the police operation was over and I was safely back on Tronal.
I tried standing up. A stab of pain shot up through my leg. I took deep breaths, counted to ten, waited for the pain to subside. Then I stepped forward. Another stab of pain, not so bad this time.
Clinging to the shelf around the cabin I inched forwards until I reached the door handle. Motor launches have terrifically loud engines, but Richard had reduced the speed and I thought I caught the sound of another engine somewhere in the distance. I turned the handle and pulled at the door. It opened silently.
Richard was alone in the main cabin, standing at the wheel, peering forwards as though struggling to see ahead. We'd reached another offshore mass of stacks and the navigation was tricky. If I knocked him out – which was basically the plan – we could easily hit one of the huge granite rocks around us. Once the hull was breached, the launch would sink quickly and I'd have to launch a life-raft (always assuming there was one on board), get three unconscious women on to it and deal with a strong and violent psychopath. All this with only one good leg. Like I said, I didn't fancy my odds.
On the other hand… I really didn't like what was on the other hand.
I needed a weapon. Grandad's horse gun lay on a shelf at the far side of the cabin but I'd never be able to reach it without Richard seeing me. I looked all around. The floor was still slick with blood – my blood – and my stomach churned. I forced myself to look away. I checked the shelves that ran around the cabin and found where the boat tools were kept. I slipped my hand down. It was like a life- or-death game of jackstraws – dislodge one from the heap without moving the others or making a sound. Amazingly, I managed it. I raised my hand and examined my find. Some sort of pliers, thick steel, about twelve inches long. They would do. No point hanging about. I limped forwards, arm above my head.
Of course, Richard saw my reflection in the cabin windows. He spun round, catching my arm, pushing it down, behind my back. With my free hand, I pushed at his chest then, in desperation, clawed at his eyes. He hit me, just once, a heavy blow across the temples. Blood shot from my mouth and flew across the cabin as my legs gave way under me. I grabbed the lapel of Richard's jacket and clung on. As I toppled I took him with me.
We landed heavily, he on top of me. He pushed himself up. For a second, I could only stare at him, wait for him to act. Then I grabbed his earlobe and he yelled with pain. He hit my arm hard and I had to let go, but with my other hand I went for his eyes again. He sat up, straddled across me, pinning me down. With one hand, he grabbed my right wrist and held fast. With the other, he reached for my throat.
Knowing it could be the last sound I ever made, I screamed.
Richard's hand wrapped around my neck and squeezed. I thrashed my head from side to side but his grip wasn't budging. He was incredibly strong; I'd been a fool to imagine I could overpower him. With my left hand I struck out at his face but his arms were longer than mine and I couldn't reach him.
I tore at the hand holding my throat, dug my nails into skin, tried to wrench it away. The instinctive panic that goes hand in hand with oxygen deprivation had set in, giving me strength I wouldn't otherwise have had, but it still wasn't enough. Richard was no longer looking at me, but at a point over my head. He wasn't capable of looking me in the eyes as he throttled me. I think I took a small measure of comfort from that as the darkness began to grow.
Then he convulsed – just once – and his grip relaxed, releasing the pressure on my throat. My lungs started pumping, desperate for air, but my throat had been damaged by the pressure of Richard's strong hand. Like a dented pipe, it couldn't let enough air flow through and the darkness in my head continued to grow.
Richard fell forwards towards me; his eyes met mine but were expressionless. His weight shifted, my lungs made a gigantic effort and air flooded in once more. I managed to raise both hands to fend him off and as he collapsed I shoved hard.
He rolled to one side and I pushed against him, without a clue what was happening but grasping at any chance to be free. He fell face-down on the floor of the cabin. A circle of blackness stained the thick white hair on the back of his head and, as I watched, a small bubble of blood rose from the wound and burst as it reached the air. Tearing my eyes away, I looked at the figure kneeling above him. Eyes met mine and I thought I saw a brief glimmer of recognition before they glazed over. There was a heavy thud as the humane killer, the thick iron-bolt stained dark with Richard's blood, fell to the floor.
Pushing myself up, I reached over and felt for a pulse in Richard's neck. There was nothing. I pulled myself to my feet, stepped over him and peered up the companionway steps. Gair was nowhere in sight but I could make out flickers of light as he signalled to another boat.
I bent down, picked up the weapon and reloaded the bolt. Then, at last, I reached out and touched the face of Richard's killer. Eyes dazed with drugs looked back emptily into mine. Then I saw a gleam of intelligence and Dana's lips stretched into a smile.
'Can you understand me?' I whispered, feeling myself smile in response. She nodded, but didn't seem able to speak.
'Stephen Gair is up there,' I said, gesturing towards the cockpit. 'He is very dangerous.' No surprise in her eyes. 'Can you watch the steps? When he appears, let me know?'
She nodded again and I stood up and limped over to the helm. I could see no immediate hazards ahead; the depth gauge was unable to read the depth – always a reassuring sign – and I flicked the boat on to auto-pilot. Then, I picked up the radio and switched to channel 16.
'Mayday, mayday, mayday,' I said as loudly as I dared, knowing Gair would hear the crackle of the response and hoping he would think it was the other boat talking to Richard.
'Mayday, mayday, mayday,' I repeated. 'This is motor launch Arctic Skua, Arctic Skua. We are in Shetland waters, travelling south down the eastern coast of Tronal island. We require urgent medical and police assistance.'
There was a crackle of static. No response.
I glanced round. Dana's eyes hadn't left the companionway steps. I could hear footsteps above us.
'There are six people on board,' I said into the mouthpiece. 'Two of us are injured. Three have been drugged. Only one is able-bodied and he is a danger to the rest of us. We need help urgently. Repeat, urgently.'