more alarmed.
He nodded. 'I told you, I'm pretty sure the Reds panicked when they couldn't pinpoint Jetwind by satellite. The United States Navy and Britain have arranged a similar sort of test. The U.S. Navy is diverting one of its latest Seascan spy satellites to check on Jetwind at a given place and time, roughly four hundred miles southsouth-west of Gough. A little over three and a half days from now Jetwind must pass at a point directly beneath the line of the Seascan satellite. This nadir position will offer the best test of her undetectability.'
'Why select that particular spot in the Southern Ocean?' I asked. 'Because drifting icebergs and ocean and weather conditions are very similar to the Drake Passage’ he answered. 'The location was very carefully chosen.' 'And if Jetwind doesn't show up?'
For the first time in many fake deals Tideman lifted his head and looked squarely at Kay and me.
'The Seascan is in transit from one secret destination to another -1 don't know where,' he replied. 'It is the once-only time and place for the test. No Jetwind at the rendezvous, no Cape Horn Patrol. It's as simple as that. The sailing ship will be dead – for ever.' 'How much did Paul know of this?'
'I wish I'd had time to find out,' he answered. 'Remember his intense interest in your so-called hallucinations? They were supposed to have occurred roughly in the Seascan rendezvous area.' He paused and added, 'And that's where the Orion crashed.'
'I have something to add,' I said, 'something I didn't mention even to Paul in regard to my 'hallucinations'. To. this day I'm not sure whether I saw it or not.'
Tideman leaned forward; his elbows banging on the table. 'Okay, say it now – what was it?'
'I thought I saw a submarine. She wasn't moving. She was at anchor, moored. Loading something. Then she was swallowed up by the mist.'
Chapter 24
'We've got to retake the ship!'
I was saying next morning to Tideman what I seemed to have repeated a hundred times since the evening before. Tideman's revelations about Jetwind's value as a space-age weapon had left me with a feeling of bewilderment. I had slept badly. It was before breakfast in the sick-bay, and we were waiting for an early Cape news bulletin. Radio reception on Kay's little set was improving. The deduction was that we were shortening the distance to Cape Town. There was no way of establishing our position, even roughly. Tideman and I had speculated about it as frequently as I had reiterated my determination to recapture the ship. We were aware that Jetwind hadn't altered course and was still following my planned route to Gough. We were also able to estimate her speed to within a couple of knots; Grohman kept her going like a train.
The strain of his long vigil was telling on our guard. He would fidget in his seat, then take a pace or two up and down the outer glass-partitioned office, keeping himself alert until his relief arrived.
Tideman nodded in his direction. ‘To get at him, we have somehow to get past that glass partition. As things stand, we have no hope of a surprise.' 'They hold all the trumps,' I agreed.
'All but one,' he answered. He thrust his hand into his 'slide-rule' pocket. 'This.'
'Keep that hidden, for Pete's sake!' I said. 'We've got to find or create the opportunity to use it. It's not only our lives that are at stake. There are all the other consequences. I'm also desperately worried what they'll do to Kay.'
'I don't like the sound of Kyyiv either,' he replied. 'If they got their hands on her at Molot, I fear she's done for.' 'Meaning?'
He side-stepped a direct answer. 'It was better she should know Jetwind’s secret. If the pressure becomes too great, she could always break down and confess. Not knowing and playing the genuine innocent might only lead to something worse.'
I got up and made for the partition like a lion trapped in a cage. Up came the sentry's automatic. 'Peter! Leave it! Here comes the Cape news!' It took a great effort to pull myself away. 'There is concern in Cape Town shipping circles regarding the whereabouts of the missing sailing ship Jetwind, which began an attempt on the Falklands- Cape record some days ago’ said the suave tones of the woman newsreader. 'All attempts to establish communication with the ship have failed. The owner, Mr Axel Thomsen, told our news staff this morning that he is worried about the safety of the ship, which encountered a storm of hurricane proportions shortly after leaving Port Stanley. Weather satellite photographs confirm that a storm of unusual intensity is still raging along the route Captain Rainier decided to take to Gough Island. Captain Rainier had been warned by weather experts not to follow this course…'
'I can't stand this holier-than-thou, I-told-you-so crap!' I exclaimed angrily. 'If they only guessed what was going on!' 'No one could guess, Peter,' replied Tideman. I tried to defuse my frustration. 'This amounts to the fact that Grohman is keeping radio silence, doesn't it?' 'Wouldn't you, in his shoes, with the stakes involved?' The bulletin went on: – 'Mr Thomsen adds that South African Naval Headquarters has informed him that the area where Jetwind was last reported is well outside the range of long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft. Nevertheless, if nothing is heard today from the missing ship, the South African research vessel Agulhas, which is now on a routine replenishment voyage to our weather station on Gough Island, may be diverted to search for Jetwind. The Agulhas is equipped with two helicopters, which would enable a wide area of ocean to be covered…'
There was an interruption. Grohman had arrived in the outside office. With him was the guard's relief, looking the freshest of the three.
Grohman, carrying his automatic, unlocked the door. He was strained and unshaven. If I was short on sleep, he was shorter. Kay emerged from her cubicle. I said, 'You just missed an interesting news bulletin, Grohman. Everyone is getting pretty worried about Jetwind’ 'The people who matter aren't worried’ he retorted.
I went on, trying to needle him. 'Your radio silence is proving counter-productive. You didn't hear what the radio had to say.'
'Don't play games!' he snarled. 'Landajo tapes all the main news bulletins. I can hear them at my leisure.'
I kept silent. His nerves were too ragged to take it. Finally he snapped. 'Out with it – what did the news say?'
'If nothing is heard today from Jetwind, the Agulhas will divert from Gough and search the Southern Ocean – with helicopters.' 'You lie!' he exploded. 'You are making this up!'
'You can check – it's on tape, you said so yourself.' I pushed home my verbal attack. 'That means that they'll locate Molot, Grohman. What will your bosses in the Soviet Fleet say when they find out you've blown their cover? The eyes of the world are already focused on this section of the Southern Ocean because of Jetwind. You haven't been nearly clever enough!' 'I should shoot you!' he snarled.
'It's too late,' I replied with more bravado than I felt. 'You've started something you can't reverse. Searchers will be here soon like a swarm of bees.'
I felt Grohman was against the ropes, psychologically speaking.
He said defensively, 'If I had sent a Mayday, they would have been here in any event.'
'You should simply have carried on as if nothing had happened,' I persisted. 'Just pretended you were me. I doubt whether if you'd tried it Thomsen would have fallen for a yarn about a second Jetwind skipper having died by accident.'
'Don't mock me, you bastard! There is still time to put the search off the scent.' 'Go ahead,' I said. 'You're the skipper.'
'Rainier,' he said in a way which was more sinister than his histrionics, 'Molot Command has instructed me to deliver you – unharmed. It might be a lot easier for you if I could tell them you had been cooperative. As it is…'He shrugged.
Kay broke in. 'Get this clear -1 will not cooperate under duress or any other way. I go along with Peter and John -whatever.' 'Those are very big words,' sneered Grohman. 'We shall See – at Molot.' We knew what had been in his mind regarding the search for Jetwind when we heard the lunch-time news bulletin. 'There is news at last of the sea drama being enacted in the Southern Ocean around the space-age windjammer Jetwind. Naval Headquarters at Silvermine, Cape Town, reports that a faint, garbled radio message was picked up this morning
