Ivory (57 page)

‘No sign of him,' Novak said. ‘He must have got away.'

Alex simply nodded again.

‘There's a survivor up ahead!' Kevin called from the bridge.

Alex and Novak went forward and each picked up a pair of binoculars. ‘Ease off, Kevin. Let's check him out.'

They moved to the starboard side, along with the others, and Jane joined Alex again, standing by him.

The man was white, though his face was blackened by burns or spilled oil. He was waving to them. As Kevin put the engines into neutral, and then reverse, to further slow the cruiser, they got a better look at him.

‘Well, this is ironic,' Piet van Zyl called out.

Alex looked at Novak and then at Jane. ‘He tried to murder your wife, twice, and kidnapped Jane so that Penfold could rape and kill her. Plus, he tried to kill us today – several times. What do you think?'

‘Come on, man, take me aboard,' Van Zyl called. He was grinning. ‘I'll come join you
okes
if you like. I'm sure you could use another crewman.'

Alex called back, ‘Why, because you killed Jose, on the island?'

Van Zyl waved a hand in the air. ‘It wasn't me, but there are plenty more of those
munts
where he came from, man.'

‘Give me your gun,' Alex said to Novak.

‘No.' Novak drew his nine-millimetre from his shoulder holster, cocked it, aimed and fired twice.

Alex turned to Jane and wrapped his arms around her as Van Zyl's lifeless body slowly sank beneath the water's surface. ‘Are you all right?'

‘If he hadn't done it, I would have. Can we please go back to dry land now?'

 

Alex called a meeting of the crew after they landed at Ilha dos Sonhos and cleaned themselves up. ‘It ends now,' he said. ‘There's food and board and whatever I can afford to pay you, if you decide to stay here and work with me on the hotel, but the piracy stops today.'

‘I have to be with Lisa, always, from now on. I'm out, too,' said Novak.

Kevin looked at Alex. ‘Wouldn't be the same without you, mate. I'll
stay, for a bit, and give you a hand.' Kufa and Heinrich had also agreed to lay down their arms, though Heinrich said he might look for more work in Iraq or Afghanistan. Kufa said he would stay, as there was little prospect of a job for him in Zimbabwe.

They buried Jose at sea that evening, in the deep waters out past the reef. Alex said a few words and the rest of the crew fired a five-gun salute as the sea claimed his body.

Alex looked at Jane, who was wiping a tear from her eyes. She smiled, though, when he picked up the M4 he had just fired over his friend's body. He walked to the
Fair Lady
's stern and tossed the weapon overboard. Next, he reached under his sports jacket and pulled the Glock from its holster. This, along with his spare magazines, he also dropped into the water.

One by one Kevin, Kufa, Novak and Heinrich all filed aft and tossed aside their own tools of a trade they had all agreed to forsake.

Jane respected Alex for his decision, but was still fearful about what might happen to him. She sipped a glass of chilled wine and Alex used a bottle of Dois M beer to take the cap off another. He clinked it against her drink and said, ‘Here's to whatever may come.'

‘To the future.'

He laughed. ‘Do you really think we have one?'

‘As a group, I don't know. Your men might still decide to leave the island, and –'

He took her free hand in his. ‘No, I mean you and me.'

Jane had given the matter some thought already. Her life had changed beyond all recognition since the rain-swept day she had boarded the
Penfold Son
at Southampton.

Here she was with a man who until five minutes ago had made his living by terrorising innocent merchant sailors at the point of a gun. Yet he was willing to change, and to admit his mistakes and learn from them.

‘You could always leave Africa,' she said.

‘I can't. This is my home. It's the only one I've ever known.' He looked out over the sparkling ocean.

‘Well,' she said, taking another sip to calm her nerves, ‘I don't have a job to go back to in England. And whatever happens to you, you're going to need a lawyer, either to keep you out of jail or to help you negotiate the Mozambican tax system.'

 

Jane lay on her back on the big beach towel and held Alex's hand. She could feel the warmth of the white sand on her back, through the weave, and the afternoon sun blanketed the front of her naked body.

