Читать книгу The Snow Tiger / Night of Error - Desmond Bagley, Desmond Bagley - Страница 27

Next morning Ballard went to the hospital to visit Cameron. He tried to do this as often as possible to keep the old man company and cheer him up. It was a fact that Cameron now was an old man; his experience in the avalanche had almost killed both spirit and body. McGill said, ‘I’ll go to see him tomorrow. I have things to do at Deep Freeze Headquarters.’

‘I’ll be out that way this afternoon,’ said Ballard. ‘I’m picking up Stenning at Harewood. Want a lift back?’

‘Thanks,’ said McGill. ‘Ask for me in the office.’

Ballard found Cameron out of bed but in a wheelchair with a blanket tucked around him in spite of the fact that it was a hot day. He was talking to Liz Peterson when Ballard walked into the room. ‘Hi!’ said Liz. ‘I’ve just been telling Joe how Mike tried to freeze our blood when he gave evidence yesterday.’

‘Yes, I think he made Harrison shiver a bit.’ Privately he thought it tactless to describe the sufferings of an avalanche victim such as Zdarsky to one who had himself been caught in an avalanche, and he wondered how much Liz had said. ‘How are you feeling, Joe?’

‘A bit better this morning. I could have stayed yesterday afternoon in spite of my damn fool doctor.’

‘You do as he says,’ Ballard advised. ‘What do you think, Liz?’

‘I think Joe should do as he likes. Doctor doesn’t always know best.’

Cameron laughed. ‘Oh, it’s good to have a pretty girl here – especially when she’s on my side. But you really shouldn’t be here, Liz.’ He nodded towards the window. ‘You should be out there, enjoying the sunshine. On a tennis court, maybe.’

‘I’ve got plenty of time for tennis, Joe,’ she said. ‘The rest of my life. Are they looking after you well here?’

‘Okay, I guess – but it’s just like any other hospital. The food is terrible – they have too many dieticians and too few cooks.’

‘We’ll have something sent in,’ said Ballard. ‘Won’t we Liz?’

She smiled. ‘I’m not bad at home cooking.’

They stayed until Cameron sent them off, saying that young people must have something better to do than to sit around in hospitals. Outside, in the sunshine, Ballard said, ‘Doing anything in particular, Liz?’

‘Not really.’

‘What about having lunch with me?’

She hesitated fractionally, but said, ‘I’d like that.’

‘We’ll go in my car. I’ll bring you back on my way to the airport this afternoon. I’m meeting someone.’

‘It’ll cost you lunch for two. I’ll have to bring Victor. I can’t leave him in my car.’

‘Sure.’

She laughed. ‘Love me – love my dog.’

As Ballard started the engine of his car, he said, ‘Did you mean what you said yesterday – about leaving New Zealand?’

‘I’ve been thinking about it.’

‘Where would you go?’

‘England, I suppose – at first anyway. Then perhaps America. You’ve travelled around a bit, haven’t you? I’ve always wanted to travel – to see things.’

He drove out of the hospital grounds. ‘Yes, I’ve been places, but they’ve always been working trips. I’ll tell you one thing – I certainly never expected to come back to New Zealand.’

‘Then why did you?’

Ballard sighed. ‘My grandfather wanted me to. He was a forceful old bird.’

‘He was! I didn’t know he was dead.’

‘He died a few days ago.’

‘Oh, Ian! I am sorry.’

‘So am I, in a way. We didn’t always see eye to eye, but I’ll miss him. Now that he’s gone I won’t be staying with the Ballard group. In fact, I’ve just about made that impossible.’

‘It’s like Mike says – neither of us get on with our relatives.’ Liz laughed. ‘I had a row with Charlie last night. Someone saw us in the restaurant yesterday and split to Charlie.’

‘Don’t get into trouble because of me, Liz.’

‘I’m tired of Charlie’s tantrums. I’m a grown woman and I’ll meet whoever I like. I told him so last night.’ She rubbed the side of her face reflectively.

Ballard glanced sideways and caught the action. ‘He hit you?’

‘Not for the first time, but it’s going to be the last.’ She saw the expression on Ballard’s face. ‘Not to worry, Ian. I can defend myself. I’m reckoned to be a pretty aggressive tennis player and those smash services develop the muscles.’

‘So you hit him back. I doubt if that would make much of an impression on Charlie.’

She grinned impishly. ‘I happened to be holding a plateful of spaghetti at the time.’ When Ballard burst out laughing she added, ‘Eric socked him, too. We’re quite a happy family, we Petersons.’

He turned the car into the hotel car park. As they walked into the foyer he said, ‘The grub’s not bad here; they serve quite a good lunch. But what about a drink first?’

‘Something long and cold,’ she agreed.

