Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

Having received his instructions from the Ambassador, the Consul General asked no questions; but he put in hand for both of them documents which would enable them to leave Turkey, ordered seats to be obtained for them as early as possible on a plane going to Cyprus, and enquired about the secret cypher signal that Gregory wished to send.

He had already thought it out very carefully, so wrote it down without hesitation. It was addressed to Sir Pellinore, care of the Foreign Office, and ran:

Mission one hundred per cent successful Stop Proceeding Cyprus immediately accompanied by representative carrying full terms Stop Please expedite air passage Cyprus London for self and bearer of Hungarian Passport No. 476010 as matter of urgency Stop

In that way he avoided having to give any lengthy explanation about Sabine, yet ensured that on the production of her own passport the Military authorities in Cyprus would make no difficulties about her accompanying him to London.

After changing some money with the Consul and thanking him for his assistance, they took a taxi to the Pera Palace, arriving at the famous hotel just in time for a late lunch. Although it was a Saturday afternoon, as the Mahomedan Sabbath is on a Friday all the shops were open; so after they had unpacked their few belongings they were able to go on a shopping expedition down the Gran' Rue and buy themselves some more suitable clothes. In the evening the Consul General's secretary telephoned to say that seats had been booked for them in a Turkish air liner that was leaving for Cyprus on Monday morning.

There had been no wireless on the barge and during the time they were in her such news as they had received of the war had been garbled and scanty; the only reliable item of interest was that two nights after they left Budapest the Hungarian capital had suffered its first air raid, although only a light one, from a few Soviet bombers. Having reached neutral territory, where unprejudiced accounts were available, Gregory had naturally taken the earliest opportunity to find out what had been going, on, and during the day he had brought himself up to date.

The best news was that early in the month Rommel had launched an all-out attempt to penetrate to the Nile Delta, and that he had been repulsed with heavy losses by the new commander of the Eighth Army, General Sir Bernard Montgomery. But the British were still very much on the defensive, the Mediterranean was now an Axis lake, and the half-starved garrison of Malta continued, under almost non-stop bombing, to hold out only by the skin of its teeth.

The Japs had launched a powerful offensive in New Guinea, but the Australians there were showing their great fighting qualities and General Blarney had declared himself confident that they would be able to hold Port Moresby.

In Madagascar there had been indications that the Vichy French intended to sell out to the Japs, just as they had done in Indochina; so, in order to ensure against the great island's becoming an Axis base, Empire troops had recently landed there and taken over the whole of it.

During the first seventeen days of the month the R.A.F. had carried out no less than nine heavy raids on Germany, inflicting terrible damage on Bremen, Saarbrucken, Frankfurt Düsseldorf and Essen, reducing the centres of all of them to flaming ruins.

Stalingrad still miraculously held out. Over a fortnight before, Von Bock had reached the Volga to the north of the city and during the past few days he had been making desperate efforts to reach it to the south. The Russians claimed that the Germans had already lost a million men in their endeavours to take the city, but their assault showed no signs of slackening. Yet the Russian defence was equally determined and it looked now as if there were a chance that they might be able to hold on until winter brought the German offensive to a standstill.

Gregory knew that it was now too late in the year to undertake the Anglo-American landing on the Continent for which the Hungarians had stipulated; but in another month or so the first snow would be falling in Russia. If Stalingrad could be held till then the Army defending it would get a respite until the late spring. That gave six months in which to conclude a secret treaty with the Hungarians and prepare a cross Channel assault. It could be launched before conditions in Russia permitted the Germans to resume their offensive, Hungary brought over to the Allies and the whole position saved

The thought that, after all, his mission might lead to such magnificent results made him suddenly eager to get home.

Sunday they spent sightseeing, and went to bed wishing that they could spend more time in the fascinating city of the Sultans which, as Constantinople, and earlier Byzantium, had played so great a part in history. On Monday they flew down across Asiatic Turkey, landing in Cyprus in the late afternoon; but to Gregory's annoyance he learned that the Office of the Director of Transport had received no instructions about them.

From Cyprus the only means of proceeding to England was by R.A.F. aircraft, and places were so limited that many officers who had only a low priority had been waiting there for passages for several weeks. As Gregory had no official status he could not even get their names on the list; so he decided to see the Director in the morning and ask for another Most Secret cypher telegram to be sent. To his relief that proved unnecessary. During the night a signal came through from the Air Ministry giving them a sufficiently high priority to get them on an aircraft leaving on the 23rd.

Their flight over the Mediterranean was both dangerous and extremely uncomfortable. They were packed like sardines into the bomb bay of the aircraft, unable to see anything and scarcely able to move. For the greater part of the way the plane flew very high to avoid the attention of the enemy in those Axis dominated skies. That necessitated using oxygen masks and the discomfort seemed only a little less endurable than the violent acrobatics of the aircraft to escape attack when she came down at Malta to refuel.

As there was not half a loaf to be spared in the besieged island they had brought food with them, and while they ate it they watched an air battle almost above their heads. When the Luftwaffe squadron had been driven off they resumed their journey and after further hours of torture reached Gibraltar. There they got six hours of desperately needed sleep; then they were on their way again, still a prey to cramp and claustrophobia, as the aircraft carried them far out over the Atlantic before curving in across south-western England to land them at Hurn in Hampshire.

Stiff and bleary-eyed they staggered from their prison to find that it was nine o'clock in the morning and that a Mr. Davis had been sent down overnight to meet them. Taking Gregory aside he explained that he was an official of M.I.5, and that as an enemy alien was being brought into England he had been instructed to attend to all formalities, then take them up to London.

A wash and breakfast revived them a little, then they set off with Mr. Davis in his car. For most of the way they slept, and the worst effects of their nightmare journey had passed off when, shortly before one o'clock, their escort put them down outside Sir Pellinore's mansion in Carlton House Terrace.

The door was answered by an elderly parlour maid whom Gregory had not seen before; but she said that Sir Pellinore was expecting him and took them straight up to the library. The white-haired Baronet' was seated behind his big desk. As Sabine walked into the room his bright blue eyes opened wide with surprise. Coining quickly to his feet, he smiled over her head at Gregory, and boomed:

'Delighted to see you back, dear boy. Delighted. But I er I thought you were bringin' with you an Hungarian gentleman.'