Jack Ludlow - A Bitter Field

Whatever, it created enough of an opening to give him confidence he could get to the garage and root out that Mauser, where if he did and they were still following he would not hesitate to shoot to kill. Looking back in the direction he was heading Cal saw that Jimmy was not being brave; he was well ahead of Corrie, his knees pounding, and the distance was opening, which if he carried on would take him to the station square.

‘Corrie, down that alley on your right!’ His free hand was in his pocket rooting out his keys. ‘Go in the back door, it’s quicker.’

The firing was sporadic but constant now, single shots that indicated maybe some of the Czechs were fighting back, but of more concern was that a couple of those in pursuit had not been fully deterred, and even over his own breathing he could hear their boots on the cobbles and worryingly they seemed to be getting closer.

About to dive into the garage, the sound of a revving engine echoing in the cavernous building slowed him enough to stop him being knocked over; a car shot out of the doorway, proving clearly Henlein was not the only one fleeing Cheb, but thankfully the car give him a breather because as it pulled out it went in the direction of his pursuers and they too had to slow to avoid a collision.

They had stopped in the doorway by the time he got the car door open, two well-built brutes and one of them had a club. In silhouette he could not see their faces but he guessed they would be smiling at the fact that he was probably trapped. Quickly he knelt, pulled out the Mauser and stood again, the weapon hidden behind the car door.

One of the pair was cursing him, his breath heaving from his exertions, but over that, also amplified by the nature of the building, was the sound of a club slamming into his palm. The words were chilling: not only were they going to beat him to a pulp but they intended to string him up to a lamp post, having cut off his balls and fed them to the dogs.

Callum Jardine was not by nature a cold-blooded killer; in the heat of the moment he would shoot a man to preserve his own life but rarely had he shot anyone out of hand. Had they not promised him the fate they promised they might have suffered less but their words marked them out as the kind of Nazi thugs he hated most, the kind that would beat an innocent person, a Jew or a dissenter, to death in full public view.

He lifted the Mauser, laid it on the top of the door to steady it, and said softly, ‘ Sieg Heil, meine Kameraden. ’

Then, at a range of a few feet, he put two bullets into each, filling the garage with echoing sound and sending their bodies hurtling back towards the door. As the echo faded the only sound left was of that club rolling along the concrete floor.

Going through to the front of the hotel, he thought at first it was deserted; certainly the lobby was, looking incongruously peaceful given the continuing sounds of sporadic gunfire from outside. It was almost with a sense of comedy that he palmed the bell on the reception desk, the one used to summon luggage-carrying minions.

‘Can I get you a drink?’ Corrie was standing in the doorway to the lounge, barefoot and holding a Martini glass that even had an olive on a stick. ‘First decent Martini I’ve had since Prague. You want I should make you one, Doc?’

‘I prefer Cal and a good whisky, but dare I say it is not safe to be standing here in the lobby right now? We’d be better off up in my room.’

‘Why yours?’

‘It overlooks the square, so we can see what’s happening.’

‘Why do I have the impression you know what’s happening?’ Cal shrugged and in doing so moved the pistol in his hand, which drew her eye. ‘I looked for you in the market square while that speech I could not understand was driving me crazy, but you were nowhere to be seen.’

‘I had a little business to do.’

‘The rod being part of it?’ she asked, looking at the weapon again.

‘It wasn’t supposed to be. Let’s go upstairs and I’ll explain.’

‘Lead on.’

He went to take her hand and lead her up the stairs but that was withheld. ‘I’ll wait for the explanation.’

‘You were in no danger, Corrie, I made sure of that.’

‘Well I have to tell you,’ she replied, her icy demeanour shattered and her eyes beginning to look tearful, ‘it sure as hell did not feel that way.’

The front door of the hotel burst open and Cal dropped to one knee as a reflex, the pistol coming up in both hands. Jimmy Garvin, looking dishevelled and as if the hounds of hell were on his tail, stopped dead, emitted a small moan and began to mouth a plea for mercy.

‘Thanks for looking after Corrie, Jimmy,’ Cal said, standing. ‘I won’t forget to tell your friends how intrepid you are.’

At least he was decent enough to look abashed as Cal commanded them to get out of the well-lit lobby.

‘No lights,’ he said as they slipped through the door. ‘Go over to the window and sit under the sill with your back to the wall.’

‘Why?’ asked the ingenuous young Jimmy.

‘Safest place when there are bullets flying about.’

He himself went to look out and the first thing he saw was a line of what had to be Czech police being deployed, taking up their positions, fully armed and lined up outside the entrance to the station, which indicated to Cal the first batch of the army would probably be coming in by train.

‘So?’ Corrie asked. ‘Do I get my explanation?’

‘Later, when Big Ears is not listening; right now we sit it out till the Czech army gets here.’

‘They’re coming?’ Jimmy asked, taking the silence as an affirmative.

‘How do you know?’

‘Do you ever stop asking questions?’

‘It’s what we do, Doc.’

‘Why do you call him Doc?’

‘Because, Jimmy,’ she replied, her tone bitter, ‘he’s a cartoon character, not real.’

How do you tell someone, especially with a third person present, that your life works in different boxes? She was feeling used and probably abused, so he went over and knelt beside her, whispering, ‘I know you’re angry and I can guess why, but just hold it all in for a while and when we’re alone I will tell you enough to reassure you that you were never in any danger.’

‘Then who was I running from?’

‘You throw your shoes at people, they get mad, Corrie.’

Her shoulders began to heave; it was funny and worthy of a laugh, but that soon turned to sobs as the pent-up fears surfaced and took over. He took her in his arms and held her close until they subsided and he got her onto the bed and told her to sleep, holding her hand until she went under.

‘Can you hear a train?’ Jimmy hissed, a few minutes later.

He was right, faint but unmistakable was the puffing of a steam engine, which grew louder until it was overtaken by the screeching of braking steel wheels. That was followed by the sound of shouting and both Cal and Jimmy watched as the troops emerged from the station to form up behind the screen of policemen.

‘Are those machine guns?’ Cal nodded. ‘Is there going to be a battle?’

‘There will be tankettes coming up the road from Liberec, artillery, and more troops as well. My guess is the Czech Government expected Hitler to declare war in his speech tonight and they intended to be on the move before he was. But the first thing they have to do is put down the locals in places like Cheb.’

‘This I’ve got to see,’ Jimmy insisted, as the troops began to march out of the square.

‘Nazi HQ, Jimmy, is where the main action will be, and don’t get yourself killed.’

As the youngster made for the door, Cal called him back. He had remembered his camera, which he now did not need, that or the film it contained.