A New Kind of War

’ He heard Zeitzler argue common sense and survival in the distance –

‘Mr Levin – ’ Fred tried to receive different messages simultaneously ‘ – what – ’

‘This is not how I wished it to be, sah – ’

‘There is always a choice, Ernst. Do you not remember

–’

‘It was Mr Audley who was to be the example, sah –

not the major – ’ Levin drew a huge breath ‘ – never the major – ’ The long silenced barrel swung slightly, and then steadied on the young dragoon beside Fred, who stood swaying and twitching, almost beyond reason and sense, waiting to be loosed.

‘But, Ernst-’

‘Steady, David!’ Survival was what mattered now!

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‘You are taking us prisoner now, are you, Mr Levin?’

Another deep breath. ‘If I can, then I will.’ Levin took in the woods again, almost desperately. ‘Because there is a message I wish Colonel Colbourne to receive ... if you would be so good as to deliver it ... sah – ?’

‘Yes, Mr Levin – ?’ Fred steadied the question, so as not to grasp at his own life too humiliatingly, even as he welcomed it and despised himself for his cowardice.

‘What is your message?’

‘ Heinrich – ’ Suddenly Zeitzler leaped into incomprehensible German.

‘ In English, you bugger!’ Levin snarled the order.‘

What was that– ?’

For a moment they were inside a huge silence. ‘Do you promise my friend’s life? And the lives of these British officers?’ Number 16 issued his demand in a flat and uncompromising voice, almost arrogantly.

The RSM stared at Fred, ‘Yes.’

‘On your honour?’ The German stretched his arrogance insultingly, leaving ‘ for what that may be worth’

unspoken, transcending insult. ‘Is that your word?’

‘Yes.’ Still the RSM stared at Fred, with a dead blankness as treacherous as Clinton’s, which scorned forgiveness, accepting only final responsibility, true or false. ‘Don’t believe him!’ Audley snarled. Tell him to go to hell! Tell him – ‘

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‘Shut up!’ Fred nodded to the German. Take the offer, sir. And we’ll take our chances.‘

The German looked at Levin. ‘Very well, then.’

Still that stare. So, their only hope left was that message to Colonel Colbourne. ‘Yes, Mr Levin? What is it you want me to tell the CO?’

‘Yes.’ The man focused on him. ‘Tell Colonel Colbourne that I have joined another army now – now that his army has won its war . . . His army – ?’ Levin’s concentration outranked his own. Tell him to remember Bum-Titty Bay, at Haifa, after El Alamein –

tell him that, major – ?‘

Bum-Titty Bay? At ... Haifa – ? He couldn’t understand that –

‘Tell him that, major – Bum-Titty Bay? Then maybe he’ll understand.’ Levin fixed him for an instant, and then dismissed him as he looked away, through Number 16 and Zeitzler, towards the meadow and the woods. ‘ Tell him that –’

Bum-Titty Bay – ? The faint obscenity of it, which he still couldn’t place, delayed him for a moment, even as he was drawn towards the woods, as the RSM relaxed slightly –

Christ! The woods were no longer empty – Christ!

‘Time to go, sir.’ Levin’s voice, which had been close to conversational as he transmitted his final message dummy4

for Colonel Colbourne, became suddenly quite matter-of-fact, beyond argument. ‘So ... no trouble now, if you please, sir – ?’ Almost as it could never have been in any other age of the world, Regimental Sergeant-Major Levin’s voice pleaded with Major Fattorini not to take issue with him: not to go against Number 16’s acceptance, or Professor Zeitzler’s advice – never mind any foolishness Captain Audley might be tempted to, now that Major de Souza’s own foolishness had been demonstrated –

Time to –‘

As Fred stared at RSM Levin, accepting the inevitable, the RSM seemed to toss his head –

Fred felt his mouth open, without knowing what he was going to say, as he saw what he had never seen before, and had never imagined seeing, as the movement continued, and the bright red spot over the RSM’s eye flowered, and the RSM’s side-hair lifted, and his beret with it, and blood- and-brains, and beret-and-side-hair, exploded with it, outwards with the killing bullet –

The crack of the bullet overtook the nod, and the RSM’s eyes rolled with the impact,