held his blue beret on with one hand, while with the other he lugged his
suitcase. He ran doubled up, instinctively avoiding the ear-numbing
clatter of the helicopter's rotor.
He threw his suitcase through the open fuselage door and then hesitated,
turned and scampered back to where the ship's Chief Engineer stood at
the edge of the white painted helipad target on Golden Dawn's tank deck.
Charles grabbed the Engineer's upper arm and leaned close to shout in
his ear.
Remember, my friend, treat her like a baby, like a tender virgin - if
you have to increase speed, do so gently - very gently. The Engineer
nodded., his sparse sandy hair fluttering in the down-draught.
Good luck/ shouted the Frenchman. Bonne chance! He slapped the man's
shoulder. I hope you don't need it! He darted back and scrambled up
into the fuselage of the Sikorsky, and his face appeared in one of the
portholes. He waved once, and then the big ungainly machine rose slowly
into the air, hovered for a moment and then banked low over the water,
setting off in its characteristic away nose-down attitude for the
mainland, still hidden by haze and distance.
Dr. Samantha Silver, dressed in thigh-high rubber waders and with her
sleeves rolled up above the elbows, staggered under the weight of two
ten-gallon plastic buckets of clams as she climbed the back steps of the
laboratory building.
Sam! down the length of the long passageway, Sally-Anne screamed at
her. We were going to leave without you! What is it? Sam dumped the
buckets with relief, slopping salt water down the steps.
Johnny called - the anti-pollution patrol bespoke Golden Dawn an hour
ago.
She's in the Straits, she was abeam Matanilla reef when they spotted her
and she will be abeam of Biscayne Key before we can get out there, if we
don't leave now. I'm coming. Sam hefted her heavy buckets, and broke
into a rubber-kneed trot. I'll meet you down on the wharf did you call
the TV studio? There's a camera team on the way/ Sally-Anne yelled back
as she ran for the front doors. Hurry, Sam - fast as you like! Samantha
dumped the clams into one of her tanks, switched on the oxygen and as
soon as it began to bubble to the surface, she turned and raced from the
laboratory and out of the front doors.
Golden Dawn's deck officer stopped beside the radarscope, glanced down
at it idly, then stooped with more attention and took a bearing on the
little glowing pinpoint of green light that showed up clearly inside the
ten-mile circle of the sweep.
He grunted, straightened, and walked quickly to the front of the bridge.
Slowly, he scanned the green windchopped sea ahead of the tanker's
ponderous bows.
Fishing boat/ he said to the helmsman. But they are under way. He had
seen the tiny flash of a bow wave. And they are right in the main
navigational channel - they must have seen us by now, they are making a
turn to pass us to starboard. He dropped the binoculars and let them
dangle against his chest. Oh thank you. He took the cup of cocoa from
the steward, and sipped it with relish as he turned away to the
