was on their left. The tide was high, but the hour was late for sailing, so the channel was congested as recreational sailors headed for their berths in the marina.
Emily kept to the centre of the channel, pushing the speed as much as she dared. When they sighted the buoys marking the point at which the channel gave over to the greater channel that was Hamford Water and the outlet to the sea, she pushed forward on the throttle. The powerful engines answered. The bow of the boat lifted, then slapped against the water. PC Fogarty briefly lost his footing; Barbara grabbed onto the handrail as the Sea Wizard leapt into Ham-ford Water.
Pennyhole Bay and the North Sea yawned ahead of them: a sheet of green the colour of lichen, incised by whitecaps. The Sea Wizard shot towards it eagerly, Emily pushing ever more on the throttle. The bow hurtled out of the water, then slammed down against it with so much force that Barbara's unhealed ribs shot fire from her chest, up to her throat, and into her eyeballs.
Jesus, she thought. The last thing she needed was to beg out now.
She lifted the binoculars to her face. She straddled her seat and let its back support her as the boat jounced viciously. PC Fogarty went back to the radio, shouting over the roar of the engines.
The wind whipped them. Spray flew up from the bow in sheets. They rounded the tip of the Nez, and Emily opened the throttle wide. The Sea Wizard exploded into the bay. It hurtled past two Jet Skiers, and its wake tossed them into the water like plastic soldiers swept off a battlefield.
PC Fogarty had assumed a crouch in the cockpit.
He continued to shout into the radio's microphone.
Barbara was sweeping her binoculars across the horizon, when the constable finally roused someone on shore. She couldn't hear what he said, much less what was said in return. But she got the jist when he shouted to Emily, "No go, Guv. The divisional chopper's been called as back-up for exercises in Southend-on-Sea. Special Branch."
/m?" Emily demanded. "What the hell are doing?"
"Anti-terrorist exercises. Been in the planning for six months, they said. They'll radio the chopper, but they can't guarantee it'll get here in time.
You want the Coast Guard?"
"What bloody good is the Coast Guard going to do us?" Emily shouted. "D'you think Malik's going to surrender like a good boy just because they pull alongside and ask him?"
"Then all we can hope is that the chopper gets out here. I gave them our compass reading."
Emily gave the boat more throttle in reply.
Fogarty lost his balance. The carbine slid from the seat with a clank. Emily glanced back at the weapons. "Give me the holster," she called. She slung it over her shoulder, one hand on the wheel.
She said to Barbara, "See anything?"
Barbara scanned the horizon. They weren't the only craft on the sea. To their north, the rectangular forms of ferries made a squat line from Harwich and Felixstone harbours, stretching towards the continent. To their south, the Balford Pleasure Pier cast lengthening shadows on the water as the sun drew lower in the afternoon sky.
Behind them, wind surfers cut colourful triangles against the shoreline. And before them .
. . before them was the endless stretch of open sea, and hulking at the horizon of that sea the same bank of dirty grey fog that had hung off the shore for as many days as Barbara had been in Balford.
There were boats out there. In the height of summer even towards the end of the day, there would always be boats out there. But she didn't S6A know what she was looking for, aside from a craft that appeared to be heading in the same direction as they were taking. She said, "Nothing, Em."
"Keep looking." Emily gunned the Sea Wizard. The boat answered with another wild leap from the water and another pounding return to the sea.
Barbara grunted as her unhealed ribs took her body's weight. Inspector Lynley, she decided, would not be chuffed with the manner in which she'd spent her holiday. The boat rose, smashed, and rose again.
Yellow-beaked gulls soared above them. Others bobbed on the swells. These burst into flight at the approach of the Sea Wizard, their angry screams obscured by the roar of its engines.
For thirty minutes they held the same course.
They powered past sailing boats and catamarans.
They flew by fishing boats that sat low in the water, their day's catches