'Have I the ward sister's permission to have a few words with the Captain?'
'The Captain is only two beds away.' Margaret Morrison eyed the Bo'sun speculatively. 'Or do you have another secret session in mind?'
'Well, yes, it is rather private.'
'More U-boat ramming, is it?'
'I never want to see another U-boat in my life.' McKinnon spoke with some feeling. 'The only thing that heroics will get us is an early and watery grave.' He nodded towards the bed where Oberleutnant Klaussen was lying, moving restlessly and mumbling to himself in a barely audible monologue. 'Is he like this all the time?'
'All the time. Never stops rambling on.'
'Does any of what he says make sense?'
'Nothing. Nothing at all.'
McKinnon guided the Captain into a chair in the small lounge off the crew's mess.
'Mr Patterson and Mr Jamieson are here, sir. I wanted them to hear what I have in mind and to have your permission to — perhaps — carry out certain things I have in mind. I have three suggestions to make.
'The first concerns our destination. Are we absolutely committed to Aberdeen, sir? I mean, how ironclad are the Admiralty orders?'
Captain Bowen made a few pointed but unprintable observations about the Admiralty, then said: 'The safety of the San Andreas and of all aboard her are of paramount importance. If I consider this safety to be in any way endangered I'll take the San Andreas to any safe port in the world and the hell with the Admiralty. We're here, the Admiralty is not. We are in the gravest danger: the biggest peril facing the Admiralty is falling off their chairs in Whitehall.'
'Yes, sir.' The Bo'sun half-smiled. 'I did think those questions rather unnecessary but I had to ask them.'
'Why?'
'Because I'm convinced there's a German espionage network in Murmansk.' He outlined the reasons he had given to Lieutenant Ulbricht less than an hour previously. 'If the Germans know so much about us and our movements, then it's nearer a certainty than a possibility that they also know that our destination is Aberdeen. Maintaining any kind of course for Aberdeen is like handing the Germans a gift from the gods.
'Even more important, from my way of thinking, anyway, is why the Germans are so very interested in us. We probably won't know until we arrive in some safe port and even then it might take some time to find out. But if this unknown factor is so very valuable to the Germans, might it not be even more valuable to us? It is my belief-I can't give any solid grounds for this belief-that the Germans would rather lose this valuable prize than let us have it. I have the uncomfortable feeling that if we got anywhere near Aberdeen the Germans would have a submarine, maybe two, loitering somewhere off Peterhead — that's about twenty-five miles nor'-nor'-east of Aberdeen — with orders not to let us move any further south. That could mean only one thing — torpedoes.'
'Say no more, Bo'sun,' Jamieson said. 'You've got me convinced. Here's one passenger who wants Aberdeen struck right off our cruise itinerary.'
'I have a feeling you're right,' Bowen said. 'Maybe one hundred per cent. Even if the chances were only ten per cent we wouldn't be justified in taking the risk. I have a complaint to make against myself, Bo'sun. I'm supposed to be the captain. Why didn't I think of that?'
'Because you had other things on your mind, sir.'
'And where does that leave me?' Patterson said.
'I've only just thought of it myself, sir. I'm sure that when Mr Kennet and I were ashore in Murmansk we missed something. We must have. What I still don't understand is why the Russians pulled us into Murmansk, why they were so prompt and efficient in repairing the hole in the hull and completing the hospital. If I had the key to answer that question I'd know the answer to everything, including the answer to why the Russians were so helpful and cooperative, in marked contrast to their standard behaviour which usually ranges from unfriendliness to downright hostility. But I don't have that key.'
'We can only speculate,' Bowen said. 'If you've had time to consider this, Bo'sun, you've obviously had time to consider alternative ports. Safe ports. Bolt-holes, if you like.'
'Yes, sir. Iceland or the Orkneys — that is, Reykjavik or Scapa Flow. Reykjavik has the disadvantage of being half as far away again as Scapa: on the other hand, the further west we go the more we steam out of the reach of the Heinkels and Stukas. Heading for Scapa, we should be within easy reach, practically all the way, of the Heinkels and Stukas based in Bergen and there's the other disadvantage that ever since Oberleutnant Prien sank the Royal Oak up there, the mine defences make entry impossible. But it has the advantage that both the Navy and the RAF have bases there. I don't know for certain but I should think it very likely that they maintain frequent air patrols round the Orkneys — after all, it is the base of the Home Fleet. I have no idea how far out those patrols range, fifty miles, a hundred, I don't know. I think there's a good chance that we would be picked up long before we're even near Scapa.'
'Tantamount to being home and dry, is that it, Bo'sun?'
'I wouldn't quite say that, sir. There are always the U-boats.' McKinnon paused and considered. 'As I see it, sir, four things. No British pilot is going to attack a British hospital ship. We'd probably be picked up by a patrol plane like a Blenheim which wouldn't waste much time in calling up fighter support and no German bomber pilot in his senses is going to risk meeting up with Hurricanes or Spitfires. The patrol plane would also certainly radio Scapa to have them open a minefield passage for us. Lastly, they'd probably send out a destroyer or frigate or sloop — something fast, anyway, with enough depth-charge to discourage any U-boat that might be around.'
'Not a very enviable choice,' Bowen said. 'Three days to Scapa, you would say?'
'If we manage to shake off this U-boat which I'm pretty sure is following us. Five days to Reykjavik.'
'What if we don't manage to shake off our shadower? Aren't they going to become very suspicious indeed when they see us altering course for Scapa Flow?'
'If they do succeed in following us, they won't notice any course alteration for a couple of days or more. During that time we'll be on a direct course to Aberdeen. Once we get south of the latitude of Fair Isle we'll alter course southwest or west-south-west or whatever for Scapa.'
'It's a chance. It's a chance. You have any preference, Mr Patterson?'
'I think I'll leave my preference to the Bo'sun.'
'I second that,' Jamieson said.
'Well?'
'I'd feel happier in Scapa, sir.'
'I think we all would. Well, Bo'sun, suggestion number one dealt with. Number two?'
'There are six exits from the hospital area, sir, three for'ard and three aft. Don't you think it would be wiser, sir, if we had everybody confined to the hospital area, except, of course, for those on watch in the engine-room and on the bridge? We know our latest Flannelfoot is still with us and it seems a good idea to confine his sphere of operations — if he has any left, which we don't know — to as limited an area as possible. I suggest we seal up four of those doors, two aft, two for'ard and post guards at the other two doors.'
'Weld them up, you mean?' Jamieson said.
'No. A bomb might hit the hospital. The two doors not sealed off might buckle and jam. Everyone would be trapped. We just close the doors in the usual way and give them a couple of moderate taps with a sledge.'
Patterson said: 'And maybe Flannelfoot has access to his own private sledgehammer.'
'He'd never dare use it. First metallic clang and he'd have the whole ship's company on his back.'
'True, true.' Patterson sighed. 'I grow old. YOU had a third point?'
'Yes, sir. Involves you, if you will. I don't think it would do any harm if you were to assemble everybody and tell them what's going on — not that you can get across to Captain Andropolous and his crew — because I'm sure most have no idea what's going on. Tell them about Dr Singh, the transceiver and what happened to Limassol. Tell them that another Flannelfoot is at large and that's why we've closed all four doors so as to limit his movements. Please tell them that although it's not a very nice thing, they are to watch each other like hawks — it is, after all, in their own survival interests — and to report any suspicious behaviour. It might just cramp Flannelfoot's style and it will at least give them something to do.'
Bowen said: 'You really think, Bo'sun, that this — the sealing off of the doors and the warning to the ship's company — will keep Flannelfoot in check?'
