Free Night of the Fox by Jack Higgins Page A

faintly.
     
     
Hamilton made a sign to Helen and Gallagher, and they followed him into the kitchen. "If the fractures were compound-in other words, if there was any kind of open wound, bone sticking through, then we wouldn't have any choice. The possibility of infection, especially after all he's been through, would be very great. The only way of saving the leg would be a hospital bed and traction."
     
     
"What exactly are you saying, George?" Gallagher asked.
     
     
"Well, as you can see, the skin isn't broken. The fractures are what we term comminuted. It might be possible to set the leg and plaster it."
     
     
"Can you handle that?" Helen demanded.
     
     
"I could try, but I need the right conditions. I certainly wouldn't dream of proceeding without an x-ray." He hesitated. "There is one possibility."
     
     
"What's that?" Gallagher asked.
     
     
"Pine Trees. It's a little nursing home in St. Lawrence run by Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Irish and French mostly. They have x-ray facilities there and a decent operating theater. Sister Maria Teresa, who's in charge, is a good friend. I could give her a ring."
     
     
"Do the Germans use it?" Helen asked.
     
     
"Now and then. Usually young women with prenatal problems, which is a polite way of saying they're in for an abortion. The nuns, as you may imagine, don't like that one little bit, but there isn't anything they can do about it."
     
     
"Would he be able to stay there?"
     
     
"I doubt it. They've very few beds and surely it would be too dangerous. The most we could do is patch him up and bring him back here."
     
     
Gallagher said, "You're taking a hell of a risk helping us like this, George."
     
     
"I'd say we all are," Hamilton told him dryly.
     
     
"It's vitally important that Colonel Kelso stay out of the hands of the enemy," Helen began.
     
     
Hamilton shook his head. "I don't want to know, Helen, so don't try to tell me, and I don't want the nuns to be involved either. As far as Sister Maria Teresa is concerned, our friend must be a local man who's had a suitable accident. It would help if we had an identity card for him, just in case."
     
     
Helen turned on Gallagher. "Can you do anything? You managed a card for that Spanish Communist last year when he escaped from the working party at those tunnels they've been constructing in St. Peter."
     
     
Gallagher went to the old eighteenth-century pine desk in the corner of the kitchen, pulled out the front drawer, then reached inside and produced a small box drawer of the kind people had once used to hide valuables. There were several blank identity cards in there, signed and stamped with the Nazi eagle.
     
     
"Where on earth did you get those?" Hamilton asked in astonishment.
     
     
"An Irishman I know, barman in one of the town hotels, has a German boyfriend, if you follow me. A clerk at the Feldkommandatur. I did him a big favor last year. He gave me these in exchange. I'll fill in Kelso's details and we'll give him a good Jersey name. How about Le Marquand?" He took out pen and ink and sat at the kitchen table. "Henry Ralph Le Marquand. Residence?"
     
     
He looked up at Helen. "Home Farm, de Ville Place," she said.
     
     
"Fair enough. Ill go and get the color of his eyes, hair and so on while you phone Pine Trees." He paused at the door. "Ill enter his occupation as fisherman. That way we can say it was a boating accident. And one more thing, George."
     
     
"What's that?" Hamilton asked as he lifted the phone.
     
     
"I'm going with you. We'll take him up in the van. No arguments. We must all hang together, or all hang separately." He smiled wryly and went out.
     
     
Pine Trees was an ugly house, obviously late Victorian in origin. At some time, the walls had been faced in cement which had cracked in many places, here and there, large pieces having flaked away altogether. Gallagher drove the van into the front courtyard, Hamilton sitting beside him. As they got out, the front door