North Strike by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788636834
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2019-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Magnusson watched her eat, wondering if Vinje – far from a likeable man at the best of times – was intending to betray him. Having extracted the knowledge that Oulu was a British ship, was he waiting the opportunity to lead the Germans down to him?

When Annie had finished, they went on deck. Almost immediately, they saw a light flashing from the point.

‘Get going, Campbell,’ Magnusson said. ‘Take the whaler. Marques, you take the Norwegian boat. There might be more of them than we expected and it could save us a second journey.’

There were seven Norwegians, and Vinje’s face was bleak. When he saw Annie Egge his jaw dropped.

‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded.

‘I am escaping as you are,’ she said stiffly.

The Norwegian turned to Magnusson. ‘You said no women.’

‘I didn’t have much choice,’ Magnusson pointed out.

They pushed the Norwegians into the forecastle and gave them the bunks of the vanished Finns. They reappeared soon afterwards, dressed in jerseys and lumber-jackets, prepared to work.

The rest of the night was spent in tense waiting, with Magnusson prowling about the ship, making sure everything was ready and that there was nothing left undone to delay them when daylight came.

Campbell met him in the thinning darkness of next morning, bundled into heavy clothing, his face taut and alert, eyes bright with a sense of being able to do something worthwhile.

‘How’s the tide?’ Magnusson asked.

‘High. Stream’s slack. Wind’s nor’-nor’-east.’

Magnusson wasn’t sorry to be leaving the inhospitable coast of Norway and it was with a sense of relief that he watched the crew running along the deck in the light of lanterns, struggling with ropes. On the yards, men were casting off the gaskets that secured the furled sails. As the wind caught them they bellied out and were sheeted home by the men on deck. With topsails set on main and mizzen, Oulu began to gather way.

‘Mainsail,’ Magnusson said.

More canvas billowed out and they began to move faster, followed by flurries of snow. Behind them, the first ferry was preparing to leave Narvik, its lights shining against the blackness of the mountains.

Magnusson was still staring over the stern when Myers at the wheel touched his arm and pointed ahead. Staring in the direction of his pointing finger, Magnusson saw a ship just coming through the murk of snow and fog. Behind her there was another, then another, and another and another, all with the high, peaked silhouettes of warships.

‘Christ, what’s going on?’

He had just decided that the Germans had learned about them leaving and that destroyers had arrived to capture them, when Myers spoke again.

‘Sir, them’s H class ships.’

‘British ships?’

‘I was in ’Avoc before the war, sir. Thirteen ’undred tons, four four-point-sevens. The one in front’s ’Ardy, the flotilla leader. She’s a bit bigger. That’s Second Destroyer Flotilla, sir.’

‘You sure?’

‘I’ve seen ’em drunk, sir, and I’ve seen ’em sober. I’d swear to it.’

Magnusson stared at the approaching ships a moment longer. They were approaching warily, steaming in line ahead, and it suddenly occurred to him that they might well mistake Oulu for a German ship.

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