Passage by Night (v5) Read Online Free Page B

Cuban affair. And then Maria came along. At least she managed to stop you from drinking yourself into the grave, but ever since, you've used her like a crutch. She decided it was time you learned to walk on your own two feet again.'
    Manning sat there staring at him, a slight frown on his face and then he emptied his glass, got up and went outside. Saunders, Morrison, and Seth were talking quietly in the wheelhouse and he brushed past them and went and stood at the rail, thinking about her down there in the dark water, knowing that everything Viner had said was true.
    Gradually a faint pearly luminosity appeared and he was able to distinguish the greyness of the mist curling up from the water and the dark, silver lances of the rain.
    The nightmare was over. The sea lifted in a slight swell, creaming against the base of the reef. The blowhole was silent. The sharks were gone.
    The police launch was anchored twenty or thirty yards to port and Joe Howard emerged from the wheelhouse and raised an arm. He dropped over the stern into his dinghy, cast off and sculled across.
    When he climbed over the rail, his normally good-humoured face was grave. 'I've radioed Nassau. They're sending a salvage boat and a couple of divers. Should be here about noon.'
    Manning shook his head. 'There was no need. I'm going down myself.'
    'Don't be a fool, Harry!' Viner said sharply as he emerged from the wheelhouse followed by the others.
    'It's my neck.'
    Seth shook his head and said softly, 'Nothing for you down there, Harry. Maybe a tiger shark or two hoping for something the others missed, but it ain't likely.'
    'I'll see for myself.' Manning turned to Howard. 'Sorry, Joe, but that's the way it is.'
    The young policeman sighed and said to Seth, 'Get your spare aqualung ready while you're about it. I'll go down with him.' He grinned tiredly at Manning. 'I am supposed to be in charge here in case you'd forgotten.'
    'Are you two crazy or something?' Morrison said.
    Manning ignored him and started to take off his shoes and outer clothing. As Joe Howard followed his example, he smiled reassuringly at the American.
    'Don't worry, Mr Morrison. We've done this sort of thing before.'
    They kept on shirts and pants as some protection against the coldness of the water. When Seth brought the equipment up from the saloon, he and Saunders helped them into it quickly.
    No one bothered to talk. For Manning, there was a desperate unreality about everything. It was a bad dream. A dream from which he might awaken at any moment, stretch out his hand in the darkness and find her there beside him.
    When he went over the rail, the sharp coldness of the water was like a physical blow, bringing him back to reality. He hovered just below the surface to adjust his air supply and went down through the opaque grey water without waiting for his companion.
    The plane loomed out of the shadows almost at once. It had settled on a bank of sea grass which stretched to the base of the reef and as he swam towards it he was aware of the undertow tugging at his body, pulling him towards the great rock face and the caverns beneath.
    The main fabric of the Walrus was still intact, but the tail and the baggage compartment had completely disappeared leaving a great ragged hole at one end of the fuselage, the metal twisted and blackened as if by some tremendous explosion. As Manning hovered beside it, Joe Howard arrived.
    There was a slight frown on his face and he looked worried. Manning patted him on the shoulder reassuringly and they swam inside. The seats were still there and the door to the pilot's cabin swung gently in the current, but there were no bodies. The passengers and crew had vanished without a trace.
    Howard went into the cabin and Manning swam outside and waited for him, clinging to the fuselage. The sun was rising and the first pale rays slanted down through the grey water, but there was still that strange absence of life.
    Seth had been right. There was nothing for him