Ivory Read Online Free PDF

speed and time of arrival. He didn’t use the ship’s navigation system in case the captain, who now sat with his back against the wall of the bridge, saw their destination point and memorised the latitude and longitude.
    â€˜Should we send him back to the mess with the rest?’ Kevin asked.
    Alex shook his head. ‘We might need his technical advice when we get closer. Also, if he was with the rest of the crew he might try something foolish.’
    â€˜What makes you think I’m going to help you?’ the Norwegian asked in accented English. ‘You could threaten to kill me and I wouldn’t assist you.’
    â€˜I thought that’s what you’d say.’ Alex kept his eye on the horizon, not deigning to face the captain. ‘No, if I want you to do something against your will, I’ll bring your crew up one at a time and keep shooting them until you obey.’
    Berentsen swore in his own language.
    â€˜Speed: fifteen knots,’ Kevin said.
    â€˜Keep her steady,’ Alex said to the Australian. He turned his attention to the ship’s radio, changing the frequency. He picked up the handset and pressed the ‘transmit’ switch. ‘Mermaid One, Mermaid One, Mermaid One, this is Shark, over.’
    He paused for a few seconds then repeated the call.
    â€˜
Shark, this is Mermaid One. Have you in sight now
,’ said a female voice, the accent bearing a harsh trace of Belfast.
    â€˜All set?’ Alex asked into the microphone.
    â€˜
No problem here. Mermaid Two’s on the other side of the dunes. She says it’s a car park there, but she’s in control.
’
    Too much information, Alex thought to himself, mindful that their prisoner could hear Danielle’s voice over the loudspeaker. ‘Roger, Mermaid One. See you soon, and let’s stick to the facts, I’ve got company here.’
    â€˜
Sorry
,’ Danielle Reilly said to him.
    â€˜Don’t be sorry, just be good,’ Alex said, smiling.
    â€˜I’m always good. As you very well know.’
    Alex shook his head, returning his mind to the job at hand, which was about to get tricky. He put down the microphone and raised his binoculars. ‘There’s the beach. Dead stop,’ he said to Kevin.
    He could see the colours of the Indian Ocean changing closer to shore, indicating the steeply shelving seabed below. Alex and Kevin, aformer member of the Australian Navy’s elite clearance diver team, had dived the area and made a detailed survey of water depths at high and low tide along this deserted stretch of coastline.
    The South Africans called it the Wild Coast for good reason. The sparsely populated fringes of the beach they had chosen were out of sight of any villages and accessible only by sandy tracks suitable for donkeys and four-wheel drives. They’d discounted a dozen more sites due to the strict criteria they’d imposed on themselves for this operation.
    â€˜This is madness,’ said the ship’s captain.
    â€˜Enough from you.’
    Alex walked out onto the port bridge wing. Behind the narrow strip of flat white beach were dunes that surrendered to a rising landscape of rocky outcrops and hills. Through his binoculars he saw the bright orange nylon sun shelter on the beach. Danielle stepped into view from its paltry shade. She had on her blue bikini top and a brightly printed kikoi wrapped around her waist as a skirt. The hem ended halfway up her thighs, showing off her perfect pale legs.
    She waved at him.
    He transferred his attention to the rocky reef beside him, the top of which was only visible when a wave broke against it and receded. Alex strode back inside and walked through the bridge, past the snarling captain, out onto the starboard wing. He looked over the edge and far below saw the dark outline of the reef, not ten metres from the hull on this side.
    As well as finding an ideal beach they needed perfect weather conditions to pull