The Thirty-One Kings Page 15

  ‘I agree,’ he said.

  He turned his gun to the chest of the nearest trooper and pulled the trigger, blasting him straight through the heart. Before the other man could react he put a bullet into him and both men dropped lifeless onto the bare ground.

  I would not have been more stunned if the host of Heaven had descended from the sky to land in our midst. I gawped at the major who was holstering his pistol.

  The twist in his mouth was smoothed away, erasing the disdainful grimace that had given his features such an ugly cast. As he removed his glasses an impish twinkle lit his brown eyes and his face softened into one I recognised only too well. It was as boyish as ever in spite of the passage of so many years.

  ‘Sandy!’ I exclaimed. ‘Dear God, man! How?’

  As soon as he released us from our handcuffs I clamped my hands to his shoulders as if to convince myself that he was real and not an apparition conjured up out of my wildest, most impossible hopes.

  Sandy’s smile was like a burst of sunlight dispelling the last shreds of doom and confusion that had gripped me only moments before.

  ‘To be honest, Dick, I think we have the same guardian angel and he’s a very busy chap. It probably makes his job a little easier to keep bringing us together so we can look out for each other.’

  Gabriel appeared utterly dumbfounded.

  ‘Gabriel,’ I explained, ‘this is my dear old friend Sandy - Lord Clanroyden. If any stubborn Presbyterian ever tells you the age of miracles is long past, you be sure to tell them about this.’

  I noticed that Sandy was gazing down at the two fallen SS troopers with genuine sorrow in his face.

  ‘It feels damned cowardly killing them like that,’ he sighed, ‘but trying to subdue men as tough as these would have been a stupid risk.’

  Gabriel was eyeing him with wonder. ‘I have heard of you, of course, Lord Clanroyden, but I still find it hard to credit how thoroughly you have infiltrated the enemy.’

  ‘The real Major Gantz had an unfortunate accident over a year ago,’ said Sandy, ‘which I had a hand in arranging. The moment he disappeared I stepped into his place. He was not a family man and had few friends, plus he had just been reassigned to a new post in Berlin, all of which made the deception easier to pull off. As an SS officer I’ve been in an ideal position to gather intelligence and throw a spanner into the works whenever possible.’

  There had always been something uncanny about Sandy’s ability to adopt the appearance and mannerisms of another man to the extent that he became a sort of doppelganger. I knew well from past experience that he was capable of such outrageous deceptions, yet I still had to shake my head at the sheer audacity of this latest gambit.

  He gave me an encouraging slap on the shoulder. ‘Come on, Dick, we’ll stash these bodies in that shed over there. Then we’d best make a move. I’m pretty sure this chap Klingsor is hot on our heels.’

  Gabriel and I helped him to drag the bodies out of sight, but as we did so I was painfully aware that Sandy had no inkling as to the identity of the Fury pursuing us - nor of her savage determination to be revenged upon him.

  20

  THE HUNTING PARTY

  Sandy exchanged his uniform for a plain brown suit he had secreted in the car and stripped the swastika from the vehicle. Then we set off southwards with him at the wheel. I sat beside him while Gabriel occupied the rear seat.

  ‘If you don’t mind my asking, Sandy, where exactly are we headed?’

  ‘I was able to contact an old friend of ours and arrange for him to meet us on the road to Limours,’ he explained. ‘I’m sure you’ll be happy to renew your acquaintance with the Marquis de la Tour du Pin.’

  ‘Turpin!’ I exclaimed. It was the nickname Archie had bestowed upon the marquis when he was assigned as the French liaison with our division. I recalled his ferocious Gascon character and his implacable hatred of the Boche. ‘He shan’t be taking any of this lying down.’

  ‘Far from it,’ said Sandy. ‘You never heard a man curse his own government so fluently. If we can make our rendezvous with him, he’ll see us safely the rest of the way.’

  ‘The chances you have taken with this impersonation, Lord Clanroyden, are almost incalculable,’ Gabriel said admiringly. ‘I only hope the results have been worth it.’

  ‘Aside from saving our skins, that is,’ I added.