When she opened her eyes she saw he was up on one elbow, looking down at her and smiling.

‘What?'

‘What, nothing. I just like looking at you,' he said.

‘Pervert.'

‘Guilty,' he said. He lowered himself and kissed her and she felt the fire rekindled, as though he was blowing on hot coals.

There had been some whistles and laughter from the others when they had slipped away, on the pretext of going for a swim, but as yet they hadn't made it to the water. Alex had told her that they wouldn't be followed and she believed him. Of Mitch, they had found no sign. His gear and weapons were gone, as was one of the rigid-hulled inflatable boats. Although she was exposed, on a beach, and could occasionally hear the thump of music or a hoot of laughter from the wake at the beachside bar, she felt perfectly safe in Alex's arms.

‘I love you,' he said.

‘I gathered.'

He laughed. ‘We should go for that swim, otherwise the others might get suspicious if I come back covered in sand.'

‘A pirate protecting my reputation? How nice.'

‘Ex pirate.'

He stood and she looked up at him, marvelling at his body and his complete lack of embarrassment. She could still feel him inside her and she wanted him again. She wanted him to never leave her. He reached down and pulled her effortlessly to her feet. Jane looked over
her shoulder when she heard another raucous chorus of laughter coming from the bar, on the other side of the point.

‘It's an odd way of showing their grief over Jose.'

Alex took her hand as they walked down to the sea. ‘It's the way they are – we are. We've all lived with death too long. You know it can happen, and when it does you try and remember the good times. Jose called you my “new wife” when he first met you.'

They waded into the water. It was warm and clear and when she looked back at the shore the palm trees and sand made it look like paradise.

‘It was a joke,' Alex added, filling the silence.

‘I get it,' she said, but didn't know what to say next. They embraced and she felt his cock stir against her. It was enough, Jane told herself, just to be with him for now. She put a finger on his lips and led him into the deeper water. He put his hands under her bum and lifted her, and she floated, like a mermaid, up and onto him.

‘I love you,' she whispered into his ear as she wrapped her legs around him.

‘I gathered.'

Afterwards, as they followed their long shadows up the beach, he asked her if she was hungry.

‘Famished!'

They dried off and dressed and folded their towels, and he kissed her again, as greedy for her as she was for him. They walked back, hand in hand, across the spit of land on the track through the bush that brought them back to the main beachfront and the hotel. The other men waved to them from the beach bar.

‘I'll go to the boatshed and get some firelighters for the
braai
,' he said. ‘That's South African, by the way, for a barbecue.'

‘Then I suppose it's the woman's work to make the salad?'

He shrugged, but she blew him a kiss and set off for the hotel.

 

Mitch stood in the shadows, holding his breath, in anticipation.

When the pirates, minus Alex, had returned to Ilha dos Sonhos in
the helicopter and hurriedly departed again on the
Fair Lady
after finding Jose's body, Mitch knew Van Zyl would not be coming to get him. He'd methodically made his preparations for revenge. The others hadn't had time to conduct a thorough search of the island, and Mitch had watched them come and go.

Mitch had packed his kit and hidden it in the bush, then taken one of the two RHIBs out to sea and scuttled it. He'd then swum back and gone into hiding, waiting for the moment that was about to arrive. He was almost aroused at the thought of it. If Chan and Van Zyl and Penfold had failed to wipe out Alex and his men en masse, then that was OK. Mitch would do it one man at a time, and he'd save the woman until last. She'd be freaking out by the time her turn came. Maybe some of the men would beg him to spare their lives, in return for swearing their loyalty to him. Mitch liked the thought of that. He might be back in business sooner than he thought.

Alex stepped into the boatshed via the side entrance and paused for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dark. Mitch moved behind him, raised the pistol and brought it down hard on the back of Alex's head.

Mitch dragged the unconscious Alex up and over the rubber gunwale of the inflatable boat. He sagged against the craft, breathing shallowly. He looked down at the crumpled form. The others wouldn't dare follow him if they knew he had a live hostage, and later, out of sight of the island he would kill Tremain, slowly.

