As the hand was released and flopped back to the floor, Andrea stepped on it, and twisted her boot to grind it until the bones began to crack. ‘It is more likely he was from a university. In Sweden, as in most so-called free countries, they are breeding grounds for his type. Strange that men of such intelligence should be so naive, so pathetic as to believe the lies they are fed. He in his turn would have become a recruiter, taking his cue from his KGB control as to which people to ask to his parties, how to slant any article or paper he might write, and how, when there was an important pro-East or pro-West decision pending, to help the men in power reach the conclusion that Moscow wanted.
He is the sort whose whispers, whose carefully phrased suggestions, would make an official think he was learning what the people wanted. The people… worms, to be shovelled first in one direction, then in another, or crushed, or buried.’
‘There’s shit like them in every country. Sweden doesn’t have a monopoly.’ Hyde indicated to Libby and Ripper to remove the body. The hatred that poured from her never ceased to surprise him. All of them loathed the Communists, he had more reason than most to feel that way, but with Andrea it was an obsession. And yet when they’d first found her she’d been with a gang of Grepo deserters, ex-East German border guards, scum, the lowest of the low. Hatred she might have in her, but to survive she was capable of tempering it: even better than Clarence, in whom no compromise was possible. A savage, brutal killer with a high degree of base animal cunning, that was how Hyde saw her. And yet her face was incredible, the features such that a man who appreciated beauty for its own sake could look at it for hours. Hyde was well aware that looking was as close as he would ever get. It was probably as close as any of them would get, but while the others could entertain hopes, he couldn’t. Not with his appearance, not ever…
Revell checked his watch. It was time to start living dangerously once more, really dangerously. Since the Ruskies had landed, there had been little chance of their being detected unless the enemy took the unlikely step of patrolling the whole island, but now they had to switch in all the systems again, and any detectors pointed their way, even by chance, would immediately pick up the emissions of their active radars. ‘Let’s have the generator going again. I want all systems functioning the moment the damned thing settles to a reasonably steady beat. Then get on to the gunners at the launch sites. I want status reports.
The silky material of the dead Swede’s outer garments was making him difficult to lift, and the pair assigned to remove him had resorted to taking hold of a foot each, and dragging him unceremoniously. There was a dull thudding crack as the corpse’s head bumped over and down the step. Jolted open by the rough passage, the man’s locked stare contemplated the lightening sky. Walking to the door, Revell watched him being placed with the others.
He would have almost certainly have succumbed to the weather, even without their intervention. The old Commie had probably waited most of his adult life for this day, when Soviet troops would set foot on Swedish soil. All that time the traitor had plotted and schemed and waited, and when the moment had finally arrived and he’d been here ready to see it, Hyde and his section had spoilt it for him. No wonder his heart had given out. For a while, as he travelled to the island and began to get ready, he must have believed that this was the dawning of his ambitions. He must have held the conviction that the limited landing was simply a first step that would eventually lead to Sweden falling into the Soviet net, and his assumption of some position of puppet power. Now there would be none of that. His body, stiffening but still showing a degree of elasticity, struck the frozen form of a gunner, and flopped off to sprawl untidily in the snow.
Ripper paused before going back in, screwing up his face as he examined the unnatural colour of the sky. The dawn had been tinged a distinctive red, but now it was rapidly whitening. Ice formed on the rims of his nostrils and around his mouth as he peered at the phenomenon. ‘That’s kinda pretty. I ain’t never seen a sky that colour.’
‘Most people who see it never see anything else ever again.’ Standing behind Revell, Boris had also seen the effect. ‘The red you saw first light was caused by all the dust and contamination in the air, that is nothing; what you see now though has been given many names, usually it is called diamond dust. Look at your sleeves, move them.’
‘Hey, I’m going solid,’ Not knowing what to expect, what to look for, Ripper flexed his arm. A white crust had formed on the surface, and as the coated material reluctantly creased, splits appeared in it. ‘Will you look at that, it’s like the damned stuff had been dipped in dry ice.’
‘My country sees the most severe of weather, but even there such a thing is a rarity.’ Boris moved aside to let the men in. ‘It only happens when the temperature drops below minus sixty. Ice particles form on the dust, they settle and cover everything they touch with a mantle of white death. In minutes a man can suffocate, even faster than the lieutenant did, as thicker and thicker deposits build up around the mouth. So it would seem we now face a new enemy.’
‘We’ve been facing that enemy since we landed.’ Carefully, but still painfully, Revell chipped, prised and peeled the frozen crust from his mouth. ‘Just seems like Jack Frost is getting reinforcements.’
In the kitchen the generator fired at Burke’s first attempt, making an infernal racket until the covers were hastily replaced and it warmed to run at a steady pace that reduced vibration.
‘Everybody to stations. Sergeant Hyde, I want anyone who doesn’t have a specific task to be armed and ready to move at a moment’s notice. The intruder alarms don’t allow much of a margin, so you’ll have to be prepared to respond to any incursion immediately.’
‘We’ll be ready, Major, not many of us, and not with much, but we’ll be ready.’ There was no need for Hyde to pass on the instruction, the others had heard and were already checking weapons and ammunition. Except for Burke, Hyde watched the man as he pretended to busy himself with a minor detail about the generator.
‘You’ve never been keen to do a job in your whole life, Burke, you’re not conning me. That mechanical marvel sounds fair enough, put your gear together and join us in here where I can keep an eye on you.’
‘Isn’t it good.’ Burke saw the sergeant watching him from the doorway. ‘For a bloody year you’ve been on at me to do this, that ‘and the other, and now just as I get me teeth into a job you want me to drop it and go play bleeding Cowboys and Indians again.’ He went to wipe the grease from his hands, then decided against it, leaving on the protective layer and pulling his mittens over his still slippery palms.
‘A ruddy combat driver I’m supposed to be, a bloke who pilots battle-taxis. Alright, so I’ve been a silly sod and made a cross for me own back by taking on every piddling job that’s had anything to do with mechanics, but why the hell are you always roping me in to do the do-and-die bit?’
‘I don’t always need a reason, but this time it’s because we need manpower, and even you might be some use.’
‘As a human shield, maybe.’ Making no attempt to conceal his amusement, Dooley poked their driver with the snout of a light machine gun. ‘Anyway, don’t worry, little man, you can just stand around trying to look ferocious until the action starts, and that won’t be for ages yet.’
‘You’re wrong.’ The instant the surface radar screen glowed into life, Cline spotted the distinct traces. He began to count. ‘There’s five, six, no, seven,’ he added the correction as yet another blip materialised, ‘seven ships coming out of the Sound.’