‘Did the trick!’
‘Surely. But please warn me next time you try something like that.’
Moss laughed good-naturedly and they continued along the road in the direction of the school without seeing any sign of further patrols. Then, shortly after midday, the same car came back along the road and as it went by Andreas saw one of the other agents sitting in the back, beside a military policeman.
‘That was Theopopilis,’ he said quietly.
‘I saw. Tough luck for him.’
Andreas nodded. His fellow Greek would have to repeat the exercise. In the field, if he had failed, he would have been in the hands of the Gestapo and would be facing interrogation, torture and execution. The thought made Andreas all the more determined to ensure that he regarded the exercise as the real thing and did whatever it took to reach his goal. The sooner his training was over, the sooner he could return to Lefkas and fight those who had invaded his beloved island.
It was mid-afternoon before they neared Mount Carmel and saw the school and its grounds on the slope. Even at a distance they could see the tiny figures of men patrolling the fields and terraced fruit trees around the buildings and Andreas appreciated the challenge facing him and his companion. Then, as they rounded a sharp bend in the road, they saw a checkpoint ahead of them. Two cars were parked either side of the road and a squad of redcaps was checking people through, scrutinising them and questioning some closely before waving them on. Two military policemen were walking either side of the cars, carts and pedestrians queueing to get through.
‘What do we do?’ asked Moss. ‘They’ll pick us out quick as a flash. We’d better run for it.’
‘Too late for that,’ Andreas replied. ‘We run and they’ll see us at once. We’re not going to get far in these sandals.’
‘What then?’
‘We’ll have to try and bluff it. That’s all we can do now.’
The queue shuffled forward and as they approached the checkpoint Andreas prepared himself to play the part of an Arab with no command of English, and hoped that they would focus their attention on him and let Moss stand still and silent at his side, head lowered.
‘It’s no good,’ Moss whispered. ‘I’ll never pass for a local. I have to get out of here. Look, I’ll try and make a scene of it. If I can get away, so much the better. Either way, you take advantage of the diversion to get past that lot.’
Andreas thought about protesting but he knew his friend’s suggestion made sense and after a hesitation he nodded his agreement. It would be better that one of them succeeded than both be taken. He sucked in a breath between his teeth. ‘Good luck, Bill.’
‘And you.’
They were a scant ten feet from the checkpoint when Moss suddenly bolted towards the side of the road and the field beyond.
‘Oi, you! Stop!’ a redcap shouted and his comrades instantly turned towards the commotion.
Moss kept running,
keffiyeh
flapping as he fled.
The redcap sergeant in charge of the checkpoint drew his revolver and cupped it in his spare hand as he bellowed. ‘Stop, Abdul, else I’ll put a bullet in your bloody back!’
Moss ignored the cry and the military policeman fired a round into the air. At once the civilians on the road hunched down in alarm and Andreas followed suit. The redcap lowered the barrel of his revolver and took aim at Moss, using his left hand to steady his grip. ‘Last fucking warning, Abdul . . .’
Moss stopped and turned round.
‘Raise your hands!’
He did as he was told.
‘Now get your arse over here.’
The agent strode back towards the military policeman. As Moss reached the road he lowered his hands and smiled. ‘It seems you have me, my dear fellow.’
‘Keep you hands up.’
‘Really, I don’t think this sort of thing is terribly necessary.’
The redcap kept him covered, but smiled back. ‘For all I know, you could be a Jerry spy, sir.’
‘If that was so, then I hardly think you would call me “sir”.’
‘You may think what you like, but keep your ruddy ’ands up.’
Moss did as he was told and the redcap shoved him in the direction of the nearest car. The civilians stood up now the drama was over and milled around.
‘Get that bloody lot through the checkpoint and clear the road!’ the sergeant roared. His men waved them through with cries of, ‘
Emshi! Emshi!
’
Andreas rounded his shoulders and lowered his head in obeisance as he hurried past the soldiers and on to the road beyond. He continued a short distance before risking a look back. The sergeant was still questioning Moss, who had been allowed to lower his hands so that they could be handcuffed. Then he was led to one of the cars and made to sit in the back seat, with a redcap at his side. Andreas felt regret that his comrade had been captured but he still had to complete the exercise on his own and looking up at the approaches to the school entrance he could see no clear way to get past the patrols and those keeping watch.
