Passage by Night - Jack Higgins [40]
'No questions,' Manning said. 'Outside.'
She ran for the door and he backed across the room slowly, menacing Rojas with the submachine gun. The Cuban stayed where he was, a hand to his smashed mouth, and Manning backed into the corridor where Anna was leaning against the wall waiting for him.
'All right?'
She nodded. 'I knew what I was doing.'
'Straight out of the front door,' he said. 'You'll find your father in the rear of the jeep that's parked at the bottom of the steps.'
She turned at once and hurried along the corridor and Manning stepped back into the room. Rojas was on his feet and reaching for the telephone that stood on a small coffee table near the divan.
'I don't think so,' Manning said.
Rojas straightened slowly, his face quite calm. 'You won't even get off the island, Manning.'
Manning fired from the hip and the bullets smacked into the Cuban's body. As he spun round, a long burst drove him across the divan and his jacket burst into flames.
As Manning ran along the corridor, he heard shooting and Orlov backed out of the guardroom firing from the hip. They went down the steps on the run and scrambled into the jeep. Anna was already in the rear, crouched beside her father, and Manning switched on the engine and drove away rapidly.
As he rounded the curve of the drive, the sentry was running towards them. Manning accelerated, swinging the wheel so that they swerved, and the man jumped into the bushes.
As they turned out through the gate, he said to Orlov, 'What happened back there?'
The Russian shrugged. 'The guitar player took a chance and tried to grab a rifle from the rack. What about Rojas?'
'Met with a nasty accident.'
Anna moved behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. 'I don't understand all this, Harry. What's been happening?'
'No time to explain now,' he said, 'we'll leave that till we're safe on board the Cretan Lover and well out to sea.'
'We're getting the boat back?'
'We're going to have a bloody good try. This is Sergei Orlov, by the way. We got out of the fortress together.'
A smile of great charm appeared on the Russian's face and he held out his hand. 'How's your father?'
Before she could reply, they roared along the waterfront and Manning geared down and turned onto the jetty. He braked to a halt at the end and jumped out.
The fog was thicker now, rolling up from the water in long opaque fingers. The Cretan Lover was anchored about fifty yards out into the harbour and he unbuttoned his greatcoat quickly.
'You intend to swim?' Orlov said.
Manning nodded. 'Take too long to look for a dinghy and there's a guard on board. I don't want to advertise.'
He lowered himself into the cold water and started to swim in a powerful but quiet breaststroke out into the harbour. When he was only a few feet away from the Cretan Lover, a strange unearthly wailing sounded from the battlements of the fortress, echoing away into the night in a dying fall. It was obviously a siren sounding the general alarm and a soldier emerged from the cabin of the Cretan Lover and rushed to the rail.
Manning took a deep breath and swam down under the boat, the keel scraping his back. He surfaced on the other side beside the short diving ladder and hauled himself up quickly. He moved across the deck silently and pushed the guard over the rail into the water, then ran to the stern and hauled the anchor in by hand.
On shore, all hell seemed to have broken loose and he could see the lights of several vehicles moving down the road from the fortress. The anchor came over the side unexpectedly and he dropped it to the deck and ran into the wheelhouse.
At first, when he pressed the starter, nothing happened. He tried again, holding the button down desperately, and suddenly the engine coughed and spluttered into life.
As he ran alongside the jetty, two jeeps turned onto the waterfront. The rail scraped protestingly against the piles and Anna jumped down and turned to catch her father