“But I had nothing to do with any theft! I—”
“That is enough, Grishin. Just be grateful. In any event, as I said, there has been a development. We have been unable to find the missing gold. There was a view that it had ended up with some of your assistant’s friends in Krakow, who had transported it to America. Another line of enquiry pointed to its having ended up in France. Our German friends have been accommodating in affording assistance to our agents in Paris, but to no avail. Now, however, we have other testimony from this Polish officer.”
“Which is, Comrade?”
“That the gold was melted down and transferred via Brussels to London.”
“To where in London?”
“Unfortunately, the witness in question has not yet revealed that, but we shall get it out of him, I am sure.”
“And the gold? What form does it now take?”
“I’ll send you a copy of the witness’ testimony when we’ve finished with him. Then I shall expect you to act!”
*
The squadron was scrambled just after half past two and they were in the thick of it an hour later. The German bombers were back in force and there were hundreds of aircraft in the sky above London. The Spitfires were targeting the Messerschmitt fighter escorts while the Hurricanes’ focus was the bombers themselves. Jan and Jerzy found themselves chasing two Heinkel bombers, which had somehow become detached from their escorts somewhere over east London. As they closed in on their prey, a spray of bullets suddenly ripped across Jan’s windscreen and a trickle of blood blinded his left eye. He also felt a dull pain in his left shoulder. The Hurricane’s handling seemed to be unaffected, but visibility was seriously impaired. Looking to his right he could see Jerzy’s plane banking above him and he saw a line of tracers aimed at a target he couldn’t see. He decided to pull away to the left. There was no hope of him tracking down the bombers now and the best he could do was to get safely home. As he couldn’t see the plane that attacked him, he didn’t rate his chances very highly.
As he flew the plane onto a westerly course, he was able to see the great River Thames meandering between the dockland below. It had been cloudy for most of the day, but now the sun found its way through briefly and the water sparkled in the momentary rays.
A loud explosion sounded close above him and he twisted the aeroplane onto a northerly course. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a trail of black smoke and then, as he steadied, he was able to look down and see an aircraft plummeting towards the glittering mass of water. He couldn’t tell if it was Jerzy’s Hurricane or the assailant’s Messerschmitt. Gripping the control firmly, he mumbled an old Jewish prayer he remembered from his childhood. As the last word escaped his mouth, a plane appeared high above him and waggled its wings before diving down, turning beneath him and pulling up on his right side. Jerzy was sticking his thumb in the air and Jan nodded back. They would both live to fight another day.
*