‘We’ll have it by the pool,’ he said. ‘This way.’ Suddenly he stiffened and halted in his stride.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘The forces are rallying. It’s Cousin Francis. Now where the devil did he spring from?’

A youngish man in a business suit stepped in front of them. ‘Morning, Ian,’ he said, abruptly and unsmilingly.

‘Good morning, Frank,’ said Ballard. ‘Miss Peterson, this is my cousin, Frank Ballard.’

Frank Ballard gave her a curt nod. ‘I want to talk to you, Ian.’

‘Sure. We’re just going to have drinks by the pool. Join us.’

Frank shook his head. ‘In private.’

‘All right. After lunch, then.’

‘No, I haven’t the time. I’m catching a plane back to Sydney almost immediately. It’ll have to be now.’

‘Don’t mind me,’ said Liz. ‘I’ll wait for you by the pool. Come on, Victor.’ She walked away without waiting for an answer.

Frank said, ‘What about your room?’

‘All right.’ Ballard led the way. They walked in silence until they reached the room. As he closed the door Ballard said, ‘What brings you from Australia, Frank?’

Frank swung around. ‘You bloody well know what brings me. Why the hell did you put old Crowell through the hoops the way you did yesterday? He was on the phone to me, crying on my shoulder long distance.’

Ian smiled. ‘Just trying to elicit a bit of truth.’

There was no answering smile from Frank. ‘Now look here, Ian. You’re getting the company into a right mess. A fine bloody managing director you are.’

‘Aren’t you forgetting that Crowell suspended me from duty? Or is what you’ve just said an offer of the job back?’

‘You flaming idiot! The suspension was only until the Inquiry was over. If you’d have used your brains and kept quiet everything would have been all right, and you’d be back in the saddle next week. As it is, I’m not so sure. You’ve been throwing so much mud at the company that I’m not sure you’re fit for the position.’

Ian sat on the bed. ‘If I’d kept quiet I’d be a dead duck, and you know it. Between the company and the Petersons I wouldn’t stand a chance. Did you really think I’d stand still and let you make a patsy out of me?’

‘This is a Ballard company,’ said Frank furiously. ‘We take care of our own. Have you no family feeling?’

‘You’d take care of me like a fox takes care of a rabbit,’ snapped Ian.

‘If that’s what you think, I’m sorry.’ Frank’s finger shot out. ‘When the inquiry starts again on Monday you’d better keep quiet. No more appeals to the grandstand like those you’ve been making. If you promise to do that then maybe there’ll still be a job for you in the Group. I doubt if I’ll be able to swing the managing directorship of Hukahoronui – my old man’s hopping mad – but I still think I can guarantee some kind of job.’

‘Thanks,’ said Ian ironically. ‘But I’m underwhelmed by your generosity. You know what I think of the Group – I’ve never made a secret of it.’

‘For Christ’s sake!’ burst out Frank. ‘You know how big we are. We just have to pass the word around and you’ll never get a job in mining again. Look, you don’t even have to do anything – just stop asking damn fool questions in public.’

Ian stood up. ‘Don’t push me, Frank,’ he warned.

‘I haven’t even started yet. For God’s sake, be reasonable, Ian. Do you know how much the share price of the company has dropped since yesterday? All this adverse publicity is having an effect even in London. We’re dropping money fast.’

‘I bleed for you.’

‘You know we’re going to float a new issue of Hukahoronui shares. What chance do you think we’ll have if you continue to hold up the chairman of the board as a bloody fool?’

‘The foolishness of Crowell is none of my doing – he’s a self-made idiot. That’s why you have him there – because he’ll jump when he’s told. You ought to be getting rid of Crowell, not me.’

‘You’re impossible,’ said Frank disgustedly. ‘We’re not getting rid of you.’

‘No,’ agreed Ian. ‘I’m leaving under my own power, and in my own way. I don’t take easily to blackmail, Frank, and the way you’re going you’re likely to cook your own goose.’

Frank looked up and said sharply, ‘What do you mean?’

‘Have you considered the composition of the Commission of Inquiry? There’s Harrison, the chairman, and his two assessors, both experts in their fields. Rolandson knows about snow, and French is from the Department of Mines. He hasn’t said much yet.’

‘So?’

‘So any more pressure from you and I’ll start asking questions about conditions in that mine, and by the time I’m through French will write a report that’ll curl your hair – a report that the shareholders won’t like at all. Then you’ll see something really happen to the share price.’

‘You’re being really hard-nosed about this, aren’t you? Why, Ian?’

‘Do you have to ask after what you’ve been doing? I don’t like being manipulated, Frank. I don’t like being pushed around. I’m no Crowell. And another thing: the day before I was fired – and let’s give it the right name, Frank; none of this bull about suspension – I saw the result of the latest assay. Rich pickings, Frank, my boy; very rich pickings. But can you tell me why those results haven’t been given to the shareholders?’

