‘Who’s the soloist?’
Andrea shrugged. ‘Radio, maybe.’
‘They want to buy a new radio. My trained ear – ‘
‘Listen.’ Reynolds’s interrupting whisper was tense and urgent. ‘We’ve been talking.’
Miller performed some fancy work with his napkin and said kindly: ‘Don’t. Think of the grieving mothers and sweethearts you’d leave behind you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘About making a break for it is what I mean,’ Miller said. ‘Some other time, perhaps?’
‘Why not now?’ Groves was belligerent. They’re off guard -‘
‘Are they now.’ Miller sighed. ‘So young, so young. Take another look. You don’t think Andrea likes exercise, do you?’
The three sergeants took another look, furtively, surreptitiously, then glanced interrogatively at Andrea.
‘Five dark windows,’ Andrea said. ‘Behind them, five dark men. With five dark machine-guns.’
Reynolds nodded and looked away.
‘Well, now.’ Neufeld, Mallory noted, had a great propensity for steepling his fingers: Mallory had once known a hanging judge with exactly the same propensity. ‘This is a most remarkably odd story you have to tell us, my dear Captain Mallory.’
‘It is,’ Mallory agreed. ‘It would have to be, wouldn’t it, to account for the remarkably odd position in which find ourselves at this moment.’
‘A point, a point.’ Slowly, deliberately, Neufeld ticked off other points on his fingers. ‘You have for some months, you claim, been running a penicillin and drug-running ring in the south of Italy. As an Allied liaison officer you found no difficulty in obtaining supplies from American Army and Air force bases.’
‘We found a little difficulty towards the end,’ Mallory admitted.
‘I’m coming to that. Those supplies, you also claim, were funnelled through to the Wehrmacht.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t keep using the word “claim” in that tone of voice,’ Mallory said irritably. ‘Check with Field-Marshal Kesselring’s Chief of Military Intelligence in Padua.’
‘With pleasure.’ Neufeld picked up a phone, spoke briefly in German and replaced the receiver.
Mallory said in surprise: ‘You have a direct line to the outside world? From this place?’
‘I have a direct line to a hut fifty yards away where we have a very powerful radio transmitter. So. You further claim that you were caught, court-martialled and were awaiting the confirmation of your death sentence. Right?’
‘If your espionage system in Italy is all we hear it is, you’ll know about it tomorrow,’ Mallory said drily.
‘Quite, quite. You then broke free, killed your guards and overheard agents in the briefing room being briefed on a mission to Bosnia.’ He did some more finger-steepling. ‘You may be telling the truth at that. What did you say their mission was?’
‘I didn’t say. I didn’t really pay attention. It had something to do with locating missing British mission leaders and trying to break your espionage set-up. I’m not sure. We had more important things to think about.’
‘I’m sure you had,’ Neufeld said distastefully. ‘Such as your skins. What happened to your epaulettes, Captain? The medal ribbons? The buttons?’
‘You’ve obviously never attended a British court-martial, Hauptmann Neufeld.’
Neufeld said mildly: ‘You could have ripped them off yourself.’
‘And then, I suppose, emptied three-quarters of the fuel from the tanks before we stole the plane?’
‘Your tanks were only a quarter full?’ Mallory nodded. ‘And your plane crashed without catching fire?’
‘We didn’t mean to crash,’ Mallory said in a weary patience. ‘We meant to land. But we were out of fuel – and, as we know now, at the wrong place.’
Neufeld said absently: ‘Whenever the Partisans put up landing flares we try a few ourselves – and we knew that you – or someone – were coming. No petrol, eh?’ Again Neufeld spoke briefly on the telephone, then turned back to Mallory. ‘All very satisfactory – if true. There just remains to explain the death of Captain Droshny’s man here.’
‘I’m sorry about that. It was a ghastly blunder. But surely you can understand. The last thing we wanted was to land among you, to make direct contact with you. We’ve heard what happens to British parachutists dropping over German territory.’
Neufeld steepled his fingers again. ‘There is a state war. Proceed.’
‘Our intention was to land in Partisan territory, slip across the lines and give ourselves up. When Droshny turned his guns on us we thought the Partisans were to us, that they had been notified that we’d stolen the plane. And that could mean only one thing for us.’ ‘Wait outside. Captain Droshny and I will join you in a moment.’
