Crash Course by Derek Fee (pdf to ebook reader .txt) 📕

your own life as a copper and the people you meet undercover wonder what the hell happened to you. You can’t identify too closely with the bad guys because then you simply become one of them. Doc had met more than one colleague who had succumbed to the lure of easy money and crossed to the other side. It was hard not to like the Penhalions – they were decent people – but it was also risky. He sipped the last of the beer as the group launched into an ear-splitting rendition of ‘Delilah’. This operation had been doomed from the start but he had always felt that they would get out of it alright. Now he was beginning to have his doubts. They were dealing with some heavy hitters who would bury them in concrete and sink them in the Mediterranean. He stood up from the table and lurched towards the door. Time to write up the notes on this evening’s activities while they were still fresh in his mind.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“What do you mean gone?” Morweena exploded. “Gone where? Gone why?” she shouted before her father could give her any answer.

“Calm down for God’s sake.” David put his arm around his daughter’s shoulders but she shook it off. “People are beginning to stare.”

It was early afternoon on the day after the race and they were standing on the quayside of the Piccolo Porto supervising the crew loading the boat onto its travelling lorry. Normal summer weather had returned to the south of Italy and the port was bathed in warm sunshine emanating from a cloudless blue sky. David had watched his daughter pacing the quayside during the morning and had eventually worked up the courage to tell her that Bell and Kane had already left Sorrento.

“I’ve already told you,” David said quietly, “Tom had some business and took Mark along with him. I didn’t know anything about it myself until I found a letter in my pigeonhole at the hotel.” He wasn’t the least unhappy that his sponsor had removed his driver from the scene. Barrett had lodged a protest with the race committee but it had been overruled. That meant there was a crazed Englishman roaming around Sorrento with nothing but murder on his mind.

“I’d like to remind you that as team manager you’ve got a responsibility to make sure that this team operates at its optimum. Either we have a driver or Kane is Tom’s business adviser but we can’t operate with somebody who is trying to be both.”

David tried to steer his daughter towards the end of the quay which was deserted but found her unwilling to budge. “Now, Morweena,” he said still trying to get her out of the public view. She reminded him so much of the obstinate six-year-old who used to dig her heels in no matter what her parents threatened her with. “You know you’re being unreasonable. Most of the teams will disperse until next Thursday or Friday. Doug Jackson will probably shoot some scenes of a film and Harry will probably make another million pounds before next weekend’s race. There’s no real need for them to travel with us to Cannes. Look around you. The principals have all flown away. There’s nobody left but the crews.”

A small crane had been set up to lift the fifty-foot hulls out of the water and to deposit them on their lorries. Half-naked crews revelling in the sunshine crawled over the powerboats preparing them for their onward journey.

“You know damn well that we need every ounce of practice we can get.” She glanced towards the mooring where their boat sat bobbing in the water. “The boat needs patching up but you’re so busy looking at that blasted cheque for third place that you’ve forgotten what it will take to keep us in contention for the championship.”

“Would you please explain to me what’s going on here?’ David said. “There’s no reason for either Bell or Kane to hang around here like a couple of spare wheels.”

“I still think those two are up to something. There’s something not right about their involvement in this venture.”

“Mark has been putting in sixteen-hour days over the past few weeks getting himself ready for yesterday’s race. Much as I would have liked to put him to work this morning it wouldn’t have been feasible. We must get the boat out of the water and ready for shipment to Cannes. Then we need to check it over in dry dock. It’ll be Thursday at the earliest before we’ll have it in the water again. I know about your misgivings but I’ve seen nothing to justify them. You’re right that the cheque for yesterday’s race will barely keep us afloat.”

“This team may be only some kind of hobby or tax dodge for Tom. But it means more to us. Their running off like that won’t exactly help our prospects in Cannes. And if we don’t pick up points in every one of the races then we can kiss our chances of being at Key West goodbye. And if we don’t go to Key West, Penhalion Marine goes into liquidation. Think about it.”

“Is that the only reason you’re so pissed?”

“You don’t think that saving Penhalion Marine means everything to me?” She turned and walked back along the quay towards the centre of the marina. A series of wolf-whistles from the Italian seamen marked her passage.

David watched his daughter’s progress towards the edge of the quay. Maybe she was right about Bell and Kane. Although his acquaintance with Kane had been short, he had formed the opinion that the man was a drifter. Tom was damn short on details about his nephew. What details there had been placed Kane in a distinctly negative light. He had the bearing of an ex-army man but according to Tom his departure from the forces had been premature due to some unpleasant incident or other. This information bothered him. He fancied himself a reasonable judge of men and