“You all okay?”
“Ya, we’re fine,” he said, looking around. “Where are all your men… or are there only six of you?”
“There are fifteen of us. I’m Lieutenant Lewes. We’re camped in a gully, just around the corner. If you park your Jeeps under the palms, I’ll introduce you.”
Parking the Jeeps, they followed Lewes under a rocky overhang, down a sandy pathway that twisted and turned between what looked like a wide schism in the rock face, and suddenly they found themselves in a deep and shady gorge. Camouflaged tents erected on the far side of a waterhole and men gathered around a trestle table with David Stirling.
It felt almost ritualistic when Lewes introduced everyone. All the men of the SAS had heard the rumors of a crazy, beautiful young woman, leading a team of hard-assed Commandos, in the middle of the Sahara Desert, deep behind enemy lines. Wreaking havoc with Rommel, the Waffen-SS, the Gestapo, and killing every NAZI they came into contact with. They thought they were just stories that soldiers told around the campfire between battles. Now that they met the legend, and saw that her beauty was no exaggeration, they believed without question their leader, Major David Stirling’s assurances that her skills in combat were equally true, as was told to him by British Intelligence.
One by one, they all stepped forward and shook hands with Kat and her team. There was a feeling of friendliness and good humor. The men of the SAS stared at Kat as they shook her hand, more for her accomplishments than for her beauty, and they treated her with great reverence. It was a huge relief, and she wondered why Stirling worried.
“You got here just in time,” Stirling said. “There’s a full moon tonight, so we’re raiding a German airfield. You don’t have to be involved, but you might want to come along to see what you’re up against. We scouted the area for a possible landing strip, and there’s one not far from here. We didn’t find any caves big enough for a plane, but there are a few rocky overhangs that might work. When you’ve eaten, I’ll get someone to show you.”
“Something similar to this place would work,” Kat said, looking up at the high rock faces.
“Ya, I know. It was a lucky find. The gorge is so deep. You have to look directly down to see into it.”
“Do they ever come looking for you?”
“They do indeed. We’ve got Vicker’s machine guns mounted on the Jeeps. We can shoot them down if they fly too low. In fact, we shot down a Messerschmitt about two weeks ago.”
She felt a stab of disappointment. It hadn’t occurred to her to mount machine guns on the Jeeps, and it was too late now. She doubted if Stirling had spare machine guns lying around.
“You mainly travel at night?”
“We almost always travel at night. The Long Range Desert Group don’t, and they don’t get involved with the raids. Anyway, they’re armed with Vicky guns as well.”
She glanced at Capetti and felt a spike of annoyance. He wanted to be their Commanding Officer, and he wasn’t even listening. “How far away is the nearest German airfield?”
“About thirty miles, and that’s a long way in the desert. It takes about two hours to get there, which is critical. It starts to get light at about 0400. The Germans know we’re hiding out in the desert, so the airfield’s on standby until at least 0100. If we hit the airfield at 0200, we’ve only got two hours to vanish, which is why Jock’s bombs are all on time pencils. They give us thirty minutes to get clear, although they sometimes go off prematurely if it’s a warm night.”
CHAPTER 3
Kat woke with a start. Kelly shook her, and for a split-second, she wasn’t sure where she was. It came back in a rush. With little time to scout a separate campsite, they’d temporarily pitched their tents in the gorge, then hunkered down for a few hours sleep.
“What time is it?”
“2300. Sandro’s made coffee if you want some.”
“Is everyone still in the gorge?’
“Stirling’s men are out by the trucks. They want to leave in half an hour.”
“Jesus!” she exclaimed, clambering out of her sleeping bag. “You should have woken me earlier. We need to be ready for this.”
“We’re not going to do anything, Kat. We’re just going to watch.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, pulling on her shorts. “There’ll be guards to deal with. We can’t just sit there like lemons.” She grinned at him. “Well, you can if you like. Did you fit the silencers on the Sten guns?”
