Mission Menace by Charlie Wolfe

Author:Charlie Wolfe [Wolfe, Charlie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Kiel, Germany

Wolfgang Scheiner, the captain of the cruise ship Baltic Queen, had seen many things in his days as a sea-going sailor. However, when he was told by the Chief Steward that a group of tourists wanted to load a coffin on board his ship, he was shocked. He wondered, “A coffin on board a cruise ship? During an eleven-day pleasure cruise?” He asked the Chief Steward to bring these passengers for an interview and was surprised to see a group of four people who didn’t seem to fit together.

The speaker of the group, a distinguished looking French-Canadian man in his early forties, presented himself as Professor Jacque Deleau, a historian and researcher of political science. The young woman accompanying him carried an Andorran passport with the name of Lora Martina-Fonti. Captain Scheiner had never seen an Andorran passport before, but the comely woman openly admitted to him she was originally American, but her husband was an Andorran businessman. She didn’t bother to explain where her husband was or why she was travelling with the Canadian professor and the captain was discreet enough not to ask any questions which may embarrass his passengers. The other young woman carried an Irish passport which gave her name as Fiona Robertson. She didn’t look or sound Irish and didn’t add anything about her background. The fourth member of the group was an elderly Russian man, who looked quite haggard. His name, according to his Uzbekistan passport was Bogdan Borisovitch Basov, and according to it he was 59 years old, although in the captain’s eyes he must have been closer to 70 than to 60. He said that the coffin contained the remains of his beloved wife, who wanted to be buried in St. Petersburg beside their only daughter who had died of cancer. He presented the proper documentation, issued by the German authorities of the town of Coburg, to support his statement that the deceased was his wife, a Russian woman. The captain couldn’t figure what young Fiona Robertson was doing with this old man but refrained from being rude and intrusive.

The captain was satisfied that the foursome had valid and legitimate travel documents and that the coffin had the proper certification. He only asked, “Have you made the arrangements for her burial in St. Petersburg? I don’t want to carry this coffin all over the Baltic Sea and back to Kiel.”

Bogdan Basov assured him that everything was in order. The captain added, “The coffin will be stored in the hold of the ship and you won’t have access to it until it is unloaded at the port of St. Petersburg.” When he saw the elderly Russian nod, he signaled to the Chief Steward to show the foursome to their cabins.

***

On board the cruise ship Baltic Queen

Le Docteur and Lara surveyed their cabin which was advertised as a verandah cabin. While Le Docteur stepped out of the cabin and stood on the tiny verandah, Lara went into the bathroom. She thought that

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