Eagle Day - Robert Muchamore Page 0,70

the chain out too quickly, but that Houari denied this and said it was down to the overworked braking system on the electric winch.

‘How do we fix it?’ Kuefer asked.

The foreman replied and Marc translated. ‘He says that he can’t get a boat in or out of this yard until the winch is repaired. The barge that’s blocking the canal will have to be pumped and pulled out by a tug which will have to be brought down from Calais.’

‘The it will be,’ Kuefer shouted. ‘I want this canal cleared hell today. I want men swimming in that canal salvaging all the equipment we’ve lost. Get horses and ropes and as many prisoners as you need from the nearest camp, then drag that boat out of the water. And if they have to pull boats in and out of water by hand until the winch is repaired, that’s what they’ll do.’

Marc had learned to use a notepad to translate Kuefer’s longer rants, but he’d left it in the back of the car so he just had to hope that he translated the complex instructions accurately.

Houari approached Marc. ‘Tell your boss that we can’t send men into the canal. Drums of lead paint went into the water along with oil, tar and god knows what else. Any man who goes in that water will be blinded.’

Marc explained, but Kuefer exploded.

‘Let him go blind,’ Kuefer shouted, before pointing at Houari. ‘Guards, get this black bastard and his incompetent friends diving in that canal, fishing out tools and equipment. If you get any complaints, shoot them.’

Marc thought he was going to get strangled when he translated the instructions for Houari, but the big Algerian shoved Marc aside.

‘Screw your canal, screw your barges,’ Houari shouted, as he pulled a screwdriver from his trousers and aimed at Kuefer’s neck.

Houari missed, instead thrusting the end of the screwdriver up through the base of Kuefer’s jaw and skewering his tongue. Marc backed away as the German guards grabbed Houari’s arms and Kuefer’s mouth flooded with blood.

‘Bollocks to Hitler,’ Houari shouted, as the guards slammed him against the concrete.

One German booted Houari in the face as another pulled his service revolver and shot him through the heart.

Part Five

20 August 1940 – 10 September 1940

Hermann Goering, Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe named 13 August Aldertag, or Eagle Day. It was the beginning of a major aerial offensive designed to destroy the Royal Air Force and clear the skies ready for the full-scale invasion of Britain, one month later.

After two years of military success, the Germans were confident. August 15–17 saw the heaviest fighting of the aerial battle between the Luftwaffe and the RAF. Both sides lost planes, but instead of the expected victory, two German planes were shot down for every British loss.

On 20 August the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, gave a speech to the House of Commons:

‘The gratitude of every home in our island goes out to the British airmen who are turning the tide of the world war. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

20 August, Natural History Museum, London, UK

The stroke of a minister’s pen had turned Eileen McAfferty from an admin assistant in an obscure intelligence unit to one of the most senior women in the Royal Navy. She still felt like an impostor in her uniform, however, and couldn’t help smiling to herself every time someone saluted her in the street.

‘How are the shoes?’ Eric Mews, Deputy Minister for Economic Warfare, asked brightly.

‘Very comfortable.’ McAfferty nodded as she sat at a long but empty meeting table.

‘You know Air-Vice-Marshall Paxton, don’t you?’ Mews asked.

McAfferty nodded before the stocky RAF officer spoke.

‘Settling in, old girl?’

‘Typewriters and filing cabinets arrived for the new offices last week,’ McAfferty answered. ‘The only thing is, I keep getting letters from the Admiralty telling me that I need to attend a two-week etiquette and decorum course for female Navy officers. I don’t know when I’ll find the time.’

‘After the war, probably,’ Paxton laughed.

‘How’s Henderson holding up?’ Mews asked.

‘Well enough, I assume,’ McAfferty said. ‘Because of the short transmission windows and the risk of detection, our communications are strictly matter of fact.’

‘Of course,’ Mews said, as he reached for his pipe. ‘His intelligence has been absolutely top notch. It ties in with everything else we’re hearing and at this moment it feels like we’re on top of the entire German invasion plan.’

‘Henderson’s tip-off on Eagle Day was a huge help