Away from his objective. There is no land – whatsoever -between the Falklands and Gough Island.'
'Perhaps Molot is a place we know by a different name -like Malvinas,' suggested Tideman. 'Even then, I don't get it. Grohman is holding Jetwind on the course you selected for Gough.' 'He's not doing it too badly either.'
'There's nothing wrong with his sailoring,' replied Tideman. 'He's sailing by computer. Maybe we could get an extra knot or two out of her manually.'
'The only possibility of land is the South Sandwich group,' I went on. 'But they're far to the south of our present course.'
'South Sandwich it might be,' said Tideman. 'But that doesn't mean much. Most of the islands are volcanic. They're all coated with ice being so near Antarctica. I've heard that the only way to land is by helicopter. They would be totally unsuitable as a base. What if Molot is another name for Gough?'
'No, John. Gough is a South African weather station. It's important – it's the only weather station in the central part of the Southern Ocean. Group Condor couldn't take it over without provoking a massive retaliation.'
'The same objection applies to Tristan da Cunha which is only a couple of hundred miles northwest of Gough,' he answered. 'If Group Condor occupied either of them, it would prejudice the Falklands attack in advance because the secret would be out. Also, any assault force would then have to cross twenty-one hundred miles of ocean in order to reach the Falklands.'
'Poor Paul!' I said. ‘I wonder if he got wind of Grohman's plans?' 'I'm in the same boat as Paul,' Tideman replied quietly.
'Grohman doesn't suspect a thing,' I reassured him. 'If he had, you wouldn't be here, John.'
'You're also living on borrowed time, Peter. Until Molot, Grohman said.'
It all came back to Molot. When night came, we were no nearer an answer. Suddenly the outer sick-bay door opened. 'Kay!' I jumped up to go to her.
'Keep back!' Grohman appeared behind her threatening with the UZI.
Kay and I looked at one another for a long moment. Her eyes told me everything. She was still pale but smiling. The guard warily pitched her suit-case inside.
Grohman looked strained. Holding down a crew of twenty-eight could not have been easy.
'She's to stay here,' he said briefly. 'It's not for the pleasure of your company, let me assure you. It's because I can't spare one man solely to guard her.' 'What do you expect me to say to that?' I asked.
'Listen, Rainier,' he said angrily. 'You and Tideman are expendable, understand? The final decision does not rest with me or else you'd have been overside already. This woman is not in the same category. She is valuable to us. Just as in another way Sir James Hathaway is valuable to us. A million dollars will help finance Group Condor's operations.'
I deliberately tried to rattle him. I would have been prepared to risk the second gun if I could have grabbed his automatic. Tideman, I knew, would back me to the hilt -the hilt of that wicked dagger, which he had managed to keep.
'You're going back to the Malvinas, you say – but you're heading in the opposite direction!'
Kay broke in. 'What possible use can I be to Group Condor! Who'll pay a million dollars for me?'
'You are an expert in sail aerodynamics – that is why you are valuable’ replied Grohman.
'Sail aerodynamics!' she exclaimed. 'What has that to do with killing and murder and unsuspecting attacks?'
'You play the innocent well,' said Grohman. 'But it doesn't wash. At Molot you will be transferred to Soviet protection. I have been notified that afterwards you will be transferred to Kyyiv in Russia itself where secret experiments are being conducted into sail aerodynamics.'
I was stunned; Kay was speechless. If Grohman got wind of Tideman's connection with the Schiffbau Institut's tests, he was a dead man.
Grohman looked triumphant. Perhaps it was his paranoid temperament which compelled him to boast of his superiority – in the face of murder.
'I have been to Kyyiv,' he said. 'We admit that the Schiffbau's experiments are ahead of ours. This ship proves it. You will be a valuable asset to our research team.' 'Kyyiv! Me! I won't go!'
Grohman stroked the finning along the UZI's barrel. It was a cat-like, sinister gesture.
'The decision is not mine whether to force you or not,' he said. 'That rests with Command at Molot. But I advise you not to push your luck too far.' 'Soviet Command, you mean?' I asked. He looked surprised. 'Who else?'
'Nothing will make me go to some secret test ground in Russia under threat!' Kay burst out.
'You have about three days to think it over before we reach 'Moiot,' replied Grohman. 'Think about it well, Senorita Fenton. You will be treated well if you cooperate. Otherwise…' He shrugged. 'You bastard!' I said. 'You crazy bastard!' He swung the automatic on me. For a moment his eyes went kill-blank. Then he relaxed. 'Three days – that is all you have, Rainier!'
He backed out of the sick-bay; the guard took up his previous position behind the glass partition.
I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach. For fully a couple of minutes we all stood rooted. Finally, I broke the silence.
'I'll put your case in a cubicle, Kay – any particular choice?' 'The closer to you both, the better.'
I started to pick up the case and she said, 'They let me bring my transistor radio. It might help pass the time -until Molot.' She was close to tears. 'What is Molot? Peter? John?'
'I wish we knew,' replied Tideman. 'We've been racking our brains all day.'
She went into her cubicle. I followed. Inside, there was no need to say anything. She came into my arms. I could feel the dry sobs from her throat through her breasts against me. Her lips were a warm pulse of agony and denied ecstasy, wet with tears.
'Just when I've found the man I want, I'm to lose him!' she whispered brokenly. 'Why didn't you just let me go this morning? It would have been better all round. Oh, my love, my darling!'
I held her close and said those things which can only be said in the presence of new love. Finally her sobs quietened.
I said, more to comfort her than with any plan in mind, 'Three days is a long time, Kay. Anything could happen before we reach Molot.'
'Molot!' she echoed. 'How I hate that name already! What is it? What does it mean? It has an evil ring, like Trolltunga.'
'It's Russian, that's for sure. What it means is as much a mystery as where it is.' -
Then we joined Tideman in the main 'ward'. He was listening to Kay's radio, turning it every way to try and improve reception.
'I had the Cape Town news’ he said. 'It reported concern because no signals had been received from Jetwind for a day. There was an interview with Thomsen. I couldn't hear clearly – something about no contact with the ship.'
Kay voiced the concern uppermost in all our minds. 'John – Peter – why should the Russians be interested in me? I haven't any secrets!'
Tideman switched.off the radio with a significant gesture. He said gravely, 'You have, Kay.' 'I? Secrets?'
He waved us into a couple of hard chairs round a low table. He opened a drawer by his bed and produced a pack of cards, obviously provided for patients. He nodded towards the watching sentry.
'If we hold a discussion in the ordinary way I'm sure we'll rouse his suspicions,' he said quietly. 'We'll pretend we're playing cards. I'll explain.'
Kay's hand was shaking when Tideman dealt the first round. 'Secrets?' she repeated incredulously.
'Aye, secrets, Kay. Remember when the Schiffbau Institut was making the final wind-tunnel tests of Jetwind's sails and masts?'
'Sure -I was there!' she exclaimed. 'You were there, too. That's where we met.'
'I was – at the invitation of Axel Thomsen himself. He'd heard of my runs round the Horn as a member of the British Services Adventure Scheme and thought I might be able to contribute something practical to the theoretical tests.' 'I stressed the same thing to Thomsen,' I interjected.
'That's what probably made him interested in you as a skipper – your practical experience in Albatros.' He looked anxiously round the sick-bay. 'I take it this place isn't bugged, is it? If so, we might as well say goodbye in the light of what I'm going to say now.' 'Grohman hasn't had any opportunity,' I replied.
