Towards the middle of the afternoon Petersen and Crni walked into the lounge, carrying several machine-pistols and hand-guns.
‘Replacement equipment. Ivan here took ours away so it’s only fair that he should replace them. We’ll be leaving shortly. Ivan, Edvard and Sava are coming with us.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Twenty minutes, shall we say? I want to get through the nasty bit of the Neretva gorge in daylight but not to arrive at bur destinadon until it’s dark, for the usual reasons.’
‘I’m not looking forward to that,’ Sarina said.
‘Have no fear. I’m not driving. Sava is. He’s a truck driver in civilian life.’
‘What destination?’ Harrison said.
‘Ah! I forgot. A new acquaintance for you, Jamie, but an old friend of ours. The proprietor of the Hotel Eden in Mostar, one Josip Pijade.’
‘A solid and reliable citizen,’ Lorraine said.
‘A very solid, very reliable citizen. You have a faraway look on your face, George. What are you thinking of?’
‘Venison.’
NINE
And venison it was. Josip and Marija had excelled themselves and achieved the seemingly impossible – the venison tasted even marginally better than the last time. George excelled himself in a corresponding fashion, but failed to achieve the impossible: halfway through his third massive helping of venison he had to admit defeat. Sleep that night, unlike the last occasion, was undisturbed by unwelcome visitors. Breakfast was a late and leisurely meal.
‘I wish we’d had you up in the damned Mount Prenj for the past two months,’ Harrison said to Josip after the meal. ‘But it’s been worth the wait. I wish someone would station me here for the duration. He directed his attention towards Petersen. ‘Are we permitted to know our plans – well, your plans – for the day?’
‘Of course. They’re concerned primarily, though not entirely, with one person – Cipriano, his apprehension and interrogation. The Bihac affair we can consider as being virtually a closed matter. As you know, we failed to make contact yesterday, but Ivan and I had better luck during the small hours – reception, as you know, is always better at night. They’ve come up with no fewer than sixteen Cetnik-turned-Partisan suspects, there can’t be more than two, at the most three. We send out a coded message at a certain hour on a certain wavelength and note will be taken as to which of the sixteen is absent at the time. He will not of course be apprehended until the other one or two have been similarly trapped. Routine. Forget it.’ That the words were tantamount to a death sentence was evident to everyone, except, apparently, Petersen.
‘Cipriano,’ Giacomo said. ‘Still at Imotski?’
‘He is. We have two men up there on a twenty-four hour watch. We’re in radio contact. Spoke to them last an hour ago. Cipriano’s up and around but shows no sign yet of moving on. He’s got quite an entourage with him.’ He looked at Alex. ‘You might be interested in hearing the description of one of them.’
‘Alessandro?’ Alex said hopefully.
‘No other.’
‘Ah.’ Just for once Alex registered a trace of expression: it was as near to a happy smile as Alex would ever come.
‘Plus, I’m almost certain from the description, Alessandro’s three henchmen. Seems that Carlos must have found a flame-cutter somewhere. We don’t, of course, know which way the fox is going to jump – there are several different exit routes he can take from Imotski – but we’ll be told immediately that is known. He could, of course, be taking a back road to Ploce and hitch-hiking a lift home with Carlos -if the Colombo’s, diesel lines have been cleared out – but I think that unlikely. I think he’ll be heading for the military airfield just outside the town here and the fast way back to Rome. Ivan and I are just going out to the airport to check.’
‘Check what?’ Harrison asked.
‘Whether there’s air transport standing by for him.’
‘Won’t the airfield be guarded?’
‘We are two Italian officers. I’ve just promoted myself to Colonel and will probably outrank anyone there. We’ll just walk in and ask them.’
‘That won’t be necessary, Peter,’ Josip Pijade said. ‘My cousin, who owns a garage just outside the airport, works there as a part-time repair and maintenance engineer. Not, unfortunately, on the planes, but on the plant, otherwise the Italian air force would be experiencing mysterious crashes. I have but to lift the phone.’
‘Thank you, Josip.’
