He forced himself to his feet, pulling Boyd up with him, and then Alexias appeared on the scene. Water boiled waist-high again, tugging at their limbs, and as it receded the three of them staggered over the final line of jagged rocks. A moment later they were safe on the white strip of beach at the base of the cliff.
Lomax slumped down, his back against a rock, and Boyd sat beside him. "You all right, sir?"
Lomax nodded. "It was pretty tricky there for a moment."
4 49
"I managed to hang on to the weapons," Boyd told him. "It was a damned good job we had the packs strapped on."
"I'm afraid the radio's gone," Lomax said.
Boyd's teeth gleamed in the darkness. "Never mind. At least it saves you from the temptation of using it when you shouldn't."
Alexias squatted beside them. "I managed to grab the dinghy." There was a hiss as he opened the valves and started to collapse it.
"Thanks for the strong arm," Lomax told him. "It was a lot rougher than I thought it was going to be."
Alexias looked across at the white surf pounding in over the jagged reef and shrugged. "On this side of the island the sea is like a woman. You never know what she's going to do next. As a boy, I've swum from this beach on hot summer nights when the water looked liko black glass."
"We're here in one piece except for the radio and that's the main thing," Lomax said. "How far is it to your brother's farm?"
"About two miles and the going is easy."
"Then the sooner we get there the better." Lomax got to his feet. "According to Intelligence, there's an hourly patrol even on this side of the island."
They hastily covered the dinghy with sand and rocks and then Boyd distributed the sub-machine guns. They moved off at once, Alexias leading the way and Lomax bringing up the rear.
The sand was deep, and once he stumbled and cursed softly and then they were on a narrow path that mounted steeply through a ravine to the top of the cliffs.
Alexias held up a hand and moved forward cautiously and raised his head above the lip of the ravine. After a moment, he waved them on and they crossed a plateau of short, burnt grass and climbed a boulder-strewn hillside.
No word was spoken for at least half an hour and then they came over the shoulder of the mountain and saw a house standing in a grove of olive trees in a small valley below.
Alexias paused to get his bearings and then went down the hillside through the shadows, not bothering to follow the path which zig-zagged its way along the terraces of vines.
The house was in darkness and they crouched by the fence and Lomax checked his watch. It was barely nine o'clock and he frowned. "They must go to bed early."
Alexias shrugged. "They lead a hard life, these people."
"Maybe so," Lomax said. "But we're not taking any chances." He turned to Boyd. "You go round to the front and I'll cover Alexias from this side, just in case."
Boyd moved off into the darkness and they gave him a couple of minutes before moving. Lomax dropped to one knee beside a horse trough in front of the barn and Alexias continued across the yard and mounted the steps to the porch. He opened the door cautiously and went inside.
Somewhere a horse moved uneasily in its stall and a dog barked hollowly in the distance. A small wind kicked dust into his face and Lomax wiped it away with the back of his hand and narrowed his eyes, wondering what was happening in the house.
There was a slight, eerie creaking as the barn door swung open and someone said softly in Greek, "Put down your gun and raise your hands."
It was the voice of a woman who, considering the circumstances, seemed surprisingly calm. He propped his sub-machine gun against the horse trough and turned to face her.
The barrel of a shotgun prodded against his chest and he saw that she was only a young girl, her head barely reaching the level of his shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Who are you?"
He calmly pushed the barrel of the shotgun to one side. "There's no need for that. I'm a friend. A British officer. I'm looking for Nikoli Pavlo. Is he at home?"
She leaned forward, her face a white blur in the darkness. When she spoke, the tone of her voice had altered perceptibly. "No, he isn't here."
"I see," Lomax said. "May I ask who you are?"
"Katina Pavlo, his daughter."
There was a soft whistle from the porch and he picked up his sub-machine gun. "Let's go inside. I think you're in for a surprise."
She followed him across the yard and when they mounted the steps to the porch, Boyd was standing in the doorway. "There's no one at home," he said. "But there's a fire in the living room and the lamp's still warm." He broke off when he saw the girl. "Who's this?"
"The daughter of the house," Lomax told him. "She was hiding in the barn."
He brushed past Boyd and entered a stone-flagged kitchen with whitewashed walls. Another door led into the large living room which was furnishe'd very simply. A log fire burned in an open hearth and a wooden ladder gave access to the loft through a trapdoor in one corner.
'Alexias was in the act of lighting a lamp which stood on the table in the centre of the room. He replaced the glass chimney and turned. For a long moment he and the girl stood looking at each other and then she dropped the shotgun and ran straight into his arms.
He lifted her from the ground and swung her round in a circle. "Katina, my little Katina! How you've grown." He put her down and held her at arm's-length. "Where's your father?"
The young face was very white, the skin drawn too tightly over the prominent cheekbones, the eyes in shadow. She shook her head slightly as if unable to speak and the smile vanished from Pavlo's face.
"What Is it, Katina? Ten me!"
When she spoke, her voice sounded hoarse and unnatural. "He's dead," she said. "They shot him in front of the town hall last week."
She started to cry, great dry sobs wracking her slender body, and Alexias pulled her close to him and stared blindly into space. After a while, he led her across the room to the kitchen, dragging his feet like an old man, and the door closed gently behind them.
A Willingness to Kill
When Alexias came back into the living room some twenty minutes later, Lomax and Boyd were sitting in front of a roaring fire stripped to the waist, their clothes steaming on an improvised line.
