Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [40]
There was only the lapping of the water against the hull and the sighing of the wind. Hagen pressed the starter and the engine roared into life, shattering the stillness of the night. He hurriedly throttled down until they were moving in towards the marshes at a steady five knots, the engine rumbling protestingly on a low note.
There was sweat trickling down his face now as the shape of the land moved out of the night towards them, but there were no shots fired, no alarms. Nothing to indicate that Kossoff was anywhere within a thousand miles. Hagen took the boat through several twisting channels and cut the engines and ran her gently in amongst the giant reeds. He emitted a slow whistle of relief and went out on deck. 'Well, what now?' Mason said.
'So far so good. We've got in - let's hope we can get out as easily when the time comes. We've a big day tomorrow. I think everybody should turn in.'
'What about a guard?' Mason said.
Hagen told him then that he would take first watch and Mason nodded, and he and O'Hara went below. Rose lingered for a brief moment. Hagen held her hand for a little while without saying anything and then she kissed him quickly and followed the others.
He sat back in the wheelhouse, smoking and nursing a sub-machine-gun, and he smelled the marsh all around and heard the crickets singing through the night, and for the first time he began to think that there might be a chance - just a chance - that everything would go off without a hitch.
8
He was awakened shortly before seven the next morning by Mason who told him he had just been relieved by O'Hara who was keeping a sober, if rather bleary, eye on their surroundings. Rose was up and already preparing breakfast. Hagen swallowed a cup of coffee and went on deck and told O'Hara to go below and get some breakfast. He climbed on top of the wheelhouse and looked around him.
As he considered the wide expanse of reeds, he reflected with satisfaction that nowhere could there be a better place in which to play hide-and-seek. Some distance away the China Sea was hazy in the morning sun and inland the reeds seemed to continue unbroken as far as the eye could see.
Hagen knew that this was not so. Interlaced among the reeds was a network of waterways and lagoons - some deep, some shallow. He also knew that somewhere deep in the marshes people lived. Primitive fishermen who built their houses either on piles or the occasional islands. He had met some of these people on previous visits, simple and hard-working, wresting a living from their difficult surroundings. For them there was no Nationalist or Communist Government; the outside world had no meaning for them and they continued to live in the fever and the heat, toiling for their living as they had done for a thousand years.
A flight of wildfowl lifted from the reeds nearby and curved away towards the sea. He dropped down on to the deck and shouted for the others. They all came up from the galley and followed him into the wheelhouse. He pulled out the chart and gave them the full picture. 'From now on it's going to be tough,' he said. 'We've got to be on our toes and ready for trouble at any time of the day or night. There may be scouts out looking for us and we're pretty certain to bump into some of the primitive fishermen who live in the marshes. I don't think we need worry about them. They don't know a Communist from a tax-collector.'
Mason interrupted impatiently. 'Okay, Hagen! But what about the gold? How long will it take us to get to it?'
Hagen frowned and said: 'That's the trouble. According to the cross-bearing Rose has given me we're only eight miles from the lagoon in which the launch sank. As you can see from this chart all the waterways in the marshes aren't marked. In other words, we might have to go through twenty miles of waterway to get to our destination.'
Mason snorted his disbelief. 'Hell, it can't be that bad.'
Hagen smiled