The words struck at Stefan like a dagger. Despite the danger of the moment, he couldn’t totally ignore feelings of failure at leaving Chief K behind, and the worry that McBride had been unable to find him. He wheeled around, brought the binoculars to his eyes, fully expecting to see Chief K standing there by himself. “That’s not the chief,” Stefan said tonelessly, his lips parting into a decent impression of a wolf showing his fangs. “You again. And look at that uniform. Kriegsmarine. Who the hell are you and why did you want my ship?”
Talli squinted back at the pier. Despite the darkness, there was enough light from the fire to see Ritter’s blond hair even without binoculars. “Fencing scar on his face?” he asked
Stefan nodded, lowered his binoculars. “Know him?”
“His name is von Ritter. Peter. I met him yesterday. He is a Fregattenkapitän in the Kriegsmarine. How do you know him?”
Stefan shook his head. “I am a fool,” he muttered angrily.
“He was aboard the Eagle with two others,” Kate interjected. “Posing as Dutch engineers, weren’t they?”
Stefan nodded.
“Saved me from some trouble,” she said, touching her forehead, her eyes losing focus for just a moment. “Wonder why they bothered?”
Talli nodded knowingly. “Ahh, they were after your vessel all along.” It was a statement, not a question.
“So it seems,” Stefan said through teeth clenched so tightly his jaw was beginning to hurt. He was half tempted by a wild thought: to leap off Eagle, swim back to the pier, and then proceed to kill with his bare hands the man who had murdered Jerzy.
“What is your plan now, Captain?” Talli asked dryly. The question brought Stefan back to the moment. He tore his gaze away from Ritter. “Oh, I don’t know,” he croaked harshly, gesturing futilely at the freighter that was moving to block their way out, “I was kind of hoping you might suggest something.”
Talli shook his head and smiled.
“I was afraid of that.”
“What about that?” Kate pointed at the deck gun.
Stefan shook his head. “I’m afraid it would do about as much good as spitting watermelon seeds at an elephant.”
“Uh-oh,” Kate said, gesturing at a distant motorboat, light bow wave spilling high in the air, racing toward the submarine from the other side of the harbor. “What do you think they want? Don’t look friendly either.”
“One of yours?” Stefan asked Talli.
Talli squinted at the distant boat, visible in the tapestry of shadows and reflected city lights that winked and dazzled across the harbor’s surface. “Private,” he said, frowning. “Some rich man’s yacht, I think.”
The motorboat closed quickly, banked at the last minute and came abreast of the submarine’s bridge, and then cut its speed to match pace with the submarine. The figure piloting the boat from the flying bridge high above the cabin, turned his face toward the trio in the conning tower, and grinned.
“Hey?” Kate said. “ Isn’t that…”
“Captain Sieinski,” Stefan finished for her. “Yes.”
“What is he doing?” Talli said.
Sieinski stared at Stefan for a moment. He pointed to the freighter.
Stefan spread his arms wide, palms upward, acknowledging the futility of it all. The freighter would block the way, and then it would be over. There was nothing he could do.
Sieinski looked again at the freighter, then back to Stefan, staring intently at his second in command for another moment. And then saluted.
“Why did he do that?” Kate said.
Talli and Stefan said nothing. Sieinski gave a final nod, turned away and shoved the throttles forward. The bow of the powerful yacht leapt into the air like a dog let out of kennel, and then veered away from the submarine, straight toward the stern of the freighter.
“What can he do?” Kate said with growing alarm. “That little boat is no match for that, that monstrosity…”
Talli interrupted Kate’s rant by gripping her arm tightly. “Time to pray,” he breathed.
Hope and horror. Stefan couldn’t ignore the sudden appearance of either emotion as he realized what Sieinski was going to attempt.
“He’s not going to do what I think he’s going to do, is he?” Kate said. “It would be suicide.”
“Don’t call it that….” Stefan said sharply
They watched silently as the yacht raced up quickly behind the lumbering freighter. Lights began to wink along the freighter’s back railing.
“They’re shooting at him,” Kate said with surprise. Talli and Stefan remained mute.
The shots had no effect. The dark water and the night making the bouncing yacht a difficult target for even the most expert marksman. And Sieinski didn’t flinch from his goal. At the last moment, the yacht seemed to accelerate into the freighter’s stern. It disappeared in a sudden flash followed by the dull thump of an explosion. A ball of flame mushroomed into the air, lighting up the entire harbor. And then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. The freighter continued on course, seemingly no more bothered by the yacht’s assault than a cow is bothered by one fly.
“What a waste,” Kate said, turning on Stefan like it was his fault.
Stefan kept the Eagle on course, cutting through the dark water at top speed. He would have to decide their fate in another moment. Perhaps ramming the freighter was the only course left to them.
“Look,” Talli said.
Slowly, imperceptibly, the big freighter began turn away from the harbor opening.
“I don’t understand.” Kate said.
When Stefan made no move to respond to her question. Talli did it for him. “His sacrifice was not in vain. He has damaged her rudder.”
“He knew what he was doing then….,” Kate murmured.
“He was a sailor,” Talli said. “He knew….”
Stefan’s mouth was a straight line. In a way, it changed nothing. Stefan still despised Sieinski and all that had made him the way he was. And yet, at the end, he was a captain in deed as well as title. Stefan touched the tip of his cap in final salute.
Ritter watched with curiosity as the motor yacht raced out of nowhere, approaching the submarine. At first he assumed it was the Estonian harbor authorities, attempting to persuade the Eagle to give way and stop. But when the yacht turned away from the submarine and raced toward the freighter, he began to worry. As seconds passed, and the yacht quickly closed on the freighter, his alarm increased. “Shoot, you fools,” he screamed finally, his voice ragged and hollow in the predawn darkness.
A moment later, the light from the muzzles of a dozen rifles began to wink along the railing of the freighter.
There was no change, however, in the yacht’s course. Of course, what could a motor yacht do? He tried to assure himself. It was an empty gesture. A craft of wood and glue against a monstrosity of iron and steel a hundred times its size.
Ritter felt himself calm as he watched the last moments. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it and then exhaled at the same moment the yacht disappeared beneath the freighter’s stern. There was a momentary flash of fire as the fuel tanks detonated, and then nothing else. It had been futile. He wondered who had been piloting the motor yacht. A local anti-Nazi partisan? Not likely. Someone from the Eagle’s crew staying behind to sacrifice himself? Again, not likely. He had watched the way Stefan treated his crew more like family than sailors. He would no more leave someone behind than a father would leave behind a son. Whoever it was must have known he wouldn’t survive the impact. He had to be prepared for death with nothing to lose.
Ritter continued to watch the race, relaxed now, smoking casually. When he finished his cigarette, he would jog over to the Estonian Naval Headquarters and settle it all with Admiral Kalm. At the moment, he was enjoying the spectacle, and the time alone.