The QE2 Is Missing

“Good.” Josep signalled to Diaz. “Get on the other phone and pass the word to our people to use the fire extinguishers on the smudge-fires we lit on each deck. I want the air cleared before we make our own checks, just to make sure that no one is preparing any surprises.”

The lifeboat drill was well-organized and the crew had had years of experience in herding passengers to their correct stations. Short minutes later the call came through that all passengers and crew were standing by at their positions.

“That is just the news I have been waiting to hear,” Josep said, taking a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handing it to the hotel manager. Josep was proud of it; he had originated the idea and explained it to Hank Greenstein who had written it up in the form of a command. The hotel manager read it with growing alarm and he was trembling with despair when he had finished it.

“I can’t possibly read this out, no! I refuse. You cannot make me….” He quailed back as Josep pumped the slide on the sub-machine gun and a bullet was ejected onto the floor. He picked it up and held it before the hotel manager’s face. A shiny brass case with a dull, grease-coated, leaden bullet at its tip.

“Look at that,” Josep said. “See that slug? It tears through flesh and through bone and makes a big exit hole when it goes out because it has a hollow nose. Now if I put this gun to your eye — like this — and pulled the trigger, you would be dead before you heard the shot. A brave man might make the sacrifice. But____”

He pulled the gun muzzle away from the man’s horrified face and used the toe of his boot to roll over the Captain’s unconscious body. Then placed the gun against his head.

“I’m not going to shoot you if you refuse,” he said. “I’m going to kill the Captain instead. Then bring his officers in here and shoot them, one by one, until you agree to make the broadcast. So, how many men must die to convince you that you must do it? You will agree in the end. But how many deaths do you wish to have on your conscience first?”

The hotel manager drew himself up, trying to decide, weighing one evil against another. Diaz’s low voice cut through the silence.

“Don’t be a fool. He means to do it. He has done it before, right on this ship. Do you want to see the bodies to prove it? Captain David Rapley will be dead meat in ten seconds if you don’t do as you have been told.”

On the deck, the Captain rolled his head from side to side and, still unconscious, moaned in pain.

“Yes… I’ll do it,” the hotel manager said in a hollow voice. He raised the sheet of paper and Josep reached out and turned the microphone on.

“This is Captain Rapley speaking. It has been reported to me that all passengers are now at their boat stations. However, the crew are still fighting the fire which has been contained, but is still smouldering and giving off dangerous fumes. Therefore, I have decided to remove all passengers from any chance of danger from smoke inhalation. You will notice that we are near Clipperton Island which is breaking the force of the sea so that launching of the boats will present no danger at all. You all have gone ashore many times in the launches for day trips during this cruise, and now we are going to do that again…. ”

His voice broke off as Captain Rapley rolled over towards him, eyes wide with pain, and tugged at his trouser leg. The hotel manager looked down in horror.

Josep reacted instantly, kicking the Captain viciously in the ribs, and again in the head. Then grinding the gun hard into the hotel manager’s side. His actions spoke louder than any words would have. Fighting to control the tremble in his voice, the hotel manager continued reading.

“We are going to have a shore visit. The people on the island have been informed by radio and are willing to welcome you. Since everyone will be going ashore this time we will use the lifeboats as well as the launches so you can all go at once. Enjoy your trip ashore, I wish I were going with you, and I am sure that you will all enjoy setting your feet on solid ground again, if only for a short time. Thank you.”

“All crew members. Abandon ship.”

These last words sent a shock wave of fear through the waiting passengers. Had the Captain been lying? Were they in danger? Was the fire spreading? Abandon ship, they had heard the words as had the crew. The crew obeyed their orders, herding the passengers forward and into the lifeboats. Unresisting, the passengers moved, holding tightly to the few possessions that they had taken with them. The blocks on the davits creaked as the first lifeboat began its descent, the sailors fending it off from the hull as the slow rollers rocked the ship back and forth.

High above them, out on the bridge wing, Josep looked down at the lifeboats splashing into the sea and moving free of their dropped lines and nodded happily. “Working perfectly,” he said to himself. The launches were also in the water and pulled up by the lowered boarding ladders.