‘Feel any better?’
‘Better? For killing an enemy? I could never shoot enough Germans to pay them back for what they did to my mother and father.’
Andreas regarded her sadly. ‘No. I suppose not.’
Eleni nodded past him. ‘What about that?’
‘We have to save this from the Germans. They cannot be allowed to steal this from our people.’
Eleni pursed her lips. ‘What do you intend to do?’
Andreas thought for a moment and then decided. There was really not much choice. ‘We return the crates to the tomb, and use the Germans’ charges to bring down the cliff face and bury the entrance to the cave.’
Chapter Thirty-Five
T
he door to the mess crashed open and Steiner scanned the room and then pointed. ‘Muller! With me!’
Peter stood quickly, throwing down the cards in his hand. The officers he had been playing a rubber with looked towards the Sturmbannführer with a mixture of surprise and irritation. Peter hurried across the room as Steiner stood fastening the buckle of his pistol belt. Together they strode down the corridor of the prefecture towards he staircase.
‘Those Greek bastards have attacked the party at the cave,’ Steiner announced.
Peter uttered a curse.
‘Killed almost all the men. Only one managed to escape from the valley alive. He was picked up on the coast road an hour ago. He managed to report the attack before he died from his wounds.’
Peter glanced at his watch and saw that it was just past eleven. ‘Did any of the trucks get out before the attack, sir?’
‘No. The men sent to open the cave didn’t even get round to fully loading the first truck, the idle bastards. Your friend, Eleni, and her scum will have their hands on our prize now. God knows what they’ll do.’
Peter felt a stab of anxiety in his guts, both for his friend, and for the archaeological treasure that had eluded his father for so long. The contents of the tomb were priceless and he shuddered at the thought of any damage being caused to them. It was the stuff of legend. Schliemann had proved that Homer’s great work was not mere myth, and the discovery of the tomb would add a wealth of evidence that would engage historians for centuries to come.
‘Salminger has given me command of two companies of his men and four armoured cars to take back to the dig site and rout those peasant bastards. Once that’s done we’ll have to teach the locals a lesson they won’t ever forget.’
‘Sir?’
Steiner shot him a bitter smile as they stepped out of the prefecture and descended the steps to the waiting Kübelwagen. He gestured towards the gallows. ‘It seems that we did not execute nearly enough hostages last time.’
The driver opened the door for them and they climbed into the back seat. A moment later the small staff car roared off out of the square and through the streets of Lefkada and the locals scrambled out of their way. Outside the town the column of trucks filled with mountain troops was already waiting, together with the armoured cars, and Steiner gave the order for them to move off. With a grating roar of engines the vehicles sped south along the coast road. Steiner leaned closer to Peter so that he would be heard above the din.
‘I just hope we are in time, Muller. If not then Reichsführer Himmler will have our balls for breakfast.’
Andreas glanced up at the noon sun and then around at the men labouring under the heavy crates as they carried them back to the cliff. There they were tied to the ropes and hauled up the cliff by the small team working from the cave.
‘We need to move faster,’ he said quietly. ‘The Germans must know by now what’s happened up here. Even if we missed some of their men, they’ll have heard the shooting and grenades. They will send a force up to investigate . . .’
‘Then we’ll deal with them in the same manner,’ Eleni concluded, running her hands through her thick, dark hair before she retied it in a ponytail and let it fall down her back. She picked up her rifle and held it in the crook of her arm. ‘Let them come.’
‘Eleni, we have been lucky so far. It would be foolish to push it any further. Besides, there will be reprisals for what we have done here this morning.’
‘Maybe, but like you said, we cannot let the Nazis steal our heritage.’
‘No. But at what price? I will not risk the lives of all these men, and you, to save the contents of that tomb. We may have to leave some of the crates to the enemy when we blow the cliff.’
‘Then we should let the rocks bury them.’
‘Even at the risk of destroying what is inside?’ He looked up towards the cave, hoping that his men had placed the crates as far to the back of the tomb as possible where they would be best protected from the explosion.
‘Sooner that than let the Nazis get their filthy claws on them,’ Eleni responded.
Andreas considered this for a moment and conceded. ‘Yes . . .’