The Greek slumped down, into a chair and took out a cigarette mechanically. He seemed to have aged ten years and his eyes were full of pain as he sat staring into the fire.
After a while, he sighed. "He was a good man, my brother. Too good to go the way he did,"
Lomax gave him a light. "What happened?"
"They caught him trying to sabotage an E-boat in the harbour."
"On his own?" Boyd said in surprise.
Alexias nodded. "Kyros is a small island. It just wouldn't be possible for any organised resistance movement to survive here. That's why I went to Crete two years ago. Nikoli wanted to come as well, but one of us had to stay: There was the farm and Katina to think of, especially as her mother had just died."
"How is she?" Lomax said.
"Katina?" Aiexias shrugged. "It was nothing-a thing of the moment only. She has great courage that one. She is making coffee and preparing a little supper."
"What's she going to do?" Boyd demanded. "She can't go on living here on her own. She's only a kid."
"She's been staying with my wife. I have a bar down by the harbour called The Little Ship. Katina has been, coming out here each day with the horse and cart to look after things until they decide what to do. Apparently she was just leaving when she saw us coming down the hill through the vineyard."
"Does she know why we're here?"
Alexias shook his head. "Not at the moment. I'll tell her later. She could be very useful to us."
"How much do you think the fact of your brother's death will interfere with our plans?" Lomax asked.
"Very little," Alexias said. "But it means I'll have to make personal contact with various local people myself now. As soon as we've had supper, I'll go down into the town with Katina."
"That could be dangerous," Boyd said.
Alexias shook his head. "There isn't a curfew in force on Kyros and the cafe's on the waterfront are usually full until well past midnight. The Germans can alter many things, but not our way of life."
At that moment, the kitchen door opened and Katina came in. She was carrying a tray which she set down on the table.
She turned, brushing back a lock of hair from her forehead with one hand. "I'm afraid there is only cheese made from goat's milk and olives, but the bread is fresh. My aunt baked it this morning before I left."
"It looks bloody marvellous to me, love," Joe Boyd said, and she blushed and quickly poured coffee into four mugs.
Lomax had been pulling on his shirt and sweater at the fire and when he turned, he found her standing just behind him holding a mug of coffee.
She smiled shyly. "I'm afraid there isn't any sugar."
Her face was heart-shaped with a pure white skin drawn too tightly over prominent cheekbones and there were dark sunken circles.under her eyes. Her black hair was drawn back from her face and tied.carelessly with a ribbon. She was perhaps sixteen or seventeen, but it was hard to be exact. She had that tired, too-old look that he had seen in the eyes of so many people recently.
He smiled and took a sip of his coffee. "It tastes good anyway. Aren't you having any?"
She shook her head. "My aunt will have supper waiting for me when I return."
She wore a faded print dress which had obviously been washed and mended many times and an ancient Norfolk jacket, two sizes too big for her and belted round her slender waist.
Lomax ran a finger lightly down one of the lapels. "Harris tweed. Nothing very Greek about that garment. Where did you pick it up?"
She flushed and he was at once sorry knowing that in some way his words had touched her pride. "New clothes are one thing it is impossible to obtain here," she said. "I was given this coat by a friend, Mr. Van Horn."
"You know Oliver Van Horn?" Lomax said in surprise.
"Everyone on Kyros knows Mr. Van Horn," she said. "He's a fine man."
"Is he still living hi his villa out on the point?" Alexias demanded.
She nodded. "The Germans don't bother him. Since old Doctor Douplos died, Mr. Van Horn has taken his place. He's the only doctor available to the islanders."
"I'd forgotten he studied medicine as a young man," Lomax said. "Something else he has hi common with. Maugham. I'd give a lot to meet him."
"Who knows, perhaps you will." Alexias cut himself a large slice of cheese. "Katina, I've decided to go into town with you. Will it be safe?"
She nodded. "There should be plenty of people in the streets on a warm night like this."
Alexias turned to Lomax. "I'll be back first thing in the morning. I should have got things moving by then. You and Boyd can sleep here in the loft."
"Ill go and harness the mare," Katina interrupted. "If I'm not back soon Aunt Sarah will begin to worry."
The door closed behind her and Lomax pulled on his tunic and reached for the night glasses. "She's got a point there. I'll give her a hand and then have a look round."
Alexias poured himself another coffee and moved to the fire, steam rising from his sheepskin coat. "I'll be ready to leave in five minutes. Just give me time to dry ùout a little."
Boyd was still making inroads into the bread and cheese as Lomax went through the kitchen and moved out on to the porch. He crossed the yard to the barn and paused in the entrance.
An old oil lamp swung from a beam that seemed to be the mainstay of the building and in its light Katina Pavlo was harnessing the mare. A board creaked under his foot as he went forward and she turned at once, reaching for the shotgun that leaned against the end of the stall.
She relaxed visibly. "Oh, it's you, Captain Lomax."
"So your uncle told you my name," he said.
She nodded. "You are younger than I had imagined. Much younger."
He frowned slightly. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Even on Kyros we have heard of the Nightcomer," she explained. "And of the things you have done in Crete. Last month all they could talk about in the cafe's was of how you had kidnapped the German general on Rhodes and smuggled him out of Egypt. Even the Germans find difficulty in keeping such things secret."
"Tales grow in the telling," he said. "Remember that."