Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

'My duty hours vary,'. Gregory replied. 'But I am supplying her with drink, as I find that she is much more forthcoming when she has had a few; and to take the best advantage of that I mean to arrange my shifts for some days now so that I can see her after dinner in the evening. That means I'll be here all day, most days; but it would be best if you ring me up just to make certain I am here.'

'All right. I'll do that. There is no point in my coming to see you every day. I'll give you a ring on Monday, and come in to collect all the dope you have managed to get by then.'

After dinner that night Gregory went to see Sir Pellinore. The meeting was not a happy one. Gregory reported the progress he had made to date, then flatly refused the Baronet's pleas that he should give up his plan. Seeing that nothing would move him, Sir Pellinore, being a man of his word, divulged, albeit with great reluctance and misgiving, the 'Most Secret' information that he had secured for him.

On Saturday afternoon good news came through from the Western Desert. For the past week the Eighth Army and the Afrika Corps had been engaged in a tremendous slogging match at El Alamein. Many tanks had been destroyed on both sides and the British had taken a considerable number of prisoners; but so far General Montgomery had failed to dislodge Rommel from his main positions. Now it was reported that another all-out attack had been launched that morning and definite breaches had been made in the German defences.

At six o'clock Gregory went down to the Tower and spent an hour with Sabine, questioning her about Hitler's principal Military advisers, their habits, vices and personal backgrounds. At seven Mrs. Sutton brought in her evening meal; so he left her. Out in the hall he said to the wardress: her a late visit. How is the supply of port going?'

The wardress' went to the cupboard and showed him that there was one bottle left. He said with a smile, 'I could do with a drink, although it is hardly the hour for port. Let's open it and have one. I'll bring some more down tomorrow. You'll join me, won't you?'

Nothing loath, she fetched a corkscrew and glasses. They had two goes apiece; then he went out into the chill raw misty night, and took the Underground down to Gloucester Road.

After Rudd had served him with a meal he spent a worrying half-hour, obsessed with the fear that Kasdar might have got cold feet and not turn up after all. He had by now thoroughly examined every possibility for getting Sabine out of the Tower and made up his mind how he meant to attempt it; but if the Moldavian let him down his own plan would have been made for nothing.

His fears proved groundless. Soon after nine, with a sigh of thankfulness, he heard the heavy footfalls outside on the landing and Rudd showed in the big black moustached Colonel.

The Moldavian was in an excellent humour and, as soon as Gregory had mixed him a drink, opened up their business. One of the tugs was at sea and the other two at Newcastle, so' he had gone up there to see their Captains; and he had been lucky. The father of one of them had recently died and he had inherited a very pleasant property in Moldavia, so he was anxious to get home to enjoy it. He had sounded his crew and found that for the chance of getting back to their own country all but one of them were also willing to accept some risk of being caught by the British while making a break across the North Sea. His tug with its tow of barges should be off Harwich, on the way down to London, on November the 2nd, and he could fake engine trouble which would enable him to lie up at Burnham on Crouch for, anyhow, two or three days.

Kasdar had then taken the tug Captain down to Burnham and they had hired a car to explore the neighbourhood. A lonely inlet a few miles away, which could easily be identified, had been settled upon as the point of embarkation. The wording of an innocent sounding telegram had been agreed, which Kasdar was to send to the Captain at Burnham on the afternoon preceding the escape. That night he would have his tug lying off the inlet, and should he be challenged by naval craft he would say that, having taken her out for a trial that evening, she had broken down again. From two o'clock in the morning he would have a boat inshore ready to pick up his passenger.

Gregory was delighted. He felt that had he handled the job himself he could not have done it more efficiently; but now he was faced with the awful moment when he must make payment in advance or Kasdar would call the whole thing off.'

Already the Colonel was saying eagerly, 'And now, my friend, don't keep roe in suspense. When is D-Day and where is this great seaborne expedition to make its landing?'

On the previous night Gregory had secured both those major secrets; and numerous others, from Sir Pellinore, but he did not mean to pass on much of his material yet. He shook his head. 'Only the very top boys and the Joint Planning Staff know that as yet, and they are being as tight as clams. But in the meantime…'

'Come!' Kasdar broke in angrily. 'I will not be trifled with. Either you…'

In turn, Gregory cut him short. 'Don't be so damned impatient! I am working on three separate people, all of whom could tell us what we want to know; but I dare not ask any of them outright. You have got to give me another day or two to get the high spots. In the meantime here is something pretty good. The codeword for the operation is Torch, the naval commander of the expedition is Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey the chap who organized the evacuation from Dunkirk and the convoys sail tonight.'

'Tonight!' Kasdar came swiftly to his feet. 'That is certainly something worth knowing. But, if so, D-Day cannot be far off. Only three or four days, perhaps.'

'Longer, I think. Don't count on this. It is only an idea I got from something I overheard, and I may be wrong. But I gained the impression that this is a second and much more powerful expedition to take Dakar. If so, D-Day is still ten days off, at least.'

The Moldavian swallowed the rest of his drink, and said hurriedly, 'I must go and get this in code for the other side. But it is not enough, you know, to induce me to handle the Sabine business. I want the date and place before I will do that. When is the earliest you can hope to get them.'

'I may do so any time. As soon as I have anything worthwhile I'll telephone you to fix another meeting.'

When Kasdar had gone, Gregory found that he was sweating. He strove to reassure himself by reasoning that the codeword Torch had now served its purpose. For months past, in an ever-increasing circle, more and more people in the Ministries and Service formations had had to be appraised of its meaning, so that thousands of officers, civil servants, typists and clerks, Captains of merchant ships, dock and railway officials, all now knew it to apply to the great offensive operation planned by the Allies for 1942; and therefore from some few of those thousands it must have already leaked to Eire and so through to the Germans. He knew too that the slowest vessels had started as early as October the 22nd and that the bulk of the troops had sailed on the 26th. It was only the last flotillas of the great armada that were to sail that night; so he was able to argue that the expedition's departure could not have been concealed from men like Kasdar for more than another twelve hours. In the morning Glasgow and Liverpool would wake to learn that Clydeside and Merseyside had overnight become empty of shipping. Neutrals resident in those cities would unquestionably telephone that news to their Embassies in London.

Yet he hardly slept from worry and a succession of nightmares about appalling catastrophes which just might result from his personal action. The worst was the convoys being torpedoed; although once they had sailed they stood that risk anyhow, and if they had been going to Dakar they would have passed hundreds of miles outside the Straits of Gibraltar, which was the worst danger spot; so the red herring he had thrown out might help to minimize the risk they ran.