‘We didn’t hear anything,’ Westwood remarked. The Lear had just lifted off the runway, and the pilot had been cleared by ATC for an unrestricted climb.
‘You wouldn’t. You’re well out of range. In fact, I doubt if many people heard it, because of where he is, deep down in that valley. But it does prove he’s listening to twelve-fifteen, if you want to talk to him. He’s using the French call sign Foxtrot Lima Yankee Charlie Papa, which he’s obviously just made up if the aircraft’s on Italian registry.’
Then the radio speaker in the Piper crackled again, and the same harsh voice issued from it. ‘Very clever, but it won’t help you. We will be passing your details on to our French colleagues. They will undoubtedly take care of you.’
‘Yeah, well, we’ll see about that,’ Richter said. He glanced again at the topographical chart. ‘Change of plan. I was going to keep heading west, but that Italian comedian is right: the Eyeties can ask the Frogs to force us down somewhere, so that’s starting to sound like a really bad idea. Especially as that fighter pilot will have noted our real registration number and description, and he’ll also be able to give the French an accurate starting point for a search.’
‘So?’
‘So we’ll head north-west, up into the Tarentaise area of France. It’s home to some of the most expensive ski resorts on the planet — places like Val d’Isère and Les Arcs — and we’ll try to find a flat bit of land where we can park this thing.’
Dekker studied the map for a few seconds. ‘I won’t be sorry to get my feet back on the ground, that’s for sure. And if a simple soldier like me can make a suggestion, if you can land somewhere near either Séez or Aime, that would help us.’
This time it was Richter’s turn to look puzzled. ‘Why?’ he asked.
‘We could try to steal or even hire a car,’ Dekker said, ‘and that would inevitably leave a trail of some sort. But if you can get near either of those two places, we won’t need to, because there’s a railway line there. We can just buy our tickets for cash, and let the French railway system whisk us away. No paperwork, no paper trail.’
‘As long as the trains are running, that sounds a very good idea. And railway tracks tend to run on level ground, so we might well find a convenient field to land in somewhere nearby.’
Still keeping the aircraft reasonably low, but mindful of the dangerous atmospheric effects, such as sudden updraughts and downdraughts, which could plague flying across mountains, Richter swung the Piper northwest, and increased their speed slightly.
‘The target’s changed course. He’s now heading northwest, currently approaching the Pointe de la Grande Casse.’
‘Copied that,’ Westwood said, studying a map of the French border area. ‘Thanks for your help. Stay in the area and monitor the situation, please. I’m going to call the aircraft now.’
‘Roger.’
Westwood selected intercom on the control panel beside his seat. ‘Give me twelve-fifteen megahertz,’ he instructed, ‘and a VHF chat frequency.’
‘You’ve got the civil-emergency frequency on button two,’ the pilot replied after a moment, ‘and you can use seventeen-fifty-five on button three.’
‘Thanks.’ Westwood clicked button two, and then pressed the transmit key.
‘Foxtrot Lima Yankee Charlie Papa, this is November Two Four. I gather you need some help.’
As they passed the peak of Pointe de la Grande Casse, and altered course to transit to the west of Mont Pourri, Richter gestured over to the right, where two lakes sparkled in the sunshine.
‘Val d’Isère is somewhere over there,’ he said, ‘and Les Arcs is just ahead of us.’
‘How far away now?’
‘About twenty miles or so.’
From the twin peaks, the ground sloped away to the north dropping down towards the gentler slopes of the ski resorts, where the green and brown hillsides were cut through by the skeletal black lines of unused ski lifts. Beyond them, at the foot of the valley, Richter could discern the town of Aime, with a road and the parallel glint of a railway line. More importantly, there were several areas of seemingly level ground, hopefully long enough to accommodate the fairly short landing run the Piper would need.
Then the radio speaker crackled again, but this time the voice was unmistakably American. ‘Foxtrot Lima Yankee Charlie Papa, this is November Two Four. I gather you need some help.’
‘What the hell?’ Dekker muttered.
Richter picked up the microphone and depressed the transmit key.
‘Thank you, November Two Four, but I think we’re OK now.’
‘Are you sure about that? The Italian fast jet has run for home, but how’s your passenger? Is she OK?’
‘What passenger?’ Richter asked, looking genuinely confused.
‘Sierra Lima minus one,’ the American voice replied, then fell silent.
Richter looked at Dekker, then glanced back at Raya. ‘What the hell’s he talking about?’ he asked, of nobody in particular.
‘He means me,’ Raya said. ‘Sierra Lima minus one. Take one letter away from each and you’ve got Romeo Kilo — my initials. That’s what he means.’
Suddenly Richter remembered what Simpson had said, and pressed the transmit key again. ‘OK, let me use the same convention, Kilo Xray. Give me a frequency.’
‘Neat,’ the American replied. ‘One seven five decimal five.’
‘What the hell’s going on?’ Dekker demanded, as Richter changed frequency.
‘If I’m right, the guy who’s talking to us is a senior CIA officer named John Westwood, hence the “Kilo Xray” tag I gave him. “JW” equals “Juliet Whisky”, and adding one letter in each case gives you “Kilo Xray”. He’s obviously worked out that Raya’s travelling in this aircraft, and the fact that he’s talking to us means he’s also airborne somewhere nearby, flying in an American-registered aircraft, because of the “November” call sign.’
‘So?’
‘So let’s hear what he has to say,’ Richter replied, and pressed the transmit key. ‘You there, Kilo Xray?’
‘Do I know you?’
‘Not yet, no. What can we do for you?’
‘I think it’s more what I can do for you. I’m in a Lear 60, way up above you, and I’m prepared to offer you and your passenger a lift, if she’d want one.’
Richter glanced at Raya before replying, and she shook her head firmly.
‘The only problem with that, Kilo Xray, is that you’d probably have a destination in Virginia in mind. Somewhere near Langley, perhaps?’
‘That’s what I’d like to suggest, yes. But my first priority is your passenger’s safety, because she’s really important to us as well as to your own people. So if you accept my offer, I’m prepared to take you anywhere you want to go. Once you climb into this Lear, we can have you both in London in a couple of hours, no problem.’
‘Give me a minute,’ Richter said, and sat back in his seat.
‘You’re not going to agree to that, surely?’ Dekker asked.
‘I don’t know. Raya, were there any leaks that you knew of in the CIA?’
‘Not that I was aware of. If you hadn’t turned up in Nervi, my next move would have been to approach the Americans.’
‘OK,’ Richter said. ‘It might just be worth hitching a ride with the CIA, not least because the French are going to think twice about interfering with an American-registered and CIA-owned executive jet. And it might even give the Russians pause for thought. And we do have an ace in the hole.’
‘What?’ Dekker asked.
‘You, Colin,’ Richter replied. ‘John Westwood thinks there are two people in this aircraft — just Raya and me. When, or if, we decide to meet him somewhere, you can stay out of sight and cover us with your rifle until we know for sure that we have the situation under control.’