Fine, he said. You do all that, but don't forget to get your chubby
little backside across here for the launching of Sea Witch. 'Chubby
obese, or chubby nice? she demanded.
Chubby beautiful/ he grinned. And I'll have room service ready to send
up the food, in a front-end loader. Nicholas sat over the telephone for
the rest of the day, 4 having his meals brought up to the suite, while
he worked systematically down the long list of names he had drawn up
with the help of the tape-recording of Lazarus report.
The list began with all those who it seemed had loaned capital to
Christy Marine for the construction of Golden Dawn, and then went on to
those who had written lines of insurance on the hull, and on the
pollution cover for the tanker.
Nicholas dared not be too specific in the summation he gave to each of
them, he did not want to give Duncan Alexander an opportunity to throw
out a smoke-screen of libel actions against him. But in each case,
Nicholas spoke to the top men, mostly men he knew well enough to use
their Christian names, and he said just enough to show that he knew the
exact amount of their involvement with Christy Marine, to suggest they
re-examine the whole project, especially with regard to Golden Dawn's
underwriting and to her contract of carriage with Orient Amex.
In the quiet intervals between each telephone call, or while a name was
tracked down by a secretary, Nicholas sat over the Place Vendome and
carefully re-examined himself and his reasons for what he was doing.
It is so very easy for a man to attribute to himself the most noble
motives. The sea had given Nicholas a wonderful life, and had rewarded
him in wealth, reputation and achievement, Now it was time to repay part
of that debt, to use some of that wealth to protect and guard the
oceans, the way a prudent farmer cherishes his soil. It was a fine
thought, but when he looked below its shining surface, he saw the shape
and movement of less savoury creatures, like the shadows of shark and
barracuda in the depths.
There was pride. Golden Dawn had been his creation, work, was going to
be the culmination of a laurel crown on his career. But it had been
taken from him, and bastardized - and when it failed, when the whole
marvelous concept collapsed in disaster and misery, Nicholas Berg's name
would still be on it. The world would remember then that the whole
grandiose design had originated with him.
There was pride, and then there was hatred. Duncan Alexander had taken
his woman and child. Duncan Alexander had wrested his very life from
him. Duncan Alexander was the enemy, and by Nicholas rules, he must be
fought with the same single-mindedness, with the same ruthlessness, as
he did everything in his life.
Nicholas poured himself another cup of coffee and lit a cheroot;
brooding alone in the magnificence of his suite, he asked himself the
question:
If it had been another man in another ship who was going to transport
the El Barras crudes - would I have opposed him so bitterly? The
question needed no formal reply. Duncan Alexander was the enemy.
Nicholas picked up the telephone, and placed the call he had been
