Another crackle. Still no response.
It was close to hopeless. Even if anyone were listening – which the Shetland coastguard, at least, certainly should be – they would never get to us in time. The second Tronal boat would be here any second and the other women and I were going overboard. All I could do was make sure we didn't disappear without a trace.
'We are Tora Hamilton, Richard Guthrie, Stephen Gair and Dana Tulloch. Repeat Dana Tulloch, who is alive and well.' Not for much longer, though – I could definitely hear another engine getting closer. Also two other women whose real names I don't know. We have been abducted and held prisoner by Richard Guthrie and Stephen Gair. Both men are extremely dangerous.'
That was stretching it a bit. Richard hadn't moved and looked anything but dangerous. Gair was another matter. If he came below he would kill me. He would have no choice. Without Richard, he would be unable to administer the drugs that would keep me insensible until we got back to Tronal. The baby would have to be sacrificed. He would kill me and throw me overboard. Dana too. The other two women might survive the trip, but for what? Another eight months of imprisonment and a violent death. I could not let Gair come below. I had to go up and tackle him head on.
Except I couldn't do it. I was weak from loss of blood and dizzy from pain. I'd spent most of the night running on adrenalin and the tank was empty. I couldn't fight him; couldn't even climb the steps. I would wait, hide inside one of the sleeping cabins, jump on him when he came back down. It was the only possible way.
A noise above. Someone had leaped on the roof of the cabin.
'Hey, ladies!'
Gair's face hung upside-down in the companionway. He was lying on the cabin roof staring down at us. Veins bulged on his forehead and I could see his large white teeth. I realized that he and sanity had parted company. His eyes darted to Richard's body and narrowed. Then he looked back at me.
'Get up here, Tora,' he said.
40
UNABLE TO TEAR MY EYES FROM GAIR'S FACE, I SHOOK MY head. I wasn't going anywhere near him. He terrified me.
His head disappeared. I heard him striding along the roof and I stepped closer to Dana. She reached out and held my ankle as I gripped the gun tight.
Then Gair's face appeared again.
'I'm opening the seacocks, Tora,' he sneered. 'You'll have about ten minutes before the boat sinks like a stone. If you want to save your three friends, you come up top now.'
He strode off towards the bow of the boat. I staggered to the companionway and pulled myself up the steps. Gair was bent over the anchor locker. He saw me, straightened up and moved towards me.
I stood my ground. He was wounded too, although not as badly as I, and I still had the gun. I wasn't giving in just yet. He climbed on to the cabin roof and stood there, legs apart for balance, towering above me. The wind whipped his clothes against him, showing the lean, strong lines of his body. His face gleamed white against the night sky and his teeth were bared in a hideous attempt at a smile. He no longer looked like a wolf. He looked like a demon.
I backed away until I came up against the cockpit steering wheel. The contents of my bowels turned to mush and the muscles were no longer able to hold them in place. Evil-smelling warmth started to pour down my legs. Legs that had turned to straw and would hold me no longer. I sank to the cockpit floor.
Gair held something in one hand; a short length of chain. He swung it round and it crashed against the cabin roof. Then he caught hold of the other end with his left hand and pulled it tight. It was about three feet long and the links must have been a quarter of an inch thick. He stood at the edge of the cabin roof, poised to leap down. The boat rocked and he steadied himself. Below, I thought I could hear Dana's voice, repeating the mayday call I'd given earlier. I even thought I heard a faint crackle of response. It was too late, though – too late for me, at any rate.
Just off the port bow loomed a massive shape, for a split second almost as terrifying as the man about to leap at me. Another granite stack, dangerously close. I dropped the gun and reached my right hand back through the spokes of the steering wheel, stretching up and back, towards the centre of the wheel where I knew the instruments must be. My fingers felt buttons and I began pressing. The buttons beeped at me in response. I had no idea what they were, I just had to hope.
Gair raised himself on tiptoe. I reached high again, grabbed a spoke at the top of the wheel and pulled down as hard as I could.
The boat responded; one of the buttons I'd pressed had disengaged the auto-pilot and I was in control of the helm. Travelling at speed, the launch almost tipped over under the force of the abrupt turn. Below, objects rolled across the cabin floor and I heard Dana cry out. Gair staggered, almost slipped, grasped for something to steady himself and then miraculously regained his balance.
Just as we hit the twenty-foot-high granite stack.
As the boat swerved, I'd fallen to the floor of the cockpit; the force of the impact threw me back against the wheel, jarring my shoulders and nearly knocking me out. Through eyes that could barely see I watched Stephen Gair fly towards me. His eyes held mine and in that split second I saw fury, then fear, as he sailed through the air and crashed hard against the steering wheel. I heard a crack that I knew must be bone breaking and made myself turn to face him as he collapsed over the wheel. Then the freewheeling motion of the boat sent him over again, to land slumped in the stern of the boat.
I took hold of the wheel and dragged myself up. I pulled myself around it, close to Gair. He was starting to move, to lift his head up from the deck. Bracing myself against the wheel I kicked out; my foot connected and he slid backwards. His hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. I held the wheel with both hands, lifted my other foot and jumped on his wrist. He let go and I kicked again. He slid further back and I kicked him again, this time connecting with his face, sickened that I was capable of such violence but unable to stop. I pushed one last time with both feet. I fell down into the stern as he slid overboard.
I don't know how long I knelt there, staring down at the wash. I think I even considered rolling overboard myself. Realistically, it could only have been a few seconds before I realized the boat was spinning out of control. I crawled back into the cockpit and reached for the button that would switch the engines off. The engines died and their sound faded into the night. The boat was still moving with the wind and the tide, but no longer careering around madly. And that was it, absolutely it, nothing more I could do. I collapsed down, leaning against the steering wheel, wondering where help might come from. Whether there was any real possibility of it doing so.
Then Dana's face appeared in the companionway. She saw me, but still didn't seem able to speak. Then she disappeared and I wondered if she'd fallen. I wanted to go and help her; I think I even tried to stand up, but I couldn't do it. I wanted to cry, too, but I didn't even have the energy for that.
Then something appeared over the top of the companionway steps. A tangle of canvas straps and metal. It was a life jacket – they'd been stored on one of the shelves around the main cabin. I watched and another appeared. Then a third.
'Tora, come on. Get one of these things on yourself.' I could barely hear Dana's voice, so feeble did it sound against the wind. Reaching up, I took hold of the wheel and managed to pull myself up on to all fours. I crawled round the wheel and across the cockpit floor. My leg was throbbing again and I tried not to think about it; to concentrate only on getting to the steps.
A hand appeared, a woman's arm. I reached out and grabbed it. I had no strength but I held on as I fell backwards and a woman collapsed over the top of the steps. Her dark hair fell forward, covering her face. I pulled again and heard Dana grunt as she pushed from below. The dark-haired woman came up over the steps and landed on top of me. I pushed her to one side. It was Freya, the younger of the two. Her eyes opened briefly, she stared at me then closed them again and sank back against the cockpit seat.