Against All Odds (Donald Cameron Naval Thriller Book 10) by McCutchan Philip

Author:McCutchan, Philip
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books Historical Naval Fiction, A Joffe Books Company
Published: 2016-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Earlier, just after Palatine had moved through into the Rade and Octavius had come back to the bridge, Cameron had asked him what the Resistance back in Brest would be doing: would they, for instance, try to contact Whitehall by radio and pass the report of failure? Octavius had said yes, they would, but not until they considered it safe to do so and he couldn’t say when that would be. It would be up to Control. In any case Cameron knew that when the group failed to make its ETA in Barry Roads the alarm would go up from the Naval Officer In Charge. From then on it was anybody’s guess what the Admiralty or the War Cabinet might decide to do. But they wouldn’t be expected back yet.

In point of fact the maquis in Brest had passed a message within two hours of the abort. As the ships’ companies of Palatine and Probity listened to the throb overhead the Brest message was received in a tall house in Knightsbridge, SW1. The radio operator brought it at once to the attention of the duty officer, who decyphered it and then rang through on the internal telephone to a bedroom one floor up.

He said, ‘Operation Scatter aborted, sir.’

‘Christ. I’ll be down.’

Within the minute a big man entered in a dressing-gown and pyjamas. He held out a hand for the transcribed radio message and with the other put on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He sat heavily in a swivel chair behind a massive desk carrying three telephones, one of them coloured red, a lamp, a silver-backed blotter, an intercom and an ashtray. He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, blew smoke out and read. Then he said, ‘Christ,’ once again and looked across at the duty officer.

‘Couldn’t be worse if it tried, could it, Freeman?’ No answer: the question had been rhetorical.

‘You’ll pass it on right away, sir?’

‘Of course, why ask? You know whose idea this whole thing was. Damn and blast!’ The big man took up the receiver of the red telephone and pressed the scrambler button. He dialled a number that started with double 0 and was followed by a single digit. It was answered immediately. ‘Cabinet Office?’ the big man asked curtly. ‘Operation Scatter ballsed up. Yes . . . yes. Some commandos believed in hiding, whereabouts not known. Most of ’em dead or badly wounded — walked bang into it, could have been a leak but that’s guesswork. No damage to the U-boat shelters. Panoply a total loss, all hands killed or captured. Farnon killed on entry. And here’s the crunch: Probity and Palatine have entered the Rade de Brest and are believed to be under attack. Pass on — most immediate.’ He added, ‘I’ll be available instantly when the shooting starts from the old man,’ then banged the receiver down on its rest. To Freeman he said, ‘Believed to be under attack my backside. Of course they’ll be under attack. Poor buggers! But what a crazy thing to do.

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