Vicary snatched up the receiver of the open phone line to the Submarine Tracking Room.
"Commander Braithwaite, are you there?"
"Yes. I'm here, and I could hear the entire thing over the line."
"Well?"
"I'm afraid we've got a serious problem. Corvette 745 is a mile due south of the U-boat's position. I've radioed the captain and he's making for the scene now. But if the Camilla is really only four hundred yards away from the submarine, they're going to get there first."
"Dammit!"
"You do have one other asset, Mr. Vicary--the Rebecca. I suggest you use it. Your men have got to do something to slow that boat down until the corvette can intervene."
Vicary set down the telephone and picked up the handset of the radio.
"Superintendent Lockwood, this is Grimsby, over."
"Lockwood here, over."
"Superintendent, listen carefully. Help is on the way, but in the meantime I want you to ram that fishing boat."
All of them heard it--Lockwood, Harry, Roach, and Jordan--for they were all pressed around the cabin, sheltering from the weather.
Lockwood, shouting above the wind and the roar of the Rebecca's engines, said, "Is he out of his mind?"
"No," Harry said, "just desperate. Can you get there in time?"
"Sure--but we'll be staring right down the barrels of that U-boat's deck guns."
They all looked at one another, saying nothing. Finally, Lockwood said, "There are life jackets in that locker behind you. And bring out the rifles. I have a feeling we may need them."
Lockwood looked back at the sea and found the Camilla. He made a minor course correction and opened the throttle as far as it would go.
Max Hoffman, standing on the bridge of U-509, spotted the Rebecca approaching fast.
"We've got company, Number One. Civilian craft, three or four men on board."
"I see them, Herr Kaleu."
"Judging from their speed and heading, I'd say they're the opposition."
"They appear to be unarmed, Herr Kaleu."
"Yes. Give them a warning shot from the foredeck gun. Shoot across their bow. I don't want needless bloodshed. If they persist, fire directly on the craft. But at the waterline, Number One, not the cabin."
"Yes, Herr Kaleu," the first officer snapped. Hoffman heard shouted orders, and within thirty seconds the first shot from U-509's forward boots-kanone deck gun was arching across the prow of the Rebecca.
Though U-boats rarely engaged in surface artillery battles, the 10.5-centimeter shell of the forward deck gun was capable of inflicting lethal damage, even on large vessels. The first shot sailed well off the Rebecca's prow. The second, fired ten seconds later, came much closer.
Lockwood turned to Harry and shouted, "I'd say that's the last warning we get. The next one is going to blow us right out of the water. It's your call, but we're no help to anyone if we're dead."
Harry shouted, "Turn away!"
Lockwood turned the Rebecca hard to port and circled around. Harry looked back toward the U-boat. The Camilla was two hundred yards away and closing, and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it. He thought, Goddammit! Where's that corvette?
Then he picked up the handset and told Vicary there was nothing they could do to stop them.
Jenny heard the boom of the U-boat's deck gun and saw the shell flash along the waterline toward a second boat. She thought, Thank God! I'm not alone after all. But the U-boat fired again, and a few seconds later she saw the little boat turn away and her spirits sank.
Then she steeled herself and thought, They're German agents. They've killed my father and six other people tonight and they're about to get away with it. I have to do something to stop them.
But what could she do? She was alone, and her hands and feet were tied. She considered trying to free herself, sneak up on deck, and hit them with something. But if they saw her they wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Perhaps she could start a fire, but then she would be trapped with the smoke and the flames and she would be the only one to die. . . .
Think, Jenny! Think!
It was hard to think with the constant roar of the boat's motor. It was driving her crazy.
And then she thought, Yes, that's it!
If she could somehow disable the engine--even just for a moment--it might help. If there was one boat chasing them, there might be others--perhaps bigger boats that could shoot back at the German submarine.