Where Eagles Dare Part 15

ENEMY BELIEVE SCHAFFER AND SELF DEAD, the message continued. EFFECTING ENTRY INSIDE THE HOUR. PLEASE HAVE TRANSPORT STANDING BY NINETY MINUTES. OVER.

Admiral Rolland seized the microphone from the operator.

'Broadsword! Broadsword! Do you know who I am, Broadsword?'

'I know who you are, sir. Over.'

'Pull out, Broadsword. Pull out now. Save yourselves. Over.'

'You -- must -- be -- joking.' The words were spoken in slow motion, a perceptible pause between each pair. 'Over.'

'You heard me.' Rolland's voice was almost as slow and distinct. 'You heard me. That was an order, Broadsword.'

'Mary is already inside. Over and out.'

The transceiver went dead.

'He's gone, sir,' the operator said quietly.

'He's gone,' Rolland repeated mechanically. 'Dear G.o.d, he's gone.'

Colonel Wyatt-Turner moved away and sat down heavily in his chair by the fire. For such a big, burly man he appeared curiously huddled and shrunken. He looked up dully as Admiral Holland sank into the opposite chair.

It's all my fault.' The Colonel's voice was barely distinguishable. 'All my fault.'

'We did what we had to do. All our fault, Colonel. It was my idea.' He gazed into the fire. 'Now this -- this on top of everything else.'

'Our worst day,' Wyatt-Turner agreed heavily. 'Our worst day ever. Maybe I'm too old.'

'Maybe we're all too old.' With his right forefinger Holland began to tick off the fingers of his left hand. 'H.Q. Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. Secret alarm triggered. Nothing missing.'

'Nothing taken,' Wyatt-Turner agreed wearily. 'But the vigil emulsion plates show photostat copies taken.'

'Two. Southampton. Barge-movement duplicates missing. Three, Plymouth. Time-lock in the naval H.Q. inoperative. We don't know what this means.'

'We can guess.'

'We can guess. Dover. Copy of a section of the Mulberry Harbour plans missing. An error? Carelessness? We'll never know. Five, Bradley's H.Q. guard sergeant missing. Could mean anything.'

'Could mean everything. All the troop movements for Overlord's Omaha beach are there.'

'Lastly, seven OS reports today. France, Belgium, Netherlands. Four demonstrably false. Other three unverifiable.'

For long moments there was a heavy, a defeated silence, finally broken by Wyatt-Turner.

'If there was ever any doubt, there's none now.' He spoke without looking up, his eyes gazing emptily into the fire. "The Germans have almost total penetration here -- and we have almost none on the continent. And now this -- Smith and his men, I mean.'

'Smith and his men,' Holland echoed. 'Smith and his men. We can write them off.'

Wyatt-Turner dropped his voice, speaking so softly that the radio operator couldn't overhear.

'And Operation Overlord,, sir?'

'Operation Overlord,' Holland murmured. 'Yes, we can write that off, too.'

'Intelligence is the first arm of modern warfare,' Wyatt-Turner said bitterly. 'Or has someone said that before?'

'No intelligence, no war.' Admiral Holland pressed an intercom b.u.t.ton. 'Have my car brought round. Coming, Colonel? To the airfield?'

'And a lot farther than that. If I have your permission, sir.'

'We've discussed it.' Admiral Holland shrugged. 'I understand how you feel. Kill yourself if you must.'

'I've no intention.' Wyatt-Turner crossed to a cupboard and took out a Sten gun, turned to Holland and smiled: 'We may encounter hostiles, sir.'

'You may indeed.' There was no answering smile on the Admiral's face.

'You heard what the man said?' Smith switched off the transmitter, telescoped the aerial and glanced across at Schaffer. 'We can pull out now.'

'Pull out now? Pull out now?' Schaffer was outraged. 'Don't you realise that if we do they'll get to Mary inside twelve hours.' He paused significantly, making sure he had all Smith's attention. 'And if they get to her they're bound to get to Heidi ten minutes later.'

'Come off it, Lieutenant,' Smith said protestingly. 'You've only seen her once, for five minutes.'

'So?' Schaffer was looking positively belligerent. 'How often did Paris see Helen of Troy? How often did Antony see Cleopatra. How often did Romeo -- ' He broke off then went on defiantly: 'And I don't care if she is a traitor spying on her own people.'

'She was born and brought up in Birmingham,' Smith said wearily.

'So who cares? I draw the line at nothing. Even if she is a Limey -- ' He paused. 'English?'

'Come on,' Smith said. 'Let's return this radio. We may have callers soon.'

'We mustn't be raising too many eyebrows,' Schaffer agreed.

They returned the radio, locked the left luggage office and were just moving towards the station exit when they were halted by the sound of truck engines and a siren's ululation. They pressed back against a wall as headlights lit up the station entrance. The leading truck came to a skidding halt not ten yards away.

Schaffer looked at Smith. 'Discretion, I think?' 'Discretion, indeed. Behind the booking office.' The two men moved swiftly alongside the tracks and hid in the deep shadows behind the booking office. A sergeant, the one who had organised the search along the Blau See, came running through the entrance, followed by four soldiers, located the left luggage office, tried the door handle, reversed his machine-pistol and hammered the lock without effect, reversed his gun again, shot away the lock and pa.s.sed inside, torch in hand. He appeared at the doorway almost at once.

'Tell the captain. They didn't lie. The Englanders' gear is here!' One of the soldiers left and the sergeant said to the three remaining men: 'Right. Get their stuff out and load it UP-'

'There goes my last pair of cotton socks,' Schaffer murmured

mournfully as their rucksacks were taken away. 'Not to mention my toothbrush and -- '

He broke off as Smith caught his arm. The sergeant had stopped the man carrying the radio, taken it from him, placed his hand on it and stood quite still. He was directly under one of the small swinging electric lights and the expression on his face could clearly be seen to change from puzzlement to disbelief to complete and shocked understanding.

'Kapitan!' the sergeant shouted. 'Kapitan.'

An officer came hurrying through the station entrance.