A short distance ahead the road bent to the right, before the turning leading up the hill to the school. The crowd had begun to disperse and Andreas deliberately slowed until he was at the rear. As he reached the bend he turned and saw the sergeant making his way over to the car with Moss sitting inside and climbing into the driver’s position. The sound of the engine starting carried up the road and Andreas’s pulse quickened as he conceived a plan of action. It was risky but it seemed like the best chance he had of completing the exercise. He hurried round the corner and picked a spot where the car would have to slow down as it rounded the bend and prepared to turn on to the road leading up the hill to the school. The last of the local people had already moved some distance ahead and would not be able to thwart his plan if they looked back.
The sound of the engine being revved as it started up the road spurred Andreas’s resolve and he moved out into the middle of the road, heart racing, and reached into his bag. A moment later the car changed down a gear as the sergeant approached the bend. With a deep-breath to control his nerves, Andreas lay down on the road, and curled up into a ball. He could hear the gravel crunching under the car’s tyres as it negotiated the corner and then he saw it, coming fast towards him. He saw the sergeant’s jaw drop in surprise an instant before he kicked down on the brakes and the car rapidly slowed and slid to a stop, ten feet away.
‘What the fuck are you doing there? Get up and get off the bloody road, you lazy Arab!’
Andreas raised an arm feebly and let it drop back beside him. The sergeant cranked the handbrake up and climbed down from the driver’s position and strode towards him.
‘Up! Up, I said, damn you!’
Andreas let out a groan and gave a slight writhe. He saw the shadow of the military policeman on the gravel in front of him and then the sergeant squatted down on his heels and shook Andreas’s shoulder. ‘On your feet.’
Andreas’s left hand shot out and his fist piled into the sergeant’s jaw, sending the man sprawling on to his back. Andreas scrambled to his feet, pulled out his revolver and aimed it at the sergeant’s face. He glanced towards the car. The other redcap was rising from the seat while Moss’s expression creased into a cheerful grin.
‘Uncuff the prisoner!’ Andreas ordered in his accented English. ‘Do it! Or I’ll shoot this man.’
The redcap hesitated and Moss chipped in, ‘Better do as he says. Looks like a desperate man to me.’
After a brief hesitation, during which Andreas pressed the muzzle of his weapon into the sergeant’s cheek, the soldier took out his keys and released Moss. Andreas prodded the sergeant with his toe.
‘All right, I want you to drive. Your friend sits beside you. We’ll be behind with guns to your backs. Clear? Now hand your weapon over. You too!’ he added, glancing up towards the other soldier. The redcaps did as they were instructed and Andreas climbed into the back, putting his own gun away as he took up the sergeant’s weapon.
‘All very neat,’ Moss said approvingly. ‘You have a knack for this kind of work. So what next?’
For the first time since the exercise began, Andreas felt confident enough to smile. ‘We drive into the school and complete the exercise.’
He prodded the back of the seat with the revolver. ‘Let’s go. Up the hill. Not one word of warning to anyone, Sergeant. Is that clear?’
‘Or what, sir?’
‘Or I’ll blow your spine out. I would, if I was in the field. But even if this is only an exercise, your revolver is real enough, and so are the bullets. Bear that in mind. Now, let’s get moving.’
The sergeant put the car into gear and eased it forward carefully, not wanting to take any risks of being accidentally shot with his own weapon due to some unfortuitous jolt. He turned on to the road leading up the hill and the two agents kept low, squeezed into the gap behind the front seats. Soon the car was negotiating hairpin bends and once slowed as the sergeant exchanged a brief greeting with a patrol they passed on the road. Andreas gave the redcap a gentle prod and he accelerated and drove on. After fifteen minutes or so the sergeant began to slow down.
‘What’s the matter?’ Andreas demanded.
‘There’s a barrier down at the gate to the school, sir. What should I do?’
Andreas thought quickly. ‘Drive up but stop a short distance from the barrier, far enough so they can’t see the rear seats. Tell them you have an urgent message for the commanding officer. If they don’t raise the barrier, then drive through it.’
‘Are you mad?’
