Jack Higgins – Night of the Fox

She moved awkwardly because of the life jacket and the reefer coat was bulky, already saturated with water. She realized now why Orsini had given it to her as the cold started to eat at her legs. Where was he? She turned trying to make sense of the oil-stained faces. An MTB spun around the stern of the Victor Hugo, the violence of its wash hurling some of those in the sea up out of the water. There was a burst of machine-gun flre.

A hand grabbed at her life jacket from behind, and she turned and Orsini was there. “Over here, cara. Just do as I say.”

There was wreckage floating everywhere, the bales of hay from the deck cargo buoyant in the water. He towed her toward one of these and they hung onto its binding ropes. “Who were they?” she gasped. “MTBs.” “British?”

“Or French or Dutch. They all operate out of Falmouth.” There was another mighty rushing sound in the night and machine-gun bullets churned the water as an MTB again carved its way through men and wreckage. A tracer flashed through the darkness in a great arc and a starshell burst. A moment later, a parachute flare illuminated the scene.

Some distance away two MTBs ran for cover, and the E-boat roared after them. “Go get the bastards, Erich!” Orsini shouted.

She almost joined in. My God, she thought, what a way to go. My own people trying to kill me. She hung onto the rope and said, gasping, “Did they have to do that? Machine-gun men in the water?”

“War, cara, is a nasty business. It makes everyone crazy. Are you managing?” “My arms are tired.”

A hatch drifted by and he swam to it and towed it toward her. “Let’s get you onto this.” i

It was a struggle, but she finally managed it. “What about you?” j

“I’ll be fine hanging on.” He laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ve I been in the water before. My luck is good, so stick with ! me.”

And then she remembered the spring fete and Gypsy [ Sara and her fire and water and she started to laugh shakily. “Are you all right?” he demanded.

“Lovely. Nothing like the Channel Islands for a holiday at this time of the year. Perfect for sea bathing,” and then -she realized, to her horror, that she’d spoken in English.

He floated there, staring up at her. and then said in excellent English, “Did I tell you I went to Winchester? My father felt that onlj an English public school could give me the backbone 1 needed.” He laughed. “Oh, 1 do so like to be right, and I knew there was something different about you from the first moment, cara.” He laughed again, excitedly this time. “Which means there’s something unusual about the good Standartenfuhrer Vogel.”

“Please,” she said desperately.

“Don’t worry, cara, I fell in love with you the moment you came through the door of that hut on the quay I like you, I don’t like them-whoever they are. We Italians are a very simple people.”

He coughed, rubbing oil from his face, and she reached for his hand. “You saved my life, Guido.” j

There was the sound of a throttled-down engine approaching. He glanced over his shoulder and saw an armed trawler, one of the escorts, approaching. “Yes.” he said. “I’m pleased to say I probably did.”

A moment later, the trawler was looming above them, a net over the side. Two or three German sailors clambered down, reaching for Sarah, and pulled her up. Guido followed and collapsed on the deck beside her.

A young lieutenant came down the ladder from the bridge and hurried forward. “Guido, is that you?” he said in German.

“As ever, Bruno,” Guido answered in the same language.

“And you, fraulein, are you all right? We must get you to my cabin.”

“Mademoiselle Latour, Bruno, and she speaks no German,” Guido told him in French. He smiled at Sarah and helped her to her feet. “Now let’s take you below.”

A,

LS Sarah pulled the heavy white sweater over her head there was a knock on the door of Bruno’s cabin. She opened it and a young rating said in poor French, “Lieutenant Feldt’s compliments. We’re entering St. Helier Harbor.” He closed the door and she went to the basin and tried to do something with her hair, which was impossible. The effects of salt water had proved disastrous, and it was now a tangled straw-colored mess. She gave up and rolled the Kriegsmarine dungarees up at her ankles.

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