Free Angel's Ransom by David Dodge Page A

the radiophone out of commission and destroyed the bridge telephone contact, he had also blinded the searchlight on the roof of the pilot-house by ripping out a section of the wires that fed it power. The Angel ’s controls remained un-touched, her instruments of navigation in working order. All that her wheelsman could not do was communicate. He was as isolated as a man in a glass cage.
    Blake said, ‘Where are we bound?’
    ‘I told you. One hundred and ninety magnetic until I tell you something else - and d on’t waste time loading the com pass so it will read crooked. I carry my own in my pocket. Any time I find you wandering off course, I’ll be up to give you another lesson in steersmanship .’
    ‘There ’s a check compass on the afterdeck. Before you decide to slug me, take a look at that one, too. It ’s probably more accurate than yours.’
    ‘Don’t worry. You’ll get slugged only if you ask for it.’
    Jules picked up his bundle, tucked it under one arm, and put a big hand on Blake ’s shoulder. It was not a friendly gesture, but to let Blake feel the grip of his strong fingers.
    ‘Take a hint, Captain. You’re going to have a lot of time to be figuring ways and means to get around us. Don’t try it. This job has been figured right down to the last hair. Do what you’re told, steer the course you’re told to steer, and nobody will get hurt.’
    ‘I’d feel more confident about that if a couple of people hadn’t already been hurt.’
    ‘You’re still alive, aren’t you?’ Jules reached to turn off the light above the chart table, leaving the pilot-house in darkness except for the binnacle lamp and the shaded glow of the instrument panel behind the w heel. From the door way he said, quite seriously, ‘ S tay that way, Captain.’
    The door closed behind him.
    If he gives you any trouble, kill him , Holtz had said, and sounded just as serious.
    With the readings of the instrument panel under his eyes for assurance that the motors were running smoothly, Blake had time to think about the temper of the Angel ’s passengers. Freddy, thoroughly cowed, could be counted on to cause no further trouble. But Bruno might be reckless enough to re new his challenge of Holtz ’s authority, and Laura di Lucca ’s fears would only egg him on. Valentina was an unknown quantity, Marian accepted challenges as a matter of principle.
    He hoped that Hol tz would keep them locked up in definitely. They wouldn’t starve in seventy-two hours. Sixty-five, now. He had already begun to mark time by the hours that had to elapse before the rendezvous with Roche. He closed his mind to everything but the need to get through that period without further trouble.
    The count was down to sixty-two when he picked up the lights of a steamer bound, by its course, for Ajaccio. Watching it while he calculated the Angel ’s approximate position in his head, he let the cruiser swing a point or two off course, and was prepared, when he heard someone on the ladder outside, for Jules ’s return with a warning, or punishment, or both. He was surprised when the door opened and Marian ’s subdued voice spoke in the dark.
    ‘Could you turn on a light, please? I’ve brought you some dinner.’
    He switched on the overhead light. She carried a galley stew-pot and a long loaf of French bread.
    ‘It isn’t everything it might be,’ she said. ‘They’ve thrown all the knives overboard, so I couldn’t cut the bread, and I couldn’t get the stove going to heat anything. But it ’s food.’
    ‘I’m grateful. Did Holtz let you out to take charge of the galley?’
    ‘He let us all out, an hour ago. I took over the galley because it gave me something to do besides sit and think about how gullible I am.’
    ‘What else has happened?’
    ‘Nothing in particular. Your boss was pretty - graphic -about what he thought of me, when he had a chance to express himself.’
    The constraint in her voice told him how savage Freddy must have