Satanas smiled. ‘You think no one will have seen two women and a child, surrounded by German troops, being driven through the town?’
‘Satanas has plenty of runners,’ said Vaughan, ‘not least his own grandchildren.’
Satanas acknowledged Vaughan with a slight nod. ‘I will have this information before the day is out.’
‘And who is going to carry out the raid?’ asked Vaughan.
‘Not Alopex and not Mandoukis,’ said Tanner.
‘I am coming,’ said Alopex.
‘No,’ said Tanner. ‘Listen to me a moment. The key is going to be surprise. To achieve that, we need to get into the heart of the town without alerting a soul. So how are we going to do that?’
‘By making sure no one sees us,’ said Alopex.
‘But how? There will be guards at every gate. No one will be able to enter the town without being stopped and checked. The alternative is to try to get through where the walls are crumbling but they’ll have men there too. We won’t be able to get past without killing some and then they’ll be discovered and we’ll be in trouble.’
‘There’s only one way,’ said Sykes. ‘We need to do some dressing up.’
‘Exactly,’ said Tanner. ‘We need Jerry uniforms. Sir,’ he said, turning to Peploe, ‘you speak German, don’t you?’
‘So do I,’ said Vaughan. ‘I’m completely fluent. Tanner has a point, Alopex,’ he added. ‘We could pass for Germans, but neither you nor Mandoukis nor any of your
‘Unless you wish to cut your hair and shave off your moustache,’ said Satanas. ‘No, Tanner is right. We must trust our British friends to do this for us. It is hard, Alopex, but the Germans know about us. They do not know these men are still on the island. That is an advantage we must use.’
Alopex thumped the table with his fist.
‘I’m sorry, Alopex,’ said Vaughan.
‘No, no – you are right,’ he said.
‘Where do we get the uniforms from?’ asked Peploe.
‘There are still some dead ones that have not been buried,’ said Alopex. ‘We can have the uniforms washed.’
‘But they’ll be torn and covered in blood,’ said Vaughan. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘There is another way,’ said Satanas. ‘There is a lot of traffic now going between Heraklion, Rethymno and Canea. Between Gazi and Arolithos there would be an opportunity for an ambush. My men can help you with that. It is only a two-hour walk away.’
‘Yes, all right,’ said Vaughan. ‘We should go there now. Who knows how long we might have to wait?’
‘Alopex can take some of his men to help,’ said Satanas, ‘and I will organize the gathering of intelligence.’ He spoke to Mandoukis and the abbot. ‘And,’ he added, ‘Mandoukis will stay here.’
‘So, do we try and make our rescue tomorrow night?’ asked Peploe.
‘Yes, I think so,’ said Vaughan.
‘Very well,’ said Satanas, clapping his hands together. ‘We are all agreed. These are terrible days that we live in. Already the Germans have made it clear they intend to rule through terror. We can expect retaliation, I think, not only for what we are planning in Heraklion but for any ambush as well. They will burn houses, no doubt shoot people too. But we cannot be cowed by this. We never gave up in our struggle against the Turks and we won that battle, just as we shall win this too. I truly fear what lies ahead but we cannot – we must not – accept Nazi rule. Not now, not ever. No German has the right to tell us Cretans how to live our lives. The mountains are our friends. We must use them to help us survive. I would rather die than become a slave to Germany.’ He placed his hands flat on the table. ‘I have said my piece. Now let us make this first stand against the enemy.’
Tanner saw silent tears run down Alopex’s cheeks. He thought of the previous summer when they had returned from Dunkirk. The nation had been expecting a German invasion at any moment. There had been defiance then, a collective determination to fight on, whatever the cost. Had German troops ever reached the valley of his home, he knew he would have been compelled to kill as many of the enemy as he could, no matter what the consequences – yet home was a place he had not been in nine years and no German invasion had ever come to pass. He could only imagine the sense of bitter anger these Cretans must feel. Of course Satanas, Alopex and others would fight on.
