‘All of a sudden, like, I mean?’
‘Petar and Maria,’ Mallory said grimly. ‘They’re the hurry.’
‘What about Petar and Maria?’ Reynolds asked suspiciously. ‘Where do they come into this?’
‘They’re being held captive in the ammunition block-house. And when Neufeld and Droshny get back there -‘
‘Get back there,’ Groves said dazedly. ‘What do you mean, get back there? We – we left them locked up. how in God’s name do you know that Petar and Maria are being held in the block-house? How can they be? I mean, they weren’t there when we left there – and it wasn’t so long ago.’
‘When Andrea’s pony had a stone in its hoof on the way up here from the block-house, it didn’t have a stone in its hoof. Andrea was keeping watch.’
‘You see,’ Miller explained, ‘Andrea doesn’t trust anyone.’
‘He saw Sergeant Baer taking Petar and Maria there,’ Mallory went on. ‘Bound. Baer released Neufeld and Droshny and you can bet your last cent our precious pair were up on the cliff side there checking that we really did fly out.’
‘You don’t tell us very much, do you, sir?’ Reynolds said bitterly.
‘I’ll tell you this much,’ Mallory said with certainty ‘If we don’t get there soon, Maria and Petar are for the high jump. Neufeld and Droshny don’t know yet, but by this time they must be pretty convinced that it was Maria who told me where those four agents were being kept. They’ve always known who we really were – Maria told them. Now they know who Maria is. Just before Droshny killed Saunders -‘
‘Droshny?’ Reynolds’s expression was that of a man who has almost given up all attempt to understand ‘Maria?’
‘I made a miscalculation.’ Mallory sounded tired. ‘We all make miscalculations, but this was a bad one.’ He smiled, but the smile didn’t touch his eyes. ‘You will recall that you had a few harsh words to say about Andrea here when he picked that fight with Droshny outside the dining hut in Neufeld’s camp?’ ‘Sure I remember. It was one of the craziest – ‘ ‘You can apologize to Andrea at a later and more convenient time,’ Mallory interrupted. ‘Andrea provoked Droshny because I asked him to. I knew that Neufeld and Droshny were up to no good in the dining hut after we had left and I wanted a moment to ask Maria what they had been discussing. She told me that they intended to send a couple of Cetniks after us into Broznik’s camp – suitably disguised, of course to report on us. They were two of the men acting as our escort in that wood-burning truck. Andrea and killed them.’
‘Now you tell us,’ Groves said almost mechanically.
‘Andrea and Miller killed them.’
‘What I didn’t know was that Droshny was also following us. He saw Maria and myself together.’ He looked at Reynolds. ‘Just as you did. I didn’t know at time that he’d seen us, but I’ve known for some hours now. Maria has been as good as under sentence death since this morning. But there was nothing I could do about it. Not until now. If I’d shown my hand, we’d have been finished.’
Reynolds shook his head. ‘But you’ve just said that Maria betrayed us – ‘
‘Maria,’ Mallory said, ‘is a top-flight British espionage agent. English father, Yugoslav mother. She was in this country even before the Germans came. As a student in Belgrade. She joined the Partisans, who trained her as a radio operator, then arranged for her defection to the Cetniks. The Cetniks had captured a radio operator from one of the first British missions. They – the Germans, rather – trained her to imitate this operator’s hand – every radio operator has his own unmistakable style – until their styles were quite indistinguishable. And her English, of course, was perfect. So then she It in direct contact with Allied Intelligence in both both Africa and Italy. The Germans thought they had completely fooled: it was, in fact, the other way round.’
Miller said complainingly: ‘You didn’t tell me any of this, either.’
‘I’ve so much on my mind. Anyway, she was notified direct of the arrival of the last four agents to be parachuted in. She, of course, told the Germans. And and those agents carried information reinforcing the German belief that a second front – a full-scale invasion – of Yugoslavia was imminent.’
