Night Over Water - Ken Follett [207]
That answered the question. The seaplane was going to enable Luther and Hartmann to get away.
Harry crept back up the stairs. The thought of poor Hartmann being taken back to the Nazis was heartbreaking; but Harry might have let it happen—he was no hero. However, young Percy Oxenford would do something stupid any moment now, and Harry could not stand aside and let Margaret’s brother get himself killed. He had to get in first, create a diversion, somehow put a spoke in the gang’s wheel, for her sake.
Looking into the bow compartment, he saw a rope tied to a strut, and he was inspired.
Suddenly he saw a way he could create a diversion and maybe get rid of one of the gangsters as well.
First he had to untie the ropes and set the launch adrift.
He went through the hatch and down the ladder.
His heart beat faster. He was scared.
He did not think about what he would say if someone caught him now. He would just make something up, as he always did.
He crossed the compartment. As he had thought, the rope came from the launch.
He reached up to the strut, undid the knot and dropped the rope on the floor.
Looking out, he saw that there was a second rope running from the bow of the launch to the nose of the Clipper. Damn. He would have to get out onto the platform to reach it, and that meant he might be seen.
But he could not give up now. And he had to hurry. Percy was back there like Daniel in the lions’ den.
He stepped up onto the platform. The rope was tied to a capstan sticking up from the nose of the aircraft. He untied it rapidly.
He heard a shout from the launch. “Hey, you, what are you doing?”
He did not look up. He hoped the guy did not have a gun.
He detached the rope from the capstan and threw it in the sea.
“Hey, you!”
He turned around. The skipper of the launch was standing on deck shouting. He was not armed, thank God. The man picked up his end of the other rope and pulled. The rope snaked out of the bow compartment and fell in the water.
The skipper ducked into the wheelhouse and started his engine.
The next part was more dangerous.
It would take only a few seconds for the gangsters to notice that their launch had come adrift. They would be puzzled and alarmed. One of them would come to investigate and tie the launch up again. And then—
Harry was too scared to think about what he was going to do then.
He dashed up the ladder and across the flight deck and concealed himself in the cargo area once again.
He knew it was deadly dangerous to fool around like this with gangsters, and he felt cold at the thought of what they would do to him if they caught him.
For a long minute nothing happened. Come on, he thought; hurry up and look out of the window! Your launch is adrift—you have to notice it before I lose my nerve.
At last he heard footsteps again, heavy ones, hurrying, coming up the stairs and through the flight cabin. To his dismay it sounded like two men. He had not anticipated having to deal with two.
When he judged that they must have descended into the bow compartment, he looked out. It was all clear. He crossed the cabin and looked through the hatch. Two men with guns in their hands were staring out of the bow door. Even without the guns Harry would have guessed they were crooks by their flashy clothes. One was an ugly little guy with a mean look; the other was very young, about eighteen.
Maybe I should go back and hide, Harry thought.
The skipper was maneuvering the launch, still with the seaplane tied to its side. The two gangsters would have to tie the launch up to the Clipper again, and they could not do that with guns in their hands. Harry waited for them to put their firearms away.
The skipper shouted something Harry could not make out, and a few moments later the two hoods stuffed the guns into their pockets