Beginning, Previous Section, Section III
Part 39
The Henrys had discovered that Lady Catherine had escaped. Her yacht was no longer in the marina. It was now at sea, pursued by Darcy and Elizabeth in their own yacht. The Henrys, who did not know this, saw no other option than to hire a yacht themselves and sail off after Lady Catherine, without informing their superiors. Henry Crawford, who had spent a short time in the navy in the sweet days of Queen Xenia, knew how to handle a yacht and he set the autopilot on maximum knots, while Henry Tilney, who was more of an observer, wielded his binoculars.
Darcy was just as daring as Henry and Lady Catherine, so their yachts never caught up with each other and they arrived at the Thames estuary one after the other, with considerable time between them. "Now where do we go?" Darcy muttered as slowed the yacht down because of the heavy river traffic. "Where did she go?"
"We'll never find her," Elizabeth sighed. A helicopter circled above them and she gripped her hand-anti-aircraft defense. "Who's that?"
The radio crackled and Darcy picked it up. "Darcy," he yelled, one eye on the heli.
"It's us!" crackled a female voice.
"Who?"
"Us!"
"Who's us?"
"Lydia and Kitty! We're right above you."
"What for?" Darcy snapped. "You nearly gave us a heart attack!"
"We spotted your charge! But don't follow her yet. We've got another more important task for you. How are you with explosives?"
"What do you want exploded? I can press buttons."
"The reverse! Can you deactivate bombs?"
Darcy was silent. Lydia or Kitty had sounded pretty anxious, so he assumed there was a bomb somewhere that would be going off very soon if somebody did not do anything about it. He had been taught the basics of deactivating explosives during his training, of course, but that was so long ago that he was not sure if he remembered it correctly.
"Darcy?"
"Yes. I'm not sure I can still do it."
"Well, try!" It was unmistakably Lydia. Nobody else could scream like that. "You're the only one near enough."
The Tower Bridge loomed up in front of them. "Where is it?" Darcy asked.
"Under the Tower Bridge. We saw her yacht stop and several frogmen get off to attach the explosives."
"Several?" Darcy shouted into the radio. "I'm no bloody superman! Get me some back up!" He threw down the radio. "Take my place while I get ready," he said to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had never done anything like it before and the yacht first went towards the south bank before she figured out how to keep it straight. "Fitzwilliam? Don't bother. We'll be killed before we reach the bombs anyway," she yelled, as another ship had to change its course to avoid Elizabeth. While Elizabeth was struggling to keep the boat straight, the Henrys caught up with her, because Henry Crawford was a little more anti-social than Darcy, and he had kept up his speed all along the Thames, leaving a trail of overturned dinghies, canoes, and rowing boats, and considerable damage to the riverbanks, caused by his waves, behind.
Henry Tilney had discovered Elizabeth when he looked ahead through his binoculars and seen a yacht that was apparently being sailed by a drunk. Henry Crawford slowed down alongside her. "Hey Elizabeth! Where are you going?"
"Bombs!" she shouted. "Are you good with bombs, Tilney?"
"Yes, sure."
"Then help me," shouted Darcy, who appeared on deck in a wetsuit. They were almost under the Tower Bridge. "There are explosives under the bridge."
Henry Tilney muttered something under his breath and he quickly went below to change into a wetsuit as well. When he reappeared they were under the bridge and Darcy was ready to go overboard. Henry joined him and Elizabeth and Henry Crawford stared after them anxiously as they both swam off in separate directions.
"I hope they find them all," Elizabeth said quietly. "The bridge is so long!"