Bright Air - Barry Maitland [90]
I lay in the bottom, spluttering, while he freed the rope from my waist and waved to Anna, who had tied our bags to her end of the rope, and now jumped in. I pulled myself up onto the seat and watched, shivering, as Bob hauled her across. And as I watched him, strong and capable, a nasty thought came into my mind. He had rescued us, yes, but what now? Whatever had happened to Luce on Balls Pyramid, he’d been a part of it, and it seemed to me entirely possible that he might prefer that we, too, should disappear into the ocean. I looked around, wondering if there was anything that I might use as a weapon, but I could see nothing apart from some fishing rods, an esky, a bucket and some lengths of rope. As a fisherman I assumed he would be carrying a knife. I tried desperately to think.
Now he was helping Anna over the side, and then pulling the plastic bags with our clothes and gear on board. I decided suddenly that this was the time to act, and I took a couple of paces over to the controls and pulled the key out of the switch. Immediately the motor coughed and cut out.
Bob turned to face me. ‘What’re you doing, mate?’
‘Are you carrying a knife, Bob?’
‘Yeah, sure.’
‘Take it out of your pocket and place it on the seat over there.’
‘What?’
On the other side of the boat, Anna, gasping and wiping wet hair off her face, stared at me in surprise.
‘Put the knife down and step away, or I’ll throw this key overboard.’
He squinted at me as if wondering what kind of beast he’d fished out of the sea. I must have looked demented—bruised and scraped and swollen all over, the light of madness in my eyes.
‘What’s that, Josh?’
‘Do what I say!’
‘All right.’ He felt in his trouser pocket and brought out a large clasp knife, which he carefully laid down where I’d indicated.
‘Step back.’
He did so, and I darted forward and grabbed the knife.
‘What happened to Carmel’s boat, mate?’
‘The currents smashed it on the rocks,’ I said.
‘Ah, well, reckon the same’s goin’ to happen to us if you don’t let me start that engine.’ He spoke slowly, as if he didn’t want to alarm me, or perhaps because he thought my brain wasn’t quite right.
‘Then you’d better tell us the truth, Bob. We found a note Luce left, on the Pyramid.’
‘A note? What did it say?’
‘Just tell us what happened. Then I’ll give you the key.’
He frowned, then spread his hands. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you, but I reckon I need to start the engine.’
I followed his gaze and saw that we were being drawn into the foaming swell that bordered the rocks. ‘All right.’ I replaced the key in the ignition and joined Anna on the seat as he went to the controls. We pulled on our clothes while Bob got the boat going and steered it out into open water. When we were a safe distance away from the rocks he throttled back and came to sit opposite us.
‘You’ll be getting quite a reception when you get back. They’ve had search parties out looking for you all weekend. They reckoned you must have gone up Mount Gower on your own like you’d said, and got lost or hurt on the slopes, but my hunch was you were out here, specially when I couldn’t find Carmel’s boat.’
‘And you know why, don’t you, Bob? Luce was out here, wasn’t she? You brought her.’
He nodded reluctantly. ‘Yes.’
‘You’d better tell us everything, the whole truth.’
‘Mm. You hungry?’
‘God, yes!’ Anna burst in.
‘I’ve brought some sandwiches and coffee. Here.’
I eyed him warily as he got up and brought a backpack from the wheelhouse. Anna ripped open the top of a plastic container and began stuffing a sandwich into her mouth. Bob poured coffee from a flask into a cup and handed it to me. ‘There’s cold beer and drinks in the esky, but I reckon you need to warm up.’
I took the cup gratefully. The coffee smelled wonderful. I felt as if I’d been shivering for days.
‘They finished their work on the cliffs below Mount Gower,’ Bob began, in that same slow drawl, as if we had all the time in the world, ‘and they still had a bit of time left, and Marcus wanted to have a