Patton’s sullen prediction that Montgomery would take a month to get ready for operations was overly optimistic. Oran was barely functioning in late October, and Algiers was in even worse shape after it finally fell. So it was not until late November that plans were laid for renewed operations, and another several weeks before all was ready. To be “teed up,” as Monty put things. The rainy season had slowed everything to a crawl.
There was also the matter of Gibraltar to settle with the German garrison there, which had been stolidly holding the place for some months. Yet now that Franco had been removed, Brooke argued that Gibraltar’s importance was now much diminished. “We’ve got the full cooperation of Spain now,” he said. “The Fascists have been rooted out, a new monarchy installed, and now we have access to all those marvelous ports and airfields. Compared to that, the Rock seems like a little mouse hole, and we really don’t need it.”
“Oh but we do,” Churchill wagged a finger at him. “No one picks the Crown’s pocket lightly, or without facing the consequences. The Rock is ours, and we’ll have it back. Allies can be fickle partners. They squabble with you like a wife at times. Yet I suppose that there is at least one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is to fight without them.”
“Yet do you really want to commit troops to what will certainly be a costly attack there?”
“If necessary. If they remain adamant. The better course would be to simply starve them out. We won’t stoop to the level they went when they threatened us with that ghastly business involving gasoline. They’ll get water from the catchments there, but no food. Starve them out, and every week make them the offer of a good banquet in exchange for surrender. You’ll see how soon a man’s resolve withers away when his belly is empty.”
That became the plan, and it was going to work. All of September and October passed, the garrison remaining adamant, in spite of the fact that their food had run out weeks ago. The Germans tried to parachute in supplies, but the RAF shot down the transport planes. They tried to sneak in food on a U-boat, but the Royal Navy sunk it. A few then tried to slip off in a small boat to go fishing, but they were seen and strafed until they fled back to the shore. Every week, Churchill would quietly inquire as to the status of the situation. On November 15th, he ordered the troops investing the place to fire up open air barbecue pits so the smell of roasting beef would waft over the whole place. Three days later, having gone for over five weeks without food, the Garrison accepted terms for an honorable surrender. The British replied that would be granted only if the tunnels and passages were not subjected to any demolition.
It was just one more thing for Hitler to rage about, but by then he had much more to worry about in Russia. Churchill had the Rock back, quietly informing a certain Elena Fairchild of that when it finally happened. He summoned her and Captain MacRae to a private meeting in the Cabinet War Rooms beneath the Treasury Building near Whitehall.
“Miss Fairchild,” he said, greeting her warmly. “I have heard a good deal about you, and your marvelous ship—our ship, though it is still quite a leap for me to realize it won’t be built for decades.”
“And an equal jump for me to wake up each morning and still find myself here.”
“Captain, that was a fine job you did in the Raid on St. Nazaire, and not a single ship was lost in the convoys escorted by your destroyer. I only wish we had ten more like this Argos Fire. Then we could really put the fire to Doenitz and his damnable wolfpacks. Now, I understand that you have made a little delivery to the Isle of Man.”
“Aye sir,” said Gordon. “All safe and sound.”
“That was all that remained of this Brigade that served us so well in the desert?”
“I’m afraid so,” said Elena.
“Well, we can’t risk losing any more of that equipment in combat—not until we’ve had a good long look at it.”
“I wish I could say that would help you,” said MacRae, “but most of what you’ll see there could not be replicated in any way at this time. Those vehicles run with highly specialized computers. The art of miniaturizing components used in their design and construction won’t be available until the 1980s and 90s. You’ll get some good ideas, particularly if you look over the Challengers, but they utilize exotic materials you will not be able to replicate. As to the computers, I strongly suggest you don’t even touch them.”
“Good ideas will have to do for the moment,” said Churchill. “Yet I summoned you here to discuss something else. It seems you had business with one of our battleships?” He gave Elena a knowing glance.
“I did, sir, though it took me a while to realize that. There was an artifact aboard that was of some interest.”
“Yes, I’ve heard the story. The Selene Horse…. To think it had that key hidden away like that, and nobody knew it. There it was, sitting in the British Museum for decades, before we crated the Elgin Marbles up and moved them to the tube during the Blitz. I’m not quite sure who had the bright idea to ship them off to the Yanks with all that gold, but the outcome of that little venture was most unfortunate. These keys… What might they open?”
“One sent my ship here,” said Elena. “We have a second, delivered by the late Admiral Volsky, a gift from his young Captain.”
“Ah, yes, that young man Fedorov—a most enterprising soul. He had such a key?”
“Apparently, though we aren’t certain how he may have come by it, or when.”
“Might it serve like the other—the one that brought your ship here?”
“We aren’t certain of that either. But on my ship I have a box that seems designed to hold these keys for safekeeping.”
“A box?”
“We found it at Delphi… This is a long story, but you might as well hear it.” Elena then related the tale of how the Argos Fire had come there, but left off the part about the Watch, Tovey, and a few other details.”
“My word,” said Churchill. “Someone has a fancy for tucking away little surprises in the remains of ancient Greece monuments.”
“And perhaps in other places.” Elena threw that out like a bridge player leading into a long suit, and Churchill was quick to answer.
“Other places? Well you may be pleased to learn that the Germans have finally given up Gibraltar. We starved the jackals out! Now then, I understand this key that was oddly packed away on the Rodney had something to do with Saint Michael’s Cave.”
“So we believe, sir. If the place is secure, I think we’d better have a good close look. I have men for the job, very reliable.”
“Any idea what you expect to find?”
“A door. That what keys mostly open, when they aren’t mated to magic boxes. The one I was given got me through that door beneath Delphi, and we now think there is something in Saint Michael’s Cave that needs close inspection.”
“Yet you haven’t the key to open such a door, assuming one exists. Hasn’t it gone down with Rodney? Or are these all a kind of Skeleton Key that can open many things at once.”
“We don’t know, but we at least have two keys to make a go of it if we do find a door there that needs opening.”
“If neither works? Then what? I can make the services of our artisan engineers available to you. They’ve tunneled out miles of passageways in the rock. This would just be one more.”
“I don’t think I would advise that, sir,” said Elena. “First off, these doors, at least the one I’ve seen, are rather sturdy, made from highly refined metal alloys that were obviously built to keep uninvited people out. No. I think it needs the key. Even demolition charges might not work on such a door.”