Where the Action Is
Where the Action Is |
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James Dennis and the others had no choice but to help the boarders. Finally a good excuse was thought up, they had to, they had no choice. Adrian was still a hostage, the men did not put away their guns and that made everyone feel terribly insecure. They knew the men were killers.
The excuse they found eventually was this: they would ask Terry Regan over the air to come out at once because serious trouble had occurred over certain arrangements. This was agreed to by the boarders. The leader said that this must be done tomorrow, because of the fog today. The fog was clearing, and it would be all right then.
Time seemed to drag for the terrified crew on the fort. If anyone had any administrative duties, he was kept under surveillance. Six o’clock came and Adrian Leslie was due on the air. James Dennis reasoned with the men:
‘He must go on as usual if you want your presence here to remain unnoticed!’
‘He might try something!’ said one of the men.
‘How?’ asked Adrian. ‘I can’t get off this fort. You have the monitors on, so I can’t say anything wrong, can I?’
He sounded calm, but he was afraid. His heart was pounding uncomfortably. He looked at his captors, and waited. Apparently they had been persuaded that he must go on the air, and so the leader turned to one of his men.
‘Ben, escort him to the studio. Don’t let him try anything. And when he’s on the air, keep listening to the monitors. If he says anything, you know what to do!’
So Adrian went to the studio with an armed guard. He did his programme in fear. He did not talk much, beyond announcing records and reading commercials. If anyone listening knew Adrian’s style, they would have realised he was not himself. The same applied to those who had shows after him. The station tried to carry on normally, as the boarders had told their captives to behave as if nothing had happened or ‘there would be trouble’. The staff had nothing to do but obey.
The station closed down at three a.m. as usual, but the victims of the boarding party spent the night in terror. Adrian Leslie found that he could not sleep, for he knew that the corridors of the towers were watched. And these men never seemed to sleep! At one stage, Adrian opened his door and looked out. He was seen, and a man seemed to appear by his side from nowhere, like a ghost, but the gun he was casually holding was definitely real. As Adrian found out when it was pressed into his ribs.
‘Get in and stay there, or do you want to die?’
‘Not really,’ said Adrian, tired of being timid.
‘Don’t answer me back!’ shouted the man, and shoved Adrian over backwards into the room. Then he slammed the door on him. Adrian was taken completely by surprise so he did not realise what had happened until it was all over. He did not try to emerge from his room for the rest of the night.
The morning arrived. Six a.m. was the time the radio station went on the air every day. James Dennis had to tell the boarders of this, and one of them came and woke him up early, and said,
‘What about your programme this morning?’
‘I don’t do it,’ said James. ‘Dirk Harvey does. And he has an alarm to wake him in time. So has the engineer.’
‘Don’t try anything; I’ll be around,’ said the boarder, ‘and remember to call up your director to come out here at once.’
‘We haven’t forgotten,’ said James.
The man left him.
A little later one, Marty the engineer awoke and got the transmitter ready for the day’s broadcasting. He found himself watched by one of the men, who gave the usual warnings. Then Dirk came to the studio for his programme. Waiting for him he found the leader of the boarders. This man asked him to send out a message to Terry Regan.
‘James Dennis will do that,’ said Dirk, ‘it’s rather early to do things like that yet. What will you do to us? Why have you taken us over? And how do you know one of us might not sneak off with your boat?’
‘You ask too many questions,’ snapped the man. ‘You’ll discover what’ll happen later on. And as for our boat, it has gone, but we can call it by radio when we need it. If it was here, and one of you escaped, the rest would die.’
He pronounced the last words with much vigour, as if he wanted it that way, and his gun was waving about nonchalantly in his hand, but it was always pointed in the region of Dirk’s heart.
‘Remember,’ said the man, ‘drop no hints,’ and he stopped moving the gun and held it steady. Dirk’s hand went to his heart. The gunman saw that he had made his point, and left Dirk for a while, telling him that he would be listening and that a man outside the studio would kill him if he made a slip. Dirk started his programme and guarded what he said, at the same time feeling that there were an awful lot of boarders, although he knew that in reality there were seven, including the leader, it seemed more like a hundred and seven. A morbid part of him found itself wondering what a bullet in the heart felt like. With an effort he silenced his thoughts.
At last his show was over. He handed over to James Dennis, who, under surveillance, at last broadcast the all-important message. He said,
‘Here is a message for Mr Terry Regan, our managing director. Please could you come out to the fort as soon as possible, and bring the disc jockeys who are on shore with you. Serious trouble had occurred over certain arrangements, and we need you out here.’
He gave out the message twice, sitting in the studio with a vicious-looking man behind him, holding an automatic pistol to his head. The listeners did not know this, and little guessed at the drama behind the scenes, though some of the more devoted listeners wondered.
