Exocet - Jack Higgins [77]
It was at that precise moment that Donner and Montera emerged from the back of the officer's mess. Stavrou's body hit the ground at the base of the tower and Donner looked up to see Villiers appear at the rail, Sergeant Albray behind him. The sergeant raised his machine pistol to fire and Donner pulled Montera in front of him as a shield.
On the balcony Villiers knocked up the sergeant's arm. 'No, leave it to me.' He turned and went down the spiral staircase on the run.
* * *
Donner and Montera went up the ravine at the rear of the camp, emerged on the upper slope and started across the plateau towards the edge of the cliff, Donner pushing the Argentinian in front of him.
'I told you, there's no place to run,' Montera said.
'Oh, yes there is. You're going to fly us out of here, Colonel.'
They reached the edge of the cliffs. The Chieftain was clearly visible in spite of the mist, strangely alien in such a place. There was only one thing wrong. The sea rolled in across the sand in great, hungry breakers. Already at least half the area on which the Chieftain had landed was eaten away, the rest broken up by trailing fingers in salt water.
'You've had it,' Montera said. 'See for yourself.'
'Get moving!'
Donner pushed him down into the gully and they went sliding down together in a shower of broken stones and earth. They plunged down the final slope of scree and emerged on to the open beach, aware at once of the strong fresh wind blowing in from the sea.
Montera had ended up on his back, hampered by his bound hands. As Donner pulled him to his feet a cascade of stones rained down from above. Donner turned, firing blindly into the mist, then grabbed Montera by the collar and ran for the plane, pushing him in front of him.
As they reached the Chieftain, he rammed Montera against the side and pushed the revolver barrel up under his chin. Then he took a knife from his pocket, sprang the blade and sliced through the silk scarf.
He stood back. 'Okay, inside and let's get out of here.'
Montera's face stayed calm, but something in his eyes made Donner turn to find Tony Villiers arriving on the run, travelling fast, the Walther in his right hand. He halted perhaps thirty feet away.
'All right, Donner, let him go!' he called.
Donner half-turned towards Montera, sighed. 'Like I said, it's been one of those days.'
Montera said, 'Don't try it, not with him.'
'Maybe you've got a point,' Donner said. 'On the other hand, I'm tired of running, sport.'
He turned, the revolver swinging up in his right hand. Villiers fired three times very fast, one bullet catching Donner in the right shoulder spinning him round, the others shattering his spine, driving him against the plane. He bounced off and fell on his face and a wave swept in over him from the incoming tide, lapping around the wheels of the plane.
Montera stood looking at him. 'Nothing like a little organisation,' he said softly.
'What's that?' Villiers asked.
'Nothing important. Is Gabrielle all right?'
'Yes fine, waiting back at Maison Blanche. We had a certain amount of luck there. Wanda Jones released us, the rest we made up as we went along.'
'Who flew the plane?'
'The French captain, Leclerc.'
There was a distant buzzing and Montera pointed to where three helicopters moved in under low cloud, line astern.
'Who's that?'
'The French unless I'm very much mistaken, arriving just too late. Probably paratroopers. Do you think you could fly this thing out of here?'
Montera looked about him. 'We haven't got a clear run. It's all broken up by water channels as you can see. Why do you ask?'
'Because I think it might be a good idea if you got the hell out of here and in the circumstances I'm willing to take my chances with you. There's going to be one hell of a row about this and I'd rather be out of it. I don't owe the French anything. They sold you the Exocets that sank the Sheffield, Coventry and Atlantic Conveyor in the first place.'
'They also sold them to you, my friend.'
'True. Which goes to prove something,