Page 24 (1/2)
MOORE WAS SILENT under the Carib&039;s powerful stare Overhead a crack of thunder shrilled through the sky like a shell, burning it blood-red
"How?" Jana asked "With a shotgun, or a knife? You don&039;t knohat you&039;re dealing with! If you&039;re planning to sink it you&039;d better find yourself an ar projectile and some heavy artillery, or a bomb, or a li past the old woman, he came to her side and scowled down at her "If need be, yes, I&039;ll fight it with a blade I&039;ll rip those plates open with my bare hands It has a debt to paythe terrible plain of scars - "here and within" He held his hand over his heart and glanced at Moore "What&039;s to prevent it fro here, where they realize they can find fuel and food? What will prevent it fro blood all the way froot to think," Jana said, pacing the rooh diesel fuel for a long voyage, and they can&039;t be h"
"If the boat is headed for the lanes, the nearest route fro Danny Cay and Jacob&039;s Teeth And if I reach them in time I can force the boat across the reefs and rip its hull open," Cheyne told her
"No We can use the wireless here to reach the Coast Guard," Jana said "They can stop it before"
"Now you&039;re talking nonsense Do you think they&039;d listen for one minute to what you&039;d have to say? And by then the bastard would have e, and it would be lost toti chance, and by all that&039;s holy in this world I mean to follow it!"
"I saw those trawlers down in the harbor," she said "If you&039;re going after it in one of those you&039;re mad! That U-boat will h" Cheyne&039;s voice was hard "Go away froe I don&039;t want you around Caribville; there&039;s an hour until dawn light and I have aze for a few seconds, then abruptly turned back to the old wo into her eyes, and kissed her cheek She ran a withered hand along the unscarred side of his face When he stood up again she clutched at his legs, but then he went to stand beside his wife and the baby He took the child in his ar to Moore "He&039;ll be the next Chief Father, after I&039;one He&039;ll rule justly and fairly, and he&039;ll be strong, and he&039;ll never know fear because fear eats the insides out of aout in the ht No Keth will be free and unafraid, and he&039;ll grow straight and unscarred" He returned the baby to his mother, whispered to her, and kissed her on the cheek When he drew back, Jana saw a solitary tear streaking his wife&039;s face, but her eyes re at her again, Cheyne took up the shotgun, picked up one of the oil lah the door
His wife ran out after hiled from her chair and stood balanced precariously, like a frail thing of straw, in the doorway She turned her head toward Moore, her eyes swi "Help him," she whispered
Moore stood up and , but not as heavily as before The Carib wo her man disappear toward the harbor Moore could see dozens of lanterns and flashlightsdown there, each one a spot of yellow in the rain&039;s veil He wiped the drops from his eyes
After another moment Jana joined him; the old woman, her clothes soaked, ca at her Widows of the sea, he thought, watching theh the mud to the chief&039;s house "Why?" Moore asked the old woman as they passed him
There was a hard certainty, perhaps even a wisdom on her face, that rooted him to the spot "His destiny," she answered, and then she and Cheyne&039;s ere gone
Destiny Destiny Destiny The word drove into his brain, exploded into a thousand steel fragments there He remembered the transom of a broken boat thrashed by the sea: Destiny&039;s Child There was nothing he could have done then except be pulled along by the swift and hidden currents of his own destiny, nowhy He was unable to win the fight because life is like the sea, and its powers pull a man into the deep and ht Boat&039;s returning to the surface had only been a matter of time; perhaps he had only speeded the inevitable Now as he looked back on the chain of deaths and destruction, he saw theht him around the world and left hi in a harsh tropical rain Cheyne was right, he realized: There was nothing to prevent the things froo, on another day of storiven way Part of his that crewed the boat, out of place and tiht in the clutch of a destiny that had hidden itself until now Only in the past few days had it given hi look at what lay ahead
He loved this island, these people, for good or for bad He loved them like the family he had lost And with God&039;s help or without it, he must not, could not, would not lose another to the dark, sudden upheaval of his fate
"I&039; to help him," he heard himself say
Jana clutched at his arm as he started to push past her She wiped the rain out of her eyes and shook her head "He&039;s out of his mind, David! If he finds the U-boat they&039;ll cut his trawler in two! He won&039;t come back, and he knows he won&039;t!"
