Dennis was confused.
“I thought Danilov was your right hand man.”
“Oh he was. But you see my dear Mr Dennis he was becoming quite uncontrollable. He was what you English would call a, uh, yes, a loose cannon.”
He chuckled at his own humour.
“Yes I like that expression. You English are full of these sayings.”
“There’s another expression we’re fond of and you’re full of it.”
Von Werner pretended to be amused at this also.
“That’s very good Mr Dennis. Very good indeed. But as I was saying Danilov wasn’t working as a member of the team anymore. He acted against my instructions on more than one occasion and my men were unsettled.”
“Well in about five minutes time your men are going to be arrested by Tunisian special forces.”
“Oh really. Is that so? And exactly who do you think called the security services?”
Dennis thought for a moment. He had assumed that Ali on the ‘Volante’ had somehow got a signal out. Not for one second did he consider that Von Werner may have called them.
“You did it?”
Von Werner chuckled.
“I’m enjoying this,” he said, “That’s right Mr Dennis I called them.”
He threw his arms out in a gesture.
“After all why wouldn’t I. This is my ship, my crew, my personal army, my helicopter, my sarcophagus. So you can imagine my surprise at finding my head of security murdered by a journalist, a spy, a mercenary, call yourself what you will, and an archaeologist stowed aboard my ship trying to steal my property.”
“They’ll never believe it.”
“And then after you murdered my head of security Mr Danilov you were seeking out your next target. Me!”
“That’s ridiculous. I would never murder anyone.”
“But you did kill Mr Danilov.”
“That was in self defence.”
“Indeed it was.”
A strange look came over Von Werner’s face.
“But before he died, despite the knife in his chest, Mr Danilov managed to fire off some rounds which killed the renegade reporter and his very beautiful assistant the lovely Miss Feltham, before they could kill me. Such a waste,” he said sighing, trying to stroke her hair. She moved out of his reach.
“You’re mad.”
“On the contrary Mr Dennis. I am a genius.”
“Even geniuses can be mad you know.”
“I assure you I am not mad, just very clever. When you think about it I now have in my possession the most sacred artefact in archaeology and what have I had to do to get it? Hmm?” he asked them both individually, “Not much. You see you people did all the hard work for me. You explored all the wrecks, eliminating them one by one. You recovered the item. All I had to do was take it from you. Genius really, as I’ve already said. You know Miss Feltham it really is a shame that I have to kill you. I really would like to have you as part of my team. But I’m very sure you’d never agree to it somehow.”
“You’re dead right,” Dennis replied for her.
Von Werner pointed the gun in Dennis’ face.
“Dead being the appropriate word.”
“You’re missing one thing Herr Werner.”
The gun never wavered.
“And what is that?”
“It’s not the right sarcophagus.”
The eyebrows, sighting down the pistol, both went up.
“What?”
“It’s not Alexander’s sarcophagus,” Natalie cut in.
“Is this some sort of trick?”
“Look at it,” Natalie invited.
“It has to be the one,” Von Werner lowered the gun, “You took it from the ’Tangipito’. It has to be the one.”
“We did take it from the ’Tangipito’ but it’s the wrong sarcophagus. It was made for a Nectanebo. He was either a lesser pharaoh or just someone important but it’s not Alexander.”
Von Werner was shaking his head.
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie. You already have it. What would I gain for lying? You’re going to kill us for something that’s worthless.”
“Enough! Now you die!”
There was a sudden burst of machine gun fire and one of his men at the top of the steps from the middle deck went down, his chest riddled with bullets. A voice coming through a megaphone cut across the deck.
“This is the Tunisian navy. You are surrounded. Prepare to be boarded. Throw down your weapons.”
The Lynx helicopter hovered in low, carrying the last crate of shells from the ’Volante.’ It stopped directly above Von Werner. The 20mm cannons suddenly burst into life, strafing the top of the steps where Tunisian seals were preparing to ascend.
Von Werner was backing slowly away from Dennis and Natalie. He looked at the sarcophagus. He couldn’t believe his ears.
“Listen to her!” Dennis was shouting above the noise of the Lynx, “It’s not the right one!”
Von Werner was thinking of his grandfather.
“You poor man! You didn’t find it!”
The Lynx fired its machine guns again.
No one heard or saw the sidewinder missile that caught the Lynx in mid-air. The two jets screamed past again. The helicopter exploded and plummeted to the deck. Dennis grabbed Natalie and they dived for cover in the nick of time. The Lynx landed on the crate of shells and they exploded blasting Von Werner burning and screaming into the sea. The Tunisian seals rushed up the stairs and moved into formation.
“This is major Al-Assad. Throw down your weapons,” their officer said through his loudhailer.
Von Werner’s men did as they were told. They were quickly surrounded and the ’Wavecrest’ was made secure by more marines who stormed through the ship. A group of them rushed to tackle the burning Lynx. Jim Hutchinson suddenly appeared at the top of the steps. Dennis saw him first and he turned Natalie’s head. Her face broke into a large grin. They made their way to him and he met them halfway. He embraced them both.
“Are you both all right?”
Dennis kissed Natalie on the lips. Right there in front of everyone.
“I know I am,” he said.
They all laughed.
“It’s good to see you Jim.”
“What I don’t understand,” Dennis said, “Is that Von Werner called the authorities. How did you get here?”
“One of Ali’s men had a stomach upset and he was, well I don’t want to go into too much detail, coming out of the lavatory. He confronted one of Von Werner’s men. There were only a few left on board you see the others already having left. A fight ensued and our man was able to knock his opponent out and take his gun. He took another by surprise and gained another gun. With these the rest of the crew were able to overpower the rest. This done Captain Ali was able to sound the alarm using their equipment and divert Major Al-Assad’s task force to the ’Volante.’ Once we filled him in with the relevant details of what had happened he came to take the ‘Wavecrest’”
Another officer came on board. He was wearing military fatigues like his men. Unlike his men he was wearing a red beret and sunglasses. On his shoulders the rank of General. Major Al-Assad rushed up to him, saluted, and made his report. The General listened without interrupting then nodded when Al-Assad finished.
“Good work Major. Take these men into custody. Take this ship back to Gabes. Make arrangements for the other ship to be towed in if it can’t be repaired at sea. The crew may stay on it if they wish. Arrange hotel accommodation for them if necessary. We’d better keep them until the interior minister has spoken to them. Dismissed.”
Al-Assad saluted and rushed off to carry out his orders. The General glanced around the deck, his arms folded behind his back. Then he lowered his head and looked out over the top of his sunglasses. His eyes lit up and a huge grin spread across his face. He headed towards the group of three.