  ‘I’ve managed to pull off one or two tricks,’ Sandy answered. ‘It’s not common knowledge as yet, but the Germans were poised to smash our troops before we could get them off the beaches at Dunkirk. Fortunately I was able to arrange for Hitler’s favourite astrologer to advise him that the planets were not propitious for such an attack and that he should hold off for a couple of days to avoid disaster.’

  I shook my head in astonishment. ‘Sandy, sometimes I think you’re more wizard than man. I’m half surprised you haven’t brought the Führer along locked in the boot of your car.’

  ‘If only I could have pulled that off!’ Sandy gave a laugh that was like an echo of his exuberant youth. ‘Not only is he too well guarded but he has the devil’s own luck. There are those in the German high command who retain some good sense and would be glad to be rid of him. There’s been talk of how it could be done but time and again they simply funk it.’

  Looking closer at his profile, I could see in the lines there, in the slight sinking of his eyes, that this masquerade had been an almost intolerable strain on him and that beneath his bravado he was close to exhaustion.

  ‘I take it from your change of costume that the curtain has come down on your performance as Major Gantz,’ said Gabriel.

  ‘Well, it wouldn’t do to have some zealous Frenchman take a pot shot at me because he mistook me for the enemy,’ said Sandy. ‘The fact is that that disguise could only hold up for so long.’

  ‘Time had run out?’ I guessed.

  Sandy nodded. ‘A couple of days ago I ran into one of Gantz’s old companions from his days as a junior officer, an annoyingly curious fellow who simply would not be brushed off. He got his suspicions up and started making enquiries about me, so I reckoned I only had a day or two before my cover was blown.’

  ‘So you headed for Paris.’

  ‘I had a coded message from Blenkiron tipping me off that you were on your way here to rescue somebody important. I thought you might need an extra friend watching your back, so I cooked up some bogus orders assigning me here.’

  ‘Your instincts couldn’t have been more spot on,’ I assured him.

  ‘I heard about a valuable prisoner being busted loose this morning,’ Sandy continued, ‘so when I caught the message about a pair of men captured fleeing the city, I put two and two together. I gather you’ve had a run-in with this spy Klingsor who’s been giving our side a few headaches.’

  My throat went completely dry and I felt sick to my stomach about what I had to tell him.

  ‘Listen, old man, there’s something you need to know . . .’ I steeled myself to continue. ‘Klingsor is a young woman, a rather beautiful and determined young woman named Beata van Diemen. She pretends to be a Dutch exile working against the Reich.’

  ‘A girl, eh?’ said Sandy. ‘Who would have guessed it?’

  ‘She’s not just any woman,’ I pressed on, though the words came unwillingly to my lips. ‘She’s Hilda von Einem’s daughter.’

  At this I perceived the barest flicker in his eyes and a slight tightening of his jaw.

  He said flatly, ‘A daughter . .. had no idea.’

  I gave him a few moments to absorb this revelation then continued. ‘All she knows of her mother is the legend, of her brilliance, beauty and courage.’

  ‘None of that is untrue,’ Sandy murmured.

  For all that Hilda von Einem was an enemy, for all that she had sought to further inflame a war which had already cost so many lives, there was no denying her magnificence. To Sandy’s romantic soul her allure had been almost irresistible. And now she had returned to haunt him once more.
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  ‘She knows enough of her mother’s death to blame us for it,’ I told him, ‘you, me and Blenkiron.’

  Sandy’s voice was barely more than a whisper now. ‘I understand how she would feel that way.’

  ‘So, you see,’ I went on, ‘she’s not just out to capture Gabriel for his information, she’s consumed by a blazing desire for vengeance . . . especially against you.’

  Sandy’s fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, as though to steady himself. At last he rallied and treated me to his boyish smile. ‘Not to worry, Dick. She’ll have to catch us first.’

  To me, who knew him so well, his pain was all too evident. He had the gaunt look of a mystic emerging from a long, harrowing confinement in some desert cave only to find that a further, even more extreme trial awaited him still.

  ‘Once we fall in with Turpin, that will be an end to it,’ I assured him. ‘Now that her identity is exposed, Beata is useless to her masters. They’ll cast her aside and leave her to be consumed by her own bitterness.’

