The Year of Dangerous Loving. John Davis Gordon

climbing grassy hills just to see what was on the other side: it seemed to Hargreave he had never been so happy.

      And, oh no, he did not want her to go back to Macao next Monday, he could not bear the thought of her going back to ‘work’. Anyway, how could he afford to keep paying for her? He would have to make a final settlement with Vladimir and take her away from all that, or forget about her – and he could not forget about her. So there was only one realistic thing to do.

      It was on Friday, the second-last day of their sailing idyll, that Alistair Hargreave finally made up his mind. They were at anchor in a little cove on Kai Sai Chau, in the hour after love; he said, rehearsed:

      ‘I’ve got some leave accumulated, about four weeks – I didn’t take it all last year. Why don’t we go to the Philippines, you and I, sail this boat down there, spend some time cruising those islands?’

      There was silence for a moment, then Olga scrambled up on to her knees and looked at him. ‘Oh, can we really?’

      Hargreave grinned, delighted with her delight. ‘It’s only six hundred miles to Manila, I’ve sailed it often, and the islands are lovely; hundreds and hundreds of them, white beaches and turquoise water. And if we get bored we can go ashore and explore inland.’

      ‘Oh, darling …’

      Hargreave looked, at her and made the commitment. He said soberly, ‘And meantime I don’t want you to go back to Macao, Olga. I don’t want you to go back to the Tranquillity. I want you to come to stay with me in my apartment until we sail for the Philippines.’ There – he had said it.

      Olga stared at him, her blue eyes shining.

      ‘Oh darling!’ She knelt forward and hugged him, her beautiful breasts squashed against his chest, her shapely bottom up in the air: ‘Oh, darling, how wonderful!’

      Hargreave grinned. ‘So what we’re going to do is this: tomorrow we’ll sail over to Macao to fetch your things – I don’t want you doing that alone, coming back on the ferry and perhaps falling foul of our immigration clerks again. Anyway, I’ll have to see Vladimir and tell him what’s happening, clear the air.’ He left out ‘and settle my bill once and for all’.

      Olga sat upright. ‘Oh, you don’t pay him any more, darling! Only for last weekend, and that is it. Finished! Don’t talk to Vladimir, let me do it, he’ll try to cheat you!’

      ‘But what about your so-called contract with him?’

      ‘I haven’t got any new contract with him! Yes, when I came from Russia I had a year’s contract so it would be legal with the Portuguese, but I finished that contract three weeks ago. All I did was extend my visa, I didn’t sign any new contract. Yes, I continued to work in the Tranquillity, but I did not sign anything, I can walk out any time I like!’

      Maybe, but he didn’t think Vladimir would see it like that: Hargreave would rather make a deal than have trouble. ‘I want everything cut and dried with Vladimir, so I’ll have to see him. And we’ve got to get your passport from him, you’re going to need it to go to the Philippines.’

      ‘I’ll get my passport, don’t worry, even if I have to steal it from him. I’ll tell him he won’t get paid for last weekend unless he gives it to me. Just you leave Vladimir to me, darling!’

      That was fine with Hargreave, if it worked – the less he had to do with the likes of Vladimir the better.

      Olga hugged him joyfully: ‘Oh, I’m so excited! A whole month sailing in the Philippines!’

      That’s what they were going to do. They were going to have a lovely time. But after the month was over, then what? Hargreave did not care; a lot of things would become clear in a month, he would know what to do. All he knew right now was that he could not let this happiness go, that he could not let her go back to work on Monday.

      And then they were struck by Sod’s Law of the Sea.

      Any experienced sailor will tell you about Sod’s Law, how crises never come one at a time at sea but in twos or threes or more. In Hargreave’s case they came in eights.

      That Friday afternoon they were heading back to Hong Kong Island to clear port formalities on Saturday morning so they could sail on to Macao: they were in a strong wind when a faulty fitting on the backstay parted, the mast broke with a crack like a cannon and came crashing down on the rails, the sails falling into the sea. The second crisis was set in motion by Hargreave unwisely starting the engine to give him control over the boat while he cut the steel rigging with bolt-cutters: as the shattered mast finally crashed free into the sea the sails billowed under the keel and got wrapped around the churning propeller. The third crisis came when the mast, which was still attached to the tangled sail, hit the rudder and damaged it badly. By the time Hargreave had dived over the side with a carving knife to free the propeller, the mast had bent the drive-shaft as well. That was the fourth crisis: now they had no sails, no engine power, no steering, and no radio because the antenna had been at the top of the mast. Crisis number five was that darkness was falling and the wind and swells were buffeting the stricken yacht towards the shore. Sod’s Law number six struck at midnight when they were driven aground on the beach of Clearwater Bay.