“I did. Major Stirling’s over the moon. He loves the modified Stens. He’s going to contact the SOE and have every man in the SAS outfitted with silenced Sten guns as standard issue.”
They found the rest of the team moping around the trestle table drinking coffee. With Tilley lamps lit and rations laid out, no one except Dore seemed to be very hungry. He’d found a can of baked beans and wolfed them down like there was no tomorrow.
“Hi, Jock,” she whispered, digging him in the ribs. “Where’d you get the beans?”
“Hi, Wolfy. Dave Lewes has got a whole case of them. D’you want some?”
“I’d love some. I’m starving.”
Grabbing a tin, Dore sawed it open and handed it to her. “Ya ready for all this?”
“It feels a bit weird working with other people. I prefer making my own decisions.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you will. You never were very good at taking orders.”
She gazed at him for a moment. She’d worked closely with Dore for two years. Now, for practical reasons, she’d teamed up with Kelly, and she felt guilty.
“Jock, I’m sorry we’re not on the same team. Sandro needs your help, and Kelly needs mine. We can swap if you’d prefer.”
“Don’t worry, Lass. I get on fine with the General.”
“Oh ya, that’s right. You both got hammered together, and now Capetti is the General.”
“Ay, he loves that. Makes up for everyone ignoring him.”
“Are you both ready?” Capetti asked, sauntering up to them. “It’s 2330.”
Grinning at each other, they followed Capetti out of the gorge and made their way over to the trucks. Tilley lamps hung from the palm trees, and it reminded Kat of a Christmas they’d once shared in the desert.
Stirling waved everyone into a group. “Okay, guys, listen up. As always, we’re going to drive in single file. Which means no overtaking, under any circumstances. Miss Wolfram…”
“Don’t worry. We won’t try to overtake. By the way, everyone calls me Kat.”
“Okay, fine, Kat…” He gave a wolfish grin. “Kat and all her little kittens. We’ve already scouted this raid and put markers in the desert. The last marker is the sound barrier. It’s the nearest we can get without the Germans hearing our engines. We walk the rest of the way. It’s half a mile.” He paused in case anyone had questions. Everyone remained silent. “When we’re a hundred yards away, we all stop. In the last month or so, they’ve posted guards, which isn’t surprising. We took out twenty fighter planes on our last raid. But… they might have a guard for every plane now. We won’t know until we get there. The first thing we’ll do is take out the perimeter guards.” He grinned again. “Which means you. You’ve all got silenced guns. Who are your best snipers?”
Dore and Atkins raised a hand, followed seconds later by Kat.
“Only three of you?”
“Major Capetti and Flight Lieutenant Kelly are pilots,” Kat said. “As you know, Harry used to be with the Long Range Desert Group, so he’s an excellent marksman. I don’t know about his sniping capabilities though. You’ll have to ask him.”
Stirling seemed to think about it. “Okay, three should be fin
e. You three are going to take out the perimeter guards. There may be six or seven, so you’ll have to do it quickly. If everything remains quiet, my team will go in. I’m not going to involve you with explosives. We’ve got it down to a fine art, so we know what we’re doing. We can discuss your own raids when we get back to camp. Any questions?”
Dore raised a hand. “When we leave again, do we still drive in convoy?”
“Absolutely. Our explosives are timed to go off after thirty minutes, so there shouldn’t be any need to panic. But, and it’s a big but, the pencil fuses aren’t very reliable. They’ve been known to go off after ten minutes, and it takes us about ten minutes to plant all the bombs. If they start going off while we’re still leaving, do not be tempted to overtake me. Grit your teeth and drive in an orderly line.”
Dore yawned and shook his head. He wasn’t going to wait for Capetti to answer. “We’re good.”
