THE KING’S RANSOM
The pigeon waddled cautiously closer, its beady eyes glittering at the crumbs of bhel puri, scattered by tourists swarming around the plaza.
‘Gerroutofit!’
Bomberton’s shoe struck the pigeon and it flapped awkwardly away, squawking in indignation.
Chopra turned from where he had been leaning against the seawall.
Twenty metres below, an undulating expanse of turgid water lapped against the moss-covered bricks of the wall. Carelessly discarded junk rode up on a succession of shallow wavelets sweeping in from the deep harbour where, on the far horizon, a line of oil refineries were anchored. Beyond the refineries lay the Arabian Sea, dark and unbearably exotic, stretching all the way to the coast of Africa.
On the other side of the road, beneath a line of plane trees, late-night tourists wandered along the promenade. A caparisoned tonga jangled past, a foreign couple in the back craning their necks up at the magnificent Taj Palace Hotel.
Chopra stuffed his binoculars into the pocket of his waistcoat.
They had been monitoring the harbour for almost an hour. The silhouette of The King’s Ransom bobbed gently on the water.
‘I have been watching the jetties,’ Chopra announced. ‘A number of private boats have sailed out to the yacht.’
‘Well, do you have a private boat?’ asked Bomberton gruffly, eyeing the pigeon, who had settled on the seawall and was glaring back at him defiantly.
‘No.’
‘Then what’s the point of telling me?’ he said crossly.
‘I have a plan,’ responded Chopra calmly.
‘I’ll bet you do,’ muttered the Englishman.
DCI Bomberton was feeling distinctly ill at ease. He was a direct man, a man of action. All this cloak-and-dagger business was, to his way of thinking, simply a form of convoluted prevarication.
Bomberton came from a long line of military men. Indeed, his ancestor, the redoubtable Sir Mallory Bomberton, had distinguished the family crest at the Battle of Balaclava back in 1854, charging – together with the rest of the doomed protagonists of the Light Brigade – directly into the Russian guns with only a cavalry sword to cover his modesty.
That was the way to do things. Up and at ’em and hang the consequences! What was the point of all this skulking about?
Chopra walked through the arch of the Gateway of India, the eighty-five-foot-tall monument built to commemorate the visit of King George V a century earlier, his first visit to India as King-Emperor of the subcontinent. In the years since it had come to symbolise the city itself and was besieged day and night by locals and tourists alike.
On the far side of the Gateway he stopped and looked out over the harbour. During the day, the harbour was a bustling panorama of yachts, rowing boats, dhows, fishing vessels, tankers, cargo barges and tourist cruisers. At this time of night the ragtag armada had been berthed, and bobbed gently on the black water waiting to be called to arms once again the following morning.
A full moon shone down from the clear night sky above, its reflection smeared wide over the water.
He walked down a flight of concrete steps onto one of the five jetties that radiated out below the Gateway. From his vantage point he could see a trio of tourist boats moored close by. The nearest of the vessels was painted a gaudy sky blue, with a ring of tyres strung around the hull, and the name Elephanta Adventurer painted in white just below the port gunwale.
‘Hello!’ Chopra shouted. ‘Elephanta Adventurer! Is there anyone aboard?’
He continued to hail the vessel until, eventually, a pot-bellied man in a string vest and dhoti emerged from the wheelhouse, blearily wiping sleep from his eyes. ‘Why are you making such a racket?’ groused the man. ‘Can’t you see I am trying to sleep?’
‘We require the services of your boat,’ declared Chopra.
The man stopped scratching his belly and stared at him incredulously. ‘You want to go to the Elephanta Caves? Do you know what time it is? Are you drunk, friend?’
‘We do not wish to go to the caves,’ clarified Chopra. ‘We wish to be taken out into the harbour.’
‘What for?’ asked the man suspiciously.
‘I will tell you on the way.’
The man folded his arms. ‘Are you smugglers? I run a clean ship, friend.’
‘Smugglers!’ spluttered Bomberton. ‘Why you—’
‘We wish to be taken out to The King’s Ransom,’ interrupted Chopra.
The man turned and squinted at the dark silhouette of the big yacht, then looked back at Chopra with an evaluating expression. ‘Five hundred rupees,’ he said eventually.
