Back In Action

Chapter Forty-Eight

Sonnenhang, Switzerland — Wednesday 24 November 1915

Shortly past eleven on Wednesday, David crouched at the bottom of the tunnel ramp with Sergeant Perrier. "It's getting louder. Seems very close. From the sound, Sergeant, how much is left?"

"I'd say less than half a foot now, Sir. No more than five minutes."

Four minutes later, they watched as a tool thrust through the chalk wall about a foot down from the lip of the sump. It quickly knocked away more pieces from the thin barrier, pushing them to splash into the water at the bottom of the sump. Within a minute, an arm and a head appeared through the small hole.

"Welcome!" Perrier said as he thrust out his hand to congratulate the smiling Sapper. "Push all your spoils forward into the sump. Its depth is no longer needed."

"We've been saving them the last while, Sarge."

David put his hand on Perrier's shoulder and lightly shook it. "Great work, Sergeant. Looks like it's perfectly centred."

"It's difficult to tell until they've finished the breakthrough, Sir. We'll see when they've cleaned up the edges."

"You stay here with them as they do. I'll go along to the main face and tell the team to knock off early for lunch now. Let's let them relax a bit before you reorganise the continuation."

"Very good, Sir."

Bern, Switzerland — Sunday 28 November 1915

David arrived at the Ambassador's residence at ten forty-five on Sunday morning, and the butler led him toward the Ambassador's office. "Colonel Picot and Mr Wallinger are not yet here, Sir."

David glanced at his watch. "Yes, it appears I'm a few minutes early."

Evelyn Grant Duff rose from his desk as the butler knocked and opened the door. "You're getting quicker each trip. Some coffee?"

"Please."

The Ambassador nodded to the butler, who bowed and left.

"I've been finding some quieter roads through Winterthur and Zürich to avoid most of the snarls. I told the butler about the wine in the lorry, and he's seeing to its unloading to the cellar, Sir."

"We're pleased to have more of it... Edith tells me that you and Maria are trying to start a family. You're both very young and full of energy — of potential. Are you certain you wish to start now?"

"I met a French Major on my train to Paris as I headed to Oxford in June. The memory of his experience still haunts me. He had been captured and tortured, and when he refused to give the Germans information, they began cutting off his stuff. They gradually emasculated him, bit by bit, then left him to bleed to death." David shook his head and blew out a deep breath.

"Fortunately, he was found by a French patrol and survived. I was told later by a French Medical Officer that this is not unusual treatment by the Germans. Apprehended spies face losing their family parts as they're tortured to give information."

Evelyn remained silent for a while, then nodded. "Yes, the game you're playing; repeatedly going into Germany, is not a light undertaking. It takes balls to do what you're doing." He shook his head. "That wasn't a great choice of words, was it?" He slowly nodded. "Yes, I can see why you wish to begin a family now."

"We should know in the next day or two. Tomorrow's the last quarter, and she's very regular." David shook his head. "That's probably too much information."

Evelyn nodded. "Edith shared this with me. Maria's been asking all manner of questions about the early signs of..." He looked up at the knock, then rose to greet Picot and Wallinger.

"Welcome, Henry, John. David's just arrived, and we're waiting on the arrival of coffee."

After they'd all completed their greetings, settled into chairs, and the coffee was served, David began with an update. "The Sappers broke through on Wednesday morning, and the drainage tunnel is now complete and doing its job. They went back to regular work on the main tunnel, and Sergeant Perrier now thinks they'll break through into the German tool hut on Thursday afternoon."

"That's a day ahead of last week's estimate." Wallinger looked up from his coffee. "So you'll be able to begin on Friday."

"We've stored the explosives in the new tool shed. Once the tunnel is complete, we'll transfer them to the hut on the German side."

"Getting them from there, though? How will you do that so close to the border post?" Picot asked.

"We'll have a small team pruning the vineyard over there. Some of the neighbouring vineyards are now being pruned so the activity will appear perfectly normal. Rachel and I drove around, across the border on Friday to look at the vines and the access track. The ground was still wet from a recent rain, so I didn't risk taking the lorry all the way to the edge of the vineyard. Stopped a hundred metres short. It appears it would be easy to get there in dry conditions, though." David paused and took a sip of coffee.

"Rachel will train the men how to prune on the home vineyards, then we can disguise the movement of the explosives with the bundles of vine prunings as they carry them to the lorry. She says there should be at least half a dozen lorry loads of them, and they're great for Tante's meat smoker and —"

"So when will you do this?" Picot asked.

"We'll wait to find the right timing with dry ground, hopefully with frozen ground for the viaduct. A lot of factors to juggle. We'll know when the timing's right."