Page 205 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Kreeg looked up at me, leeringly. He was obviously very drunk. ‘I said, I took her as well.’

‘What?’

Kreeg took a moment to gather his thoughts. When he spoke again, his voice was deeper, growling. ‘I took her, Atlas. From you.’

My blood pressure had begun to rise, and I fought to remain calm. ‘Tell me what you mean. Now.’

‘She didn’t join you on the ship to Australia because I stole her away.’ I tried to speak, but found I could not. ‘I followed you from the bookshop to the port. You shouldn’t have left her side, Atlas. That was your mistake.’

I clutched at my racing heart. ‘You’re... you’re... lying.’

Kreeg put a finger in the air, remembering something.‘Would you like to see a photograph of us on our wedding day? I’m sure I have one somewhere...’

‘Please, no. Please, God, no...’

Kreeg reached into his pocket, and produced a faded black and white photograph from his wallet. There was a young, unsmiling Kreeg, and... sure enough, the face I had not seen for sixty years. To my utter disbelief and devastation, she was wearing a wedding dress. I felt like I might pass out.

‘How?! My Elle knew what you were, what you had done to me... She would never agree to marry you. I...’

Kreeg leant over to me and spoke softly. ‘I simply explained to her that if she did not agree to come with me, I would climb aboard the ship and shoot you where you stood. I knew, you see, all about your intended departure...’

It had been a long night for Kreeg Eszu. Having followed Rupert Forbes’s car down from London, he surreptitiously observed Atlas Tanit and his pretty girlfriend check in to the Voyager Hotel, then enjoy a shopping trip around the town. He watched the couple as they sat together on the dock, and Atlas had carefully drawn the girl, clearly suffused with love. Afterwards, the pair had returned to the hotel, and Kreeg positioned himself on a bench by the seafront, no more than five hundred feet from the Voyager’s entrance.

He had sat there all night.

It was clear that the pair were planning to take a passage to Australia when the RMSOrientdeparted in a few hours’ time. The long night had given Eszu time to consider his options. In truth, he had not expected to come across Tanit so easily. For one thing, he hadn’t bothered to use an alias for his surname. How oddly careless of him.

In truth, Kreeg hadn’t even been actively searching for his foe, instead dedicating his time to wooing the White princess and blending into his new city. But fate had played its part– as it always seemed to when it came to Atlas – and their paths had crossed again sooner than expected.

For so many years, Kreeg had dreamt of seeing the light leave Atlas’s eyes, his own face reflected in them. But during the war, he had witnessed so much death. Life after life had simply been extinguished in front of him, with men falling like dominos. At times, he had been jealous of those who had perished. They were at least free of the devastation that surrounded them.

As a result, Kreeg had concluded that, for Atlas, death would not be enough. No, for Tanit, the punishment had to beliving. He now longed for his brother to experience the devastation he had endured when his brother had taken his precious mother away. The pain had been...was... excruciating. And he wanted Atlas to feel it too.

He only hoped that he would have his chance to exact his revenge before Tanit and his woman boarded the RMSOrient...If not, he too would be forced to get on the ship and follow them to Australia. He shuddered at the thought.

Tilbury Port began to bustle at approximately nine a.m., at which point Kreeg removed himself from the bench, purchased a newspaper, and positioned himself on a street corner parallel with the hotel. His heart had begun to pound a little faster in anticipation of how events might play out, and he tried to calm himself. All he required was a moment when they were separated. Yes... that was all it would take. At nine twenty-five, Kreeg spotted the tall, muscular figure of Atlas leaving the hotel with his suitcase. He held his gaze, and to his delight, the blonde woman did not follow him. Tanit walked up the gangplank and boarded the ship.

Five minutes later, the blonde woman emerged with a suitcase and a light blue paper bag. This was his chance. Kreeg advanced towards her at a rapid pace. Using the newspaperas a shield, he reached inside his overcoat pocket and produced his Korovin pistol. With the gun firmly in his grasp, Kreeg rebalanced the folded newspaper so that it hid the weapon perfectly. He got closer and closer until the blonde woman was within touching distance.

He’d had the whole night to plan his move, and Kreeg executed his plan precisely. He grabbed the woman’s shoulder and jammed the nose of the pistol into the small of her back. She gasped.

‘Scream and I will shoot you,’ he whispered into her ear. The woman nodded. ‘Follow my lead.’ Kreeg spun her round, and gazed into her terrified blue eyes. ‘Hello, my darling!’ he cried. ‘Fancy seeing you here?’ Then he embraced her, keeping the gun pointed at her chest.

‘Please, don’t do this,’ Elle said quietly.

‘Too late for that,’ Kreeg whispered. He turned her around once again, so that she was facing the ship, keeping a firm grasp on her arm. ‘You’re going to come with me.’

‘Where, Kreeg?’

‘I will explain later.’

‘What if I just scream now? We’re in the middle of all these people.’

‘That would be unwise. Before you finish your wail, I will have made my way up that gangplank and put a bullet in Atlas’s head. Not to mention the one that would be embedded in your spine.’

‘And if I simply refuse to accompany you?’

‘Again, I will climb aboard the ship and shoot him where he stands.’