Blood of Honour

‘All right,’ said Vaughan. ‘Are you sure, Peploe?’

‘As I can be, yes. The whole operation now seems absolutely lunatic, if I’m honest, but I can’t think of a better plan.’

They began moving back downstairs but heard voices and the sound of footsteps coming towards the building. They froze. The building had been a shop before it was bombed and the large window at the front had been blasted in, while the door had also gone. They could see three soldiers walking towards the building’s edge, their forms quite distinct. It was as though the men were looking directly at them. They paused, lit cigarettes, then stood there, chatting. Tanner cursed to himself. They were stuck, unable to move or make a sound. Several minutes passed but still the Germans remained where they stood. Tanner could feel his feet going numb and his back had begun to itch – lice, maybe – but he dared not move. Come on, come on, he thought. Move away. He wondered what the time was. It couldn’t be long now. The men were laughing, then one flicked his cigarette through the gap where the shop window had been. From the staircase Tanner could see it lying on the ground, its end still glowing a faint orange.

The first bomb exploded.

Tanner flinched. A moment’s pause, then urgent, anxious voices and someone was shouting to the men from across the road.

‘Quick!’ hissed Vaughan, and led them out of the back of the building. An engine started up – the Morris – and Tanner heard more shouts and yells and the sound of the truck reversing. Scrambling over the rubble, they reached the road by the harbour as the truck moved out. Pressing himself into the shadows, Tanner saw Sykes deftly step out, crouching, as the truck went past, then duck back into the shadow again.

‘Come on!’ said Vaughan, and they now ran down the harbour wall. Two Germans were standing by the Snipe.

‘Warum steht ihr da?’ barked Vaughan.

‘Uns wurde gesagt, hier zu warten,’ sputtered one of the men.

‘You take the right, I’ll take the left,’ whispered Vaughan to Tanner. Reaching the car, Tanner glanced at Vaughan, saw him draw level with the first man. He heard a muffled cry and in the same moment rammed his forearm into the other man’s throat, quick and hard, before the German had time to realize what was happening, then plunged his knife into the man’s side. The soldier gasped and crumpled to the ground.

‘Mac, get in the back!’ said Peploe. As McAllister clambered in, Tanner handed over the twin ammunition boxes, his heart pounding. Just then the second bomb exploded, and now the four of them were running to the entrance of the fortress. Across the harbour, the two carriers they had seen earlier were speeding back along the road. Good, thought Tanner. So far so good. As they reached the entrance they heard orders being barked and men hurrying towards them from within.

‘Try to hit them as they come out,’ said Vaughan. ‘Don’t shoot unless you have to.’ Tanner and Sykes stood to one side, Chambers and Vaughan to the other. Suddenly the door opened and eight men hurried out, oblivious of the four waiting either side of the entranceway. Tanner sprinted forward and charged at them, pouncing on the last two, tumbling them and knocking over the others like dominoes. He plunged his knife in quick succession into the sides of two men as Vaughan, Sykes and Chambers jumped on the rest. It was over in seconds – a few startled shouts from the Germans but not a shot had been fired. Tanner pushed himself up as Vaughan dragged a man clear and rammed him against the fortress’s walls.

‘Wo sind die Gefangenen?’ growled Vaughan. Where are the prisoners?

‘Tote mich nicht,’ said the terrified man.

Vaughan yanked him around and shoved him back through the entranceway. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go and find them.’

Inside, the fortress was dimly lit. They hurried through into a high arched and narrow hallway, off which were a number of heavy curve-topped wooden doors.

‘Wo sind Sie?’ demanded Vaughan.

‘Auf der nachsten Etage,’ said the German.

‘They’re on the next floor,’ said Vaughan. He shoved the German forward. ‘Schnell!’ he said. ‘Schnell! Schnell!’ Voices could be heard from further along the hallway and now, more urgently, from above. Dimly, from across the town, they heard another explosion and Tanner felt the pulse of the blast through the stone floor.

