Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [24]
When she returned, her father was with her. He leaned against the rail, a frown on his face. 'Looks like Mikali's boat. I wonder what he wants?'
The speedboat was being driven by Dimitri, the youth Manning had handled so roughly at the bar. Mikali was a large thickset individual. In his day, he must have been a powerful man, but now he was running to fat and the armpits of his linen jacket were badly stained with sweat. He clambered up the ladder and Dimitri stayed at the wheel.
'And what the hell do you want?' Papa Melos said in Greek.
Mikali wiped his balding head with a handkerchief. 'Don't take that tone with me, you old vulture. Three days I've been trying to catch you. Always, you stay out of my way.'
'I've got nothing to say to you. Not till the end of the month.'
'Now that's where you're wrong,' Mikali said. 'The extension I gave you was purely out of the goodness of my heart.' He glanced at Anna. 'I'd hoped that we might have been able to come to a sensible arrangement about things in general, but that doesn't seem to have worked out.'
The old man flushed angrily. 'Say what you have to say and get off my boat.'
'My boat, you mean.' Mikali produced a document and held it out. 'This is a writ of attachment. You've got until noon on Friday to pay me my money. Twelve hundred dollars.'
The old man gave a roar of anger. He tore the writ from Mikali's hand and swung hard with his right fist. The years were against him. Mikali blocked the punch with ease, grabbed him by the shirtfront and slapped him heavily across the face.
The girl screamed and ran forward, tearing at him with her fingers. He pushed her away with such force that she staggered across the deck and lost her balance. As he raised his hand to strike the old man again, Manning grabbed him by the shoulder and swung him round so that they faced each other.
'How about trying me?' he said. 'I'm a bit nearer your size.'
Mikali opened his mouth to speak and Manning smashed a fist into it. As he staggered backwards, Manning hit him again, the force of the blow lifting him over the rail. The Greek hit the water with a tremendous splash and went under. He came up a couple of feet away from the speedboat and Dimitri grabbed him by the collar and tried to haul him over the stern.
Manning went down the ladder quickly, jumped into the speedboat and helped him. Mikali sprawled across the rear seat, his clothes clinging to his gross body, blood trickling from his smashed mouth. Manning produced his wallet and counted out twelve one hundred dollar bills. He stuffed them into the Greek's breast pocket.
'All debts paid, Mikali. Bother the old man again and I'll break your neck.' He turned to Dimitri.
'And you're a witness. He's had his money. Don't forget.'
He jumped for the ladder and Dimitri started the engine and took the speedboat away in a long sweeping curve. Manning watched until it had disappeared behind the cay and then turned.
The old man was sitting on the bench outside the wheelhouse, filling his pipe. When it was going to his satisfaction, he puffed out a cloud of smoke and shrugged. 'So we go to San Juan?'
'You sure?' Manning said.
Papa Melos nodded. 'What else can I do? You save my life, you save my boat. It's fate.'
'What about you?' Manning said to the girl.
She was standing at the other rail, her back towards him. She turned and looked at him gravely. 'I don't see that we really have any choice. We are a proud people, Mr Manning. We like to pay our debts.'
For a moment Manning had an insane desire to tell them the truth, to warn them that they were imperiling much more than the boat if they went through with this thing. But then he remembered his reason for going.
He shrugged. 'That's fine by me. I'm ready to start when you are.'
9
South from Andros
He was not conscious of having slept, only of being awake and looking at his watch and realizing, with a sense of shock, that it was three in the morning. He pulled on his heavy reefer jacket and left the cabin.