since reaching Yerakari. Tanner had looked up at his approach, his heart sinking; since he had rescued Liddell, he had largely avoided him, letting others carry out nursing duties. What Liddell had done in those first days of the invasion still rankled but, more than that, he did not want any more conflict with the man. He had too much else to think about without worrying about Mr Liddell.
‘How are you feeling, sir?’ Tanner had asked. He should have stood up with an officer before him, but he stayed where he was, leaning against his apple tree.
‘A lot better, thanks,’ said Liddell. The subaltern had then produced a packet of cigarettes and offered one to Tanner. ‘Here,’ he said.
‘Thank you, sir.’
Liddell lit Tanner’s, then his own. After a brief pause, he said, ‘I want to thank you, Tanner. You saved my life. I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for you.’
‘It’s all right, sir. Anyone would have done the same.’
‘Well, I’m not sure about that, actually. But I’m most grateful.’ He sighed heavily. ‘You know, Tanner – Jack – I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few days. I’m afraid I behaved badly. Like a bloody prig. I’m not really cut out for soldiering, you see.’
‘You could have stayed on the farm, sir. We need people to feed us, as much as we need officers to lead us.’
Liddell looked away. ‘Yes, I know. I wish I had, really. But you see – well, it’s complicated, but when my father died, my sister came home.’
‘Miss Stella, sir?’
‘Yes. My older brother was killed – in France.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘Yes, it was bloody awful. Anyway, Stella came back and she started helping on the farm too, and I could see that she was making a bloody good job of it. The farm didn’t need me with her around.’
‘You thought you’d be more use in the army.’
‘Yes. I was being bloody-minded too, I suppose. So I did my training and got sent out here and then you of all people showed up. I want to be frank with you, Jack. I was always rather envious of you as a boy. You were so good at the things my father loved – so much better than me. And then I discovered you’d already proved yourself to be a far better soldier than I could ever hope to be. It made me angry and I suppose I also felt I needed to show my authority. To make you understand that I was an officer who demanded your respect. Of course, respect is earned, not given. I see that now.’
‘I respect you, sir, for your honesty.’
Liddell smiled. ‘I’m sorry, Jack. I made some bad mistakes. And I was wrong to bring up your past like that. You were right. I don’t really know what happened. I wasn’t at home then and it’s none of my business. Your father was a fine man and I’m sorry about what happened to him. What happened to you – well, that’s your affair. I promise you won’t hear me mention it again.’
‘What happened after my father died was a dark time for me – a very dark time. I try not to think about it and I certainly never talk about it. It’s best forgotten.’ He sighed. ‘But your father was a fine man, too, and someone I had the utmost respect for. I certainly wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.’
‘I miss him very much,’ he said, ‘but the point is, Jack, if it’s not too much to ask, perhaps you could give me a clean slate. Can we put all that behind us now?’ He held out his hand.
Tanner stood up and took it. ‘Of course. We Wiltshiremen should stick together, sir.’
Liddell laughed. ‘Yes. We’re certainly a minority breed here.’
Tanner had been glad of that conversation. It took a lot for a man to admit his mistakes and to apologize, as he well knew. And it was a weight off his mind to know that he no longer needed to pussyfoot around the man. Having enemies within the battalion caused problems; Liddell’s olive branch was one Tanner had been pleased to take.
Their small column left the village behind, taking a track that led them up and over the mountains to the valley below. It was after one in the morning and inky dark when they reached the main Rethymno road at an isolated stretch a couple of miles to the south of Spili. Not far off a dog barked, but there was no sign of any traffic and they crossed the road easily and continued, following a track that wound through the mountains. By first light, they were entering a narrow pass, and by the time the sun had risen, they were out into a secluded valley. The lushness of the Amari Valley had gone: this was a quite different corner of the island. Not a house could be seen, while either side of the valley grey mountains and hills loomed over them.
They dropped down towards the river, the track leading them to an isolated and ancient stone bridge. It rose in a high arch over the river and at its halfway point, Alopex stopped and pointed. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘the sea.’
Tanner looked and there, a couple of miles away through the narrow V of the valley, he saw it too, deep and blue and enticing.
‘Nearly there,’ grinned Alopex. ‘Freedom within your grasp.’
‘You know, I can almost believe it,’ said Peploe. ‘Look at this place – there’s not a soul to be seen.’
‘Just sheep,’ said Alopex, and then, spotting a circling hawk, ‘and a few buzzards. Your man has chosen this place well.’
Tanner wished they would be quiet. He hated hearing such talk. Yes, it was quiet all right – but that meant nothing. The sun was up, they still had a little way to go, and the best part of the day to survive. In any case, he could not shake from his mind his anxiety about Mandoukis. Much could still go wrong.
It was around half past eight that the message came through. Balthasar had been awake since before first light. It was the third night his men had been on alert and although logic told him that the evacuation had been unlikely to take place on Friday and as likely on the Sunday as the Saturday, two whole nights with no news had made him wonder whether he had been entirely misinformed. As first light blossomed into sunrise and then into day, Balthasar had become increasingly impatient, pacing about his command post in Spili, hovering over his radio operator, and smoking one cigarette after another.
But then the magic words.
‘Receiving you, Asgard, this is Baldur. Yes. Yes.’ Gefreiter Schieber turned and grinned at Balthasar. ‘Yes, understood, Asgard. Over.’
‘He’s spotted them?’ said Balthasar.
‘Yes, Herr Oberleutnant. Nineteen men – fifteen Tommies and four Cretans. They’re nearing the monastery now. There is still no sign of any enemy U-boat.’
Balthasar gave immediate orders for his men to be ready to move out in fifteen minutes. So he had been right, after all! All that planning, all that waiting – it had come to something, just as he had hoped.
It was a plan that had evolved in his mind as he had flown over the coast a few days earlier. He had no intention of chasing the Tommies around the mountains. Rather, he wanted to trap them escaping, and Preveli, lying at the end of a dead-end track and narrow strip between the hills and the sea, was as perfect a place as any. Furthermore, he wanted to ensure that Preveli would not be used as an evacuation base in the future. There were, he realized, only two real ways of reaching the monastery. One arced round to the west of Spili through a narrow gorge, the other looped to the east, along a pass that was almost as narrow through the mountains. The two roads met in the valley that led to the sea a short way to the east of the monastery, becoming one at the only bridge across the river. From there, just that lone track led to the monastery. It was possible that the Tommies might try an entirely cross-country route, avoiding any established track, but that seemed to make little sense, and in any case, if they were planning to leave from Preveli they would have to travel along the narrow stretch of land between the sea and the long ridge of mountain behind.
Therefore all he had to do was have a radio operator watch from the mountain above and wait for the Tommies to appear. Again, logic told him that they would move down to the coast overnight, hole up at Preveli during the day, then leave the following night and, indeed, that was precisely what Mandoukis had indicated. Certainly, he reckoned the British were unlikely to risk leaving by day if they did not need to. Armed with a radio set, Balthasar had sent Gefreiter Tellmann and a
