ever been but her eyes were huge and darkly troubled.
Nicholas, I've always needed you/ she husked. But never as I need you
now. Her existence was being blown away on the wind, and she was
afraid. % You and this ship are all I have left. No, only the ship/ he
said brusquely, and he was amazed that the spell was broken. That soft
area of his soul which she had been able to touch so unerringly was now
armoured against her. With a sudden surge of relief, he realized he was
free of her, for ever. It was over; here in the storm, he was free at
last.
She sensed for the fear in her eyes changed to real terror.
Nicholas, you cannot desert me now. Oh Nicholas, what will become of me
without you and Christy Marine? I don't know/ he told her quietly, and
caught the bosun's chair as it came in over Golden Dawn's rail. He
lifted her as easily as he had lifted his son and placed her in the
canvas bucket.
And to tell you the truth, Chantelle, I don't really care, he said, and
stepping back, he windmilled his right arm.
The chair swooped out across the narrow water, swinging like a pendulum
in the wind. Chantelle shouted something at him but Nicholas had turned
away, and was already going aft in a lurching run to where the three
volunteers were waiting.
He saw at a glance that they were big, powerful, competent-looking men.
Quickly Nicholas checked their equipment, from the thick leather
gauntlets to the bolt cutters and jemmy bars for handling heavy cable.
You'll do, he said. We will use the bosun's tackle to bring across a
messenger from the tug - just as soon as the last man leaves this ship.
Working with men to whom the task was unfamiliar, and in rapidly
deteriorating conditions of sea and weather, it took almost another hour
before they had the main cable across from Warlock secured by its thick
nylon spring to the tanker's stern bollards - yet the time had passed so
swiftly for Nicholas that when he stood back and glanced at his watch,
he was shocked. Before this wind they must have been going down very
fast on the land. He staggered into the tanker's stern quarters, and
left a trail of sea water down the passageway to the elevators, On the
bridge, Captain Randle was standing grim-faced at the helm, and Duncan
Alexander snapped accusingly at him.
You've cut it damned fine. A single glance at the digital print-out of
the depth gauge on the tanker's control console bore him out. They had
thirty-eight fathoms of water under them now, and the GoldenDawnls
swollen belly sagged down twenty fathoms below the surface. They were
going down very swiftly before the easterly gale winds. It was damned
fine, Nicholas had to agree, but he showed no alarm or agitation as he
crossed to Randle's side and unhooked the hand microphone.
David/ he asked quietly, are you ready to haul us off? Ready, sir/
David Allen's voice came from the speaker above his head.
I'm going to give you full port rudder to help your turn across the
wind/ said Nicholas, and then nodded to Randle. Full port rudder. Forty
degrees of port rudder on/ Randle reported.
They felt the tiny shock as the tow-cable came up taut, and carefully
Warlock began the delicate task of turning the huge ship across the