Mitch opened the double front doors of the boatshed, released the chock and pushed the RHIB so that it rolled down the twin rails to the water. Nothing could stop him now.

 

The men were still at the bar when Jane came out of the kitchen with a bowl of salad. She looked for Alex but couldn't see him.

‘Where's Alex?'

‘Probably still messing about in the boatshed,' Heinrich said.

She set the bowl down on the bar and wandered, barefoot, along the beach to the shed. ‘Alex?'

The black bow of the RHIB rolled out into the sunlight. Jane saw Mitch at the helm and screamed. He fired a shot at her and she dived into the sand.

Jane was aware of shouting behind her, but she knew she had to get to her feet. She pulled herself up just as the boat was entering the water. Mitch was preoccupied with the starter as the twin engines were sputtering, failing to start.

She sprinted for the shed. Mitch was drifting out further from shore as she ran inside the musty hut. She looked around. The racks that once bristled with assault rifles were now empty. There were no pistol belts hanging from hooks and even the boxes of grenades were at the bottom of the Mozambique Channel.

The RHIB's outboard motors caught and Mitch revved them hard.

Through the shed door Jane could see the other members of Alex's crew, all drunk, were trying to organise themselves. She felt helpless, and terrified for Alex's safety. Mitch was a madman, bent on revenge. After all she and Alex had been through, she felt like screaming. She hadn't endured all this to see him taken away from her and executed.

Jane looked out and saw Alex getting to his knees in the front of the boat. Mitch sent him sprawling face-first into the deck with a vicious kick in his back.

Jane saw one of the ALM line launchers lying on a workbench. It was the closest thing to a weapon still in the empty racks of what had once been the pirates' armoury. A grappling hook was loaded in the barrel and a yellow compressed air container was attached.

Jane picked up the launcher and ran down to the water's edge.

Mitch turned and saw her. He raised his pistol but didn't fire. She stood her ground, aimed the launcher and pulled the trigger.

The grappling hook hissed from the barrel and sailed in a high arc, passing over Mitch's head.

‘Ha! Missed me!' he yelled.

He was turning to look at her as the line continued to shimmy and snap out of the plastic holder beneath the barrel.

Jane dug her feet into the sand and held tight as the last of the nylon rope drew taut.

The hook had landed in the boat and Alex rolled on his back and saw the rubber-coated grapnel. He grabbed it and aimed at Mitch, who was off balance with his pistol hand on the helm as he continued to look backwards.

With Jane holding firm on the other end of the line, and the boat accelerating furiously, the hook left Alex's hand of its own accord and snapped viciously into Mitch's face. One curved prong wrapped around his throat and he was yanked off his feet backwards. His back bounced against one of the outboards and his body slammed into the water.

Alex crawled back to the helm and knocked the throttles into dead slow. He turned the RHIB around and headed for shore. The force of the hook catching Mitch had pulled Jane off her feet, but she was standing now, waving to him.

Mitch floated face-down in the water and when Alex coasted up beside him it was clear immediately that his neck was broken.

One year later

 

A
lex looked into the mirror, lifted his collar, and ran the black bow tie around the back of his neck. ‘We should get a new boat some time. I miss the
Fair Lady
.'

As much as it had pained him to do so, Alex had scuttled the
Fair Lady
a few nautical miles out to sea, the day after Jose's funeral.

When the South African Air Force made some low-level passes over Ilha dos Sonhos, presumably looking for the vessel which had been spotted on radar near the sinking of the
Penfold Son
, he was pleased there was nothing in the bay for them to photograph.

The South African Navy's board of inquiry had found that Captain Gert Fourie had acted properly, sinking the
Penfold Son
. Fourie confirmed, under oath, that Penfold had told him he had left the ship and was on a motor cruiser, which had never been seen or heard from again, and that the Englishman had ordered him to sink his ship.

‘Well, you might not need to steal one this time. Here, let me,' Jane said, moving behind Alex.

He smelled her perfume and took her slender forearm in his hand and kissed it as she encircled him. She pushed herself against his back
and he found the sound of her silk dress rubbing against his dinner jacket almost as sexy as her.