‘I think we’re going to have to open fire soon, sir,’ he said.

The German led them through a door, then up a stone staircase. Tanner now pushed ahead past their captive and, at the top of the stairs, turned into another long corridor, this one with a lower arched ceiling. A row of doors ran along the passageway and outside one he saw several soldiers, all mountain troopers. An officer saw him and started shouting and pointing.

‘Haven’t a clue what you’re on about, mate,’ said Tanner, and opened fire. The noise was deafening, as the men jerked and flailed and collapsed on the floor. The others were now beside him.

‘My guess is they’re in there,’ said Tanner, pointing to the heap of dead Germans and moving to the mouth of an arch from which a ramp rose upwards, perhaps to the battlements above. He saw booted feet and fired again. Several men collapsed and he fired a second burst. Three men rolled down the stone ramp, but Tanner now saw two thick, heavy wooden doors that could close off the ramp and moved to shut them. He had closed one half when a stick grenade landed at his feet. He grabbed it and hurled it back, the charge exploding before it landed a second time. He rammed shut the other half of the door and drew across the bolt as another grenade exploded. He felt the blast but the door stood firm – eventually it would give way. They had to hurry.

Glancing back he saw their captive sprawled on the floor and Vaughan ushering two women and a child out over the dead by the door, then saw that one was Alexis. Relief swept over him, and he grinned at her. She smiled back fleetingly.

‘Where the hell is Mandoukis’s wife?’ he called, suddenly remembering.

‘I do not know,’ said Alexis.

‘Come on, quickly,’ said Vaughan. ‘We’ll have to forget about her.’

Then Nerita slipped in some blood, and cried out in horror. More grenades were exploding against the door, and Chambers, keeping cover at the top of the stairs, opened fire. Alopex’s son put his hands over his ears. Tanner helped usher them forward and saw Sykes fiddling with a length of fuse, which the moment they had all passed he tied around the hinge of a door, then across the passageway to the hinge of another door on the other side.

Tanner was now at the top of the stairs beside Chambers. Taking out two grenades, he pulled the pins, counted to three, then threw them and, as they exploded, hurried down the steps and opened fire. Two men, one dead, the other badly wounded, lay at the foot of the stairs, but there were more enemy further along the main passageway to the right. Tanner knew he could not step clear of the stone staircase without being hit.

‘What’s holding you, Tanner?’ shouted Vaughan.

‘Won’t be a moment, sir,’ said Tanner, pulling out a packet of Nobel’s and ripping open the cardboard to take out one four-ounce stick. Then he took another two grenades, pulled out the pins, counted and threw them. Bullets spat out, one nicking his arm, but as the grenades exploded and filled the passageway with smoke and dust and, he hoped, stunned the men, he threw the stick of Nobel’s and opened fire. The stick exploded, men cried out, and Tanner yelled at the others to hurry down. At the same moment Sykes’s trip wire detonated with another deafening explosion. Smoke, dust and cordite filled the air.

‘Hurry! Hurry!’ rasped Tanner, ushering them forward.

‘Follow me!’ called Vaughan, and ran to the entrance. He stopped them all briefly and spoke to the two women and the boy in Greek. The three nodded, their eyes wide and frightened.

‘We need to watch out for the men on the battlements,’ said Tanner.

‘We need to run,’ said Vaughan. ‘Don’t forget it’s dark.’ He looked at them all. ‘Ready? Let’s go.’

Vaughan and Chambers went first, then the women and the boy, and then Tanner. Sub-machine-gun and rifle fire cracked out from above and Tanner felt himself crouching, instinctively trying to make himself smaller. Bullets pinged and fizzed, ricocheting off the stone. He heard Vaughan gasp, but then, in the same moment, return machine-gun fire was peppering the battlements. Well done, Mac, thought Tanner, ducking behind the harbour crane.

As he reached the Snipe, he saw that McAllister was not in the back but on the ground to the side, using the