Page 4 of Escape to the Sun

‘I’m Hannah Maynard,’ she said, taking his hand. ‘I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to see the bridge. This is amazing.’

A firm grip, but that wasn’t what caught Louis’ attention. After he’d gone on to introduce other members of the bridge crew, it became impossible for him to ignore. Under a curtain of glossy mahogany hair cut in a sharp bob and an intense frown, which she seemed unwilling to relinquish, shone the fiercest pair of almond brown eyes. She didn’t meet his gaze much, seemed to prefer to look anywhere else – or perhaps she was more interested in the bridge than him – but every time she glanced his way, it felt as though she could see right through him, like she knew he was faking his confidence as he showed her around. His mouth went dry again, just as he was trying to explain the ECDIS navigation system.

‘So, we don’t need any paper maps these days,’ he said, stumbling over the words. ‘Instead, we can use satellite navigation to follow a course we lay in to the computer.’

‘A kind of autopilot?’ she asked, her gaze on the ECDIS screen.

‘Exactly. Although, even when a heading is set, there’s always crew here to monitor everything, because other factors can influence the ship’s movements – strong winds, for example. And we always have people watching for unexpected obstacles in the water.’

‘Like pirate ships,’ she said, almost too quietly for him to hear.

He frowned. ‘Um, I suppose. To be honest, piracy is still a problem in certain parts of the world, but not on our designated route for this cruise. So, you don’t need to concern yourself with that.’

At last, she fixed him with her gaze for longer than a couple of seconds, the frown giving way to concern, her delicate eyebrows jinking towards one another above the bridge of her nose. ‘I was joking. Do you mean it? Are there still pirates?’

‘Some. But they’re mostly on the trade routes that use the Suez Canal. The Somali coast, that area. They tend to target cargo vessels.’

The frown was back, more deeply embedded than ever. ‘I didn’t realise. I had this image of a tall ship in my head – you know, loads of masts and sails and cannons sticking through holes all down the side. Skull and crossbones. The works. And relegated very firmly to the past. Or in the movies.’

‘They mostly use small boats with outboard motors nowadays – just to ruin your imaginings. Sorry.’ He grimaced.

‘Makes more sense, I suppose.’

‘Anyway, what are you looking forward to the most on your cruise?’

‘I don’t know. I am hoping to go snorkelling with tropical fish at some point, if that’s possible,’ she said, the frown loosening its grip again.

Louis smiled. ‘That sounds perfectly possible.’

‘So long as there aren’t any sharks in the vicinity,’ she added.

‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem.’

‘More likely to see a pirate? Is that what you’re saying?’

His smile dipped a little. ‘Not sure I’d go that far, to be honest, but you will be completely safe.’

The frown reasserted itself, Hannah’s attention diverted by something to her right, out of his line of sight. She pointed.

‘Why is there a cat in here?’ she said.

3

The cat was black. Slinky and glossy and completely unfazed by the fact it was on board a ship as it crossed the space behind the captain and made an effortless leap onto a stool set close to the panoramic windows of the bridge. Seating itself, the cat yawned as it gave a flick of its tail and fixed its emerald-green gaze through the window at the swell of the sea beyond.

Hannah glanced at the captain, her confusion met by a warm smile.

‘That’s Portus,’ he said. ‘Ballygowan’s official ship’s cat. Named after one of the earliest artificial harbours ever created, in ancient Rome, and he’s been aboard for three years – I think it’s three?’ He glanced around and some of the other members of the crew nodded in agreement.

‘He lives on board all the time?’ Hannah didn’t know much about cats, but she’d always thought of them as mini lions, expected them to want grass and hedges and places to hunt mice and run wild in the hours of darkness.

‘Yowls if he has to go ashore for anything,’ the captain said.

‘Can I say hello?’

‘Of course.’

Hannah wandered over, fingers outstretched for Portus to sniff.