part0026

A ugust 1942 saw the two armies still in stalemate, with the Eighth Army defences dug in along both sides of the Qattara Depression to the south of El Alamein as well as other coastal areas. In mid-July, the Afrika Korps had been unable to outflank the Eighth Army to the south and Rommel decided his only chance was along the coast. Several German and Italian divisions attempted to penetrate the Allied defences by moving east along the coast but after seven days of fierce fighting, they suffered defeat by the battle-hardened Australian 9th Division with more than 2,000 Axis troops killed and 3,700 prisoners of war taken. Amongst those captured by the Australians was Rommel’s 621 Signals Intercept Unit, which had so far provided him with priceless intelligence information by intercepting British communications. The Desert Fox was now reduced to relying solely on communications from his agents in Cairo. These he trusted; however, so far, the information from Cairo had not been as useful to him as the intelligence from his own signal intercepts unit.

During the second half of July, attacks and counterattacks had exhausted both sides. The Eighth Army had sustained 13,000 casualties during this half-month period, most of them from New Zealand, Indian and Australian divisions; however, the Afrika Korps had sustained heavier losses, particularly amongst the Italian divisions, and the Allies had taken 7,000 prisoners. Rommel’s major problem was his long supply line, which was under constant attack by the RAF.

By the second week of August, MI6 and British Field Security with police assistance were ready to swoop on the known German agents in Cairo. Earlier on the same day planned for the arrests, Johnny organised a meeting with the two girls at Le Coutume Café. They all sat around their shady outdoor table with a large pot of tea and some cakes.

“So it’s all about to happen,” said Yvette. “How exciting! After this you can assign me a much more interesting task than horrid John Eppler, no?”

“Well, we have a very special job for you now, Yvette. Thanks to Fifi we have been able to track down where the English versions of Rebecca were purchased: a small bookshop in Lisbon. Our people in Lisbon are sending us some more copies but they may not get here for some time. We need you to steal Eppler’s red book tonight ahead of our joint operation.”

“Is that all?” she said with a grin. “You don’t want me to kill him or anything?”

“Not tonight, thank you,” said Johnny. “Stealing the book might not be as easy as it sounds. You’ll have to get out of the houseboat well before three in the morning when our troops go in. Do you think you could manage that?”

“Yes, I think so,” she said. “But he might not come to the Metropolitan tonight.”

“What I suggest you do is try to get to the houseboat as early as possible,” said Johnny. “We know you have to do your part in the cabaret but if you could leave soon after, it might work whether Eppler turns up at the Metropolitan or not.”

“I think it’ll be easy, n’est-ce pas?” she said. “He is always so happy if I go to his houseboat. I work him hard and he will fall asleep quickly. Jamie, you always blush so nicely! I also have to wait for Peter to fall asleep but he drinks so much he should not be any trouble. If they are not at houseboat when I arrive – poof! Yvette is come and gone.”

“Good girl,” said Johnny. “We’ll all meet here tomorrow morning.”

“What is my project tonight?” asked Fifi.

“Nothing yet. Just keep your Texan hero occupied,” said Johnny. “We still want him to be at large for a while longer.”

“I think I shoot you all and bury you in loony bin,” said Fifi, pouting.

That night at 2.45 am, everyone was in position. Four river boats crewed by staff from British Security and local police were stationed in a line at a discreet distance from the houseboat at Zamalek while on the island, the area around the houseboat had been ringed with armed troops. Roadblocks had been set up at each end of the tow path alongside the riverbank. Major Sansom and Johnny and four armed troops were in a silent group amongst the trees opposite the gangplank leading to the houseboat. Fifty yards upriver, Jacko, two Cairo police and two military police were hidden in the trees opposite the houseboat where the exotic dancer, Fahmy, lived.

At the same time, Jamie and five members of the Scottish military police were stationed on the fourth floor of the Continental Hotel, the same floor where the faux-Americans, Jess Harkness and Greta Clark, occupied rooms.

The strict instructions to all involved in the operation were that all the enemy agents were to be taken alive if possible, even if they opened fire.

At 3 am, with Johnny and Major Sansom in the lead, the armed raiding party crept along the gangplank onto the deck of the houseboat. As Sansom smashed open the door into the cabin with the butt of his rifle, Peter Monkaster awoke quickly and, in a planned move, leapt down into the bilges and managed to open a trapdoor in the base of the keel and dump the Hallicrafter transceiver into the Nile from the bottom of the boat as it began to sink. He then swam out the same way in an attempt to escape to the west bank of the river. However, when he surfaced and started swimming he was captured by one of the river boats, hauled aboard and restrained.

