While the doctor treated Pamela Vereker's gunshot wound, Major Harry Kane and Colonel Shafto considered the astonishing news she had brought."We're not waiting days for the War Office to decide whether her story's true," said Shafto, his face pale with excitement. "I'm going to deal with these Germans myself, here and now."
Kane disagreed, but he saw that arguing would be useless. "Okay, sir," he said. "What do we do?"
Shafto looked at his watch. "Four fifteen. Mr Churchill should already be on his way to Studley Constable. You'd better stop him. Bring him here instead. He'll be quite safe here."
When Kane had gone, Shafto sent for Captain Mallory, the officer next in rank to Kane. "I want you ready to move out with forty men and eight jeeps, five minutes from now," he ordered. Left alone, he poured himself a glass of whisky. His day had come, he knew. The next twenty-four hours would win him his place in the history books: the man who saved Churchill.
He went outside to the waiting men and briefly told them where they were going, and why. "One thing I can promise," he ended, "handle this right and by tomorrow your name will be famous throughout America. Now, let's go."
At the first telephone pole along the road, Shafto told his driver to stoop. Drawing his gun, he shot at the top of the pole, shattering the telephone lines. "That will stop any unwanted phone calls for a while," he said. "Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go."
Half a kilometre outside Studley Constable Shafto stopped to give orders. "Captain Mallory, you take three jeeps and fifteen men. Circle round the village till you come to the water-mill. Sergeant Hustler, you take a dozen men on foot throuth the wood to the church. The remaining men stay with me. When everyone's in position and I give the signal over the field-phone, we go in and finish this thing fast."
Sergeant Hustler said, "Begging the Colonel's pardon, but shouldn't we test the ground first? They say these German parachutists are no fools."
"Hustler," Shafto said coldly, "don't ever question an order of mine again." He eyed the men one by one. "Are the rest of you afraid, too?"
"Of course not, sir," Mallory answered.
"Good," said Shafto. "Because I'm going in there now on my own with a white flag."
"You're going to ask them to surrender, sir?"
"Of course not, Captain. While I talk, the rest of you will be getting into position. You've got exactly ten minutes from the moment I enter the village. So let's get going."
Devlin was eating a sandwich by the fire when the door opened and Molly came in.
"So there you are," he said cheerfully. "I was just coming to look for you."
"You devil!" she said. "You used me." She threw herself at him, reaching for his face. "I know all about it. His name isn't Carter, It's Steiner. They're Germans come to get Mr Churchill. And you're with them."
Gently he pushed her away from him. "Molly, I wasn't using you," he said. "You weren't means to be part of this, my love. You just happened.""You traitor!"
Wearily, he said, "Molly, I'm Irish. That means I'm as different from you as a German is from a Frenchman. I'm a foreigner."
There was uncertainty in her eyes now. But she repeated, "Traitor!"
"No, Molly. I am a soldier of the Irish Republican Army."
She needed to hurt him then. And she knew how to. "Well, you and your friend Steiner and finished, anyway. Pamela Vereker was with me when I found out the truth. She's gone to Meltham House to get the Americans."
He seized her by the arm. "How long ago?"
"I'd say they must be in the village by now. So there's nothing you can do except run while you have the chance."
He let go of her and said drily, "Sure and it would be the sensible thing to do. But I was never one for that."
He pulled on his cap and raincoat, put his pistol in his pocket and hung the Sten gun round his neck. Then Molly spoke, fear in her voice.
"You can't go, Liam. You won't stand a chance."
"Oh, but I must, my love. Did you think I'd run dor the hills and desert Steiner?" He kissed her and pushed her aside. At the door, he turned. "I wrote you a letter. Not much, I'm afraid, but if you're interested, it's on the shelf."
The door banged. She found the letter and opened it feverishly. It said, Molly, my own true love. I came here to do a job, not to fall in love for the first and last time in my life. By now you'll know the worst of me, but try not to think it. To leave you is punishment enough. Let it end there. Liam.
Tears in her eyes, she put the letter in her pocket and went outside. She got on her horse and headed as fast as she could towards the village.
