The Ankara agreement was still there, folded, just as Rowse had left it.
Rowse held it up high above him. ‘We’ve got it gents! It’s still here — thank Christ!’
Swan walked along the cabin towards him. ‘Let’s have a good look at this, then.’
Rowse handed it to him, allowing Swan to peruse its contents. Having read every word, he let out a gasp. ‘Good Lord! We were to allow the Turks to use the SBAs for their planes.’
Rowse nodded. ‘Exactly as I told you, Alex. Can you imagine the problems this would have caused? There would be calls from NATO to annex our sovereignty from the island, and all our so-called friends would then turn their backs on us for aiding an invasion. The Americans would probably have to intervene, to come to some sort of an agreement to stop the Russians from muscling in.’
Suddenly, Swan was beginning to see how this document would have set off a cascade of events. ‘This is what Allenby was trying to protect. Maybe Danvers knew about it, could have been blackmailing him in some way. But how would Allenby have knowledge of a hired assassin? This remains a puzzle as far as I’m concerned.’
With all three heads pondering the document, they failed to hear soft footsteps approaching them.
‘Nobody move!’ said a man waving a British army-issue Browning automatic pistol. A pistol that he had acquired in a warehouse back in Limassol.
Each man froze to the spot. Swan slowly turned his head, his surprised expression revealing that he had seen this man before.
‘I think we’ve already met, haven’t we? Mr… Reynolds?’
Reynolds couldn’t believe it, He gave Swan a perplexed look. He had not expected to see the man he had met in London.
‘Jesus! Yes, I remember. Everard wasn’t too sure about you. Thought you could be trouble. Turns out he was right. What the bloody hell are you doing out here?’
Swan gestured to the gun. ‘If you kindly put that thing away, I’ll tell you. We are all unarmed here and completely harmless, I assure you.’
Reynolds put away his pistol. He knew these men were no threat to him. He sighed. ‘Well, it’s certainly good to see some English faces, for a change.’
Swan smiled at the comment and after introducing Rowse and Hornsby, went on to explain their reasons for being at Nicosia Airport. He allowed Rowse to reveal the bogus Ankara agreement to him. Reynolds read it, commenting on how damaging the document could have been. He was relieved these men had got to it in time. He yawned, glancing out of the cockpit window. He was exhausted.
After giving Elma the toy sea lion, he had said his goodbye to her as she went off with her grandmother. He then decided it would still be a good idea to somehow try and get to the airport, this being the best bet for a ride home.
There was, of course, a risk that he would just be transported to one of the SBAs, and so the chances of the MPs finding out not being who he claimed to be would be quite high. Background checks would reveal this, resulting in a possible arrest until his true identity could be confirmed.
He had left the divided city by hitching a ride in a lemon truck, and under the cover of darkness, had managed to avoid the road blocks to make his way to the airport’s perimeter fence, then clambered under it and sought shelter for the night. The nearest place for this, being an old RAF Shackleton, which looked like it had been abandoned at the side of the airport. It was also far enough away from the terminal building, for him to rest for a while, without getting caught. This would also give him some important thinking time.
Then, having spent a peaceful undisturbed night on the bunk, he had awoken early enough to just sit on the floor of the aircraft, out of sight, and eat what was left from the food taken from Elma’s house.
‘When you three jokers showed up, I took myself to the back of the plane until I could work out who you were.’
Swan sat himself in the flight engineer’s seat. ‘So, what is a mercenary doing in Cyprus?’
Reynolds found the radar operator’s seat and explained his story from the beginning. When he finished, Swan noticed the sadness in his eyes at having lost all his men.
‘I’m sorry. You must be devastated. Actually, come to think of it, before I left London, I was given an unconfirmed report that a British army patrol had engaged with a Greek platoon, resulting in multiple casualties. The PM is furious and wants answers. That wouldn’t happen to have been your team, would it?’
Reynolds sighed. ‘Those guys were like a family. The worst thing was having to leave them all behind. Some of them have families of their own and, when I get back, I will have to face their widows and their kids to tell them what happened to their husbands and dads.’
Rowse stepped forward. ‘So, who hired you for this mission?’
‘I expect it was Nick Everard,’ suggested Swan.
Reynolds shook his head. ‘Actually, it wasn’t, Mr Swan. Everard was just the errand boy. A Senator Donovan Tremaine is the one who’s really calling the shots.’
Rowse gulped. ‘Are you telling me the yanks are part of all this?’
Reynolds explained the trick he had pulled on Everard with his friend Mo. ‘So yes, gentlemen, there you have it. Looks like this senator has been pulling the strings all along; dangling us all like bloody puppets.’
Rowse thought for a few moments; he had suddenly remembered something. ‘I seem to recall that Allenby had a few meetings with this man, some over in Washington, a few at RAF Mildenhall, and one — I think — at Ramstein. Not to mention numerous phone calls.’
Swan realised the situation — the missing piece to his puzzle had just presented itself. ‘Jack, do the Americans have any interests on the island?’
Rowse nodded. ‘Of course they do, Alex; the listening station on Mount Olympus is a US military facility. It’s vital to their being able to monitor Russian missile tests at Kapustin Yar, for one thing, and obviously to intercept any other interesting radio traffic coming from behind the iron curtain.’
Hornsby confirmed all of this. Reynolds looked at Swan. ‘So, what does that mean?’
‘It means you’re right, David. This clever US senator has been playing us all. You and your men, me with the investigation of Danvers, and, you Jack with the Ankara agreement. All with Allenby’s help, of course.’
Reynolds did a mock spit. ‘What a bastard! I lost all my men because of him and his bloody radio shack on the mountain!’
Swan agreed with this mercenary, he too hated being played like this, particularly considering this man was probably behind the plot to kill him, as well. He turned to Rowse. ‘Jack, I know a little bit about the political matters of this country, but after the coup in July before the invasion, I’m afraid I’m at a bit of a loss.’
Rowse then explained the July coup had sparked concern that the junta-backed Greek government would be expelled from NATO if it went ahead with the plan for enosis for the island. ‘Putting a known EOKA B terrorist in charge didn’t help matters, I assure you. The major concern for Britain is the two SBAs. If Dhekelia and Akrotiri were to be resigned, then NATO would leave their southern flank wide open. Being expelled, Greece would have to turn to the Soviets for their arms and, as you can imagine, gentlemen, politically this would be a disaster. With no military bases in this area, the Suez Canal and the Gulf oil would be linchpins, something the Russians would very much love to hold over the West.’
‘They could well bring us all to our knees,’ added Reynolds.
Hornsby, still sitting in the pilot’s seat, suddenly interrupted them. ‘Excuse me gents, as well as listening to you all, I’ve also been monitoring the radio — and I think you should listen to this.’