Jack Higgins – Night of the Fox

“Really?” Baum said. “An extraordinary man. Soldier, sailor, musician, poet, historian.”

“Who also found time to introduce tobacco to the Western world,” Martineau reminded him.

“For that alone he should have a statue in every major city,” Baum said. “I remember the Italian campaign in nineteen seventeen. A terrible time. I think the only thing that got us through the trench warfare was the cigarettes.”

He strode on ahead, Martineau at his shoulder, talking animatedly, and Hofer trailed anxiously behind with Necker. An hour later, after a thorough inspection of every gun and strongpoint Baum could find, they returned to the personnel carrier and were taken back across the beach to the cars.

On the cliffs near La Moye Point a group of field engineers hauled on a line, helping the corporal on the other end walk up the steep slope. He came over the edge and unhooked himself. The sergeant in charge of the detail gave him a cigarette. “You don’t look too good.”

“Neither would you. He’s like a piece of badly cooked meat, the driver down there.”

“Any papers?”

“Burned along with most of his clothes. The car is a Renault and IVe got the number.”

The sergeant wrote it down. “The police can handle it now.” He turned to the other men. “All right, back to the post, you lot.”

Mont Oigeuil at Gorey on the east coast of Jersey is probably one of the most spectacular castles in Europe. The Germans had garrisoned it with coastal artillery batteries. In fact there were two regimental headquarters situated in the castle. Baum visited both of them, as well as conducting his usual energetic survey. In the observation post which had been constructed on the highest point of the castle, he stood with a pair of fleldglasses and looked across at the French coast, which was clearly visible. He was for the moment slightly apart from the others and Hofer moved to his shoulder.

“Is everything all right?” Baum asked, the glasses still to his eyes.

“Vogel seems to be pressing his attentions,” Hofer said softly.

“He wanted to talk, so I let him,” Baum replied. “I’m keeping him happy, Major. I’m trying to keep them all happy. Isn’t that what you want?”

“Of course,” Hofer told him. “Don’t take it the wrong way. You’re doing fine. Just be careful, that’s all.”

Necker moved up to join them, and Baum said, “Fantastic, this place. Now I would like to see something in the country. The sort of strongpoint one might find in a village area.”

“Of course, Herr Field Marshal.”

“And then some lunch.”

“Arrangements have been made. The officers’ mess at Battle HQ were hoping to entertain you.”

“No, Necker, something different, I think. I’d like to see the other side of island life. Vogel tells me he’s billeted at some manor house called de Ville Place. You know it?”

“Yes, Herr Field Marshal. The owner, Mrs. Helen de Ville, is married to the Seigneur who is an officer in the British Army. A most charming woman.”

“And a delightful house according to Vogel. I think we’ll have lunch there. I’m sure Mrs. de Ville won’t object, especially if you provide the food and wine.” He looked up at the cloudless blue sky. “A beautiful day for a picnic.”

“As you say, Herr Field Marshal. If you’ll excuse me I’ll go and give the orders.”

Ten minutes later, as the cavalcade of officers moved out through the main entrance to where the cars waited, a military police motorcyclist drove up. He pulled in beside Greiser, who sat behind the wheel of Muller’s Citroen. Greiser read the message the man handed him, then got out of the car and hurried across to Muller, who was talking to a couple of officers. Martineau, standing nearby, heard everything.

“The bloody fool,” Muller said softly and crumpled the message up in his hand. “All right, we’d better get moving.”

He went to Necker, spoke briefly to him and then got into the Citroen. It moved away quickly, and Martineau walked over to Necker. “Muller seemed agitated.”

“Yes,” Necker said. “It would seem one of his men has been killed in a car accident.”

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 *