`Since you feel that way. about it,' replied C. B. thoughtfully, `I can put up to you two alternatives. Malouet should be here round about midnight and ...'
`Will he?'
`Yes. At the end of our talk on the telephone the old boy agreed to get out his car and start at once. But it is the best part of a two and a half hours' drive from Nice. He will go straight to Henri's cafe and I am to meet him there. The police will take his word for anything that may happen while he is with us; so when he does turn up he could accompany you on board for a show down. In his presence they would not dare to touch you.'
John nodded. `I must say you have done everything you possibly could in the circumstances, C. B., and I'm jolly grateful to you. But the devil of it is that the yacht may have sailed by midnight.'
`I know. The period during which Jules can reasonably count on immunity is getting short now; so my bet is that she will sail within the next half hour.'
`Then what is your alternative to waiting for Malouet, and probably missing the boat?'
C. B. put a finger alongside his big nose, winked and whispered, `To go with her.'
9
Illegal Entry
John regarded C. B. with a puzzled frown. `I don't get the idea. How could we manage to do that?'
C. B. shook his head. `This would not be a case of “we”, I'm afraid; and I'd better make my own position clear. I am a Civil Servant and have very definite responsibilities; so I have to think twice before I risk blotting my copy book. If I had been put on this job officially I might consider it worth while to take that risk. If Jules were just off to Russia with our latest H bomb secrets in his pocket, I certainly would. But if I got myself arrested and was unable to convince my Chief that it had happened while I was engaged on some matter of real importance to British interests, there would be the hell of a stink. Still worse, it might seriously prejudice the outcome of other work on which I am engaged.'
`I quite understand that. It seems, though, that you have changed your mind about me, and are about to suggest that I should do something illegal.'
`I am. Mind, I wouldn't, but for the fact that you've just said that you refuse to sit here and let things take their course. What I am about to propose may land you in for the very things I have been trying to keep you out of namely, a beating up and finding yourself in the cells tomorrow. I don't like it a bit, but ...'
`Since there seems to be no legal means of intervening on the yacht, I mean to take that risk anyhow.'
`It will be a certainty, instead of a risk, if you simply go on board and demand that Christina should be restored to you. My idea is that you should attempt to slip on board unobserved.'
`What then?'
`Lie doggo. If the yacht has not sailed by midnight we will come aboard with Malouet. Then you can come out of hiding and stake your claim to Christina. If the yacht sails earlier, you will sail with her as a stowaway.'
`I don't see how that would improve my chance of getting Christina out of their clutches.'
`It won't if they find you; and I've already warned you that by going on board at all, without the police, you are asking for a packet of trouble. But if you can remain hidden for eight or ten hours there is quite a good chance that you may succeed in pulling the chestnuts out of the fire.'
'How?' asked Molly, now considerably concerned for John's safety.
C. B. leaned across the table and his voice sank still lower. `They have got to get her to England by the 6th; so they can't be taking her far. Toulon or Marseilles, perhaps. But at present we have no idea of their destination. If she sails in the yacht as things are, we lose track of her; but we won't if John is in the yacht too and has succeeded in keeping himself under cover. At the first opportunity to morrow morning he could get ashore and let us know where the yacht has docked. By that time Christina will have, as one might say, come out from under the influence. Now, she would probably tell us all to mind our own damn' business, but by then she will be ready to scream “murder”.
As soon as John informs us where the yacht has got to, we'll come down with Malouet like wolves on the fold, and young Jules will be darn' lucky if he doesn't find himself in quod for kidnapping. See the idea?'
Molly nodded rather ruefully. `As a plan, it is as good as anything we can hope for; but I'll never forgive you if they do John a serious injury.'
`At least it gives a sporting chance for him to keep out of trouble.' C. B. shrugged. `I put this up only to prevent his butting his head right into it.'
`That's true enough, Mumsie,' John declared. `Don't you dare blame C. B, if anything goes wrong. But it is nearly half past ten; so if I'm to get on that yacht without being spotted we had better be moving.'
C. B. paid the bill and they went out into the darkness. The yacht lay only two hundred yards or so further seaward along the quay. Keeping in the shadow of the buildings, they walked along until they were opposite to her.
At a steep angle her fo'c'sle sloped up from the base of her single mast and bridge structure, which were placed well forward. The two thirds of her abaft the bridge lay much lower in the water. No trail of smoke came from her one large squat funnel, as she was diesel engined. Her design gave the impression of rakishness and power; and C. B. judged her to be of about eight hundred tons burthen.
Some of her main cabins were lit, but as their portholes lay just under the level of the wharf edge the light from them came only as a diffused glow amidships. Except for a pool of brightness below her mast light and another on her bridge, her upper structure was plunged in deep shadow. A gangway, the slope of which was scarcely noticeable, led up from the quay to her main deck, just astern of her bridge. She might have been completely deserted, had it not been for an occasional movement in her bridge house, which showed that someone was keeping watch up there.
After they had studied her for some moments, C. B. said to John, `I thought you might have to borrow a small boat, approach her from the seaward side, and shin up on deck as best you could; but I don't think that is necessary. Her deck is so near level with the wharf, and she is made fast so close against it that you should be able to jump to the rail near her stern and scramble over. All that is needed to give you a good chance of getting aboard unseen is for us to occupy the watchman's attention while you approach as quietly as possible.'
`Johnny,' Molly whispered anxiously, `you are not used to this sort of thing. Do be careful, won't you?'
He gave her a swift kiss on the check. `Don't worry, Mumsie; of course I will.'
Ignoring the interruption, C. B. went on, `Let's all go back to the car now. Molly and I will get in it, and we will give you a bit of a lead before we start. Walk right on the edge of the quayside, so that you will have only to swerve and jump at the critical moment. Don't walk too fast, because I want to pass you in the car about fifty yards before you come level with her stern; but for God's sake don't give the impression of stealth, in case anyone notices you. The noise of the car engine will drown any noise you make, and when I pull up opposite the bridge of the yacht our lights will be pointing away from you; so you will have the extra benefit of the contrasting darkness behind us. Whatever you do, don't jump before we have pulled up and you have heard me hail the chap in the bridge house; otherwise he may be looking in your direction. I shall pretend that we are trying to find another yacht that was supposed to have docked this evening, and will hold his attention for about three minutes. That should be ample time for you to do your stuff.'
Still keeping in the shadow of the buildings, they walked back to the fish restaurant. While they did so C. B. made Johnny repeat their programme, to make certain there should be no slip up. He had only just finished when they reached the car.