‘But Father, you don’t understand,’ Kurt Steiner said. ‘I can’t pray any more.’
‘That’s all right, my son,’ Father Martin told him. ‘I’ll pray for you.’
Chapter SEVEN
THE flight from Berlin to Cap de la Hague took just over three hours, Asa charting a course that took them over parts of occupied Holland, Belgium and then France. They came in to Chernay from the sea. It was a desolate-looking little place. Not even a control tower, just a grass runway, with a wind-sock at one end, three old pre-war hangars and several huts that looked like a Luftwaffe addition. There was also a fuel dump.
Asa raised them on the radio. ‘Stork as expected from Gatow.’
A voice said, ‘Chernay control. Permission to land granted. Wind south-east strength three-to-four and freshening.’
‘Takes himself seriously,’ Asa said over his shoulder. ‘Here we go.’
He made a perfect landing and taxied towards the hangars where half a dozen men waited in Luftwaffe overalls. As Schellenberg and Devlin got out, a sergeant emerged from the hut with the radio mast, and hurried towards them.
He took in Schellenberg’s uniform and got his heels together. ‘General.’
‘And your name is?’
‘Leber, General. Flight Sergeant.’
‘And you are in charge here?’
‘Yes, General.’
‘Read this.’ Schellenberg handed him the Fuhrer Directive. ‘You and your men are now under my command. A matter of the utmost importance to the Reich.’
Leber got his heels together again, handed the letter back. ‘At your orders, General.’
‘HauptsturmFuhrer Vaughan will be making a hazardous and highly secret flight across the English Channel. The aircraft he will use is an unusual one. You’ll see that for yourself when it’s delivered.’
‘And our duties, General?’
Til inform you later. Is your radio receiving equipment up to scratch?’
‘Oh, yes, General, the best the Luftwaffe can offer. Sometimes aircraft returning across the Channel are in a bad way. We have to be able to talk them in when necessary.’
‘Good.’ Schellenberg nodded. ‘Do you happen to know a place called Chateau de Belle Ile? According to the map it’s about thirty miles from here in the general direction of Carentan.’
‘I’m afraid not, General.’
‘Never mind. We’ll manage. Now find us a Kubel-wagen.”
‘Certainly, General. May I ask if you’ll be spending the night?’
Schellenberg glanced around at the desolate landscape. ‘Well I’d prefer not to, Sergeant, but one never knows. Have the Stork refuelled and made ready for the return trip.’
‘Jesus,’ Devlin said, as Leber led them towards a field car parked outside the radio hut. ‘Would you look at this place? What a lousy posting. I wonder they can put up with it.’
‘Better than Russia,’ Asa Vaughan said.
Asa drove, Devlin beside him, Schellenberg in the rear, a map spread across his knee. ‘Here it is. The road south from Cherbourg goes to Carentan. It’s off there somewhere on the coast.’
‘Wouldn’t it make more sense to land at the Luftwaffe base at Cherbourg?’ Asa asked.
‘As the Fuhrer will when he comes?’ Schellenberg shook his head. ‘I prefer to keep our heads down for the moment. We don’t need to go through Cherbourg at all. There’s a network of country roads south that cut across to the coast. Thirty miles, thirty-five at the most.’
‘What’s the purpose of this little trip anyway?’ Devlin asked him.
‘This Belle Ile place intrigues me. I’d like to see what we’ve got there as long as we’re in the neighbourhood.’ He shrugged.
Devlin said, ‘I was wondering _ does the Reichsfuhrer know we’re here?’
‘He knows about our flight to Chernay or he will soon. He likes a regular report.’
‘Ah, yes, General, that’s one thing, but this Belle Ile place would be another.’
‘You could say that, Mr Devlin, you could.’
‘Sweet Mother of God, what a fox you are,’ Devlin said. ‘I pity the huntsman when you’re around.’
Many of the country lanes were so narrow that it would not have been possible for two vehicles to pass each other, but after half an hour, they cut into the main road that ran south from Cherbourg to Caren-tan. It was here that Schellenberg had trouble with his map and then they had a stroke of luck, a sign at the side of the road outside the village of St Aubin that said izth Parachute Detachment. There was a spread of farm buildings visible beyond the trees.