Southtrap

There was no such thought in my father's mind,' Linn said coldly. 'I know. If there had been any truth in this yarn of yours he would have gone straight to the authorities and told them. He was that sort of man. He wouldn't have wanted it for himself.'

Wegger laughed harshly, sceptically. 'Every man has his price — ten million dollars!'

'Wegger,' I said, 'I think we all need a drink.'

He waved me to the cabinet with the Luger and stepped well back to keep it aimed on me. 'Right. But no tricks, Shotton.'

There's no gun hidden amongst the bottles,' I said sarcastically.

I poured three brandies and handed them round.

Wegger wouldn't let me come close. He made me put his drink on the desk where I couldn't reach him.

He took a long pull at it and then said breathily, 'Shotton, we can do a deal. If you will take this ship to Prince Edward and lift the gold, I'll cut you in to the tune of one million dollars. In gold bars. No questions asked.'

'In a ship that the whole world's looking for? Be your age, Wegger.'

'It's easy,' he went on quickly. 'You don't have to do anything but agree. We can go ahead with launching the buoy after we've rescued Botany Bay's crew. Everything will then be according to schedule and no suspicions roused. Then we can push on to Prince Edward. We'll use the motor-launch to transport the gold from the cave to the Quest. Then we'll go on to Mauritius…'

'Mauritius? That's a new one.'

'Yes, Mauritius,' he went on excitedly. 'See here — since the island became independent it's become the fag-end for things the rest of the world doesn't consider respectable. Black market gold, for instance. Gold — no questions asked.'

I shrugged.

'I tell you, it's true!' His voice rose. 'Mauritius is the Indian Ocean terminal of the gold-smuggling pipeline. The centre is Dubai, in the Persian Gulf. Dubai will handle any amount of hot gold. The dhows take it to India, Hong Kong, anywhere. At a premium.'

I allowed a little false admiration to creep into my reply in order to extract more from him.

'You seem to have done your homework pretty well, Wegger.'

'Listen, Shotton, you don't have to get involved. You only have to stay not involved — get me? Your ship has been hijacked. The guns are on you. You only have to string along with me and not interfere.'

I sensed Linn's tension.

'For a million dollars? What rake-off do those two thugs with machine-pistols get?'

'A million each,' he replied, too readily. 'It's share and share alike.'

'And you get the lion's share.'

'I've taken the risks. It's my plan.'

'You want me to sail the Quest to Mauritius once the gold's aboard — for what reason? Everybody aboard knows the hijacking score. It won't wash.'

'You could have developed engine trouble — any sort of eyewash. Even that you're sailing under threat of death if you don't go.'

'And in Mauritius I simply allow you to climb overboard with your load of gold and disappear? What do you take me for?'

'You don't have to go into port if you don't want to,' he explained. 'You drop Ullmann and Bravold and me off out at sea in the motor-launch once we're within reach of Mauritius. We'd disappear. Your nose would be clean. You could go ahead then and report the hijacking like an innocent victim. You'd have a million dollars — in that safe there behind you.'

I kept stringing him along. 'It could be feasible.'

'John!' Linn's protest was agonized. 'John! You wouldn't…!'

'Let him finish. How would you expect to get away with it?' I asked Wegger further.

'I know whom to contact. Ten million in solid gold can buy anything.'

'Less three,' I said. 'Remember — one million for me, one for Ullmann, one for Bravold.'

He stood considering me for a long moment. Then he dropped the Luger's muzzle. 'You'll go along with me then, Shotton?'

'John!' exclaimed Lino. 'John!'

I said deliberately, 'Wegger, you can go and stick yourself and your plan and your million dollars up the Quest's sewerage outlets. I'll turn you in, whatever.'

The gun came up again and he pointed it at my head.

'You fool, Shotton! You blundering, do-gooder fool! It could have been so easy for you. You know too much now. The girl too. Your usefulness ends once we've lifted the gold at Prince Edward. Don't say I didn't give you the chance!'

Linn put her arm hard in mine. It was worth more than ten million dollars.

I said with more bravado than I felt, 'If this story of yours is true, Captain Prestrud would — as Linn says — have turned the gold over to the proper authorities years ago.'

'Proper authorities — bullshit!' he exploded. 'Whose gold is it anyway? It wasn't Prestrud's any more than it was mine to begin with! And where is the Free City of Danzig today? It doesn't even exist. The Russians swallowed it up when they took over Poland. It was ten million dollars' worth of gold floating around without an owner. Prestrud meant to lift it, I tell you! That's what this cruise is all about! Erebus and Terror! My oath! What a cover story! And everyone fell for it, except me, who knew! Why do you think he was so keen on having Jacobsen along? They were both in it, up to the hawsehole! Now you're playing along because you think you'll get his daughter! You won't, I say! You won't live to see the end of this bloody Erebus-Terror cruise, I promise you that!'

Think, Wegger,' I snapped. 'I'll grant you the gold story just for the sake of the argument. So Prestrud and Jacobsen waited all those years just so that Prestrud could save up and buy a ship and fake a cruise when there was ten million dollars for the taking…'

'He needed a ship!' Wegger was losing control over his voice. They needed a ship to do it! They wouldn't share their secret…'

'Ten million dollars — belonging to no one in particular.' I went on sarcastically. They could have bought a dozen ships after the war for that! There were plenty of enterprising gentlemen around at the time who would have been only too willing to give them a ship. For that matter, why the hell didn't you try for it?'

'I was in gaol — I told you.'

'You've been out of gaol for years,' I rejoined. 'You've had plenty of time yourself. Why didn't you try for a ship without waiting until the Quest came along?'

His voice was sour with anger and frustration. 'The whaling went bust in the Southern Ocean after the mid-sixties. The catchers didn't go South any more.'

'You could have picked up a laid-up catcher for a song in Cape Town or Durban any time during the past decade.'

'You've never been in gaol,' he got out. 'You've never…'

'Never killed a man, Wegger?'

I thought he was going to come at me with the Luger. He'd reversed it almost involuntarily in his grip and had it by the barrel. I decided to dodge and try a swing at him with the brandy bottle if he did.

But instead he said threateningly, 'There are still a couple of things I need you for, Shotton. But I warn you, try anything on, you or the girl…'

As if to reinforce his threat, he strode across to the desk and plucked the phone out by its wire and threw it down. Then he went to the door and jammed the key savagely into the outer lock.

'I'll come back for you when I've tidied up in the saloon. Then you'll come with me to the bridge and tell 'em I've taken over. That we're headed for…'

'There's no place to hide down here, Wegger — remember that.'

'No?' he replied with a sneer. 'I'll teach you how to hide a ship in the Southern Ocean.'