Thunder Point

groaning in pain, was aware of the boat moving, lurching a little. Too late to retreat now and his own stubbornness refused to let him.

The radio and sound room was on the right, the captain’s quarters opposite to his left, no curtain left now, long since decayed over the years. There was a metal locker, a door hanging off, the skeleton of a bunk. He splayed the beam of the torch around and saw it lying in the corner, coated with filth, a metal briefcase with a handle, just like the one Baker had taken to London.

He ran a hand across it, silver gleamed dully, and then the floor tilted at an alarming angle and everything seemed to be moving. He bounced against the bulkhead, dropping the case, grabbed it again, turned and started through the hatch. His jacket snagged and he stopped dead, struggling frantically, aware of the boat tilting farther. And then Carney was in front of him, reaching through to release him.

The American turned and made for that gash in the hull and Dillon went after him, the whole boat tilting now, sliding, the strange, groaning noises, metal scraping across the edge, and Carney was through, drifting up, and Dillon rose to join him, hovering on the edge of the cliff, and as they turned to look down, the great whalelike shape of U180 slid over the edge and plunged into the void.

Carney made the okay sign, Dillon responded, then followed him across the ridge to the anchor line. He checked his computer. Another twenty minutes, which was fine, and he followed up the line slowly, but Carney was taking no chances. At fifteen feet he stopped and looked down. Dillon nodded, moved up beside him and raised the briefcase in his right hand. He could tell that Carney was smiling.

They stayed there for five minutes, then surfaced at the stern to find Ferguson leaning over anxiously. “Dear God. I thought the end of the world had come,” he said.

They stowed the gear, made everything shipshape. Carney pulled on jeans and a tee-shirt, Dillon his tracksuit. Ferguson got the thermos, poured coffee and added brandy from the half-bottle.

“The whole bloody sea erupted,” he said. “Never seen anything like it. Sort of boiled over. What happened?”

“She was lying on a ledge, Brigadier, you knew that,” Carney said. “Already sticking right out, and the force of the explosion made her start to move.”

“Good God!”

Carney drank some of the coffee. “Christ, that’s good. Anyway, this idiot here decided he was going to go inside anyway.”

“Always suspected you were a fool, Dillon,” Ferguson told him.

“I got the briefcase, didn’t I? It was in the corner of the captain’s quarters on the floor, and then the whole damn boat started to go, taking me with it because I got snagged trying to get back out of the hatch.”

“What happened?”

“A mad, impetuous fool called Bob Carney who’d decided to follow me and pulled me through.”

Carney went and looked over the side, still drinking his coffee. “A long, long way down. That’s the last anyone will ever see of U180. It’s as if she never existed.”

“Oh, yes, she did,” Ferguson said. “And we have this to prove it,” and he held up the briefcase.

There wasn’t much encrusting. Carney got a small wire brush from the tool kit and an old towel. The surface cleaned up surprisingly well, the Kriegsmarine insignia clearly etched into the right-hand corner. Carney unfastened the two clips and tried to raise the lid. It refused to move.

“Shall I force it, Brigadier?”

“Get on with it,” Ferguson told him, his face pale with excitement.

Carney pushed a thin-bladed knife under the edge by the lock, exerted pressure. There was a cracking sound and the lid moved. At that moment it started to rain. Ferguson took the briefcase into the deckhouse, sat down with it on his knees and opened it.

The documents were in sealed envelopes. Ferguson opened the first one, took out a letter and unfolded it. He passed it to Dillon. “My German is a little rusty, you’re the language expert.”

Dillon read it aloud. “From the Leader and Chancellor of the State. Reichsleiter Martin Bormann is acting under my personal orders in a matter of the utmost importance to the State. He is answerable only to me. All personnel, military or civil, without distinction of rank, will assist him in any way he sees fit.” Dillon handed it back. “It’s signed Adolf Hitler.”

“Really?” Ferguson folded it again and put it back in its envelope. “That would fetch a few thousand at auction at Christie’s.” He passed another, larger envelope over. “Try that.”

Dillon opened it and took out a bulky file. He leafed through several pages. “This must be the Blue Book, alphabetical list of names, addresses, a paragraph under each, a sort of thumbnail sketch of the individual.”

“See if Pamer is there.”

Dillon checked quickly. “Yes, Major, Sir Joseph Pamer, Military Cross, Member of Parliament, Hatherley Court, Hampshire. There’s an address in Mayfair. The remarks say he’s an associate of Sir Oswald Mosley, politically sound and totally committed to the cause of National Socialism.”

“Really?” Ferguson said dryly.

Dillon looked through several more pages and whistled softly. “Jesus, Brigadier, I know I’m just a little Irish peasant, but some of the names in here, you wouldn’t believe. Some of England’s finest. A few of America’s also.”

Ferguson took the file from him, glanced at a couple of pages, his face grave. “Who would have thought it?” He put the file back in its envelope and passed another. “Try that.”

There were several documents inside and Dillon looked them over briefly. “These are details of numbered bank accounts in Switzerland, various South American countries and the United States.” He handed them back. “Anything else?”

“Just this.” Ferguson passed the envelope to him. “And we know what that must be, the Windsor Protocol.”

Dillon took the letter out and unfolded it. It was written on paper of superb quality, almost like parchment, and was in English. He read it quickly, then passed it over. “Written at a villa in Estoril in Portugal in July 1940, addressed to Hitler and the signature at the bottom seems to be that of the Duke of Windsor.”

“And what does it say?” Carney asked.

“Simple enough. The Duke says too many have already died on both sides, the war is pointless and should be ended as soon as possible. He agrees to take over the throne in the event of a successful German invasion.”

“My God!” Carney said. “If that’s genuine, it’s dynamite.”

“Exactly.” Ferguson folded the letter and replaced it in its envelope. “If it is genuine. The Nazis were past masters at forgery.” But his face was sad as he closed the case.

“Now what?” Carney asked.

“We return to St. John where Dillon and I will pack and make our way back to London. I have a Learjet awaiting my orders at St. Thomas.” He held up the case and smiled bleakly. “The Prime Minister is a man who likes to hear bad news as quickly as possible.”

The Maria Blanco had dropped anchor off Paradise Beach mid-morning and Algaro and Guerra, in the launch, had made contact at once. Santiago, sitting at his massive desk in the salon, listened as they went over the events of the previous night, then turned to Serra, who was standing beside him.

“Tell me about the situation as you see it, Captain.”

“A long run out there, Senor, perhaps two and a half hours to come back because they’ll be sailing into the wind all the way. I’d say they’ll be back quite soon, probably just before noon.”

“So what do we do, hit them tonight?” Algaro asked.

“No.” Santiago shook his head. “I’d anticipate Ferguson making a move back to London as soon as possible. According to our information he has a Learjet on standby at St. Thomas airport.” He shook his head. “No, we make our move on the instant.”

“So what are your orders?” Algaro demanded.

“The simple approach is the best. You and Guerra will go ashore in one of the inflatables dressed as tourists. Leave the inflatable on Paradise below Cottage Seven, where Ferguson and Dillon are staying. Serra will give you