‘Your signboard says one hundred,’ growled Bomberton, pointing at a wooden placard on the boat’s mainmast upon which was painted ‘AMAZING BEST ELEPHANTA TOURS ONLY RS 100/-’.
‘Yes. And your face says you are up to no good,’ scowled the man. ‘Five hundred.’
‘Now listen here—’ began Bomberton.
‘It is a deal,’ said Chopra.
The King’s Ransom was berthed deep in the harbour, well away from any other vessels.
Earlier in the day Chopra had spent some time revisiting the research dossier that his journalist friend Kishore Dubey had prepared for him. He had learned a great deal.
The yacht was one of the largest and most luxurious private boats in the world, inaugurated a year ago by billionaire Mohan Kartik at a gala ceremony attended by a clutch of celebrities including the state’s Chief Minister. Almost four hundred feet in length, the opulent vessel boasted five decks, twenty cabins, a private gym, garage and helipad, as well as capacity for one hundred guests and a crew of forty.
By anyone’s standards The King’s Ransom was a veritable ocean-going palace.
As the enormous vessel hove into view he noted the dazzling array of lights that lit up the yacht’s superstructure. Music drifted across the water.
A party was going on.
The Elephanta Adventurer chugged to a standstill at the yacht’s stern, where a ship-wide staircase of shallow steps fell to a landing apron.
A number of white-liveried crew milling on the apron stared in disbelief at the tourist boat as it clanked gently alongside.
‘We are coming aboard!’ yelled Chopra.
The crew exchanged glances. He did not wait for them to protest. Instead, he threw the gangplank over the side of the boat and scrambled across onto the yacht, Bomberton close behind.
Chopra turned and waved at the captain of the Elephanta Adventurer, who was staring open-mouthed at the magnificent vessel dwarfing his own. ‘You may go.’
The captain scowled, then returned to the wheelhouse.
Chopra and Bomberton watched as the little boat chugged away, a cloud of diesel fumes drifting in its wake.
‘Excuse me, sirs, but this is a private party. You cannot stay.’
The two men turned. A prim-faced steward in a starched white uniform and a peaked cap was staring at them. He seemed visibly upset.
‘Of course it is a private party, you buffoon,’ growled Bomberton. ‘Do you think I would be here if the whole world were invited?’
The steward stood his ground, weathering Bomberton’s glare. ‘Sir, I must request to see an invitation.’
Bomberton reached into his tuxedo and took out the card Chopra had discovered at Bulbul Kanodia’s home. ‘By God, man, you are an even bigger fool than you look.’ He thrust the card at the harried steward. ‘Now get out of my way.’
‘But, sir, this is only one card. What about your colleague?’
‘Colleague?’ Bomberton looked around, mystified. Then his face folded into another scowl. ‘This isn’t my colleague, you imbecile. This is my manservant.’
‘Manservant?’
‘Yes. Manservant. Are you deaf?’
‘But, sir, we cannot allow servants inside.’
Bomberton drew himself up to his full height and loomed over the stricken steward. ‘Have you any idea who I am? Cornwallis is the name. Descendant of the Cornwallis, former Governor-General of India. Name ring a bell? I am an Englishman, sir, and an Englishman does not go anywhere without his manservant. Do I make myself clear?’
The steward quailed beneath Bomberton’s wrath. ‘Yes, sir,’ he mumbled, conceding defeat.
‘Good. Now kindly desist from making a nuisance of yourself and make way.’
‘One more thing, sir,’ squeaked the steward. ‘Your masks.’
‘Masks?’
‘Yes, sir. This is a masked event. You were not told?’
Bomberton’s mouth flapped open. ‘Of course I was told. I simply couldn’t be bothered to bring one along.’
‘Not to worry, sir,’ gasped the steward desperately. ‘We have made provision.’
He turned to a table behind him and extracted two black velvet eye-masks from a box.
Grumbling, Bomberton snatched one from the steward’s hand, almost yanking the man over.
As Chopra pulled on his mask, he thought: of course – for something like this, masks would be both fitting and necessary.
‘How do I look?’ said Bomberton.
‘Sir is looking most dashing!’ declared the steward, eager to preserve the remaining shreds of his tattered dignity.
‘Splendid!’ said Bomberton, walloping the man on the shoulder. ‘We will make a manservant of you yet, my good man.’