Page 49 of Deep Blue Lies
FORTY-EIGHT
“Is he here?” I ask, “The owner?” Whoever that is.
“You wouldn’t be here if he was,” Simon replies, his eyebrows raised again. “But don’t worry. He hardly ever turns up unexpected.” We come to the jacuzzi, a little smaller than I might have imagined.
“Looks small right? But press this button here, and the whole platform slides out over the sea, so you can look down and wave at the fishies.” He grins at me.
“We’re not allowed to operate it here in port, but…
” His finger lingers over the button, like he wants to break the rule.
“Better not.” He turns away. “Here we have an observation lounge, telescope, night-vision binoculars blah blah blah.” We come to some stairs, and Simon leads the way down.
“This is the Upper Deck, which I cannot show you.” He pauses, and turns so that I can glimpse in through closed glass doors.
I can’t see much inside, but there seems to be a grand piano.
“It has a pair of VIP suites up towards the bow, but most of it is the owner’s personal area.
Not even I’m allowed in, not without good reason. ” We keep walking down.
“Who is the owner?” I ask, following on behind.
“Technically it’s more of a what than a who,” he says, turning to enjoy the look this brings onto my face.
“He’s a Russian, named Leonid Antonov. He’s in oil, shipping, defence contracts, that sort of thing.
But since the war in Ukraine it hasn’t been easy for the Russians.
A lot of their toys have been confiscated.
Assets frozen, yachts seized. Even had to give back their football clubs.
But Antonov has Bulgarian roots, so he’s got away with it.
And Celestial herself is owned by a shell company based out in the Cayman Islands, which’ll protect her, even if the sanctions get tougher.
” He stops suddenly. “But don’t get the wrong idea. ”
“What wrong idea?”
“Russian oligarch, an actual superyacht. You’re thinking he’s a gangster, Putin’s poodle, pushing people out of windows – that sort of thing?”
I shrug lightly. “I suppose it crossed my mind.”
Simon shakes his head. “He’s more complicated than that. This is more complicated.” For a second he stares into my eyes. Then we step off the stairs, into an absurdly large space.
“Main Deck. We call this the Grand Salon. Can you see why?”
I look around. It’s like being in a museum. Everything is marble, or gold. Or gold marble. We walk past a gigantic dining table, the largest I’ve ever seen.
“Up here is the main pool. Beyond that the cinema, the whisky bar.”
As we walk, Simon casually points out the details. “There’s another pool at the stern, with a waterfall. It’s nice to sit in while you watch the sunset. Over there, the humidor, just tell me if you want a cigar.”
We pass through a long internal corridor, with suites leading off on either side. Eventually we come to more stairs, but as we go down, the feel changes. It’s still plush, but more utilitarian .
“OK, Lower Deck. This is the crew and operations area. We have a galley, engine room…” It’s still vast, even down here.
“And then through here …” Simon pushes open another door, I’m getting completely lost.
“Oh my God.”
“I told you,” I’ve no idea how often he’s done this, but he still sounds delighted.
“What did I tell you? An actual mini sub .” It really is.
It’s painted bright blue, with a semi-circular dome of thick glass on the top, and I have to reach and touch it, just to be sure this is actually happening.
Beside it is a massive RIB boat, a pair of jet skis. They’re painted gold.
“So how do you mean, he’s more complicated?” I ask, turning to Simon. “He’s not just a gangster with golden jet skis?”
Simon looks rueful. “They do like their bling, that’s true, these crazy fucking billionaires…
But he’s not a bad guy, underneath all that.
” He looks wistful now. “When I was being tapped for this job – and you wouldn’t believe the way that happens, by the way.
The hoops you have to jump through, the background checks they do.
I had to do an IQ test, I was wired up to two lie-detectors, two different teams of psychologists.
They staged a mock kidnap to see how I’d react…
But it works both ways. I was given the chance to look into Antonov too.
To see if I was a fit for him, not just the other way around. ”
I wait, I’m not sure where this is going.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a friend. I absolutely work for the guy, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do…” He lets that sentence fade away unfinished.
“And the fact that most of the time he’s not here to use all this – that’s a bonus, for sure.
But all the same, he isn’t what you’d think.
I’m sure there are issues with how he got his money.
And plenty more with how he’s holding on to it.
But if you want to know where he is, right now?
The answer is he’s probably lobbying somewhere for the expansion of marine conservation zones.
Quietly, I mean. And he’s got ships, working with oceanographic institutes, tracking illegal fishing, funding coral reef restoration in the Seychelles and the South Pacific.
That’s what he lives for. The jet skis are just to…
I don’t know, just so his oligarch-buddies think he’s the same as they are.
” He stops, looks around at the room full of expensive water-sports toys. Mostly they look brand new.
“Partly, at least.”
He looks at me, like it matters to him that I don’t completely dismiss this.
“Look, Ava, this is freaky as hell, you coming here, and I don’t expect you to believe me straight off.
But that summer in Alythos, with your mother?
It changed me. It changed the whole direction of my life.
I might have been the guy who would hold his nose and work for a killer – that definitely could’ve been me.
But after what happened?” He shakes his head. “Nah-uh. Not after that.”
Then he does something strange. He reaches out as if he’s going to touch my face.
I have no idea why, and guess the look of surprise on my face stops him, but for a moment his hand hangs there, just an inch from my face.
There’s a moment when I can’t read his motives at all, and down here, in the bowels of this yacht, it’s clear no one could hear if I had to scream.
Then he drops his hand back down, puffs out his cheeks.
“Let’s go back upstairs. There’s something I have to tell you.”