• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

They watched as it continued its steady progress and finally came to a halt. Strasser said, 'So, a situation which can only be described as medieval. Impossible for us to get in ...'

'And equally impossible for them to get out,' Ritter said.

'Which is, after all, the important thing. There is one thing which worries me, however.'

'What's that?' Strasser asked.

'The question of radio communication with the outside world. A distress call at random might well be picked up by some Allied unit or other in the vicinity.'

'No danger of that,' Strasser said. 'They've had problems in the communications room at Schloss Arlberg for several days now. Believe me, Major, there is no way in which they can communicate with the outside world.'

'Another example of your flair for organization, I presume,' Ritter said. 'Anyway, that problem being solved, we will now leave, I think.'

'You mean that literally or do you have a plan?'

'The fact of our going may comfort the general and his friends, however temporarily. The question of planning must wait until I've handled the immediate situation.' He nodded to Sorsa. 'Move out and stop the column around the first bend out of sight of the castle.'

'Zu befehl, Sturmbannfuhrer.'

From the walls, Canning and the others watched them go.

'What do you think, Hamilton?' Birr asked.

'I'm not sure,' Canning said. 'Strasser, the guy who said he was from the Prisoner of War Administration Department, intrigues me. I'm sure I've seen the bastard before somewhere.'

'And the other one - Ritter?'

'The kind who never lets go? Did you see his medals, for Christ's sake?'

'He has quite a reputation, this man,' Hesser said. 'Something of a legend. A great tank destroyer on the Eastern Front. They made much of him in the magazines last year.'

'And Strasser - you've never seen him before?'

'No - never.'

Canning nodded. 'Right, this is what we do. I want two lookouts in the top of the north tower linked to here by field telephone. From up there they should be able to see outside the walls for the entire circuit. Any kind of movement must be instantly reported. I want the rest of the garrison split into three fire parties of six or seven each, ready to rush to any point on the wall as directed by the lookouts.' He turned to Howard. 'You take charge of that operation with Hoover. Finebaum can accompany me as my runner.'

'I'm with you, General,' Finebaum said. 'We'll make a hell of a team, believe me.' He raised a hand deprecatingly. 'No disrespect intended, General.'

'Which remains to be seen.' Canning turned to Hesser. 'And now, I want to see the armoury. Everything you've got here.'

Beyond the first bend in the road, the column had halted. Ritter said to Sorsa, 'I'm returning to the village now. I'll take Sergeant-Major Gestrin and four men with me. They can use the other field car. You stay here with the half-tracks. I want fifteen or twenty men on skis circling those walls without pause. Keep to the woods, but make sure they can be seen. Field telephone communication at all times.'

'And then what?' Sorsa asked.

'I'll let you know,' Ritter said.

Paul Gaillard and Meyer were at the landing window as the two field cars drove into the square and pulled up outside the Golden Eagle. Gestrin and his men carried their skis in theirs and had a field radio.

Gaillard said, 'Better go down and find out what they want. I'll hide in the cupboard in the dressing room again if I hear anyone coming.'

Meyer went downstairs as the front door opened and Ritter led the way into the bar. Strasser and Jackson followed, then Hoffer, carrying Strasser's suitcase containing the radio.

Strasser said to Meyer, 'You have a room I can use personally?'

Meyer, with little option in the matter, said, 'Through here, Mein Herr. My office.'

'Excellent.' Strasser turned to Earl Jackson. 'Tell me, the American pilot's uniform - they managed to procure one for you?'

'It's in the Dakota,' Jackson told him.

'Good. I want you to run up there now in