A white-hot flaun to burn in his muscles We are born alone and we must face death alone Who said that? A philosophy instructor, ages ago, in a college classroom of another world Everyone must die, Cheyne had said, whether in pain or at peace He knew there was a high chance of losing his life, but he accepted it He would take that chance, clench it in his fist, dare the dark gods, because he had seen the end of his voyage, a brief vision that had filled his head and then vanished He had seen the knife-blade bow of the Night Boat waiting
He pulled free of Jana and began to walk through theroad to the harbor, where he could still see the flashlightstrawler rubbed up against a tire-broharf It was the largest of the Carib fleet, perhaps a shade more than fifty feet fro hull Most of the hull paint had been flayed off and there were some patches, but they were all well above the marked discoloration of the waterline A broad cabin, painted maroon, with several metal-rimmed portholes stood just aft of ahtly furled, pointed at the sky as the rain dripped off the rigging At the stern there were booms and hoists, a pile of nets, and a few metal drums strewn about It seeiving her a clean, sharp line
As Moore approached he could see the faded ie of a name that had once been painted in red on the transo the boat up and nuzzling the tires; tiroaned and there was a dull thud as water broke under the bow
Several bare-chested Caribsnets and cables away Water spilled from a duct at the stern; the pumps had been started up One of thewrapped in clear plastic but Moore couldn&039;t see what it was He waited as another man opened the cabin doorway and vanished within
"Where&039;s Cheyne?" Moore shouted to the man nearest him
The Carib looked up with a sullen expression, then turned his back on Moore and continued rasped a wharf piling and leaned over, speaking to another man further down the deck "Hey! Get Cheyne out here!"
But then the cabin doorway opened again; the man who had carried in the bundle ca him orders in a clipped, brusque tone Cheyne saw Moore and ca here?" he asked, his gaze dangerous "I told you to get away!"
"I want to go with you," Moore told him
Cheyne was silent for a few seconds Then he said, "Go back home, white estured wildly "Wait! Please You won&039;t understand, but it&039;s important to me I won&039;t be in the way, and I can hold my oith any of your crew; I used to be a sailor I can handle myself"
"Why?" the Carib asked him
"I want to be there," Moore said "I want to o"
"You&039;re crazy," Cheyne said
"No I found the bastard and caused it to come up If it wasn&039;t for ht Don&039;t you see? I&039;ve got to be there, and I have a right to help stop that thing runted "No, notthe Carib&039;s rerasped Moore&039;s wrist, pulling hiht," he said "But stay out of ain, a wash of wild foaure leaped fro solidly on the deck Cheyne twisted around and a few of the other aped
Jana pushed her hair back froy across her shoulders "I&039; with you," she said forcefully to the two men
Before Cheyne could speak she had stepped forward, and he was forced back "Hear me out What you want to do is insane, I want you to know that first of all I&039; here, but you&039;ll need et the U-boat, even to slow it enough to make a difference I know the U-boat inside and out; I knohere the arht be able to ram it to knock out its ainst a U-boat, even one that old and slow, is suicide And don&039;t start that bullshit about a wo bad luck aboard a boat, because I won&039;t stand for it and you&039;d only be wasting time"
Cheyne stared at her, his mouth half-open Rain streaets inover the side, do you understand? If you&039;re so anxious, help those men with the drulance and then made his way back into the wheelhouse
A hatch into the hold had been thrown open; Moore helped a Carib haul one of the drums across the deck and down into the hold while Jana cast heavy cables out of the way It was a night three , and the U-boat wasn&039;t headed for Jamaica after all, but instead toward Trinidad and South America? No, no; he felt certain that the e and blood-lust, take the U-boat prowling for the freighters in the shipping lanes But what if they were too late, what if the boat had slipped through the teeth, what if there was no stopping that grisly crew of horrors?
In about forty rew from belowdecks; white smoke churned briefly at the exhausts; the hatch was secured Soan to throw off lines There was an empty wooden crate at Moore&039;s feet, with the word CAUTION stenciled across it in faded lettering; he kicked it aside The other Caribs left the wheelhouse, those at the bow came aft As he watched, they left the trawler and stood in the rain watching the Pride leave the wharf when the stern lines were cast off One of theesture
"Cheyne&039;s leaving them!" Moore said to Jana He made his way to the wheelhouse
Inside was a roomy cabin with dark-varnished plank bulkheads and a chart table; there was a lighted oil laimbaled fixture at the rear of the wheelhouse Overhead were thick, exposed wooden beams; Cheyne&039;s head alht-spoked wheel, before a dimly lit instrumentation panel A radio receiver sat on a shelf at shoulder level Moore said, loudly over the noise of the twin diesels, "What about the others?"
Cheyne did not take his eyes off the sea, which he watched through a wooden-framed windshield He lass "They are staying behind with their families You and the woed your minds you can swim back, both of you"
"You&039;ll need thoseto give," Cheyne said "Their places are in Caribville with their families They helped me prepare and that&039;s all I required of them"
"You can&039;t do this alone," Moore said
"I&039;lanced quizzically at Moore
A flurry of rain and seawater sh, dropped sharply Jana grasped an exposed roof beahts" Cheyne said
"I&039;m not," Moore replied He turned to Jana "You shouldn&039;t be here"
"I can take care of et to the bow and watch for bolass; the sky was turning fro fast approached The cloud ceiling was low and h which a dank yellowish light appeared Moore went out onto the deck, into the wind&039;s bite, and saw a black colu directly over the Coquina village, and instantly his heart rose to his throat
"Cheyne," he called,toward it The Carib peered out, his powerful hands cla," he said, a lu to his throat Cheyne turned the trawler very slowly to keep the rising sea fro over the port side; he pulled back on his twin throttles and the diesel&039;s noise quieted His gaze was cold and gri