Ivory (19 page)

‘What are you going to do, Alex, make me walk the plank?'

‘Yes.' Alex, keeping the pistol trained on the American, moved to a fibreglass pod containing a self-inflating life raft. He cut the securing ties and kicked it overboard, keeping hold of a long rope that uncoiled through his hands. As soon as the container hit the water he yanked hard on the lanyard and the compressed air inside it activated and the raft blossomed into its full size. ‘Jump overboard, into the raft, Mitch.'

‘Very melodramatic. Going to cast me ashore with no provisions?'

‘There's water on board. Jump in before I change my mind and shoot you.'

Mitch turned and looked at Jane. He stared hard into her eyes. ‘You'll pay for this.'

‘Enough idle threats,' Alex said. ‘Jump.'

Mitch stepped off the rear deck and, despite his best efforts to retain his balance, pitched face forward into the bottom of the raft. Alex tossed the carving knife into the boat. ‘Use that to cut the cable ties on your wrists. Oh, and be careful not to cut yourself or stab the boat.'

‘Thanks a lot,
buddy
.'

Alex unfastened the line securing the raft to the
Fair Lady
and returned to the bridge. He punched in a new coordinate and turned north, heading parallel to the coast, and away from Mitch – forever, he hoped. The raft was a shrinking spec on the otherwise pure blue of
the Indian Ocean. It wasn't far to shore, and Mitch had a paddle. Mitch would be OK, but Alex wondered where he would end up. If Jane told the Mozambican police about what was really happening on Ilha dos Sonhos, then Mitch might actually be better off alone.

In a way, he didn't care if she did shop him to the authorities. Danielle was right about his obsession with getting the hotel up and running; but he, too, was being honest with her when he said he wanted to go straight. Perhaps this was the shake-up he needed to start afresh as an honest man.

‘What are you thinking about?' Jane asked.

‘Going straight.'

‘I thought all boys wanted to be pirates.'

‘Maybe it's time for me to grow up. Are you going to tell the police about me, about the island?'

‘I don't know. I haven't made up my mind.'

Alex nodded. He could see her predicament. She had been caught in the crossfire – literally – over an illegal act that had taken place on board the flagship of the company for which she was the legal counsel. It wouldn't be good for her career at Penfold Shipping to raise the alarm if her bosses were involved in diamond smuggling. Nor would it be good for her career as a lawyer if it were later discovered she'd been giving legal advice to a bunch of criminals.

‘I really need to use a phone, you know. You must have communications from this boat – and don't give me that rubbish about broken generators.'

He smiled. ‘Of course. But think about what you're going to say. I'm a criminal, Jane, but I don't want to see you become embroiled in something that's not your business.'

She frowned at him. ‘It
is
my business if employees of Penfold Shipping are involved in smuggling. It's also my duty to report it to the managing director.'

‘As long as he's not involved. I'd play it cool if I were you.'

‘I don't need your advice, Alex. Why haven't you asked me where the package is?'

‘I haven't got around to it, that's all.'

She laughed at his honesty.

‘I don't have it, but I do know where it is.'

‘Are you going to tell me?' he asked.

‘No.'

‘Then I should probably feed you to the sharks. But first, make your phone call.'

Alex opened a drawer under the control panel and handed Jane the satellite phone, which was like an oversized old-fashioned mobile phone. He showed her how to turn it on and returned his attention to the shoreline. ‘I take it you want me to make the call with you around,' Jane said.

‘It's your business, but it's not going to change anything. I won't harm you if you tell him the truth about me.'

He was a riddle, with his softly-softly approach. By rights, and by law, she should call the police and report him and his entire pirate gang. But the seeds of doubt he had planted in her mind – about Piet van Zyl and his men, about Iain MacGregor, and even George Penfold – had taken hold.

By his own admission, Alex had killed a man in the raid on the
Penfold Son
, and for that he should be held to account and punished. However, she was inclined to believe Piet van Zyl had questions to answer over the death of Iain MacGregor, who had entrusted something of great value to her. Alex had more information about that mysterious package than she did. Jane had not even opened the parcel and was surprised to learn it might contain diamonds. If she had not fallen in with Alex and his men, what would Van Zyl have done with her? She, too, had fired a gun at a man, and had discovered that she was capable of killing.

