Page 209 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

‘What? I don’t understand...’

‘You will not make me change. We are not the same.’ I held my head in my hands for a moment, and took several deep breaths. ‘It’s over, Kreeg.’

‘Over?’

‘Yes. I... I forgive you. Now, I am going to bed. I am an old man, and I am very, very tired.’

‘What are you doing?’ Eszu snarled. I simply turned away and slowly strolled towards the salon.

‘Come back, Atlas! This ends tonight, one way or the other!’

‘Ithasended, Kreeg. It’s over. It’s all over.’

I walked downstairs and collapsed onto my bed.

I was woken by the rising Grecian sun shining brightly onto my face. Rolling over, I realised that I had managed to fall asleep in my clothes, something I had not done since I was a little boy. I sat up tentatively, feeling a familiar straining sensation in my chest. I chastised myself for resting, as by now, at Atlantis, my plan would be in full swing. Marina would be telephoning the girls to tell them that I had died of a heart attack.

Kreeg was supposed to have taken my life.

But here I was. Breathing. I knew I needed to get in touch with Georg as quickly as possible. I hauled myself to my feet, exited my cabin, and began climbing the main set of stairs. I walked out onto the deck, but saw no sign of my adversary.

‘Kreeg?’ I called out. ‘Hello?’ I walked from the bow to the stern, and as I did so, took in the glorious sun which hovered over the horizon. Eventually, I came to the gangplank that connected theTitanto theOlympus. Satisfied he was not on board my boat, I crawled across, despite the growing pain in my chest.

‘Hello, Kreeg? It’s Atlas. Hello?’

There was no sign of him. I made my way down into the bowels of the yacht, continuing to call his name. I searchedcabins, offices, staff quarters and the galley – all of which were empty. Finally, I climbed up to the bridge, from where the yacht is captained. As I scanned the room, something caught my eye. Placed atop the control panel was a familiar leather pouch. I made my way over. Next to the pouch was a white envelope, addressed toAtlas.

I loosened the drawstrings attached to the pouch, and to my genuine surprise, the diamond was still inside. With more than a hint of trepidation, I opened the envelope, which contained a card from Kreeg’s writing desk.

YOU WIN, ATLAS. I AM GONE, GIVEN TO THE OCEAN. IT IS FINALLY OVER.

I slowly placed the card in my breast pocket, and hung the diamond around my neck. Having just undertaken a thorough search of theOlympus, I knew Kreeg was not on the yacht.Given to the ocean... Had he thrown himself overboard? I made my way onto the bridge deck and looked down at the sea. But I saw no body, nor anything that looked out of the ordinary. Was this a ploy?

I sensed not.

Kreeg had left the diamond. If he had fled, he would have surely taken it with him.

‘Goodbye, Kreeg. I hope that you find peace, despite it all,’ I whispered.

What was I to do now? Obviously, it was my duty to contact the Hellenic Coastguard. However, I couldn’t risk them finding me here with a gun somewhere on board. As panic rose inside of me, I concocted a compromise. Returning to the control panel, I punched in the appropriate frequency on the radio.

‘Coastguard, this is the motoryachtOlympus. Our positionis latitude 37.4 north and longitude 25.3 east. We have a suspected man overboard. Over.’

There was a brief pause before the reply came. ‘MotoryachtOlympus, message received, confirm location as Delos?’

‘Confirmed,’ I replied.

‘Do you have eyes on the man overboard?’

‘Negative. The yacht is one passenger down.’

‘Confirmed,Olympus. Assistance is on its way,’ the voice buzzed.

I returned the radio to its mount and made my way back to theTitanas quickly as possible, taking the gangplank with me. I could not risk the authorities believing another boat had been present. Once securely back aboard my own vessel, I hurried to the bow and hauled the anchor. The exertion was proving to be a great strain on my heart, which was now aching in my chest. Nonetheless, I did my best to hastily move myself up to theTitan’s bridge, where I started the engines and began the process of swinging the yacht around to face the open ocean. Unexpectedly, I heard the honk of a horn coming from the starboard side. I put the throttles to idle, and rushed to the window. To my horror, I saw a small catamaran, full of young people, doing its very best to get out of my way. I waved a hand in apology, but couldn’t afford to waste any time. I engaged theTitan’s engines once more. The catamaran moved out of my way, no doubt cursing the evil superyacht for having no respect for fellow seafarers.

As theTitanheaded for open waters, I wondered where I should take her now. I needed somewhere quiet to moor whilst I regrouped and came up with a new plan. Sadly, a multimillion-pound superyacht does not allow for inconspicuous getaways. As I was deep in thought, the radio crackled.

‘Calling theTitan.Titan, are you receiving?’