Midnight Never Comes - Jack Higgins [46]
For a moment, the monumental ego of the man broke through to the surface and Chavasse seized on it quickly. 'I was wondering about that. I realised it had to be something pretty special when I caught a glimpse of your private army back there on the island.'
'You'd never guess, sport. You'd never guess in a thousand years.' With a sudden gesture, Donner tossed the cigar into the fire. 'What the hell--why not?'
He crossed to a door in the far corner, opened it and disappeared. He was back in a moment, pulling on a German Army officer's tunic which had obviously been made to measure. 'Perfect fit, isn't it?' he said as he buttoned it up.
Chavasse took in the badges of rank, the insignia, the triple row of medal ribbons. 'You must have had a hard war. I see you've got everything that counts including the Knight's Cross.'
'And they didn't give that away with the rations.' Donner clicked his heels. 'Allow me to introduce myself. Colonel Gunther von Bayern, German Military Intelligence on temporary detachment to the Royal Artillery on the island of Fhada in the Outer Hebrides.'
'Fhada?' Chavasse said, frowning. 'That's a Missile Training Base.'
'It sure is, sport. Did you think I was joking?' Donner shook his head. 'Von Bayern and a detachment of nine men from the German 101st Missile Regiment are flying in to Glasgow airport in the morning. They then proceed by road to Mallaig where a tank landing craft will be waiting to run them across to Fhada.'
And then Chavasse saw everything. 'Let me guess. They won't even get as far as Mallaig. You're going to work a switch.'
'Let's say we divert them to here and then take over. There are thirty-eight men stationed on Fhada. I shouldn't think we'll have too much trouble. They'll be under wraps before they know what's hit them.'
'There must be something pretty special there to make a stunt like this worthwhile.'
'You could say that. You British never change, do you? The Empire crumbles, the pound totters, you cut back on defence and while everyone gloats, you get together with the Germans on a nice little mutual research programme that no one else knows a damn thing about.'
'Such as?'
'A new kind of rocket propulsion unit that produces limitless power from a negative energy field, whatever that's supposed to mean. It's being tried out in a new anti-tank missile called Firebird. That's what von Bayern and his boys are here for--to train on the operational side.'
'I suppose Souvorin put you on to this?'
Donner nodded. 'And he's going in with us, too, just to make sure we collect the right item.'
Chavasse shook his head. 'You'll never get away with it.'
'Why not? Once we take over, all we need is five hours. On the right signal, a fast diesel trawler comes in and takes off the missile and the men. She sails under the Panamanian flag, by the way. Once she's out to sea again, she's just one more trawler amongst the hundreds that fish those waters from every country in Europe.'
Chavasse, searching desperately for a flaw, clutched at the only straw in sight. 'There's standard checking procedure between Guided Weapon H.Q. and all outstations. If they get radio silence from Fhada, they'll want to know why.'
'But they won't. We'll maintain essential radio contact until we leave and emergency checking procedures don't come into operation until radio silence has lasted for six hours. That gives us plenty of time to move on. Anything else?'
Chavasse shook his head slowly. 'You seem to have thought of just about everything.'
Donner laughed. 'Don't worry, sport, Stavrou will take good care of you while I'm gone and when I come back, we'll fly out of here together. Back to the dear old homeland.'
'Does Asta come too.'
'Where I go, Asta goes from now on.'
'I wonder what she'll have to say about that.'
Donner's face hardened. 'She'll do as she's told because, like you, she isn't going