Night of the Fox by Jack Higgins Page A

allowing it to fall to one side. He promptly fell down himself, got up again and lurched forward. The door swung open and the pilot leaned across and shouted, "I wasn't too sure when I saw the uniform."
     
     
Martineau hauled himself inside. The pilot reached over and closed and locked the door. Martineau coughed suddenly, his mouth and chin red.
     
     
The pilot said, "My God, you're choking on your own blood."
     
     
"I've been doing that for at least four years now," Martineau said.
     
     
The pilot had other things on his mind, several vehicles converging on the other end of the runway by the old buildings. Whoever they were, they were too late. The Bristol Perseus engine responded magnificently when fully boosted. The Westland Lysander was capable of taking off from rough ground, fully loaded, in two hundred and forty yards. At Fleurie, that night, they managed it in two hundred, clearing the cars at the end of the runway and climbing up into the gathering darkness.
     
     
"Very nice,"Martineau said. "I liked that." And then he fainted.
     
     
"So, he's in Dorset, is he?" Munro said. "Doing what?" "Not very much from what I can make out." Carter hesitated. "He did take two bullets in the left lung, sir, and..." "No sad songs, Jack, IVe other things on my mind.
     
     
You Ye had a look at my ideas on a way of getting him into Jersey? What do you think?"
     
     
"Excellent, sir. I would have thought it all pretty foolproof, at least for a few days."
     
     
"And that's all we need. Now, what else have you got for me?"
     
     
"As I understand it from your preliminary plan, sir, what you're seeking is someone to go in with him to establish his credentials. Someone who knows the island and the people and so on?"
     
     
"That's right."
     
     
"There's an obvious flaw, of course. How on earth would you explain their presence? You can't just pop up in the island after four years of occupation without some sort of an explanation."
     
     
"Very true." Munro nodded. "However, I can tell by the throb in your voice that youVe already come up with a solution, so let's get on with it, Jack. What have you got?"
     
     
"Sarah Anne Drayton, sir, age nineteen. Born in Jersey. Left the island just before the war to go out to Malaya where her father was a rubber planter. He was a widower apparently. Sent her home a month before the fall of Singapore."
     
     
"Which means she hasn't been back in Jersey since when?" Munro looked at the file. "Nineteen thirty-eight. Six years. That's a long time at that age, Jack. Girls change out of all recognition."
     
     
"Yes, sir."
     
     
"Mind you, she's young."
     
     
"WeVe used them as young as this before, sir."
     
     
"Yes, but rarely and only in extremes. Where did you find her?"
     
     
"She was put forward for SOE consideration two years ago, mainly because she speaks fluent French with a Breton accent. Her maternal grandmother was Breton. Naturally, she was turned down because of her youth."
     
     
"Where is she now?"
     
     
"Probationer nurse here in London at Cromwell Hospital."
     
     
"Excellent, Jack." Munro stood up and reached for his jacket. "We'll go and see her. I'm sure she'll prove to be intensely patriotic."
     
     
That the Luftwaffe had been chased from British skies, the Blitz had long gone, was a tale for the front pages of newspapers only. In the spring of 1944 night attacks were renewed on London, using the JU88S with devastating results. That Sunday was no exception. By eight o'clock the casualty department at Cromwell Hospital was working flat out.
     
     
Sarah Drayton had been supposed to come off shift at six. She had now been on duty for fourteen hours without a break, but there were simply not enough nurses or doctors available. She worked on, helping with casualties laid out in the corridors, trying to ignore the crump of bombs falling in the middle distance, the sound of fire engines.
     
     
She was a small, intense girl, dark hair pushed up under