Sad Wind From the Sea - Jack Higgins [69]
Rose wiped blood from her face and said, 'I think a splinter caught me.'
He turned quickly, concern leaping inside him. 'Here, let me have a look.' There was a deep cut in one cheek. 'Come into the wheelhouse. I'll put a plaster on it.'
O'Hara poked his head out of the hatch. 'Are we still in one piece?' he demanded.
'Get back on the job,' Hagen snarled. The old man disappeared back into the engine-room and Hagen took the girl into the wheelhouse. He pulled out a splintered drawer and found a tin of surgical tape. 'This will have to do for now,' he said. He cut off a strip and placed it over the deep cut. 'There, how's that?'
She smiled wanly. 'Better, but what's going to happen now?'
He lit a cigarette and blew out the smoke steadily. 'I don't think he'll come dashing in again like that in a hurry,' he said. 'For one thing, that grenade must have shaken him, and anyway - he can't risk sinking us. That would mean no gold.' He walked out on deck and stared into the mist. 'No, we'll just have to wait for his next move and hope that O'Hara can mend that pipe.'
Visibility was still down to about thirty yards and the rain, which had slackened a little, suddenly increased. It was with a momentary sense of astonishment that he suddenly heard his name being called loudly from the mist. 'Captain Hagen! Why don't you give in? You can't get away.'
He reassured Rose. 'He's using a loud hailer.' He grinned tightly. 'I wonder what the bastard's playing at?' He raised his voice and called, 'Nothing doing, Kossoff!'
For a few moments there was silence and Hagen wondered whether his reply had been heard and then the Russian spoke again. 'Really, my friend, you are acting rather foolishly. Surely you don't wish the young lady to come to harm?'
Hagen said softly to Rose: 'There's something fishy going on. It sounds as if he's stalling for time. I wonder if he's got something up his sleeve.'
Again Kossoff's voice sounded. 'Come now, Captain.' There was a touch of impatience in his tone. 'Let us act sensibly. All I ask is the gold. You may have your lives.'
There was a slight bump against the hull of Hurrier, and Rose whirled round and screamed, 'Mark, look out behind you!'
Hagen pivoted and fired from the hip. The man who was already on deck was lifted back over the rail. The gun suddenly ceased firing and he dropped it with a curse and closed with the second soldier who half-fell as he scrambled over the rail. The man subsided with a groan and Hagen lifted his inanimate body and threw it into the sea. A small dinghy bobbed in the water and he quickly secured it with a length of rope to the rail.
The girl was white and frightened. Her voice trembled when she said, 'I can't take much more of this.'
Before Hagen could reply the engine of Kossoff's launch suddenly roared through the mist. As he turned, crouching, the launch cut across their prow and raked the deck with small-arms fire. He had only time to sweep Rose down beside the engine-room hatch and protect her with his body. The sound of the launch faded into the distance and he scrambled to his feet and lifted up the girl. 'Are you all right?'
'Yes, a bit shaken, but I'll manage.'
He moved quickly into the shattered wheelhouse to reload the sub-machine-gun and stopped short in the doorway and looked at the interior. The walls were riddled with bullet holes and the wheel was badly splintered. The instrument panel was shattered and for a moment fear gripped him, so that he could not move, and then he stepped forward and examined the controls. Rose said anxiously from the doorway, 'Is everything all right?'
He sighed with relief. 'The steering mechanism still works and that's the main thing.'
He moved out on to the deck again and slipped a fresh magazine