The QE2 Is Missing

Hank had fallen asleep easily, as had Frances. At first they had not even considered making love, not with the coming and going in the outer room of the suite. But proximity and warmth had dictated otherwise and the mere touch of his hand on her bare breast had sent an uncontrollable shiver through her body, a motion that had awakened the same desire in himself. They had come together, warmly and passionately surprised at the rising tide of emotion, yet enjoying it at the same time. After that, they had slept, and Frances was still asleep, but the voices in the adjoining room had woken Hank from a deep, yet troubled, sleep. He could not remember the dreams he had had, except that they were violent, destructive. He was almost glad that he was awake now and through with them.

The voices in the other room were angry, arguing. Hank could not make out the words but the tones were obvious. Something was happening, there was some trouble. He tried to ignore them, to go to sleep again, but it was impossible. Eventually he recognized the inescapable conclusion that he was not going to go back to sleep, not now. He rose quietly so as not to awaken Frances, gathered up his clothes and dressed in the bathroom. It was after three in the morning. He had to find out what had happened.

There were just three of them in the room, two men and a woman; Concepcion swung her gun his way when the door opened. Hank ignored her, as well as he could, and looked towards Uzi and Josep.

“What’s the trouble?” he asked.

Josep spat a bit of tobacco leaf from his lips and turned to the table to take another of his black cigars. Uzi answered the question.

“It has been a momentous evening. The resistance forces of Uruguay and Paraguay have succeeded in taking control of the QE2. Very few of the crew are aware of this, and none of the passengers. At the present time the vault in the cashier’s office is being cut into to retrieve the Nazi diamonds. The two representatives of Global Traders are tied side by side in one bed, to their mutual discomfort, and the last time that they were checked they were uneasily asleep. All of the conspirators appear to be asleep, including the injured Fritz, who is loaded to the eyeballs with opiates and feeling nothing at all. Doctor Llusera was heard to say he will not lose the arm. After much rationalization, the Nazis have resigned themselves to the loss of the diamonds since they have the arms ship.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“A small hitch in the plans. All of this operation hinges on striking hard and fast, seizing the diamonds and the captives and transferring them to a Mexican fishing boat named the Tigre Amarillo. Unhappily for us, the Yellow Tiger has turned tail. It has been damaged in the storm and has headed to port for repairs.”

“My God! What are you going to do?”

Uzi smiled wryly. “As you might imagine, that has been the subject of our discussion. We do not have many choices since the Tigre Amarillo will not be ready for sea for another twenty-four to thirty hours. A broken rudder and bent mainshaft.”

“Is there any chance of getting another boat?”

“Absolutely negative. This is a very dangerous business and it was hard enough to arrange for this one. We must use the Yellow Tiger or nothing. But can we keep control of this ship long enough for the repairs to be made? And even if we do hold out — how many more hours after that will it be before we can rendezvous with the fishing boat?”

“The answer to that one is obvious,” Hank said. “You meet the boat a few hours after it is required.”

“What do you mean? How can they catch up with us that quickly?” Josep said.

“Let me ask you a question first. What course is this ship following?”

Josep shrugged. “I don’t see the importance of the question. The plotted course, naturally. We are making no changes in the ship’s operation. We do not have enough men to control these factors…. “

“Of course!” Uzi interrupted. “Hank has pointed out to us that we are being incredibly stupid. The QE2 must vanish.”

“What are you babbling about?” Josep was tired and exasperated.

“Look at this.” Hank roofed through the papers in the top of the desk until he found the one that he wanted. “Here is the brochure with all the details about this cruise. Just look at this map — it’s diagrammatic but it’s clear enough. After leaving Acapulco we are heading south along the Mexican coast, then past Central America. Right in the middle of all the heavy coastal shipping all the way. But why? Each minute we are leaving our contact boat further and further behind. They’ll never catch up.”

“Of course,” Josep said. “We must turn back.”

“No,” Hank said. “There is no reason to, yet. And you don’t want the ship to be observed. What you must do is head away from land for half of the time it takes for the repairs, then turn back for the second half. So when the boat comes out the contact can be quickly made.”