  I had little confidence in my words, but Sandy didn’t appear to be listening.

  ‘I need to get home to Barbara and little Diana while they can still recognise me.’ He was speaking more to himself now than to me. ‘And before I forget how to be myself.’ He sounded desolate.

  ‘You deserve an end to all this as much as they deserve to have you back for good,’ I encouraged him. ‘You’ve done more already than anyone has the right to ask of you.’

  Sandy made no reply. He was staring at the road ahead and at some spot beyond that was invisible to me.

  When I glanced back at Gabriel I saw in his face that he understood only too well the shadow that had fallen over us. After a spell the young Austrian attempted to lighten the atmosphere.

  ‘Well, Richard, I am eager to meet your friend, the marquis. He sounds like a fine fellow.’

  ‘Oh, he’s that, all right,’ I agreed. ‘He’s a keen huntsman and an expert shot. And his wife Adela . . .’ I paused, recalling the beautiful daughter of the American financier Julius Victor.

  ‘She belongs to that race that our enemies hate above all others,’ said Sandy. ‘Turpin’s sent her and the children by ship to America where they’ll be safe with her father.’

  ‘Good,’ said Gabriel solemnly. ‘Yet there are far too many who will not escape.’

  Sandy said nothing more and we drove on in silence, each absorbed in his own thoughts. We had left the city far behind and were now moving through lush countryside where rose bushes and apple trees blossomed beneath a brilliant blue sky. At any other time I would have been gladdened by the summer landscape, but even the sun did not shine brightly enough to dispel the sense of impending menace.

  As this thought crossed my mind there came the dreaded sound of an aircraft approaching.

  Sandy immediately shook off his distracted air and became all business. ‘We’ll slow down a little,’ he said, ‘to look as innocent as possible. We’re just three chaps out for a drive in the country. Dick, see if you can identify him.’

  I searched the sky and spotted the plane. It wasn’t hard to see the markings as he swooped in low to inspect us.

  ‘It’s German,’ I reported. ‘Messerschmitt.’

  ‘It might be nothing to do with us,’ said Gabriel hopefully.

  Much as I wanted to believe that, I had the chilling intuition that Beata had picked up our trail and sent this plane on ahead like a hunting dog.

  The plane flew past us, following the road ahead. Our eyes were fixed anxiously upon it, hoping it would continue its course and vanish from sight. Instead it made a U-turn and headed back toward us with predatory intent.

  ‘It’s this car he’s been sent after, for sure,’ said Sandy ruefully. ‘It looks like trouble is determined to follow us.’

  ‘I’ve got a feeling there will be a lot more trouble coming down the road after us,’ I said. There was no need to say who would be leading the hunt.

  ‘There’s forest country further south,’ said Sandy. ‘That would give us cover if we could only make it that far.’

  The plane was drawing closer and there was nowhere to hide. The surrounding countryside was a patchwork of fields and hedgerows with only scattered farm buildings and clusters of trees too scanty to offer cover. The Daimler was like a fox caught in the open. We could only run and take our chances.

  ‘Sandy, it doesn’t matter what happens to us,’ I said, ‘but we can’t let Gabriel be captured.’

  ‘I’ve no idea why they want you so badly, Gabriel,’ said Sandy over his shoulder, ‘but Dick’s word is good enough for me. We’ll do our damnedest to get you out of this.’

  Even as he spoke the plane descended on us like a bolt of lightning and opened fire. Sandy hit the accelerator and our vehicle leapt forward, thwarting the pilot’s aim. Most of the shots peppered the road behind us, but two metallic bangs told me that our rear end had been hit. I twisted about to face our passenger.

  ‘Gabriel, are you all right?’ I demanded anxiously.

  ‘Yes, yes, nothing came through,’ said Gabriel, running his hands over his arms as if to reassure himself that he was indeed unscathed.

  But it was only a temporary reprieve. Behind us the Messerschmitt had come about and was lining up for another attack.

  The distance between us closed rapidly. Pressing down on the accelerator, Sandy threw us into a series of sharp swerves, doing his best to evade the next volley. The enemy’s engine roared above us and a stream of bullets slashed the Daimler’s bonnet to ribbons. The engine was smashed, tyres burst, and we slewed around out of control. The next thing I knew we were pitched headlong into a ditch.