John Eppler was not so fast. As he ran for the riverside door in an attempt to escape, he was felled by a blow to the kidneys from the butt of a rifle wielded by one of the armed troops. As they realised the houseboat was sinking, the party made a brief search but was unable to find the wireless equipment or any books or documents. They dragged their prisoner up the gangplank and all stepped ashore as the houseboat slowly settled down into the mud on the bed of the Nile.

At the same time, the party led by Jacko stormed into Fahmy’s houseboat but she agreed to come quietly if she could pack some of her clothes. Jacko watched her pack while the others carefully searched the boat but found nothing except some uniforms belonging to her former lover, Major Smith, who was already in custody. She softly thanked Jacko as he carried her bag up the gangplank and she went quietly when she was handed over to British Intelligence.

There was no quietness involved when Jamie’s party moved in on the two faux-Americans at the Continental Hotel. He managed to get Jess Harkness to open the door to his room by the subterfuge of impersonating room service and promising a free bottle of French champagne. As they forcibly entered the room, Jess started shouting and demanding to see the American authorities, threatening to court-martial Jamie and the entire British Army and anything else he could think of. Greta came out of her room to find out what was going on and added to the turmoil by screaming that she was an American citizen and should not be subjected to such strong-arm tactics. She demanded to see the American Ambassador or the Consul or whoever else was available. The screaming and shouting continued as they were taken downstairs in handcuffs, marched out of the front door of the hotel and driven away by the Scottish military police. No one in the hotel lobby took much notice, as if such activity was commonplace.

Back at the scene of the houseboats, Major Sansom shook hands with Johnny and Jacko and thanked them for their help.

“That went pretty well if I say so myself,” said Sansom. “I hope your Captain Munro had equal success in capturing those other two at the Continental. Our fellows will be interrogating these chaps over the coming weeks and we’ll see what they have to say. The girl might have something to say too. Pity we didn’t get the wireless equipment. I wonder what they did with it.”

“It’s almost certainly under the sunken houseboat in the mud,” said Johnny.

Sansom thoughtfully tugged at his moustache, “Yes, well, I think you’re right. We’ll be raising the houseboat starting tomorrow and our divers should be able to find the transceiver if it’s in the mud at the bottom of the river. At least your girl should have got away with the book you mentioned. Anyway, good night chaps and we’ll keep you informed of any intelligence we can get out of these Jerries.”

“Goodnight, sir, and thanks,” said Johnny, as he and Jacko set off towards the bridge to the east bank.

After a short sleep, Johnny, Jamie and Jacko arrived for morning tea and a late breakfast at Le Coutume Café at around 10 am. They were discussing the events of the night when Fifi appeared from the other side of the square and approached them with a worried look on her face. Her eyes which were normally bright blue had a reddish tinge around them.

“Bonjour, Fifi,” said Jamie as they all stood up. “You look worried.”

“Bonjour mes amis. Je suis très inquiéte,” she said in a quavering voice. “C’est Yvette. She did not come home last night. She said she would be home by midnight but she has not appeared until now. I think something bad has happened to her.”

“No sign of her at all?” asked Johnny anxiously.

“Nothing! Rien! Rien!” she insisted. “You must do something. Find her! She is sometimes too brave. Perhaps the bad men killed her, no?”

“No, I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened,” said Johnny. “When we captured those bad men last night there was no sign of Yvette. I’m sure those men wouldn’t have harmed her. There must be some other explanation for her disappearance. I’m sure we’ll find that she is alive and well somewhere.”

“You must find her,” she started to sob. “She is close friend to me. We must find out what happened.”

“Fifi, go back to your houseboat in case she turns up there. We’ll be talking to the military, the police and all the people who were involved in the capture of the Germans last night,” said Johnny. “I’m sure someone amongst them will know where she is. Stop worrying. We’ll find her.”

For the rest of the day, Johnny, Jamie and Jacko discussed the disappearance of Yvette with Major Sansom, Major Hardcastle and even the Scottish military police but no one seemed to have any idea about what might have happened to Yvette.

The following day, at the request of Major Sansom, the MI6 group met with him and Lieutenant Chris Soames at the office of Field Security.