The way Alex had just treated Mitch had convinced her that he was not involved in some clever plot to lever a confession from her. He had genuinely intervened to save her from torture or worse. Ironically, Mitch's threat of pain had worked on her and she had been about to reveal the location of the package when Alex had turned up.

She wondered what Alex's next move would be. Would he try to charm the location out of her? He was a handsome man, but her heart belonged to another man, even though he was married and her boss.

Her life had been so normal until a couple of months ago. And here she was on a boat off the coast of Africa with a self-confessed killer and would-be hotelier. Bizarre.

‘George, it's me!' she said when an excited Gillian connected her.

‘Jane, where are you? Are you hurt? I've been worried sick about you.'

She was pleased at his words, and the sincere tone in his voice. ‘I'm fine, George. I've had a bit of a rough time, but I'm safe and on my way to Johannesburg.'

‘What happened to you?'

She explained, as Alex listened in, that she had made her way to a lifeboat when the
Penfold Son
was attacked – which was the truth – and had lost consciousness and awoken on an island owned by the man who had found her. That, too was the truth, though even as she spoke she asked herself what was making her withhold important information. Alex might yet turn out to be a monster who was even now toying with her.

‘I'll fly out immediately. When can you get a flight?'

‘Um, you know I don't fly, George. I'm going by road.'

‘Well, I'll be there to meet you, at the Melrose Arch, the hotel you were booked into. Call me again when you have a better idea of your ETA.'

‘Got it. It's so good to hear your voice, George.'

‘Yes, well, I've got company here, Jane.'

She wouldn't have said anything intimate over the phone, but she thought he could have given a little hint of his feelings for her, no matter how veiled.

‘Have you heard about Captain MacGregor?' he asked her.

‘Yes. It's a tragedy.'

‘One of the security men on board was also wounded, in the arm.
He fell overboard, but he'll live. Jane,' George continued, ‘did Captain MacGregor give you anything . . . a package of some sort, before he was killed?'

And there it was. As blunt as that. Jane felt as if someone had injected ice water into her spinal column. Her heart beat faster and harder and the hair rose on her arms. Alex looked at her, and she bit her lower lip while she tried to think of what to say.

‘What do you mean by a
package
, George? Papers?'

She glanced back at the pirate behind the joystick that served as the helm on the luxury motor cruiser and saw him give a slight ‘I told you so' nod of his head. Curse his smugness, she thought. She didn't need that now.

‘Not papers. Perhaps a small packet containing something.'

‘Packet of what?'

‘I can't talk now, Jane. I'm flying tonight and I'll be there to meet you, whenever you arrive. I'm pleased you're unharmed. Are you all right for money?'

Pleased? That was the best he could come up with? ‘Will you be able to call me back when you're not so busy?'

‘I've a lot to get done before the flight. Can you give me a number and I'll call you when I get to Johannesburg?'

Jane put her hand over the mouthpiece and asked Alex for the number.

‘You'll understand, I'm sure, if I don't give that to you.'

She nodded and told George she was using a borrowed phone and the man who owned it wouldn't be with her after tomorrow. She agreed to try and call George back at his hotel the next day.

‘Thanks. Goodbye, Jane. I'm pleased you're well.'

Suddenly, she felt very alone.

 

The lighter, a flat-bottomed barge with a shallow draft, was waiting at anchor offshore, when he rounded the point.

Alex took the nine-millimetre from his waistband, cocked it and
replaced it under the loose tail of his white cotton shirt. He shrugged at Jane's wide eyes. ‘A precaution,' he told her.

He eased the throttle to neutral and coasted alongside the smaller vessel. Alfredo threw a line to him and he caught it. The two of them drew the
Fair Lady
alongside, so that she nestled against fenders made of old car tyres, and tied up. The wiry African, dressed in jeans and the shiny red shirt of an English Premier League football club, jumped aboard.

