Стюарт Вудс - Indecent Exposure

An hour and a half later the captain pointed at the radar. “There she is,” he said, slowing down. “We can keep her in sight on the scope, but we can’t follow her all the way.”

“Why not?” Gloria asked.

“Because we don’t have the paperwork to arrive legally in Cuba.”

“Cuba?”

“They’re headed directly for Havana.”

“Why the hell would they go to Havana?”

“Beats me. Look, we’ve got a second blip. The nearest one must be Scout , and the bigger blip is Trafalgar III. Ah, I get it now — the British don’t have the same restrictions as we do, with regard to Cuba.” He pointed at the radar. “Ship to our east,” he said, picking up the binoculars. “Coast Guard cutter,” he said, “on the same course as the yachts. Beyond that, visible on radar, is something bigger, maybe a Navy destroyer.”

“Are they being chased? Drugs, or something?”

“They appear to be keeping pace, but on the yachts’ course, at a distance of about ten miles.”

“This gets weirder and weirder,” Gloria said.

“Maybe not,” Bobby chimed in; he had just entered the wheelhouse.

“Why not?”

“If we’re right, and there’s some British dignitary on board Trafalgar III , maybe the Coast Guard and the Navy are playing the mother hen.”

“How far can we follow them?” Gloria asked.

“I don’t want to get any closer than thirty miles from Havana. The legal border is the twelve-mile line, but the Cubans have been known to treat that loosely. I don’t want a shot across our bows from some patrol boat.”

“Well, shit!” Gloria said.

Stone and Holly surfaced for breakfast and were joined by the others.

“Don’t ask questions,” Holly whispered to him.

“Why not?”

“Kate told you — it’s a secret.”

“We appear to be headed for South America,” Stone said.

“Relax, and enjoy the ride.”

Kate and Will joined them. “We’ll be having guests for lunch,” she said. “I’ve spoken to the captain about that. We may need to lunch from a buffet.”

Stone didn’t ask questions, but he knew their table would seat twelve. Who was coming aboard?

“I’d like you to dress nicely for lunch,” Kate said. “Suits and ties for the gentlemen.”

At around eleven o’clock Ciao began to turn, and Gloria went forward to find out why.

“This is as close as I want to get to Havana,” the captain said, pulling the power back. “ Trafalgar III is only about half an hour out of Havana now.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Key West — that’s all there is. We have enough fuel at our normal cruising speed of ten knots.”

“When will we get in?”

“After dark.”

Everybody went below to change clothes, and when they came up, Stone pointed. “Morro Castle,” he said. “I’ve seen pictures. We’re about to be in Havana Harbor.”

“I know,” Holly said.

“You’re in on this?”

“I follow my leader.”

“Why are we here?”

“Official business,” Holly replied.

They slowed as they approached the harbor limits, and Kate addressed them.

“Thank you for being such good sports and not asking questions,” she said. “We will shortly be taking aboard the president of Cuba and his party.”

The Cuban party were traveling aboard a naval patrol boat, dressed with all her signal flags for the occasion. Stone looked up and saw that Trafalgar III had dressed ship, as well.

The launch drew alongside in the approaches to Havana Harbor, and the two crews made her fast, and Trafalgar III lowered her boarding ladder. Two Cuban naval officers were first aboard, then two policeman-looking types, then a pair of gentlemen in suits and ties, followed by the Cuban president.

The two presidents shook hands and exchanged warm greetings, then Kate introduced her party, and the presidente his. She escorted him to the dining table, where two stacks of documents and pens were laid out. The two presidents sat down and, at Holly’s instructions, each began signing a stack, then they exchanged stacks and started again, while Secret Service agents photographed and videotaped their progress. When they were done, the two of them met on one side of the table, and Kate escorted everyone into the saloon, where champagne was being poured.

“What just happened?” Stone whispered to Holly.

“The United States’ embargo on Cuba has been lifted, and the two countries now have full and normal diplomatic relations. One of the Cuban suits is the new ambassador to the United States. Kate is still in the process of appointing ours to them.”

They returned to the dining room, where the table had been set for lunch, and for the next hour there was cheerful conversation among the lunchers, while the photographers covered everyone.

At the appointed hour, the presidente and his party rose, said their farewells, and carrying a briefcase full of signed documents, returned to their naval vessel and were cast off.

Trafalgar III ’s engines were started, her anchor weighed, and the yacht left Havana Harbor and turned to the north.

Half an hour later her passengers were scattered around the yacht in their usual cruise wear — swimsuits or shorts.

An hour after that a United States Navy destroyer hove into view, and the two ships lay, dead in the water, thirty yards apart, while a Secret Service launch delivered a package to the destroyer, then the two vessels got under way again, and the destroyer resumed its station just over the horizon.

“What was that all about?” Stone asked Holly.

“They were delivering the photographs and videos to the Navy, who will upload them to a satellite, which will beam them down to the Pentagon and the White House, which will release the story to the media and the press.”

“It’s all terribly efficient, isn’t it?”

Ciao reached Key West just after dark and put into the Galleon Marina, on the outside line of berths, near the main channel into the harbor. On the passage back, Gloria had written a piece called “Mystery Yacht,” which she e-mailed back to Hazel at Just Folks .

She and Bobby Marks were having a before-dinner cocktail when their captain came into the saloon. “ Trafalgar III is passing in the channel just now,” he said.

They went into the aft cockpit to watch her pass and turn into the Coast Guard docks, followed closely by Scout .

Judy, the cook, came up from below. “Turn on the television,” she said.

They went back into the saloon, and the captain switched on the satellite TV. A banner, “BREAKING NEWS,” filled the screen, and an anchorwoman was reading from a sheet of paper in her hand. “This afternoon, aboard a British vessel in Havana Harbor, the American and Cuban presidents signed an agreement establishing full diplomatic relations between the two countries, and, more importantly, ending the United States’ embargo on trade with Cuba. From noon on January first, there will be free and open trade between the two countries, and American citizens will be able to travel to Cuba without a visa, requiring only an American passport for entry into Cuba and for returning to the USA. Today’s act ends more than seventy years of official enmity between the two countries.”

“Jesus Christ!” Gloria said. “We’ve been had! At least we have those photographs.” Her telephone rang.

“Hello?”

“Gloria? It’s Hazel. I got your stuff, and it’s a sweet story, but we can’t publish nude photographs of the President of the United States and the secretary of state.”

“What?”