“All the German agents we captured have been handed over to British Intelligence, which has set up an interrogation centre at Maadi about seven miles or so south of here on this side of the river. The bad news is that all the Germans refuse to say anything at all, which is to be expected at this stage. The interrogators apparently have some tricks up their sleeves which might induce the agents to talk, but I don’t know how successful they’ll be. Also, as it happens, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, is in town and believes he might be able to persuade some of the prisoners to talk when he sees them tomorrow. The good news is that the girl, Fahmy, is singing like a canary. She has told British Intelligence how she passed information from Major Smith to the Germans and she has given us the names of all or most of Eppler’s and Harkness’s Egyptian contacts and where they can be found. You fellows can have that list. I have noted down the ones we’ll be picking up and I’ll leave the rest to you. That includes the mob you photographed at that shed north of the city. I suggest you use our friends at the Scottish military police to help you.”

“Thank you, Major,” said Johnny. “We’ll arrange to have them rounded up. Have you had any news about the disappearance of Yvette?”

“Nothing,” replied Major Sansom. “It is a mystery where the girl has gone. Are you sure you can trust her?”

“Yes, we have every reason to trust her,” said Johnny. “We are most anxious to find her as she should have the book, Rebecca , which is the basis of the German cipher. As you are more than aware, Major, the whole aim of this mission now is to resume transmissions to Rommel as soon as possible so that he still believes they are communications from Eppler and Monkaster. We can’t do that without the book. Hence the urgency to find Yvette.”

“Yes, I see,” said Sansom. “We do have something else for you. Our people have managed to raise the sunken houseboat and they’ve recovered the Hallicrafter transceiver. It was ruined but still set to the frequency for the agents’ last transmission. Here it is.”

“Ah, thank you, Major,” said Johnny. “We’ll compare that with the frequency which Yvette was able to make a note of previously. All we need now is the book.”

“We’ll let you know if we hear any news of her,” said Major Sansom. “We’ll also let you know of any developments we hear from the interrogation centre at Maadi.”

“Have you spoken directly with any of the interrogators?” asked Jamie.

“No, we are only informed of results by British Intelligence here in Cairo,” replied Sansom. “They have no reason to hide anything from us.”

“I thought they might omit some information they believed to be trivial but could be important to us,” said Jamie. “Would it be possible to arrange for us to talk to them?”

“Yes, good idea,” said Sansom. “I’ll see if I can set up a meeting with one of the head honchos from the interrogation centre after the PM has tried his luck. Can you try to arrange that, Soames?”

“Yes, sir, I’ll call them today,” said Soames.

“Many thanks, Major Sansom, and nice to see you again, Lieutenant,” said Johnny. “We’ll wait to hear from you on that. In the meantime, we’ll get cracking on picking up the local conspirators from this list.”

The following morning, Johnny, Jamie and Jacko met up with six military police from the Cairo-based Scottish regiment on the east bank just north of Zamalek Island. The military police party was led by Sergeant Jock MacKenzie who had participated with the MI6 group when they’d captured the two German agents on a houseboat the previous year, as well as in the recent capture of Eppler and Monkaster.

“Good to have you aboard again, Jock,” said Johnny. “We’ll soon have to make you an honorary member of MI6.”

“Nice of you to offer, laddie,” said Jock with a broad grin, “bu’ me old mither ’ould turn in her grave if I joined the Sassenachs. Bu’ I’m yours to command.”

“Okay then, the plan is simple,” said Johnny, “I’ve got a list of people here whom we plan to capture. Some of them may be meeting in a shed a mile or so north of this spot. We’ll surround the area and stay out of sight until around noon and move in at that time. I don’t want any shooting if at all possible and we want to take them all alive. We’ll also make an exhaustive search of the shed after we’ve got the lot in custody.”

“Will all the folk you’ve got on your list be there?” asked Jock MacKenzie.

“That’s unlikely,” replied Johnny. “We know where the rest can be found if they’re not there, so we’ll round them up after we’ve got the first lot in custody. We’ll then be handing them all over to British Intelligence.”

The subsequent raid on the shed was successful. They captured eight of the conspirators, who were unprepared and startled by the appearance of the armed party and quickly surrendered. One of the conspirators captured was the one who had previously been identified as Anwar el-Sadat, a senior member of the anti-British Free Officers’ Movement.