Darkest Hour by James Holland Read Free Book Online

to bring the
truck down and I'll make sure he gets to hospital in Ramsgate. But for the time
being don't breathe another word about this to anyone. The last thing we want
is rumour and wild speculation flying around - and we should be careful not to
endanger this man's life further. Understood? I'll speak to Captain Barclay
about it later.'
    'Yes, sir. What about the Snowdrops, sir?'
    'Snowdrops?' Lieutenant Peploe looked confused.
    'The RAF Police, sir. What should we say to them?
There might be other police as well.'
    'Damn - I hadn't thought of that. You must, of course,
tell the police, but no one else. And in the meantime let's make sure both
these roadblocks are properly manned. We don't want any more tearaway lorries
ploughing through them.'
    As Tanner had predicted, by the time the fire-wagon
had arrived, the flames around the bowser had all but died out. The RAFP
arrived, took a few statements, including one from Fanner, placed a cordon
around the scene and left one of their men on guard. Torwinski had already been
taken to hospital by Lieutenant Peploe so no one else was any the wiser - for
now, at any rate.
    With a second roadblock set up under the command of
Sykes, Tanner walked back to the first where McAllister, Bell and a number of
the new men were positioned across the road.
    There were, of course, rumours and wild speculation
aplenty among the men about what had happened. Peploe could do nothing about
that, although no one doubted that the Polish men in the bowser had been the
fuel thieves. Instead, debate raged over what they had been doing there and how
they had come to crash. Tanner said nothing, listening to their theories
without comment and shrugging in response to their questions. He would have
found it amusing had it not been for his growing unease.
    It was tempting to think that Blackstone was behind it
somehow. Tanner had known him to have been involved in various scams in India -
not that he had ever been able to prove it or that Blackstone had ever been
caught. Yet the more rational part of his brain reminded him now that this
could have been the work of any number of people and, in any case, no matter
how much he disliked the man, that did not make Blackstone a murderer.
    Not for the first time since it happened, Private
Ellis was recounting the moment the truck had sped towards him and thundered
through the roadblock. 'I still can't believe it,' he said. 'I shouted out for
them to halt but the sodding thing was still coming at me, wasn't it? So I
jumped out of the way and I swear he missed me by inches. I didn't join up to
be run over by one of our own.'
    'But they're not our own, are they, Billy?' said
Private Coles. 'They're Poles. It's cos of them we're in this bloody war in the
first place.'
    Tanner wandered a short way from the roadblock, in the
direction of Manston village. 'When did you first notice the bowser?' he called
to Ellis.
    'What do you mean, Sarge?' Ellis was taller than most
of the others, a lanky youngster with a thin, heavily freckled face.
    'Did you see or hear it first?'
    'I dunno, Sarge. It came round that sharp bend up
ahead, then drove straight at me.'
    'And did you see anything odd? Someone jumping out,
for instance?'
    'No, Sarge - but it was dark. You could only see the
slits in the headlights.' He tugged at his bottom lip, thinking. 'Come to think
of it, I did hear something. Like a door slamming. Or, at least, I think I
did.' He ran a finger round his collar. 'But it happened so fast, like.'
    Tanner walked on down the road, taking out his torch.
It gave off only a little light when the blue lens was in place but it was
enough for him to see the verge. After a couple of hundred yards, he began to
think his theory had been wrong and perhaps the Poles had been to blame, after
all. The vegetation was apparently undisturbed, silvery cobwebs stretching
across the abundant cow-parsley. But just before the corner he saw what he had
been looking for: an area where the plants