The Savage Day - Jack Higgins [20]
'As houses,' I said taking the briefcase he passed to me.
He hung on to the parcel, stepped gingerly into the dinghy and sat down in the prow. As we moved towards the motor cruiser, he turned to have a look at her.
'Are you satisfied?'
'Couldn't be better.'
'The Kathleen, isn't that what they call her? I must say she doesn't look much.'
'Which is exactly why I chose her,' I said.
We bumped against the hull, I went up the short ladder and over the rail with the line. As I turned to help Meyer a curtain of rain drifted across the harbour. He darted for the shelter of the companionway and I followed him down to the saloon.
'What about some breakfast?' I said as he took off his coat and hat.
'Breakfast?' He looked at me blankly. 'But it's almost noon.'
'So I got up late.' I shrugged. 'All right, tea then.'
I went into the galley and as I put on the kettle, Al Bowlly broke into It's all forgotten now. When I went back into the saloon, Meyer was sitting at the table lighting one of the fat Dutch cigars he favoured, the little cassette tape-recorder in front of him.
'When are our friends due?'
I glanced at my watch. 'About an hour. You're late. What kept you?'
'The Brigadier came to see me before I left so I had to get a later plane.'
'What did he want?'
'A final briefing, that's all. He's flying to Northern Ireland himself this afternoon to be on hand in case he's needed.'
The kettle started to whistle in the galley so I went in to make the tea. Meyer followed and leaned in the doorway, watching me.
'Perhaps I'm tired or maybe it's just that I'm getting old and I didn't sleep so good last night and that's always a bad sign with me.'
I poured milk and tea into two enamel mugs, topped them up with a largish measure of Jameson and handed him one. 'What are you trying to say, Meyer?'
'I don't feel so good about this, Simon.'
'Like you said, you're tired, that's all.'
He shook his head violently. 'You know me. I get an instinct for these things and I'm never wrong. The first time I felt like this was when I was seventeen years of age back in 1938.'
'I know,' I said. 'You've told me often enough. You got out of Munich half an hour before the Gestapo came to arrest you. Your uncle and aunt wouldn't listen and died in Dachau.'
He made a violent gesture, tea slopping out of his mug. 'Don't mock me, Simon. What about that time in Casablanca? If you hadn't listened to me then and left on the next plane they'd have arrested both of us.'
'All right, so you've got second sight.' I moved past him into the saloon. 'Have you tried telling the Brigadier you don't feel so good about things?'
He shrugged helplessly and sat down at the table opposite me. 'How do we get into such situations, Simon? It's crazy.'
'Because we didn't have any choice,' I said. 'It's as simple as that. Did you bring what I asked?'
'In the parcel.' I started to unwrap it and he added, 'Where's the cargo?'
'The Lahtis are in the aft cabin. You're sitting on the Uzis.'
I removed the last of the brown paper and opened the flat cardboard box it contained. Inside there was several pounds of what looked like children's Plasticine, but was in fact a new and rather effective plastic explosive called ARI 7. There was a box of chemical fuses to go with it.
There was also a cloth bundle tied with string, which when I opened it contained several clips of ammunition and a Mauser automatic pistol with a rather strange bulbous barrel.
'That damn thing's almost a museum piece,' Meyer observed as I hefted it on one hand. 'You've no idea the trouble I had finding one.'
'I know,' I said. 'But it's still the only really effective silenced handgun ever made.' I picked up the box and stood. 'Let's go up top. I want to show you something.'
It was raining harder than ever when we went out on deck. I led the way into the wheelhouse, put the box down on the chart table, reached underneath and pressed a spring catch. A flap fell down which held a Mark IIS Sten. There were several other spring clips and a shelf behind.
'A slight improvement,' I said. 'This is what