Jack Higgins – Night of the Fox

“But is it now?” Nerker demanded eagerly.

“Oh, yes.” Adler was enjoying himself. “He’s just taken off from Cherbourg.”

“But can he catch them?” Nerker asked.

“Herr Major, that old crate they’re flying in can do a hundred and eighty flat out. The JU88S with the new engine boosting system does better than four hundred. He’ll be with them before they know it.”

Necker turned in triumph to Hofer. “They’ll have to turn back, otherwise he’ll blow them out of the sky.”

But Hofer had been thinking about that, among other things. If the mail plane returned, it would mean only one thing. Martineau and the others would be flown to Berlin, and few people survived interrogation in the cellars of Gestapo Headquarters at Prince Albrechtstrasse. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. Berger knew about Rommel’s connection with the generals’ plot against the Fuhrer, and so did Martineau. Perhaps he’d even told the girl.

Hofer took a deep breath. “No, we can’t take a chance on their getting away.”

“Herr Major?” Adler turned inquiringly.

“Send an order to the pilot of that night fighter to shoot on sight. They musn’t reach England.”

“As you say, Herr Major.” Adler picked up the microphone.

Necker put a hand on Hofer’s shoulder. “You look terrible. Let’s go down to the mess and get you a brandy. Adler will call us when things start to warm up.”

Hofer managed a weak smile. “The best offer I’ve had tonight.” And they went out together.

Dougal Munro was at his Baker Street desk working late when Carter came in with the signal and passed it across. The brigadier read it quickly and smiled. “Good God, this is extraordinary, even for Harry.”

“I know, sir. I’ve alerted Fighter Command about receiving them. Where do you want them to put down? I suppose Cornwall would be closest.”

“No, let’s bring them all the way in. They can land where they started, Jack. Hornley Field. Let Fighter Command know. I want them down in one piece.”

“And General Eisenhower, sir?”

“Well leave him until Kelso’s actually on the ground.” Munro stood up and reached for his jacket. “And well have the car round, Jack. We can get there in just over an hour. With any luck, we’ll be able to greet them.”

In the mail plane the atmosphere was positively euphoric as Martineau left Heini Baum in the cockpit to keep an eye on Sorsa and joined the others.

“Everything okay?” Kelso asked.

“Couldn’t be better. 1 Ve made contact with our people in England. They’re going to provide an escort to take us in, courtesy of the RAF.” He turned and smiled at Sarah, taking her hand. She’d never seen him so excited. Suddenly he looked ten years younger. “You all right?” he asked her.

“Fine, Harry. Just fine.”

“Dinner at the Ritz tomorrow night,” he said.

“By candlelight?”

“Even if I have to take my own.” He turned to Braun, the observer. “You said something about coffee, didn’t you?”

Braun started to get up and the plane bucked wildly as a great roaring filled the night, then dropped like a stone. Braun lost his balance and Kelso rolled on the floor with a cry of pain.

“Harry!” Sarah screamed. “What is it?”

The plane regained some sort of stability and Martineau peered out one of the side windows. A hundred yards away on the port side flying parallel with them he saw a Junkers 88S, one of those deadly black twin-engined planes that had caused such catastrophic losses to RAF Bomber Command in the night skies of Europe.

“WeVe got trouble,” he said. “Luftwaffe night fighter.” He turned and wrenched open the cabin door and leaned into the cockpit.

Sorsa glanced over his shoulder, face grim and pale in the cockpit lights. “WeVe had it. He’s come to take us back.”

“Has he said so?”

“No. No radio contact at all.”

“Why not? It doesn’t make sense.”

The JU88S suddenly climbed steeply and disappeared, and it was Heini who gave the only possible answer to the question. “Every kind of sense if they don’t want us back, my friend.”

Martineau saw it all then. Something had gone wrong and it had to involve Hofer, and if that were so, the last thing he’d want was to have them back in Gestapo hands to bring down Erwin Rommel.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *