touched him on the shoulder. 'One of these days you might get round to forgiving me.'
'Petar?' Groves asked. 'He's not her brother?'
'Petar is Petar. No more. A front.'
'There's still an awful lot — ' Reynolds began, but Mallory interrupted him.
'It'll have to wait. Colonel Vis, a map, please.' Captain Vlanovich brought one from the tent and Mallory shone a torch on it. 'Look. Here. The Neretva dam and the Zenica Cage. I told Neufeld that Broznik had told me that the Partisans believe that the attack is coming across the Neretva bridge from the south. But, as I've just said, Neufeld knew — he knew even before we had arrived — who and what we really were. So hi was convinced I was lying. He was convinced that I was convinced that the attack was coming through the Zenica Gap to the north here. Good reason for believing it, mind you: there are two hundred German tanks there.'
Vis stared at him. 'Two hundred!'
'One hundred and ninety of them are made of plywood. So the only way Neufeld — and, no doubt, German High Command — could ensure that this useful information got through to Italy was to allow stage this rescue bid. Which, of course, they very gladly did, assisting us in every possible way even to extent of gladly collaborating with us in permitting themselves to be captured. They knew, of course, that had no option left but to capture them and force them to lead us to the block-house — an arrangement they had ensured by previously seizing and hiding away the only other person who could have helped us in this — Maria. And, of course, knowing this in advance, they arranged for Sergeant Baer to come and free them.'
'I see.' It was plain to everyone that Colonel Vis not see at all.
'You mentioned an RAF saturation attack on the Zenica Gap. This, of course, will now be pitched to the bridge?'
'No. You wouldn't have us break our word to Wehrmacht, would you? As promised, the attack comes on the Zenica Gap. As a diversion. To convince them, in case they have any last doubts left in their minds, that we have been fooled. Besides, you know as well as I do that that bridge is immune to high-level air attack. It will have to be destroyed in some other way.'
'In what way?'
'We'll think of something. The night is young. Two last things, Colonel Vis. There'll be another Wellington at midnight and a second at three a.m. Let them both go. The next in, at six a.m., hold it against our rival. Well, our possible arrival. With any luck we'll flying out before dawn.'
'With any luck,' Vis said sombrely.
'And radio General Vukalovic, will you? Tell him what I've told you, the exact situation. And tell him to begin intensive small-arms fire at one o'clock in the morning.'
'What are they supposed to fire at?'
'They can fire at the moon for all I care.' Mallory swung aboard his pony. 'Come on, let's be off.'
'The moon,' General Vukalovic agreed, 'is a fair-sized target, though rather a long way off. However, if that's what our friend wants, that's what he shall have.' Vukalovic paused for a moment, looked at Colonel Janzy who was sitting beside him on a fallen log in the woods to the south of the Zenica Gap, then spoke again into the radio mouth-piece.
'Anyway, many thanks, Colonel Vis. So the Neretva bridge it is. And you think it will be unhealthy for us to remain in the immediate vicinity of this area after 1 a.m. Don't worry, we won't be here.' Vukalovic removed the head-phones and turned to Janzy. 'We pull out, quietly, at midnight. We leave a few men to make a lot of noise.'
The ones who are going to fire at the moon?'
'The ones who are going to fire at the moon. Radio Colonel Lazlo at Neretva, will you? Tell him we'll be with him before the attack. Then radio Major Stephan Tell him to leave just a holding force, pull out of the Western Gap and make his way to Colonel Lazlo's HQ.' Vukalovic paused for a thoughtful moment. 'We should be in for a few very interesting hours, don't you think?'
'Is there any chance in the world for this man Mallory?' Janzy's tone carried with it its own answer
'Well, look at it this way,' Vukalovic said reasonably. 'Of course there's a chance. There has to be a chance. It is, after all, my dear Janzy, a question of options — and there are no other options left open to us'
Janzy made no reply but nodded several times in slow succession as if Vukalovic had just said something profound.
CHAPTER NINE
The pony-back ride downhill through the thickly wooded forests from the Ivenici plateau to the block-house took Mallory and his men barely a quarter of the time it had taken them to make the ascent. In the deep snow the going underfoot was treacherous to a degree, collision with the bole of a pine was always an imminent possibility and none of the five riders made any pretence towards being an experienced horseman, with the inevitable result that slips, stumbles and heavy falls were as frequent as they were painful. Not one of them escaped the indignity of involuntarily leaving his saddle and being thrown headlong into the deep snow, but it was the providential cushioning effect of that snow that was the saving of them, that and, more often, the sure-footed agility of their mountain ponies: whatever the reason or combination of reasons, bruises and winded falls there were in plenty, but broken bones, miraculously, there were none.
The block-house came in sight. Mallory raised a warning hand, slowing them down until they were about two hundred yards distant from their objective, where he reined in, dismounted and led his pony into a thick cluster of pines, followed by the others. Mallory tethered his horse and indicated to the others to do the same.
Miller said complainingly: 'I'm sick of this damned pony but I'm sicker still of walking through deep snow, don't we just ride on down there?'
'Because they'll have ponies tethered down there. they'll start whinnying if they hear or see or smell other ponies approaching.'
They might start whinnying anyway.'
'And there'll be guards on watch,' Andrea pointed out,
'I don't think, Corporal Miller, that we could make a very stealthy and unobtrusive approach on pony- back.'
'Guards. Guarding against what? As far as Neufeld company are concerned, we're halfway over the Adriatic at this time.'
'Andrea's right,' Mallory said. 'Whatever else you may think about Neufeld, he's a first-class officer who es no chances. There'll be guards.' He glanced up i the night sky where a narrow bar of cloud was just r reaching the face of the moon. 'See that?'
'I see it,' Miller said miserably.
'Thirty seconds, I'd say. We make a run for the far gable end of the block-house — there are no embrasures there. And for God's sake, once we get there, keep dead quiet. If they hear anything, if they as much as suspect that we're outside, they'll bar the doors and use Petar and Maria as hostages. Then we'll just have to leave them.'
'You'd do that, sir?' Reynolds asked.
'I'd do that. I'd rather cut a hand off, but I'd do that. I've no choice, Sergeant.'
'Yes, sir. I understand.'
The dark bar of cloud passed over the moon. The five men broke from the concealment of the pines and pounded downhill through the deep clogging snow, heading for the farther gable-wall of the block-house.
Thirty yards away, at a signal from Mallory, they slowed down lest the sound of their crunching, running footsteps be heard by any watchers who might be keeping guard by the embrasures and completed the remaining distance by walking as quickly and quietly as possible in single file, each man using the footprints left by the man in front of him.
They reached the blank gable-end undetected, with the moon still behind the cloud. Mallory did not pause to congratulate either himself or any of the others. He at once dropped to his hands and knees and crawled round the