Once again he looked up to the crest of the hill opposite, where he had ordered Petros to send one of his men to keep watch for the approach of the enemy. There was no sign of the alarm being raised. From his position the lookout would be able to give them a good fifteen minutes’ warning of the enemy’s approach along the track from the village. After that they would be able to delay the Germans for at least another ten minutes. Plenty of time to set the charges, destroy the cliff and make good their escape.
Christos approached through the trees, smiling as usual. ‘My men are bringing the last of the crates. And we’ve buried our dead. Somewhere the Germans won’t find them.’
‘Good work.’
Christos scratched his unshaven jaw. ‘It seems a pity to make such a fine discovery only to have to lose it all again.’
‘Only for the present. Once Greece is free again, then our own archaeologists will re-open the tomb.’
‘All the same . . .’
‘The
kapetan
has made his decision,’ Eleni intervened abruptly.
Christos glanced at her, then back to Andreas, but the latter stared back resolutely and, with a shrug, Christos relented and changed the subject. ‘What about the trucks?’
‘The trucks?’
‘There’s no sense in leaving them for the enemy. I’ll have my men strip them of anything we can use and then burn them.’
‘Yes, do that. Then take your band and go and support Petros.’
The other man made a face. ‘Only if he doesn’t think he’s in charge. Those communist dogs think they run everything.’
‘Not here they don’t.’ Andreas smiled. ‘If he tries it on, tell him I put you in command. That’ll annoy him.’
‘Assuredly!’ Christos laughed and slapped Andreas on the shoulder. ‘I’ll bid you farewell then. Until the next time we fight the Germans.’
‘Until then.’
Christos bowed politely to Eleni and then turned to wait as his men lowered the last crate and then he led them back through the trees towards the trucks. When he had passed out of sight Eleni puffed her cheeks.
‘I don’t like Petros. He wants to replace you as the chief of the island’s
kapetans
.’
‘I know. He’s resented me from the first. But he knows that I have the loyalty of the other
kapetans
and there’s nothing he can do while that’s the case.’
She nodded and was briefly silent before she spoke again. ‘What was that remark about the communists running everything?’
‘Mostly rumours, I think. The last message from Cairo asked if we were having any trouble with the communist bands. I assume they’ve heard something from the resistance on the mainland.’
‘Should we be worried about Petros?’
Andreas leaned forward and kissed her. ‘I think he is more worried about us, Eleni.’
She closed her eyes and returned his kiss before she pulled away with a serious expression. ‘I hope you are right.’
He laughed and turned to watch as his men heaved the last crate into position at the foot of the cliff. The men had just worked the previous crate into the cave and placed it at the back with the others. There was a short delay and then Yannis appeared and threw down the two ropes for the final lift. The men worked quickly to tie the crate securely. The explosives had already been taken from the supply the Germans had brought with them to the site and had been set at the mouth of the cave and in some fissures in the surrounding cliff face. The wires led back down the narrow path for a safe distance where they had yet to be connected to the detonator. It would only take a moment to prepare and once the explosions were set off, the cave would be buried under thousands of tons of rock. The Germans would be denied the chance to steal the treasure and Andreas and his band would return to their hideout.
The faint sound of a motor carried to his ears. Some of the men heard it too and paused in their work to listen. Eleni stirred beside him.
‘I thought Christos was supposed to destroy the trucks, not make off in them.’
‘That’s not Christos.’ Andreas unslung his sub-machine gun. ‘Too far away . . .’
The sound swelled and then there was a burst from a heavy machine gun, then a second joined in. Andreas broke into a dead run through the trees, Eleni close behind him. The rest of the men snatched up their weapons and followed. Those still in the cave swung themselves on to the ropes and hurriedly worked their way down the cliff as the firing intensified. By the time Andreas had reached the treeline the first of the trucks had burst into flames. There were bodies on the ground beside the vehicles – Christos’s men, Andreas realised. The others were running for the cover of the nearest rocks. Then he caught sight of movement on the track at the entrance to the valley and saw the flashes of fire from the turret of an armoured car, and another close behind it. The windscreen on the second truck shattered and two more
andartes
were struck down before the survivors reached the shelter of the rocks.