‘That’s none of your bloody business.’

‘It might be if I buy some shares. Not that I will, of course. That mine is going to make someone a fortune, but the way you’ll set it up I don’t think the ordinary shareholders will see much of it.’

‘Nobody will make anything if you get on your hind legs and start asking damn fool questions about avalanche defences,’ said Frank sourly. ‘Good God, do you know how much it will cost us if this bloody Commission goes the wrong way?’

Ian stared at him. ‘What do you mean – the wrong way? Were you thinking of not putting in avalanche defences?’

‘Hell, there’s only an avalanche every thirty years or so. By the time the next one comes the mine will be worked out.’

Ian took a deep breath. ‘You damned fool! That was when the trees were still on the west slope. Now they’re gone there’s likely to be a fall in any period of heavy snow.’

‘All right.’ Frank flapped his hand impatiently. ‘We’ll re-afforest the slope. That’ll cost less than the snow rakes your friend McGill wants to have.’

‘Frank, do you know how long it takes for a tree to grow? I thought you lot were bad enough but now I know the depth of your greed.’ Ballard’s voice was hard. ‘And I suggest we bring this conversation to a sudden halt.’ He crossed to the door and threw it open.

Frank hesitated. ‘Think again, Ian.’

Ian jerked his head. ‘Out!’

Frank walked forward. ‘You’ll regret it.’

‘How’s Uncle Steve?’

‘He’s not going to like the answer I take back to Sydney.’

‘He should have come himself and not sent a half-wit to do his dirty work. He’s too intelligent to think threats would have any effect – he’d have tried a bribe, if I know him. Tell him from me that that wouldn’t have worked, either. Maybe you’ll be able to keep a whole skin that way.’

Frank paused outside the door, and turned. ‘You’re finished, Ian. I hope you know that.’

Ian closed the door in his face.

As he drove Liz back to the hospital to pick up her car he said, ‘Sorry about the gloomy lunch, Liz. I have a few things on my mind.’

‘It was a bit glum,’ she agreed. ‘What’s the matter? Trouble with the family? You were all right until you saw your cousin.’

He did not answer immediately but pulled the car off the road and parked by the kerb. He turned to face her, and said, ‘We both seem to have trouble that way. When were you thinking of going to England, Liz?’

‘I haven’t thought that far ahead.’

‘I’ll be going as soon as the inquiry is over. Why don’t you come with me?’

‘My God!’ she said. ‘Charlie would have kittens. Is this by way of being a proposal, Ian?’ She smiled. ‘Or do I come as your mistress?’

‘That’s up to you. You can take it either way.’

Liz laughed. ‘Shakespeare didn’t write this script. I know we’re like the Montagues and Capulets, but Romeo never made an offer like that.’ She put her hand on his. ‘I like you, Ian, but I’m not sure I love you.’

‘That’s the problem,’ he said. ‘We haven’t known each other long enough. Just two or three days at Huka, rudely interrupted by a disaster, and a week here. Love doesn’t flourish under those conditions, especially when overlooked by brother Charlie.’

‘Don’t you believe in love at first sight?’

‘I do,’ said Ballard. ‘Evidently you don’t. It happened to me at the dance on the night everything started. Look, Liz: when I get on that plane I won’t be coming back to New Zealand. I’d hate it like hell if I never saw you again. Maybe you don’t love me, but it would be nice if you gave it a fighting chance.’

‘Propinquity!’ she said. ‘A lovely word. Do you think it works?’

‘What have you got to lose?’

She looked pensively through the windscreen, staring at nothing. Presently she said, ‘If I do go to England with you – and I’m not saying right now that I will – but if I do there’ll be no strings. I’m my own woman, Ian; a very private person. That’s something Charlie can never understand. So if I come it will be my choice, and if after a while I leave you, it will be my choice again. Do you understand?’

He nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘And let me tell you something else, just to clear up something which may have been on your mind. Eric is against the Ballards on principle – it’s not just you. But with Charlie it definitely is you. Now, I was only two when Alec died; I never knew him – not to remember. And you were twelve then, and now you’re thirty-five. A person at twelve and a person at thirty-five are two different people, not to be confused with each other as Charlie does. I don’t know the rights and wrongs of Alec’s death – and I don’t care. I’ll be going to England with a man, not a boy.’

‘Thanks,’ said Ballard. ‘Thanks, Liz.’

‘Not that I’ve said I’m going with you yet,’ she warned. ‘I’ll have to think about it. As to the question you asked – what have I got to lose?’ She patted his knee. ‘The answer, my dear Ian, is my virginity!’