Eagle Day - Robert Muchamore Page 0,100

manned. I think they must have legged it when the bombing started. The only problem was a cratered road near Marquise. I had to turn back and divert through this crummy village. Windy little roads, pitch black, and it took to find the main road again.’for ever

‘Making it’s what matters.’ Rosie smiled. ‘Henderson’s gonna set a timed fuse to blow the harbour after we leave. If you start wiring up the charges, Khinde and Rufus can carry the stuff up from the truck.’

21:32 The Farm

Paul had taken the walk between the beach and the cottage hundreds of times and knew the way even in pitch dark. His cuts stung and his head hurt, but his mind was focused on his anger at Rosie for not packing the tins in the truck – she knew how many drawings of Germans he’d had to do to get them. But he was also slightly scared. He thought Henderson might shout at him for breaking with the plan and leaving the harbour, but he reckoned it would be OK as long as he got back before everyone else arrived.

Paul was shocked when he headed out of the trees and saw the blazing headlights of a police car lighting up the front lawn. Vivien Boyle stood by the car, alongside a gendarme who bore a strong family resemblance. Paul remembered one of Dumont’s many boasts: that his uncle was a local policeman who’d let him off after several burglaries.

‘They’ve packed up and gone,’ Vivien explained tearfully, as she walked up to the side of the cottage. ‘Dumont hasn’t been seen since lunchtime, so I sent Luc up to see if he was here. I waited an hour, then I walked up here and found the whole place empty. Just as I was leaving I saw Luc’s bike abandoned on the driveway.’

Having been in Calais all day, Paul had no idea that Luc and Dumont were tied up in the cowshed. The gendarme adopted a slightly superior tone, as Paul backed into the bushes and listened intently.

‘I didn’t like it when that lot turned up,’ the officer said. ‘The whole set-up seemed odd. I saw that Maxine in the village. She was no farmer’s wife to my eyes, with her boutique clothes and a Jaguar.’

‘I know,’ Vivien said. ‘But they acted decently enough, and when this Charles fellow called, out of the blue, offering to bring Lucien and Holly home, what choice did we have?’

The officer leaned into his car and grabbed a torch. ‘I’ll take a quick look around. If we don’t find anything we’ll drive into the village and form a search party.’

‘The family must have been here earlier,’ Vivien explained. ‘The chickens had fresh food and the cow’s udders are empty. There’s also a note on the counter telling the labourers to take whatever tins they want and to see what they could find in the cowshed.’

‘Did you go up there?’ the policeman asked.

Vivien shrugged. ‘Why would I? It’s probably just butter or cheese.’

‘You never know,’ the gendarme said. ‘Let’s start up there.’

Paul knew that whatever had happened to Luc and Dumont, the last thing the rest of them needed was a search party. He had to go back and warn Henderson, but he was less than twenty metres from his prized tins, so as Vivien and her brother set off on the hundred-metre walk towards the cowshed, Paul darted out of the bushes and kept low as he raced across the lawn and into the kitchen.

It was pitch black and Paul flew up into the air in fright as Lottie bleated noisily and crashed into the kitchen table before running outside.

‘Damned goat,’ Paul whispered to himself.

He felt blindly around the worktop until he found one of the large tins of jam and the distinctive barrel-shaped tin containing dark chocolate sauce. With one large can under each arm, Paul raced out of the door and headed back for the bushes as he heard Vivien scream out.

‘Dumie, my poor baby! Oh my god, are those teeth marks on your nose?’

Paul was mystified and decided to wait. There seemed no point going back to warn Henderson without a clearer idea of what had happened to Dumont and Luc Boyle.

‘They’re blowing up the harbour and then leaving on a tug,’ Luc shouted furiously, as he staggered out of the barn, glistening with cow shit. ‘I don’t know why they’re doing it, but as Charles dragged me out here, the girl Rosie asked him a question about