Piling into the Jeeps, they set off across the desert. At first, it was easy. The surface mainly hard-packed sand with occasional drifts, nothing the four-wheel-drive couldn’t handle. Every mile or so, they would pass one of Stirling’s markers, and Lewes would wave at it, counting them off. The markers would have to be pulled up after the mission, removing all trace of the SAS.
She gazed out at the moonlit desert. She was always tense at the start of a new mission, and it occurred to her that Kelly must be extremely tense. Stealing Messerschmitts would be different than stealing the Adler. The airfield they were heading for would have many guards. Moreover, the Germans expected an attack. According to Lewes, Rommel nicknamed Stirling, the Phantom Major. They knew who he was. They might even know who Jock Lewes was, which made her think of Pernass. She’d never been on a mission that didn’t involve Pernass. It was as if he followed her around, somehow able to guess her next move, and now she’d conscripted his nephew. If she and Kelly were seen together in Cairo, and he knew who the Phantom Major was, maybe he’d put two and two together.
Leaning forward, she whispered in Sam’s ear. “Any news of your uncle?”
He glanced back at her, gripping the back of the seat when they hit a series of potholes. “Uncle Rudolph? I heard a few snippets. Why?”
What sort of snippets?”
He grinned, his perfect teeth were strangely blue in the moonlight. “You trying to take my mind off things? Don’t worry. I’m okay.”
“No, I’m really interested. What did you hear?”
He shrugged. “I heard he’s in Berlin, and someone thought they saw him in Vienna. Why, you think he’s setting a trap for you in North Africa, payback after stealing the Adler?”
“It’s not out of the question.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. Even we don’t know where we’re going. How could he?”
They were driving through dunes again, their surreal shapes gleaming in the moonlight. They didn’t need headlamps. Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Just as well, she thought. She doubted they’d be using headlights on the way back. Pulling her Sten gun from the floor well, she checked the magazine’s ammunition. And she wondered if he’d a chance to lie down for an hour or so.
“Did you get any sleep, Sam?”
He laughed. “You’ve got to be joking. I had one of Sandro’s coffees. Who can sleep after one of those?”
“I’m going to kill that man,” she tutted. “Coffee’s bad for you just before a mission. It makes you paranoid and jumpy. Hold out your hand.”
He frowned at her and held out his hand. It was rock-steady. “Kat, I’m not nervous. I don’t have to do anything. We’re only here as observers.”
“Ya? Well, don’t get too complacent. On these kinds of missions, you never know what’s going to happen until it happens. Jock, Atkins and I are thinking of going in with Stirling’s men. We need to know how they place the explosives.”
“Do you really have to?”
Yes, we really have to. We’ve never blown up a squadron of fighter planes before.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“Sam, you are not coming with me. You’re a pilot, and we’re going to need you for our own missions.”
Stewart braked as the convoy slowed, and stopped. Lewes ran back towards them. He stopped briefly at Capetti’s Jeep and then continued onto theirs.
“Okay, we’re almost there,” he said quietly. “We’re turning out our headlamps now. When you reach the parking point, turn your Jeep around to face the way we came. As you know, the last half mile will be on foot. There’ll be no talking and no whispering, only use hand signals. And just to remind you, Kat, you may have more than one guard to take out. We won’t know until we get there. Dave Stirling will signal which guards he wants you to shoot. And we’re talking about headshots. They can’t be allowed to alarm the others. We don’t normally shoot anyone. We usually creep in there, lay the explosives and creep out again. The Germans are wise to us now. They may even have guards inside some of the planes.”
She gave him the thumbs-up. “Got it.”
Switching off the headlamps, they drove on in the moonlight. They were driving through dunes now, the convoy weaving between them. Stirling knew where he was going. It felt strange, working with the SAS. When they’d fought alongside Gramigna’s men in Italy, it had been on their terms, but working with the SAS was entirely different. They had no choice but to adhere to Stirling’s methods. And it made sense. Kat’s Rats had never attacked a squadron of German fighter planes.
