“All set?” Johann asked.
“All set,” Lennox said, but he didn’t take his eyes from the living mountains.
“Pretty, eh?” Johann said, with the inadequacy of well-concealed pride. “Haven’t you got accustomed to these fireworks by this time?”
Lennox laughed, and rose to his feet.
“Where do we go, Johann?” he asked.
Johann pointed towards a wall of gold and ruby and amethyst. “Up over there,” he said. “That’s the way. It’s easier than it looks. We’ll manage it.”
“I’ll make a damned good try, anyway.”
“We’ll manage it.” Johann’s voice was hard. They began walking towards the hut. “We’ll beat them. They asked for it. They’ll get it.” At the door of the hut he said, “I’ve been thinking. I’ve been wondering just how many girls they have murdered in all these years?” Lennox didn’t answer: no one knew the answer to that.
The table was lighted by one small piece of candle. The windows were shuttered, the door was carefully closed. Mahlknecht and young Schroffenegger were examining the equipment and clothes for the journey. The food and brandy which Katharina had brought were laid out on the table. Everything was arranged: everything had been taken care of. All that the three younger men had to do now was to remember their very complete directions. There were two addresses in the North Tyrol which were reliable—Thomson and Shaw had vouched for that—and they could make these their headquarters. For at these addresses they would find men who had radio contact with London. Shaw’s last instructions had been, “If you want to send news here then send it to London. They will see that Thomson gets it. Our news to you will travel the same way.”
Lennox pulled on an extra pair of heavy woollen socks, with their heels well soaped. He laced his climbing-boots carefully: they must give support without being tight. Johann was packing what they needed for the journey into a rucksack. Each of them carried a sheathed knife, and each had been given a revolver.
“Well,” Mahlknecht said, standing beside Lennox and watching him tie the last lace into a firm double knot, “well, you will be back here by next spring at the latest. Perhaps sooner, but...” He shrugged his shoulders. Nothing was certain in war. Time drags out longer than one expects.
Lennox rose and tested the comfort of his boots and the thick layer of socks by tramping on the earth floor. He picked up the light loden cape which would protect him from wind and rain, and slung it over his shoulders. He followed Johann and young Josef who were moving towards the door. Johann gave his uncle the usual forefinger salute, but tonight his lips were solemn and his eyes were grave.
Lennox looked back at Paul Mahlknecht, standing alone in the empty room.
“I’ll be here next spring,” he replied. “Perhaps a lot of us will be here before then,” he said.
Paul Mahlknecht must have been thinking along these same lines, for there was a sudden smile in the dark, thoughtful eyes.
“Perhaps,” Mahlknecht said. His voice was very quiet as he added, “We shall be waiting.”
* * *
Peter Lennox closed the door. He followed the others into the dark night.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helen MacInnes, whom the Sunday Express called ‘the Queen of spy writers’, was the author of many distinguished suspense novels.
Born in Scotland, she studied at the University of Glasgow and University College, London, then went to Oxford after her marriage to Gilbert Highet, the eminent critic and educator. In 1937 the Highets went to New York, and except during her husband’s war service, Helen MacInnes lived there ever since.
Since her first novel Above Suspicion was published in 1941 to immediate success, all her novels have been bestsellers; The Salzburg Connection was also a major film.
Helen MacInnes died in September 1985.
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
HELEN MacINNES
A series of slick espionage thrillers from the New York Times bestselling “Queen of Spy Writers.”
Pray for a Brave Heart
Above Suspicion
Assignment in Brittany
North From Rome
Decision at Delphi
The Venetian Affair
The Salzburg Connection
Message From Málaga
While We Still Live
The Double Image
Neither Five Nor Three
Snare of the Hunter
Agent in Place
PRAISE FOR HELEN MacINNES
“The queen of spy writers.” Sunday Express
“Definitely in the top class.” Daily Mail
“The hallmarks of a MacInnes novel of suspense are as individual and as clearly stamped as a Hitchcock thriller.” The New York Times
“A sophisticated thriller. The story builds up to an exciting climax.” Times Literary Supplement
“Absorbing, vivid, often genuinely terrifying.” Observer
“She can hang her cloak and dagger right up there with Eric Ambler and Graham Greene.” Newsweek
“An atmosphere that is ready to explode with tension... a wonderfully readable book.” The New Yorker
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ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
THE MATT HELM SERIES
BY DONALD HAMILTON
The long awaited return of the United States’ toughest special agent.
Death of a Citizen
The Wrecking Crew
The Removers
The Silencers
Murderers’ Row (August 2013)
The Ambushers (October 2013)
The Shadowers (December 2013)
The Ravagers (February 2014)
PRAISE FOR DONALD HAMILTON
“Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told.”
Anthony Boucher, The New York Times
“This series by Donald Hamilton is the top-ranking American secret agent fare, with its intelligent protagonist and an author who consistently writes in high style. Good writing, slick plotting and stimulating characters, all tartly flavored with wit.” Book Week
“Matt Helm is as credible a man of violence as has ever figured in the fiction of intrigue.”
The New York Sunday Times
“Fast, tightly written, brutal, and very good...”
Milwaukee Journal
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