As it happened, they did not need to go as far as Arolithos. Tilisos was a little over an hour’s walk away, and as they reached the far side of the village, crossing the olive groves at either side of the road, they saw a dust cloud a mile or so off, the telltale sign of approaching traffic. Peering through his field glasses Tanner saw that it was a lone truck – it looked to him very much like a captured British fifteen-hundredweight Morris. Through the dust he spotted a dozen paratroopers.
‘We’re in luck,’ he said. He hurried forward through the olives to the bank next to the edge of the road and quickly scanned the ground. The truck was moving steadily up a comparatively straight stretch, but then the road curved tightly around, first, a left-hand bend and then a right. What Tanner liked about it, though, was that the road actually dropped down towards the right-hand bend: there would be some momentum behind the vehicle as it approached the turn.
Alopex, Vaughan and Peploe were beside him, crouching through the long grass between the olives. Beyond was the valley below, rolling hills covered with ever more vines and olives. Away to their left, they could see Heraklion and the azure sea beyond.
‘We need to move forward a couple of hundred yards,’ said Tanner, his voice quick and precise. ‘As they emerge round that right-hand bend there, I’ll hit the driver. With a bit of luck he’ll drive on over the edge. It looks quite steep there and the olives are spaced quite well apart. The truck should roll and at the very least the men will be thrown out. It won’t kill them all, but we want to shoot dead as few as possible.’
‘Good plan,’ said Vaughan. ‘Let’s move then. We need to be quick.’
They hurried forward, and about fifty yards from the bend, Alopex dashed across the road with several of his men and ducked below the line of the road in the olive grove below, while the rest stayed behind Tanner. Pulling out his Aldis scope, Tanner fixed it to his Enfield, then hastily adjusted the zero; although he knew he would be able to see the driver clearly from that distance, he wanted to be certain he made as accurate a shot as possible. He found a large rock, lay down in the grass and rested his rifle barrel on it, steadied himself and peered through the scope, waiting.
The truck was now out of sight, but he could hear it as its driver changed gear when they approached the left-hand bend. Down another gear, then foot on the throttle, engine rising, another change of gear, and then it was on the stretch down towards the second bend. Tanner pulled back the bolt on his rifle and felt his finger lightly caress the trigger. Now the engine was changing tone again as brakes were applied and it approached the second bend. Tanner breathed in, then held his breath.
The butt lurched into his shoulder, the crack of the rifle rang out sharply, and the driver’s head snapped backwards. The startled passenger reached for the steering wheel, but Tanner had already pulled back the bolt again and fired. The second man fell backwards just as the front of the truck tipped over the edge of the road. For a moment it rolled and bounced forward, men jumping free from the back, but then hit a tree with a glancing blow, toppled over and began to roll down the steep slopes until it was lost to sight.
‘Quick!’ said Vaughan, and now they were all jumping down onto the road and scampering across. With his rifle hastily slung across his back and his Schmeisser ready, Tanner reached the lip of the road as, with a crash, the truck at last came to a halt a hundred yards below, mangled and bent between two olives, while in front of him Alopex and his men were using knives and rifle butts to kill those who had jumped.
Tanner ran down through the trees. Several men, he saw, were lying spreadeagled around the smashed truck, but at least two were moving. He ran on and was conscious of Alopex beside him, bloodstained knife in his hand, flitting between the trees.
A paratrooper saw them and tried to manoeuvre his rifle but Alopex reached him before he could fire, knocked the weapon clear and swung his fist hard into the side of the man’s head. Tanner pounced on the second man, clenched his arm around the German’s neck so that he gripped the back of his head, then with his other hand gave a sudden, firm jerk that broke the man’s spinal cord, killing him instantly.
‘A fine shot, Jack,’ said Alopex, using Tanner’s Christian name for the first time. ‘Your plan worked