‘No. But I am armed, and for the purposes of the exercise, dangerous. Do as I say!’
The sergeant shrugged. ‘As you wish, sir. But I’ll want it in writing that I was acting on your orders. They’ll not be stopping my pay to cover the damages.’
‘Shut up and drive,’ Moss growled.
The car slowed and stopped as it was challenged by a sentry on the gate. The sergeant barked his response.
‘Message for the CO! Open the barrier!’
‘Leave it with me, I’ll pass it on.’
‘I’ve orders to deliver it in person.’
‘Sorry, Sergeant. No one enters without the say-so from the CO.’
‘Don’t you bloody give me that. I’ve got orders. Now get the barrier up or I’ll have you on a fucking charge, my lad!’ He gunned the engine for good measure, and then, as his two hidden passengers exchanged a doubtful glance, they heard the clank of a chain and the squeal of metal and the car edged forward. They swept past the whitewashed barrier, pointing into the sky at an angle, and the sergeant slowed down and looked over his shoulder.
‘We’re in, and that poor bastard on the gate is for the high jump. Happy now, sir?’
‘He would be fine if he had done his job,’ Moss replied. ‘In any case, you did a fine job of persuading him, Sergeant.’
The soldier scowled back. ‘Where now, sir?’
‘Right outside the front of the school will do nicely, thank you. Might as well end things in style.’
As the car roared up the drive towards the main building, Moss and Andreas eased themselves up and on to the back seat. They passed one of the instructors who frowned curiously as he saw the two men in Arab dress being chauffeured by the military policemen. The sergeant drew up outside the arched front door and stopped.
‘Here you are, sirs. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll have our revolvers back.’
The agents handed their weapons over and climbed out of the car. Moss placed his hands on his hips and stretched his back. ‘Ah! A celebratory drink in the mess is on the cards, I should think. My treat, Andreas, for getting me off the hook.’
‘You are welcome.’ Andreas grinned.
The sergeant coughed. ‘If you two gentlemen have finished with us?’
Moss waved airily back down the slope. ‘By all means, you may go. And thank you for the lift.’
The sergeant forced a smile as he answered quietly, ‘Fuck you, sir. Fuck you very much.’
Then he slammed the car into gear and accelerated away before either of the officers could respond.
‘Well, that went well!’ Moss laughed. As Andreas joined in a figure emerged from the doorway and stood on the steps above them. They turned to see the school’s commanding officer regarding them with an amused expression. ‘Well, well. That’s the first time any of our students ended the exercise in such style.’
‘It was quite a lark,’ said Moss. ‘I think I may make a career of hijacking cars.’
Andreas joined in their laughter, feeling great relief at having overcome the final challenge set by the SOE’s training school. His mirth was short-lived as their superior’s smile faded and he regarded them with what looked almost like pity.
‘You are both brave fellows. Good men. But I’m afraid this is the last time it will be a bit of a lark, young Moss. The games are over. From now on, it all becomes brutally simple. You succeed, or you die . . .’
Two weeks later, Andreas was sitting outside the ready room at Tokra airfield near Alexandria. The building used to provide the agents with a few last comforts before they left was a simple brick structure with a corrugated iron roof. Inside, a corporal made tea and sandwiches for the men that passed through and gave cigarettes to those that needed them. There was no alcohol, though, in case an agent was tempted too much by the prospect of liquid courage. The sun had set shortly before and the western horizon was ablaze with red and orange. The air was warm and still and there was a peacefulness about the scene that Andreas found calming even though, within the hour, he was due to board the plane that would carry him, and several crates of weapons, ammunition and equipment to the resistance fighters of Lefkas.
There were two other men waiting for another bomber to drop them into the Balkans. They sat a short distance away from Andreas, smoking and occasionally exchanging a few quiet words. There was no attempt to engage Andreas in conversation. That was part of the training, in case they were captured and tortured and revealed any information about another operation.
A hundred metres away from the ready room the ground crew were preparing the two aircraft for the night’s missions. They were Liberators, big four-engined American-built bombers with the necessary range to parachute agents and supplies throughout the Mediterranean. A fuel bowser was filling the tanks while armourers loaded ammunition belts into the machine-gun positions, though it was unlikely that the bombers would encounter any night fighters during their flight.