The convoy slowed as Stirling made a full U-turn, they had arrived. Kat watched as all the Jeeps pulled up alongside each other, a neat row of them, ready for a quick escape. Grabbing her Sten gun, she climbed out. She noticed that Stirling’s men were only armed with pistols and moments later she realized why, they needed to carry the explosives, fifteen men, each carrying two bombs. They were going to blow up thirty planes. It would be one hell of an inferno. And then it dawned on her, Kat’s Rats weren’t simply observers. They were part of the mission.
Stirling waved everyone into a group. “Okay, guys, this is the last time we talk. Are there any questions?”
To Kat’s surprise, Kelly put his hand up. “Harry and I don’t have anything to do. We want to help.”
Stirling grinned. “I hoped you might say that. We brought four extra bombs. If you stay with me, you’ll see where I place the little buggers.” He turned to one of his men. “Hobson, give our friends the spare bombs and show them how they’re activated.”
Kat waited in deep thought as Hobson showed Kelly and Stewart how to activate the bombs. When he seemed satisfied, she whispered, “Sam, I’m not happy about this. Why didn’t you warn me?”
“Because you’d have said no.”
“Yes, I would. I don’t want you killed. We need you for our operations.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
They set out across the dunes. Keeping below their crests to stay out of sight, it didn’t take long to reach the airfield. In what felt like no time at all, an untidy matrix of lights came into view. Kat doubted they were very bright, except she’d become so used to the moonlight, she shielded her eyes from the glare. She’d been worried about seeing the guards clearly enough to take them out, but unless they were hiding in the shadows, it wasn’t going to be a problem at all.
Stirling came to a sudden stop, and everyone dropped to their stomachs. With the exception of the Adler’s monstrous hangar, the airfield looked similar to the one in Algeria. Rows of corrugated iron shelters lined the far side of the apron. An Administration Building, an Officers’ Mess, billets, and even a Control Tower of sorts populated the area. And Kat couldn’t help marveling at how organized the Germans were. The planes were lined up, ready for takeoff. Two ro
ws of twenty-five lined up on each side of the runway… fifty of them, all were glistening beneath dazzling overhead lights.
Kat quickly scanned the airbase. The guards looked half asleep, although she doubted they were the only guards. There would be more on the far side of the airfield, which made her wonder if they’d be a threat when Stirling’s men were planting the bombs. She looked at her watch. The Commanding Officers, who were no doubt fast asleep in their beds, might be very aware of the threat of attack, but at 0200, the lowly soldiers were more concerned about staying awake.
Kat crept closer. So close, she saw the details on guard’s uniforms, which came as a shock. They weren’t regular soldiers. They were Waffen-SS. With so many planes destroyed by the SAS, Rommel must have ordered them in. She glanced across at Dore. He too must have noticed because he shook his head. She looked at Atkins. Lying on his stomach, he waited for Stirling’s signal. There were six visible guards, which meant two for Atkins, two for Dore, and two for herself. At this distance, they wouldn’t hear the sound suppressed gunshots. They might hear the bullets smacking into bone though. They needed to shoot the guards in quick succession.
She became aware of a shadow moving towards her. It was Lewes. He pointed at his watch and holding two fingers up, then one with a bent knuckle, and then both hands sliced forward. In two minutes, they were to fire on his signal. They would wait thirty seconds and then go in.
Settling onto her stomach, she aimed the Sten gun at the nearest guard’s forehead, aware of the silencer, glistening at the end of the barrel. The seconds ticked by like an eternity. Finally, Stirling’s arm went up, and she held her breath. Dore and Atkins were doing the same. They were waiting for Lewes’s arm to come down.
The arm came down, and she squeezed the trigger. Phut!
A sickening splat of metal on bone as blood sprayed the side of a Messerschmitt. Nothing moved, three guards still standing, staring out at the desert. She squeezed the trigger again. The gun bucked. Another splatting sound. Silence.
Kat and Die Wolfsschanze Page 3