Brandt, Neumann and Altmann sat on the edge of the bridge near joanna Grey's cottage.
"It Colonel Steiner doesn't come soon," said Neumann, "we'd better get ready to fight. And we fight only as German soldiers, remember? It seems the time has come to drop the pretence."
The three men took off their jump jackets, showing the German flying shirts beneath. They removed their red caps and put on German Airforce side-caps instead.
Neumann tried again to reach Steiner on the field telephone. There was no reply.
At that moment Shafto arrived alone in his jeep, from which flew a white handkerchief. He got out and stood looking Ritter over. He saw the two Iron Crosses and other honours for distinguished service, and knew that this fresh-faced young man was a hardened fighter.
"So, no more pretence, Lieutenant? Where's Steiner? Tell him Colonel Robert Shafto, in command Twenty-first Special Raiding Force, wishes to speak with him."
"I'm in charge here, Colonel. You must deal with me."
"Okay," Shafto said. "I know how many men you have. If I bring my boys in, you won't last ten minutes. Why not be practical and surrender?"
"Sorry," Ritter said. "That's a word my English teacher never taught me."
"I'll give you ten minutes," Shafto warned. "Then we come in."
"And I'll give you two, Colonel. To get out of here before my men open fire."
"Okay, son, you asked for it." Shafto got back into the jeep and drove away.
Joanna Grey watched them go from her bedroom window. Then she went into the study, opened a secret door, went through and lock it behind her. She went upstairs to the secret room in the roof and sat down at the radio. She put her gun ready on the table. Strange, she wasn't in the least afraid when the shooting started outside.
The leading jeep in Shafto's section had four men in it. The two at the back were standing up working a machine-gun. As they passed the garden next to Joanna Grey's, Dinter and Berg stood up. Dinter supported a machine-gun, which Berg fired, killing the two American gunners instantly. The jeep went off the road and rolled over, finishing upside down in the stream.
Swinging the machine-gun round to the second jeep, Berg fired again. One man was killed before the jeep rushed round the corner to safety. Then Dinter and Berg exited quickly through the back gate and made their way to the Post Office.
Shafto, who was watching from a rise in the woods, ground his teeth with rage. There was heavy firing from the other side of the village. He took the field telephone from Sergeant Krukowski and called, "Mallory, what in hell's going on up there?"
"They've got a strong point in the mill. They've knocked out a jeep. I've lost four men."
"Then lose some more," Shafto shouted. "Get in there, Mallory. Burn them out if necessary."Krukowski thought, "That's seven lost in five minutes. What does he think he's playing at?"
Shafto tried the third section. "Where are you, hustler? I expected to see you at the church by now."
"It's been difficult, Colonel. Very muddy."
"Well, get a move on." He handed the phone back to Krukowski. "You can't rely on anyone.!" he said bitterly.
Otto Brandt had Walther, Meyer and Riedl with him in the mill. They had a machine-gun set up by the first floor window.
From behind fences the Americans were shooting continuously, to no effect because of the mill's thick stone walls. Suddenly Brandt said, "Everyone stop firing. I'm not sure I believe what's happening. But get ready."
A moment later Mallory and eight men leapt out of their shelter and ran towards the mill, firing as they ran.
"What do they think they're doing?" Brandt said.
He fired at mallory, killing him instantly. Three more Americans fell as the Germans all fired at once. The survivors hastily retreated.
In the quiet that followed, Brandt said, "I make that eight. It's crazy. I mean, why are they in such a hurry? All they have to do is wait."
As soon as Kane arrived back at Meltham House with the Prime Minister's party, Sergeant Garvey brought him a radio message from Krukowski.
"He asked for you personally, Major. It's a mess down there, he says. Dead men all over the place. He kept saying the Colonel was acting like a madman."
Dear God, Kane thought, he's gone riding straight in like the hero in a fairy tale. "We'll have to get down there," he said to Garvey. "We'll take the White Scout Car and three jeeps, with twenty men. That leaves twenty-five to guard Mr Churchill: it should be enough."
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