  I flung up my arms to shield my face, but even so I crashed painfully against the dashboard with enough force to knock the breath out of me. Gasping for air, I eased myself upright and cast a half-dazed look around me.

  The car had come to rest with its battered nose jammed against the bank. The driver’s door hung drunkenly open and the seat was empty. Just then Sandy appeared, peering at me over the buckled windscreen.

  ‘Dick, are you hurt?’

  He had a cut on his forehead and an ugly bruise on one cheek, but seemed otherwise uninjured.

  ‘Just winded,’ I managed to croak. ‘How about Gabriel?’

  I was relieved when the young Austrian answered for himself, but his report was not encouraging. ‘I think I’ve cracked some ribs,’ he murmured. ‘And I can’t move my left leg.’

  ‘Hang on. We’ll soon have you out of here,’ Sandy assured him.

  He wrenched open the back door and eased Gabriel out.

  I clambered out unsteadily, my legs as weak as jelly, my back aching from the crash. When I scanned about me for the plane I saw that it had veered away and was climbing back into the sky, pointed toward Paris. There could only be one reason the pilot had chosen to break off his pursuit.

  Sure enough, I looked up the road and saw a pair of speeding saloon cars bearing down on us. ‘Company, Sandy!’ I warned.

  Sandy spotted the danger and quickly took in our surroundings. He pointed to a derelict building close by, its windows broken and the door hanging askew.

  ‘You get Gabriel in there, Dick,’ he said, passing the injured Austrian over to me. ‘I’ll hold them off.’

  I put my arm around Gabriel to support him and we made the best speed we could towards the building. Sandy took cover behind our wrecked vehicle and fired a couple of shots at the enemy as they drew closer. The windscreen of the first vehicle smashed, forcing the driver to pull over abruptly; the second vehicle braked behind. Men with rifles and pistols jumped out to return fire and I recognised them as Beata’s crew.

  The dark angel of vengeance had arrived.

  21

  THE RETURN OF ODYSSEUS

  Shoulder first, I barged through the ramshackle door, dragging Gabriel along with me. He sank to the floor, gripping a nearby window ledge to keep himself upright.

  Each of us had a pi
stol taken from the dead SS men, but Gabriel was in no condition to use his. I drew mine and gave Sandy a couple of shots of covering fire. He came dashing towards us on a zigzag path while bullets whizzed overhead. He sprinted the last few yards and threw himself headlong through the door. As I slammed it shut behind him a bullet splintered the wood.

  Streaks of light filtered in through the partially boarded windows, outlining dusty shelves and overturned tables. A pair of empty cupboards yawned at us.

  ‘She is here?’ asked Gabriel, his face a grimace of pain.

  ‘Yes,’ I answered. ‘I recognise her men, so she must be with them.’

  Sandy and I took a window each on either side of the door, peering through the spaces between the boards.

  ‘I reckon there can’t be more than half a dozen of them,’ said Sandy, ‘and I’m pretty sure I picked one off.’

  His estimate looked right to me, though it was hard to be sure. There were a few trees and bushes out there, and the Germans were clinging to cover, only popping up to let off the odd bullet that smacked the outer walls.

  ‘Not the best of shots, are they?’ I observed.

  Sandy’s eyes scanned the dingy interior and fixed on a small door. ‘It looks like there’s a back way out.’

  ‘Making a run for it looks chancy,’ I said, glancing at Gabriel who was trying to haul himself to his feet. I leaned down and helped him up, though he could only stand by leaning against the wall.

  ‘You could get away and find your friend, the marquis,’ he said bravely, ‘but only if you leave me here. I promise you they will not take me alive.’

  Painfully he drew his pistol and squinted through the broken window glass.

  ‘It’s a bit soon for that sort of talk,’ Sandy told him. ‘They don’t look like they’re in any hurry to rush us.’

  He stared out to where one of the Germans was lurking behind a tree, steeling himself to advance further. Sandy took aim and chipped a piece off a branch right by his head. The German ducked back and Sandy gave a grunt of frustration. ‘Nearly had him.’