Josip left. Lorraine said: ‘Another solid and reliable citizen?’
‘Yugoslavia is full of them.’
Josip was back in two minutes. ‘There is an Italian plane on standby. And it’s reserved for Major Cipriano.’
‘Thank you.’ He nodded to the small transceiver on the table. ‘I’ll take this with me. Call up if you hear from Imotski. We’re almost certain of the route Cipriano will take into town so Ivan and I will go and select an ambush spot. We may take your car, Josip?’
‘Take me, too. I know the perfect spot.’
Sarina said: ‘We can go into town?’
‘I think so. I won’t be needing you until nightfall The only attention you’re liable to attract is wolf-whistles from the licentious Italian soldiery.’ He looked at Giacomo. ‘I’d feel happier if you went along.’
‘No sacrifice too great,’ Giacomo said.
Sarina smiled. ‘We need protection?’
‘Only from the licentious soldiery.’
The call came, inevitably enough, when they were halfway through lunch. Marija came in and said: ‘They’ve just left They’re heading for Posusje.’
‘The Mostar road. Excuse us,’ Petersen said. He rose as did Alex, Crni and Edvard.
George said: ‘I wish I were coming with you. But everyone knows I’m not a man of action.’
.’What he means,’ Petersen said coldly, ‘is that his jaws haven’t even got out of second gear yet and he’s barely touched his first litre of beer.’
Sarina said: ‘You will be careful, won’t you?’
Petersen smiled and said: ‘Coming, Giacomo’
‘Certainly not. That’s a public bar through there. The licentious soldiery might come in any moment.’
‘There’s your answer about being careful, Sarina. If Giacomo thought there was the slightest chance of shooting an Italian full of holes he’d be the first aboard the truck. He knows there’s no hope. But thanks all the same.’
Alex, white handkerchief in hand, stood on a low knoll in the rough grazing field opposite the tree-lined lane which led off the main Listica-Mostar road. In the lane itself, with engine running, Petersen sat in the cab of the Italian army truck which was parked only feet from the entrance to the road.
Alex raised the handkerchief high above his head. Petersen engaged first gear and waited, clutch depressed, accelerator at half-throttle. Alex brought the handkerchief sharply down and, clutch released, the truck moved forward under full throttle. Three seconds later Petersen jammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to an abrupt halt, fair and square across the width of the main highway.
The Italian army command car which, fortunately for its occupants, was travelling at only a moderate speed, had no chance: even as the driver stamped on the foot-brake he must have realized that his options were limited indeed: he could either keep to the road and hit the side of the truck head-on or swerve to his right into the field where Alex was – a swerve to the left would have fetched him up against the trees lining the lane. Prudently, he chose the latter course. Locked tyres screeching on the tarmac, the car bust through a low wooden fence, broke into the field while balanced on only two wheels, teetered for a couple of seconds then came to rest as it fell over on its left side, wheels still spinning slowly in the air.
Within seconds, rule butts had smashed in the right-hand windows of the car but the need for haste was not there: the five occupants, unhurt except for cuts about their faces, were too dazed to recognize the presence of their assailants, far less offer resistance: when they did recover some sense of awareness, the sight of the four machine-pistol muzzles only inches from their heads made the thought of offering any resistance too ludicrous for contemplation.
When Petersen and Crni returned to the hotel they found George and his companions – inevitably, in George’s case – in the bar. Equally inevitably, George was presiding behind the counter.
‘Good afternoon, gentlemen.’ George was at his affable best.
‘You’ve finished lunch, then?’ Petersen said.
‘And it wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. What shall it be? Beer?’
‘Beer is fine.’
‘Aren’t you going to ask him what happened?’ Sarina said indignantly.
‘Ah. Alex and Edvard have been cut off in their prime?’
‘They’re in the truck and the truck is in the car park.’
That’s what I like. Solicitude. Making sure that the prisoners are not doing themselves an injury. When do you propose to bring them inside?’
‘When it’s dark. I can’t very well march them through the streets, bound and gagged, in broad daylight, can I?’