Mallory left. Andrea, Miller and the three sergeants were sitting patiently on their rucksacks. From the distance there still came the sound of distant music. For a moment Mallory cocked his head to listen to it, and walked across to join the others. Miller patted his lips delicately with his napkin and looked up at Mallory.
‘Had a cosy chat?’
‘I spun him a yarn. The one we talked about in the plane.’ He looked at the three sergeants. ‘Any of you speak German?’ All three shook their heads.
‘Fine. Forget you speak English too. If you’re questioned you know nothing.’
‘If I’m not questioned,’ Reynolds said bitterly, ‘I still don’t know anything.’
‘All the better,’ Mallory said encouragingly. Then you can never tell anything, can you?’
He broke off and turned round as Neufeld and Droshny appeared in the doorway. Neufeld advanced and said: ‘While we’re waiting for some confirmation, a little food and wine, perhaps.’ As Mallory had done, he cocked his head and listened to the singing. ‘But I first of all, you must meet our minstrel boy.’
‘We’ll settle for just the food and wine,’ Andrea said.
‘Your priorities are wrong. You’ll see. Come.’
The dining-hall, if it could be dignified by such a name, was about forty yards away. Neufeld opened the door to reveal a crude and makeshift hut with two rickety trestle tables and four benches set on the earth en floor. At the far end of the room the inevitable pine fire burnt in the inevitable stone hearth-place. Close to the fire, at the end of the farther table, three men – obviously, from their high-collared coats and guns propped by their sides, some kind of temporarily off duty guards – were drinking coffee and listening to the quiet singing coming from a figure seated on the ground by the fire.
The singer was dressed in a tattered anorak type jacket, an even more incredibly tattered pair of trousers and a pair of knee boots that gaped open at almost every possible seam. There was little to be seen of his face other than a mass of dark hair and a large pair of rimmed dark spectacles.
Beside him, apparently asleep with her head on his shoulder, sat a girl. She was clad in a high-collared British Army greatcoat in an advanced state of dilapidation, so long that it completely covered her tucked-in legs. The uncombed platinum hair spread over her shoulders would have done justice to any Scandinavian, but the broad cheekbones, dark eye brows and long dark lashes lowered over very pale cheeks were unmistakably Slavonic.
Neufeld advanced across the room and stopped by the fireside. He bent over the singer and said: Petar, I want you to meet some friends.’
Petar lowered his guitar, looked up, then turned and touched the girl on the arm. Instantly, the girl’s head lifted and her eyes, great dark sooty eyes, opened wide. She had the look, almost, of a hunted animal. She glanced around her, almost wildly, then jumped quickly to her feet, dwarfed by the greatcoat which itched almost to her ankles, then reached down to help the guitarist to his feet. As he did so, he stumbled: he was obviously blind.
This is Maria,’ Neufeld said. ‘Maria, this is Captain Mallory.’
‘Captain Mallory.’ Her voice was soft and a little husky: she spoke in almost accentless English. ‘You English, Captain Mallory?’
It was hardly, Mallory thought, the time or the place for proclaiming his New Zealand ancestry. He smiled. ‘Well, sort of.’
Maria smiled in turn. ‘I’ve always wanted to meet in Englishman.’ She stepped forward towards Mallory’s outstretched hand, brushed it aside and struck him, open-handed and with all her strength, across the face.
Maria!’ Neufeld stared at her. ‘He’s on our side.’
An Englishman and a traitor!’ She lifted her hand in but the swinging arm was suddenly arrested in Andrea’s grip. She struggled briefly, futilely, then subsided, dark eyes glowing in an angry face. Andrea lifted his free hand and rubbed his own cheek in fond recollection.
He said admiringly: ‘By heavens, she reminds me of own Maria,’ then grinned at Mallory. ‘Very handy their hands, those Yugoslavs.’
Mallory rubbed his cheek ruefully with his hand and turned to Neufeld. ‘Perhaps Petar – that’s his name -‘
‘No.’ Neufeld shook his head definitely. ‘Later. Let’s eat now.’ He led the way across to the table at the far end of the room, gestured the others to seats, Sat down himself and went on: ‘I’m sorry. That was my fault. I should have known better.’