Reynolds said slowly: ‘They knew we were coming too?’
‘Of course. They knew everything about us all along, what we really were. What they didn’t know, of course, is that we knew they knew and though what they knew of us was true it was only part of the truth.’
Reynolds digested this. He said, hesitating: ‘Sir?’ ‘Yes?’
‘I could have been wrong about you, sir.’
‘It happens,’ Mallory agreed. ‘From time to time, it happens. You were wrong, Sergeant, of course you were, but you were wrong from the very best motives The fault is mine. Mine alone. But my hands were tied.’ Mallory touched him on the shoulder. ‘One of these days you might get round to forgiving me.’
‘Petar?’ Groves asked. ‘He’s not her brother?’
‘Petar is Petar. No more. A front.’
‘There’s still an awful lot -‘ Reynolds began, but Mallory interrupted him.
‘It’ll have to wait. Colonel Vis, a map, please.’ Captain Vlanovich brought one from the tent and Mallory shone a torch on it. ‘Look. Here. The Neretva dam and the Zenica Cage. I told Neufeld that Broznik had told me that the Partisans believe that the attack is coming across the Neretva bridge from the south. But, as I’ve just said, Neufeld knew – he knew even before we had arrived – who and what we really were. So hi was convinced I was lying. He was convinced that I was convinced that the attack was coming through the Zenica Gap to the north here. Good reason for believing it, mind you: there are two hundred German tanks there.’
Vis stared at him. ‘Two hundred!’
‘One hundred and ninety of them are made of plywood. So the only way Neufeld – and, no doubt, German High Command – could ensure that this useful information got through to Italy was to allow stage this rescue bid. Which, of course, they very gladly did, assisting us in every possible way even to extent of gladly collaborating with us in permitting themselves to be captured. They knew, of course, that had no option left but to capture them and force them to lead us to the block-house – an arrangement they had ensured by previously seizing and hiding away the only other person who could have helped us in this – Maria. And, of course, knowing this in advance, they arranged for Sergeant Baer to come and free them.’
‘I see.’ It was plain to everyone that Colonel Vis not see at all.
‘You mentioned an RAF saturation attack on the Zenica Gap. This, of course, will now be pitched to the bridge?’
‘No. You wouldn’t have us break our word to Wehrmacht, would you? As promised, the attack comes on the Zenica Gap. As a diversion. To convince them, in case they have any last doubts left in their minds, that we have been fooled. Besides, you know as well as I do that that bridge is immune to high-level air attack. It will have to be destroyed in some other way.’
‘In what way?’
‘We’ll think of something. The night is young. Two last things, Colonel Vis. There’ll be another Wellington at midnight and a second at three a.m. Let them both go. The next in, at six a.m., hold it against our rival. Well, our possible arrival. With any luck we’ll flying out before dawn.’
‘With any luck,’ Vis said sombrely.
‘And radio General Vukalovic, will you? Tell him what I’ve told you, the exact situation. And tell him to begin intensive small-arms fire at one o’clock in the morning.’
‘What are they supposed to fire at?’
‘They can fire at the moon for all I care.’ Mallory swung aboard his pony. ‘Come on, let’s be off.’
‘The moon,’ General Vukalovic agreed, ‘is a fair-sized target, though rather a long way off. However, if that’s what our friend wants, that’s what he shall have.’ Vukalovic paused for a moment, looked at Colonel Janzy who was sitting beside him on a fallen log in the woods to the south of the Zenica Gap, then spoke again into the radio mouth-piece.
‘Anyway, many thanks, Colonel Vis. So the Neretva bridge it is. And you think it will be unhealthy for us to remain in the immediate vicinity of this area after 1 a.m. Don’t worry, we won’t be here.’ Vukalovic removed the head-phones and turned to Janzy. ‘We pull out, quietly, at midnight. We leave a few men to make a lot of noise.’
The ones who are going to fire at the moon?’