Night Over Water - Ken Follett [203]
It was all over, and Eddie had lost.
“You double-crossed me,” Vincini said to Eddie. “You bastard, I’ll kill you for this.”
Eddie caught Captain Baker’s eye and saw understanding and a surprised respect in his face.
Vincini pointed his gun at Eddie.
Eddie thought: I did my best, and everyone knows it. I don’t care if I die now.
Then Luther said: “Vincini, listen! Do you hear something?”
They were all silent. Eddie heard the sound of another plane.
Luther looked out of the window. “It’s a seaplane, coming down right nearby!”
Vincini lowered his gun. Eddie felt weak at the knees.
Vincini looked out, and Eddie followed his gaze. He saw the Grumman Goose that had been moored at Shediac. As he watched, it splashed down on the long side of a wave and came to rest.
Vincini said: “So what? If they get in our way, we’ll shoot the bastards.”
“Don’t you see?” Luther said excitedly. “This is our escape! We can fly over the goddamn navy and get away!”
Vincini nodded slowly. “Good thinking. That’s what we’ll do.”
Eddie realized they were going to get away. His life was saved, but he had failed after all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Nancy Lenehan had found the answer to the problem as she flew along the Canadian coast in the chartered seaplane.
She wanted to defeat her brother, but she also wanted to find some way of escaping from the tramlines of her father’s plans for her life. She wanted to be with Mervyn, but she was afraid that if she left Black’s Boots and went to England she would become a bored housewife like Diana.
Nat Ridgeway had said he was willing to make a higher offer for the company, and give Nancy a job in General Textiles. Thinking about that, she had realized that General Textiles had several factories in Europe, mostly in Britain; and that Ridgeway was not going to be able to visit them until the war was over, which might be years. So she was going to offer to become the European Manager of General Textiles. That way she could be with Mervyn and still be in business.
The solution was remarkably neat. The only snag was that Europe was at war and she might get killed.
She was reflecting on that distant but chilling possibility when Mervyn turned around in his copilot’s seat and pointed out of the window and down; and she saw the Clipper floating on the sea.
Mervyn tried to raise the Clipper by radio, but he got no response. Nancy forgot about her own troubles as the Goose circled the downed plane. What had happened? Were the people on board all right? The plane appeared undamaged, but there was no sign of life.
Mervyn turned to her and shouted over the roar of the engines: “We have to go down and see if they need help.”
Nancy nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Strap in and hold tight. It may be a rough splashdown because of the swell.”
She fastened her safety belt and looked out. The sea was choppy and there were long rollers. The pilot, Ned, brought the seaplane down in a line parallel with the crests of the waves. The hull touched water on the back of a swell, and the seaplane rode the wave like a Hawaiian surf rider. It was not as rough as Nancy had feared.
There was a motor launch tied up to the Clipper’s nose. A man in dungarees and a cap appeared on the deck and beckoned to them. Nancy gathered he wanted the Goose to tie up alongside the launch. The bow door of the Clipper was open, so presumably they would board that way. Nancy could see why: the waves were washing over the sea-wings, so it would be difficult to board through the normal door.
Ned edged the seaplane toward the launch. Nancy could tell it was a tricky maneuver in this sea. However, the Goose was a high-winged monoplane, and its wing was well above the superstructure of the launch, so they were able to draw alongside, with the hull of the plane bumping against the row of rubber tires on the side of the boat. The man on deck tied the plane to his vessel fore and aft.
While Ned shut down the engines of the seaplane, Mervyn came aft, opened the door and broke out the gangway.
“I ought to stay with my plane,