Till a'
the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
And
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall
run.
Robert Burns
CHAPTER 76 THE ARROW OF DESIRE.
A the RIB creamed over Cromarty Firth, Corporal Tuson RM, the coxswain, switched on his microphone. “Attention yacht Grimpen. Attention yacht Grimpen. This is a prohibited area. Please alter course away from the Nigg facility.”
A woman had been sunbathing on the yachts foredeck, catching the last warmth of the evening Sun. She got up and stood looking at the marines. She wasn't particularly young or good looking, but they all glanced her way, and for a moment she was the only thing on their minds. She smiled.
Her husband noticed and frowned at them, and their youth, and their guns, and shouted out, “I'm making for Jacobson's yard.”
“Away you go then Sir.” Tuson throttled back the two big outboards and saw the yacht bear away towards Invergordon. The town was just putting it's lights on in the dusk and the sky behind the windmill covered hills was turning to purple and grey
“I could slip one on her eh?” said a marine.
“You like grave robbing do ya? Old enough to be your Mum.”
“I'd slip one on your Mum.”
“You....”
“Keep it off my boat lads,” said Tuson “Kill each other off duty.”
“OK Boss.”
“Nice boat that Boss.”
“Yeah. One day eh? We'll all win the lottery.” Tuson brought the outboards to full revs, the props cavitated, the RIB rose on the plane and set course around the prohibited area again. It was just plain idiotic how many glaikit eejits tried there luck at getting closer in. So they could see the big loading gantry's at the start of the launch track. There were automatic messages to all mobile phones that approached, there was a warning on all GPS maps and there were bright yellow buoys moored all round with a prohibited notice on them in big red letters. But still you got bampots like that cummin the cunt. Probably thought because he was rich enough for a big yacht he'd be allowed. Hamshankin muntit.
The thing was you could see it all from just about every angle on the web. The huge gantry that lifted ships out of the sea onto the launch track had web cams everywhere. It was all lit up there now with floodlights and search lights and swarms of men doing whatever needs doing to a ship the first time it's launched.
“Want to go up in her Boss?” said one of the men behind.
“Better than getting wet wi' you sheepshaggers.”
“Never mind Boss. We'll be back in the Clyde next month. Evenings in Glasgow.”
“Aye.” That was the sum of Tuson's life now. A bit of training at Arbroath, maybe patrol an oil rig, then casing sentry on the nuclear subs at Faslane, then sentry duty up here. Then back to Arbroath. But it would be something if they ever had Marines on space ships. It would be something.
The Motor bike stopped just round the corner from the woods. Hosmer Angel got off, strapped his helmet to the pillion and put on his back pack “Testing the comms.”
“I hear you OK,” said Sergeant Devoy.
“You're OK,” said the man in the van “Lets see the picture.”
Hosmer pulled his jacket away from the shirt button.
“That's fine. Great.....just a bit more contrast....yeah OK. That's OK.”
“I'll get in there then,” said Hosmer
“Good Luck.” Devoy revved up the bike and drove off past the wood, one of many spots where youngsters seemed to have congregated.
Constable MacPherson drove out of Embo towards the A9 and turned on his radio.“Inverness. This is Tain Seven. I've just taken a turn round Embo, all quiet. But the place is full of trippers. Grannies Heilan Hame was never so full. You can't be seeing the sand dunes or the beach for tents.”
“They say it's the same in Inver and Port Mahomack and Golspie and all.”
This page has been visited 4 times. Legal and copyright information can be found here.