The message was given several times by terrified disc jockeys. It brought forth results that afternoon, after the cook had provided food for both the staff and the boarders. Terry Regan and his three disc jockeys arrived by tender, Terry having told the police of what he had heard, but he said he thought it might not be much. He was taken aboard and asked James Dennis, who met him there, if he’d have to stay. James replied in the affirmative and after supplies had been taken aboard, and the tender had gone, Terry and his staff went into the mess. There they found the boarders, who had been concealed.
It was an awful shock for Terry; but he and the disc jockeys he had brought with him soon found out what was required of them – OR ELSE. For a few hours the boarders’ leader – his name was Robin Scott-Gibson – discussed with Terry – who had little choice, because Adrian was a hostage again – ways of closing down the station.
The lot of who should close down the station fell on Adrian, who the men seemed to dislike rather much. Terry would then explain why he had to close down to he staff on-shore. The explanation would be that there was no money to carry on and that Terry would come back to shore to wind things up later, after he had closed down the station. An apology would be made to the advertisers, who of course would be angry. If they asked for their money back then they would have it, said Scott-Gibson, no suspicions would be aroused.
While this discussion was going on, the three disc jockeys from shore, Norman Clive, Yale Ross and Sean Perry, were talking to the others in the mess, Alan, Angus and Noel, and some of the crew. James was in the record library, under guard of course, and Jon was on another tower doing some work, guarded also. The tender had been sent away, there was no hope of escape. No-one suspected.
A message was given over the air that the station would have to close down, and all the listeners much tune in at three o’clock to hear the final message.
Three o’clock came, and Adrian went into the studio. He was sick at heart. Surely there was no hope now! They would surely die. Then, he had a glimmer of hope. There was a slim chance, and he took it! He said a prayer silently, that his message had got through. Then Terry Regan gave the message he had been told to give, and each disc jockey gave a final goodbye. Then Adrian played a jingle, threw a switch, a light went out and it was all over, or was it?? One could only hope.
Shocked millions heard this sudden announcement but did not suspect the true motive for the silence. Some said ‘they knew it wouldn’t last, they were dishonest anyway,’ some switched to another station, and on that other station was one who guessed there was something very, very wrong.
This was Alexis Mark Kane, who was disc jockey on the radio shop down the coast, Radio Electra. He and Adrian were friends, and had discussed the attempted takeover of Radio Madeleine. Alexis had told Adrian that he often listened to Madeleine, and that, was there any trouble, Adrian should give him a cryptic message. This had been carefully worked out, so that only they would know its implications. The message was, ‘Of course, you know how lonely it is out here,’ and this was the message Adrian had given to Alexis when he had to close down the station. And Alexis had heard.
When he heard Radio Madeleine close down he knew, or rather guessed, the truth. He went at once to tell the chief DJ and the captain of the ship. They listened carefully. The captain advised Alexis to use the radio-telephone quickly and inform the authorities as to what he believed had occurred on the fort.
He called the Thelstone police direct, and told them of the message, and of his fears. Ed Muldoon was alarmed, but the Superintendent said that he thought it was another trick to lead them off the scent by these wretched illegal stations. The one that had closed down was probably ‘getting the wind up;. They were probably the smugglers. Ed said nothing, but after that he insisted that Alexis should be questioned, and that the mystery should be investigated.
‘In my own time, and my own way,’ said the Superintendent, and Ed had to obey his superior.
At the Inn, Jack, Juliett, Max and Impie had been busy all day, and had not had the radio on. They came in from the garden, where they had been lazing around for an hour, and Jack ran into the kitchen, where Mrs Ibbotson was. She asked if Mrs Ibbotson needed any help. The reply was negative.
‘Can I borrow your mains-radio, then,’ asked Jack, ‘because mine’s got flat batteries – plese.’
‘Of course,’ was the reply, ‘it’s on the BBC at present, you’ll have to change it to your station.’
Jack took the radio into the lounge, plugged it in and switched it on. She turned it in to 288 metres, but there was no response. With a strange sick feeling, she moved the needle up and down the dial, there was Radio Electra; there were all the offshore stations, except Madeleine! Panic-stricken, Jack called the others to her; they were in the next room.
‘What’s the matter, seen a ghost?’ asked Max.
‘No, but Radio Madeleine’s vanished, it’s not there!’
‘Can’t have, here, let me try,’ this was Juliett, who was snappy, because she was worried, and because she still felt the loss of Clarence.
She played with the dial of the radio. Silence.
They tried to think perhaps it was a technical breakdown, but at heart, they knew….
As they were discussing this, with the radio left on, but silent, a woman came in, a friend of the landlady’s. She heard the conversation, and butted in,
‘Oh, didn’t you know?’ she said, in a light, silly voice, unaware of the effect her tidings would have, ‘They closed down at three this afternoon. Not enough money, or something. I dunno – what’s the matter?’
For there was a shocked silence, and the young people looked round at each other with large eyes. They felt their fears were realised. The boarders, it must be them! What could they do? They knew the chief man of the police did not are much about the radio station. He would probably say that it did not matter, and heaven only knew what the fate of the ‘pirates’ would be!