‘Why weren’t we warned?’ Eleni asked, crouching down. ‘Where’s Petros?’
Andreas looked up at the hill and saw no sign of the lookout. Then he realised that there had been no firing from the direction of the track leading down to the village and a cold fury seethed through his veins.
‘That bastard, Petros.’
Eleni turned sharply to face him. ‘Betrayed us? Petros?’
‘Of course.’ Andreas smiled grimly. ‘This is his chance to get rid of me.’
The armoured cars continued down the track towards the burning truck, now wreathed in wild orange and red flames, with black smoke billowing up into the sky. They continued to spray the rocks where Christos and his men sheltered as they came on. Behind them soldiers fanned out on either side and advanced on the dig site. Even now Andreas could see that they were trapped against the cliff with almost no hope of escape. Eleni grasped the hopelessness of the situation at the same time and she spat a curse at Petros and the Germans and raised her rifle and fired towards the line of advancing mountain troops. The other
andartes
joined in and the Germans took cover and began to fire back. Leaves and fragments of branches leaped into the air above as German bullets tore into the treeline. Andreas and his band took shelter as best they could, pressing themselves into the ground and taking aim on the Germans who dashed forward under covering fire. He saw Yannis firing at the nearest armoured car, the bullets ricocheting off the metal harmlessly.
‘Don’t waste your ammo!’ Andreas shouted at him. ‘Only shoot at what you can kill!’
Yannis nodded and shifted his aim and squinted through the sights of his rifle.
The armoured cars closed on the rocks where Christos and the last of his men still held out and sprayed the area with bursts of machine-gun fire to keep their heads down while the mountain troops closed in. As soon as they were within range, Andreas saw them lob grenades through the air. An instant later there was a flash and burst of smoke amid the rocks. Then several more, and then the machine-gun fire ceased as the first Germans crept closer. Two more shots sounded and then it was over.
‘It’s just us now,’ said Eleni. She turned and looked at Andreas searchingly. ‘What will you do when they come for us?’
‘There will be no surrender,’ he replied firmly.
‘Good . . . And the cave?’
‘I’ll take care of that. If anything happens to me, then you see to it.’
She nodded, reached out her hand and took his. ‘My heart is yours . . . It always has been.’
Then she snatched her hand back and crawled a short distance off and made ready to fire. Andreas had no time to react or respond as the ground a short distance in front of him erupted in spouts of earth and stone. The armoured cars rumbled on past the trucks and began to pour fire into the treeline. Risking a quick glimpse, Andreas saw two more were making their way down the track. Meanwhile the mountain troops were advancing in short rushes. With a bitter smile Andreas accepted the irony that he and his men were now on the receiving end of the tactics they had used at dawn to seize the dig site. The sound of firing came from each side as the
andartes
tried to hold their line but they were wholly outgunned and outnumbered and knew that all that remained was to take as many of their enemy with them as possible as they fell.
Close by Eleni was firing and working the bolt of her rifle steadily, surprised at how calm she felt. Always she had imagined that she would be afraid of death, afraid of the pain of a mortal wound. But now, there was just an icy stillness in her heart as she took aim and fired until each clip ran out and needed to be replaced. She had found a natural dip in the ground beside a small rock that afforded her good cover. Thirty paces away she saw a soldier rise up and beckon to his comrades to follow him. She swung the barrel of the rifle, aimed and shot him in the chest.
Then, as she adjusted the focus of her eyes, she saw a small staff car following the rearmost armoured vehicle which swung off the track and juddered across the ground to take up a flank position on the others. The driver of the car halted at an angle, well over a hundred metres from the trees. Two officers rose and stood in the rear of the vehicle to watch the attack. Though they were too far away to recognise, Eleni prayed that one of them might be the man responsible for her parents’ deaths. Drawing a deep breath she took aim, steadied her body and braced the butt tightly into her shoulder. Lining up the rear and foresights she let the focus of her right eye shift to the most exposed officer, then breathed out slowly. The battle raged around her, but she was detached from it as her lungs emptied and she squeezed the trigger.
The rifle lurched behind the faint puff of cordite and she saw the officer go down. At once the driver and the remaining officer dropped out of sight.