'Ruby! It's OK. It's me, Nick.'
She wasn't listening; she was in a blind panic.
I put a hand on her shoulder.
Finally, she turned, and the moment she saw me her body went rigid. She screamed at the top of her voice.
'It's me . . . it's Nick . . .'
Then I realized: my head, face and hair were covered in blood. The deck was reddening round my feet.
I didn't know what to do. Did I just pick her up, or what?
'It's OK, Ruby. Everything's going to be all right. Calm down, please, it's all right.'
I started throwing open drawers looking for a first-aid kit. There should be a good one on a boat this size. But all I could find was a sort of wooden shoe box with a couple of bandages and bottle of cough mixture inside. It would have to do.
Looking out of the bridge window, I could see a four-seat fibreglass powerboat bobbing alongside us in the swell. We couldn't be that far out to sea.
The door had a weather latch on the top. I threw it. There was no way she was getting out. 'Just stay there, darling – I'll go and get Tally.'
I hobbled back down the stairs. There was nothing more I could do for her right now.
123
The hold looked like a battlefield.
Mairead lay in the corner where I'd first seen the four of them. There was no movement from her. The two Russians lay where they'd died.
Tallulah ran up to me. 'Where is she?'
My leg hurt big-time. 'Upstairs. Go and talk to her. Go look after her.'
She looked down. 'Oh my God, Nick!' She put her arms out, whether to hold me or help me, I wasn't sure. Her breath clouded around us.
'I'm OK. She's up on the bridge. Keep her up there. I haven't finished down here yet.'
Dom hugged Siobhan under the arc lights. I pointed. 'Go with her, help her. Then wait up there for me, OK?'
I dropped the medical box and I followed it onto the deck. Dom let go of his wife and ran over to me.
'Pressure, mate. I need pressure on the wound.'
He didn't need any second bidding. He knelt down and tipped the contents onto the floor.
I looked over at Mairead. 'She dead?'
'Nearly.' He shook his head. 'But not nearly enough.'
He started bandaging my leg tightly to stop the leaks.
I leant back, my hands flat on the steel. I suddenly became aware of how cold I was. Dom shivered as he tied off the bandage.
I gripped his forearm. 'Check through their gear. They've got to have some clothing here somewhere. Get some warm stuff on. There's a boat parked up next to this thing. Get the girls wrapped up, get them all in it.' I nodded over to Mairead. 'I'm going to sort her out and then let's fuck off. Have a look at the nav gear; find out where land is.'
124
Her legs moved.
'Go – get everything sorted and I'll be up there to meet you.'
He tucked in the last of the bandage just above my knee. 'Are you going to kill her?'
I didn't answer.
He stood up and held out a hand. I pulled myself up.
We grabbed an arm each and started dragging her out, just the same as the Russians had dragged me. She bounced over the threshold and into the corridor, then along the red lino and over the cabin threshold.
I ripped off her duvet jacket, checked the pockets and lobbed it at Dom. 'Get this on Ruby.'
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