Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [34]
When they returned to the boat they walked hand in hand like children. O'Hara was lolling on deck smoking his pipe. The linen suit was badly crumpled and stained with salt water but there was no way they could hide it. O'Hara tried to look unconcerned and said: 'Charlie was looking for you. He wants you up above for dinner at eight.'
'Thanks,' Hagen said. 'We'll be there.'
The old man made a great play of taking out a silver pocket-watch and looking at it. 'Well, now,' he said. 'If I were you, I'd hurry. It's half past seven now.' Rose gave a startled yelp and fled below. The old man winked solemnly at Hagen. 'Amazing how time passes in certain situations,' he observed. Hagen pushed his cap down over his eyes and went below to change.
The dinner was superb. Charlie had obviously decided to make it something of an occasion. Hagen felt warmly content and as he watched Rose chatting animatedly to Mason he no longer felt jealous. She was bound to him now. He knew that with a sureness that was absolute. Once or twice she turned and looked at him and wrinkled her nose and a tiny smile played around the corners of her mouth.
Afterwards they gathered for drinks on the terrace and sat in the dusk chatting quietly. Hagen felt calm and warm inside. It was one of those moments of peace that sometimes come before periods of stress and danger. He had experienced them during the war and now, as then, was grateful.
Charlie and the two house-boys came down to the jetty to see them off. It was a warm, soft night with a luminosity shining from the sea. There was no moon for heavy cloud banked low over the horizon as though a storm were in the offing. Hagen pressed the starter and the engine roared and spluttered into life as if angry at being awakened from a sound sleep. The house-boys cast off for them and O'Hara and Mason hauled in the lines. The boat drifted away from the jetty and poised, almost motionless, for a moment. 'Good luck!' Charlie's last hail sounded detached and unreal and far away.
Hagen was aware of Rose standing at his shoulder. He grinned. 'Well, angel. Here we go.' She smiled back at him, confidently and in complete trust. He opened the throttle and as Hurrier strained forward with a sudden surge of power, he took her through the passage out into the China Sea.
7
Rose went below and after a while Hagen called Mason into the wheelhouse and told him to take over. He spent a thoughtful twenty minutes with charts and navigational instruments and then gave Mason a course. 'I'll get O'Hara to relieve you in a couple of hours,' he told him and went below.
He rummaged about in his duffel-bag until he found the Colt automatic which he had cleaned and oiled and replaced in the polished leather holster that still bore the legend USN. He strapped the holster to his waist and went into the galley and found Rose making coffee. There was a smudge of soot on her face. He laughed and said, 'So you cook as well.'
She grimaced. 'I'll have you know this cooker blew back in my face twice before I managed to find out how the thing works.'
He picked up a damp cloth and wiped the smudge carefully from her face and she reached up and kissed him. 'There, that's better,' he said. As she poured coffee into two mugs he leaned back against the door and lit a cigarette.
'Here's your coffee, darling,' she said and handed him a mug. At the same moment she noticed the holstered gun on his hip. 'Oh, Mark! Do you expect trouble so soon?' she said anxiously.
He raised a reassuring hand. 'Don't go getting flustered,' he said. 'I always expect trouble in these waters. We're not far from Bias Bay which is crawling with pirates - some of them led by women.'
She laughed and threw back her head. 'You're kidding me.'
He shook his head. 'No, I'm in deadly earnest. If you happen to be on deck and you notice any innocent-looking motor sampans or junks call me quickly. They have a nasty habit of sailing close and suddenly about a hundred men appear on deck, all screaming for blood.'
She cut sandwiches as he talked and