‘
Ola
, Alexandre,
como estas? Todo bem?
' the man said, extending his hand to Alex.

‘
Estou bem
, Alfredo,
et tu?
' The African nodded that he was well. Alex turned to Jane and introduced her.

‘Charmed. It is my pleasure to meet you,' Alfredo said.

Alex knew Alfredo had an eye for the ladies, and more than one female backpacker had ended up staying part of her holiday at his well-appointed beachside villa south of Vilanculos. ‘Jane's travelling with me to South Africa,' he explained in a proprietary tone.

Alfredo nodded that he had received and understood the implicit message. ‘I have a truck standing by on the beach for your . . . cargo, Alexandre.'

‘
Obrigado
,' Alex said.

Alex told Jane he needed a few minutes in private with Alfredo. ‘Of course. How soon before we get to Vilanculos?'

‘About two hours, so you've time for a shower before we dock.'

‘Right. I'll go downstairs then.'

Alex continued to speak Portuguese to Alfredo, in case Jane was still in earshot. He pulled a roll of US dollars from his trousers and counted out two thousand in hundreds. Capitao Alfredo Pereirra was the best police officer money could buy on the Mozambican coast. While Alex trusted Alfredo, he was always armed whenever cash changed hands.

Alfredo called orders in Xitswa to two men who had accompanied him on the lighter and one climbed aboard. He had no trouble starting up the small crane on the
Fair Lady
's stern which had been designed to raise and lower a jet ski. It was now hefting the caged, grunting leopard,
which Alfredo's labourers steadied with tentative fingertips as it moved over the side and onto the lighter.

‘The news is bad for you, Alexandre,' Alfredo said, lighting a cigarette. ‘Why did you have to kill the captain of the
Penfold Son
? I won't be able to protect you from a murder charge if the British government brings pressure to bear on mine.'

Alex didn't bother denying knowledge of the attempted hijack. ‘I didn't kill him, Alfredo. There were armed men on board. I think they were there to safeguard a smuggling deal.'

The policeman's eyebrows lifted in interest. ‘More wildlife? Ivory? Rhino horn?'

Alex shook his head. ‘Maybe diamonds.'

Alfredo gave a low whistle. ‘Is the woman involved?'

‘You ask too many questions, my friend.'

‘It's not me you should be worried about, Alexandre, but I won't go to prison for you, my friend.'

‘I know.' Alex walked out of the airconditioned bridge and the force of the African sun assailed him as he oversaw the transfer of the last of the crates and bags onto the lighter. ‘I'll see you in Vilanculos at three, Alfredo.'

‘Be careful, Alex.'

Once they had untied from the lighter, Alex opened the throttle. He couldn't risk unloading his mammalian and reptilian cargo in the port at Vilanculos in case a policeman or customs official less corrupt than Alfredo took notice. It was a measure of the relationship he had formed with Alfredo that the policeman was not in the least surprised or perturbed about organising at short notice a four-tonne truck to transport a wriggling, snarling menagerie of captive animals. He'd also been frank in his advice, and Alex appreciated his concern.

If Jane wouldn't tell him where she had hidden the diamonds, then he would have to follow her to them. He wasn't assuming she would fall for his charms and give up the location, but Alex was becoming more certain her employer, George Penfold, was involved in the diamond deal. She'd been unable to hide her excitement when the man
had come through on the line, and Alex sensed there was more to their relationship than the purely professional. He'd also seen the way her face had dropped when he had heard Penfold, his voice faint but still understandable, ask Jane if Captain MacGregor had given her anything. ‘Would you like a glass of Moët?'

She looked at him wide-eyed. ‘You're joking.'

‘I never joke about champagne.' He handed control of the boat to her. She was hesitant, but he showed her how to use the joystick control and keep the cruiser on the track set by the GPS. With Jane at the helm he went to the refrigerator and filled a silver bucket with cubes from the ice maker. He aimed the bottle aft and the cork flew out over the stern into the Indian Ocean. Alex poured the wine into crystal flutes and she laughed. When she smiled she was even more beautiful.