The man at the window said, ‘A characteristic of Laillard’s Tern is its disinclination to breed in any spring which precedes a severe winter. This has given rise to much speculation and the belief that…’
‘For Christ’s sake, Jim. Must we have that?’
The two Nepa class submarine rescue and salvage ships with two naval salvage tugs arrived off Knausnes at half-past ten that night. During an exchange of lamp signals with the Zhukov it was decided that, in view of the weather, they should round Fyrbergnes and anchor in Uklarvik Bay to await daylight.
This they did and were anchored in the lee of the mountain shortly after midnight.
An hour later a ketch rounded Kolnoy Beacon and with some difficulty made her way down the Kolfjord under sail. The north-westerly wind gusted and eddied unpredictably from the slopes of the mountain and sail had to be shortened. In the early hours of the morning the ketch anchored off Kolhamn to the east of the slipway where the water shoaled. The anchor light was hoisted and an attempt made to communicate with the harbour by voice-radio and lamp. There was no response. Kolhamn seemed asleep.
‘They’ll register our arrival in the morning,’ said Stephen Nunn. ‘Let’s get our heads down while we can.’
‘Marvellous,’ said the girl. ‘I’ve had it.’
‘We’d better set anchor watch,’ said Nunn. ‘I’ll take the first two hours.’
‘I’ll relieve you after that,’ said Sandstrom.
Boland came up the companionway from the saloon. ‘Have to work on that injection unit at first light,’ he said.
‘You have to mislay a component,’ said Nunn. ‘A critical one.’
‘No problem. Normal routine for me.’
‘Remember where you hide it, mate. We can’t afford to break down for real.’
‘Trust me.’ Boland’s normally dead-pan, slightly oriental face broke into a grease-streaked grin.
Nunn looked round at the rest of the crew. ‘Remember the breakdown story. The engine packed up a few miles northwest of the Anda Light. After that we made a long haul to the westward before running in for the Kolfjord. That’s why we took such a long time.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘That then,’ said the Commodore (Intelligence), ‘is the situation?’ The fingers of his left hand beat time to Saint-Saen’s Danse which sounded persistently in the outer reaches of his mind.
Briggs thought the tapping was a conditioned reflex, the commodore’s response to a problem. In fact the music was the response, the tapping its by-product, so he was partially right.
‘By and large, yes, sir.’
‘So it could be staged at any time. Tonight for example?’
‘Possible but improbable, sir. They only arrived this morning.’
The fingered staccato continued. ‘I think Freddie Lewis must go to Oslo this morning. Chat up Roald Lund.’
‘About what, sir?’
‘About what Lund knows. What if anything his lot are up to…’ The commodore hesitated, the tapping stopped. We’re coming to the nub of the matter, Briggs decided. Rat-house always stops like that when he’s made up his mind.
‘And to tell him,’ continued the commodore, ‘about our tip-off,’
‘I’m not with you, sir,’ said Briggs. ‘What tip-off?’
‘The one we’ve had from an unusually reliable source. That a great power is laying on something rather special by way of an intelligence gathering operation. Lund will want some detail, a clue perhaps. Freddie will say he has none. The tip-off in those terms is all he knows. Comes from high up the tree. Lund is sure to ask if the “great power” is a NATO power. Freddie will say he doesn’t know. That way China is not excluded.’
‘You’re not proposing to let Lund in on Daisy Chain in some round-about way, are you, sir?’ Briggs’s voice was flat, leaden.
‘I should bloody well hope not. But if Lund suspects we’re up to something, now or later, this should convince him we’re not. We’d hardly pass on a tip against ourselves. And it won’t do any harm if his speculations range over Asia as well as Europe and America.’
That lifted Briggs. He looked quite cheerful. ‘I get it, sir. Very bright idea.’
‘Many thanks. Now perhaps you’ll get Freddie Lewis down here so that I can brief him. The sooner he goes the better.’
‘Aye, aye, sir.’
Lund said, ‘You’ve been quick, Martinsen.’
‘Chopper lifted me out of Kolhamn at 1700. I flew a Phantom on from Bodo.’
Lund looked at the younger man with interest. ‘Fly it yourself?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Still like flying?’
‘I’ve a love-hate relationship with Phantoms, sir. Like to keep my hand in.’
‘What’s happening on Vrakoy, Martinsen, that I don’t already know?’ Lund held out a packet of cheroots. ‘Care for one?’
‘I don’t, sir.’
‘Sorry, I forgot.’ Lund lit a cheroot, sat back in the chair and puffed at it contentedly.
Martinsen stood at the window enjoying the view. He said, ‘The two Nepa ships arrived during the night. Plus two salvage tugs. There was a conference on board Zhukov this morning. All the big salvage and nuclear brass was there. The chief salvage officer from Murmansk and his two assistants who’d arrived the day before, plus another seven or eight from the Nepas. There’s no shortage of technical talent.’
‘Any idea what’s been decided?’
‘None, I’m afraid, sir. Their signals to and from Murmansk are being handled by the Nepas. High-speed transmissions computer-scrambled. They’re not using our telegraphic services.’
‘Have they made a start doing anything — anything we can see?’
‘Nothing yet. The weather’s too bad at present for external diving on the rockshelf. I imagine they’ve had divers in the flooded compartments. There’s a steady traffic of ships’ motorboats between the Nepas and the submarine. Hansen — he’s in charge of the platoon on the cliff-counted eight corpses being transferred from the submarine to a motor-boat this afternoon. They were wrapped in blankets but he was using high magnification artillery glasses. Says there’s no doubt they were dead bodies.’
‘Interesting.’ With a critical eye Lund examined the smoke ring he’d exhaled. ‘Has he been getting photos?’
‘Yes. Through an observation slit in the tent. I brought back a lot of film from him and from the scientists in the minesweeper today. Keppel has it. Prints should be ready shortly. No chance of skin divers getting a look at the Zhukov’s hull. The Russians are operating underwater patrols.’
‘That was predictable. Anything else?’
‘Our scientists in the sweeper have carried out various laser infra, geiger probes in the last twenty-four hours. They say there is a radiation leak. Probably from the reactor. And she is carrying missiles with nuclear warheads.’ He paused to let that sink in.
‘So she’s not the surveillance/ECM outfit our photo analysts thought?’