Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [29]
6
They left shortly before noon on the following day. The problem of getting to the beach-house unobserved was solved when Hagen noticed a laundry van parked outside the kitchen. A quiet chat with the driver and a liberal tip ensured that, when the van left, Hagen and the girl were safely hidden in the back amongst the bundles of dirty washing.
At the last moment they had missed Clara and she was nowhere to be found. Hagen wasn't surprised. She had treated him pretty coldly and for a while he had wondered whether she might tell Rose the truth about the whole scheme. He heaved a sigh of relief as the van jolted out of the side entrance and turned into the road. 'Well, we're really on the way now,' he said.
Rose nodded. 'Do you think all this secrecy is necessary?'
He considered the point for a moment before replying. 'Yes, it's worth it if only because it will keep Kossoff guessing. I don't think he's in Macao. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in China. Remember, he knows that whatever happens we've got to arrive at the Kwai Marshes at some time or other.'
'Then what chance have we got?' Rose said.
He laughed grimly. 'We've got one chance,' he said, 'and that's to get into those marshes and out again before he realizes it. That's why I want to leave tonight if we can possibly manage it.' He lit a cigarette and added: 'It all depends on what shape the boat's in. I hope that swine Herrara hasn't knocked her about at all.'
'You love that boat, don't you?' she said. 'You spoke about her then as if she was a woman.'
He grinned. 'Yes, I do think quite a lot about Hurrier.'
'Hurrier,' she said. 'What a peculiar name. What made you choose it?'
'Because that's exactly what she is. She belonged to a dope smuggler who was shot dead in a fight with the Customs near Java. I happened to be in Sourabaya when she was auctioned off. I had a pocketful of money and bought her. She's forty-five feet long, diesel engines. Ex-Japanese Navy, though what they used her for is anybody's guess.' He smiled to himself. 'Just about the fastest thing in these waters.'
Rose chuckled softly. 'I wonder if you'll ever think as much about a woman as you do about that boat,' she said, and then suddenly coloured and lapsed into silence.
The van jolted to a standstill and they opened the doors and scrambled out. They were standing in a small enclosed courtyard. Hagen paid off the driver and said to Rose, 'How do you like it?'
She looked at the gardens which could be seen through an archway in the wall, and at the rear of the cool, pleasant-looking house. 'It's nice.'
'You haven't seen anything yet,' he said. At that moment two Chinese house-boys emerged from the rear door and fought for possession of their luggage. Finally they had things sorted out to their satisfaction and led the way into the house and along a narrow, dark passage, which led into a spacious sun-trap of a lounge.
The lounge jutted out from the rest of the house and the three outside walls were almost entirely constructed of glass. The view was breath-taking and Rose stood in the middle of the floor and clapped her hands like a small child. 'Oh, Mark,' she sighed. 'It's wonderful.' She opened one of the french windows and ran out on to the terrace.
Hagen told one of the house-boys that they were going down to the boat and to ask Charlie to join them when he arrived, then he followed Rose out on to the balcony. He leaned on the balustrade beside her so that their shoulders touched, and looked out over the blue-green China Sea. Beneath the terrace, the cliffs dropped a good hundred feet down into a small, funnel-shaped inlet. From that height they were able to see quite clearly the different shades of green in the waters of the inlet caused by the coral ledges at varying depths. The boat floated motionless beside a stone jetty that pushed out from the bone-white sand. There was no sign of life. Hagen said: 'O'Hara