‘You want some sandals?’ Andy said, indicating a new leather pair beside the bed. ‘The first officer won’t mind. He said you could ’elp yourself to anything. He’s a good lad.’
Stratton tried on the sandals. They were a perfect fit.
He went to the door and into the corridor. Andy stepped out behind him. ‘They’re waiting for you in the galley,’ he said.
‘Has the girl surfaced?’ Stratton asked as he reached the stairs.
‘She left a few hours ago.’
Stratton stopped and looked at the guard, wearing a puzzled expression. ‘What do you mean?’
‘She took a lifeboat.’
‘I don’t understand.’
Andy stood there.
‘You dropped her off back in the middle of the Gulf of Aden?’
‘It wasn’t quite like that,’ Andy countered. ‘She was pretty knackered, more so than you were. She asked about you and we said you’d got your head down. I offered her a room but she said she wanted to look about the ship. The outside part. Then she asked about the lifeboats and how they were launched. Then we ’ad something to eat. She was quite hungry. Then she went for a walk on deck. She must’ve spent a bit of time loading the boat up with food and water. Next thing we realised, the boat was gone and so was she.’
‘She lowered a lifeboat on her own without you knowing about it?’
Andy looked like he had been cornered. ‘Not quite. You said she was Chinese government. We took it she was working with our side, because of you. So we let her pretty much do what she wanted. Plus she was very nice.’
‘How’d she lower the boat on her own and cast off?’
‘Well, it wasn’t exactly on her own. I ’elped her,’ Andy said, looking embarrassed. ‘Are you saying we shouldn’t have ’elped her?’
Stratton wondered if he was being serious. ‘Where was she going?’
‘I asked her that. She said she was going to RV with a Chinese ship. I asked her how she was going to RV with it without any comms. She didn’t have a radio or anything. She then looked me in the eye, a bit fearsome like, and said she had unfinished business. I was in an awkward situation. I couldn’t come and get you. She’d’ve been gone by then anyway. So I thought, Bollocks, she’s a government operative, even though Chinese, and working with our side. So there you ’ave it. I ’elped her lower the boat.’
Stratton thought hard about the information, his immediate concern whether she could compromise his side’s intentions, based on their respective goals. As far as he had understood her goals, he could see no real issues, no massive ones anyway. The two governments might clash on how they would handle the situation. The Chinese would be less concerned about human rights and international protocols. The UK might be sensitive to China’s embarrassment at letting the weapons slip through their hands in the first place. Ultimately the two countries wanted the same thing, which was to put a stop to the use of the missiles. The two countries would go about that in different ways, but Stratton couldn’t see anything to panic about.
The fact was she was gone and he could do nothing about it. He wondered where she was headed. If she’d loaded up with food and water, it wouldn’t be to RV with any nearby Chinese naval vessel. And if she wanted to get to somewhere in the West, her best bet would have been to stay with the bulker, especially since she had no money and no identification.
So maybe she had gone back to Somalia. The comment about unfinished business could suggest that much.
The girl was without doubt ballsy. Stratton could only wonder what was driving her. Whatever, it was far beyond the call of duty, particularly after what she had been through. Maybe she wanted revenge. It seemed extreme to him, but he wasn’t a woman. ‘Did she have enough fuel to cover a hundred and fifty miles?’
‘No,’ the guard replied. ‘But the boat’s got a good sail system.’
She could get back to the Somali coast. But she would have to make her way to the village without being challenged. ‘Did she take a weapon?’
‘No,’ Andy said with confidence. ‘We’ve only got the five AKs on board and she wouldn’t get her hands on one of them even if she took a turn for the lads.’ Andy smiled at the crude quip but lost it when Stratton did not respond.
Despite the girl’s motives, her actions didn’t seem sensible ones to Stratton. And she never came across as stupid. The only other motive for her leaving the ship that he could think of was fear. But of what, he had no idea. Fear of failure perhaps. Fear of returning to her bosses without having completed her mission, whatever that was. He thought she’d done enough to be given a medal. Perhaps it was the fear of being questioned by the British. That might not go down well with her leaders. The Chinese Secret Service was clearly a strict outfit.
Stratton wished he’d had a moment to say farewell to her. He had grown to like her. He certainly respected her. She weighed nothing and was as hard as some of the toughest men he had known. He wished her well, whatever she was doing. He trotted down the steps to the main deck level. Through the open door he glimpsed a navy helicopter thundering by, a sleek, grey Lynx, the fastest chopper in the world and it looked like the pilot was putting it through its paces.
Stratton stepped into the galley.
Two young, intelligent-looking men in smartly pressed camouflaged fatigues stood talking. Stratton didn’t know either of them. They stopped talking and faced the operative. They looked at him respectfully.
‘Jasper Howel,’ the shorter, blond-haired man said, holding out a hand with a smile. ‘Lieutenant,’ he added, without sounding superior.
‘Hi,’ Stratton replied, shaking his hand.
‘Lieutenant Blythe,’ the other man said.
Stratton shook his hand too.
‘We’ve come to take you to HMS
Just as Stratton had expected.
‘You ready to go?’ Blythe asked.
‘Sure,’ Stratton said.
Blythe put a radio to his mouth and pressed the send button. ‘Sierra, this is hard stand. We’re ready to depart.’
‘Sierra, roger,’ a voice boomed back.
Stratton followed Howel out of the galley and on to the main deck. The sun glowed low above the horizon and the wind had picked up.
Bob and the rest of his security retinue had gathered on deck. He stepped forward and offered his hand. ‘It was good to meet you, Mr Stratton.’
Stratton looked him in the eye. ‘Thanks for everything,’ he said, shaking Bob’s hand firmly. The look he gave Bob was a sincere appreciation for taking on the pirates. Bob, his men and the ship had saved Stratton’s life and the operative didn’t take that lightly.
Bob nodded, more than proud of his actions that day. He would dine out on the story, no doubt for the rest of his life. He had seen action, and he had rescued a British SAS man to boot.
‘I sometimes go through Hereford. Perhaps we’ll bump into each other one day and have a pint,’ Bob ventured with a wink.
‘Perhaps,’ Stratton said. ‘You take care,’ he added.
The Lynx came into a hover by the side of the bulker and held its position alongside. Blythe hurried along the deck to meet it.
The security guards held out their hands for Stratton as he passed. He shook each one of them before heading for the helicopter.
‘You’d have more chance meeting him for a pint in Poole than Hereford,’ Howel said to Bob in a low voice, before following Stratton.
‘Bloody ’ell,’ Bob said. ‘Of course.’
‘What’s that?’ one of the guys asked a vexed-looking Bob.
‘Poole. He’s not SAS. He’s SBS,’ Bob said. ‘Bollocks. I should’ve known. The SAS can’t swim.’
Stratton climbed the rails and stepped across into the thudding chopper. Howel followed close behind and as
