Travis McGee 18 - The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald

Author:John D. MacDonald
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-03-20T05:00:00+00:00

Eleven

PERSIVAL DID not walk well. He moved slowly and seemed to have trouble with his balance. The sky was turning gray, and the wind was cooler. We walked to the end of the small plateau. He seated himself on the trunk of a large pine which had fallen at the edge of the slope.

He lowered himself carefully. With a wry Lincolnesque smile he said, “I have what the young call bad wheels. I was the guest for a memorable period of time of an amiable old party named Somoza. He had my legs broken.”

I sat astride the log about eight feet from him. “This,” he said, “is the ancient definition of the best kind of education, the pupil on one end of a log and the teacher on the other.”

“What do I-”

He stopped me with a raised hand. “Just let me ramble a bit. Answer me when I ask you a question. You would seem to know small boats and know the sea. And with your background, no one would question your interest in purchasing a certain sort of small boat.”

“I don’t want to use my search money for a boat.”

“You are talking trivia, and when you do, you bore me.”

“I came here to find my kid. Maybe that’s boring to you, but it’s not to me.”

“McGraw, you are going to have to learn how to accept discipline.”

“Mr. Persival, you can’t run me the same way you run those people of yours. I’ll answer you when you ask questions, and I’ll answer the questions you don’t ask. I talk when I please.”

He looked me over. He was patently exasperated.

“Brother Thomas, can you swim?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad to hear that. A lot of commercial fishermen can’t. Do you know how to use scuba gear?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what a limpet mine is?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me? I want to be sure you know.”

“It’s a mine that sticks to what it is going to blow up. It can be magnetic, or covered with stickum. It can have a timer or be blown up by a transmitter.”

“Very good! You’ve worked around explosive charges?”

“Enough to be careful.”

“Suppose I gave you the task of fastening a limpet mine to the hull of one of those new tankers which carry frozen liquefied gas. How would you go about it?”

I recalled what he had said about the boat purchase. It was enough of a clue. “In the area where the tanker is, I’d get hold of a commercial fishing boat, small. One-man operation, with an inboard or outboard. I’d dress right for the climate and the place. I’d fish the area, catch fish, sell the catch. I’d keep track of the winds and tides, and when everything was right, I’d have a breakdown and get carried up against the hull of the ship, maybe forward where the flare would hide me from the weather decks. Maybe if I had a little electric outboard let down through the hull, and concealed somehow, I could count on drifting to exactly where I would have to be.

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