The Dark Side of the Island by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online Page A

was the voice of a woman who, considering the circumstances, seemed surprisingly calm. He propped his sub-machine gun against the horse trough and turned to face her.
     
     
The barrel of a shotgun prodded against his chest and he saw that she was only a young girl, her head barely reaching the level of his shoulder.
     
     
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "Who are you?"
     
     
He calmly pushed the barrel of the shotgun to one side. "There's no need for that. I'm a friend. A British officer. I'm looking for Nikoli Pavlo. Is he at home?"
     
     
She leaned forward, her face a white blur in the darkness. When she spoke, the tone of her voice had altered perceptibly. "No, he isn't here."
     
     
"I see," Lomax said. "May I ask who you are?"
     
     
"Katina Pavlo, his daughter."
     
     
There was a soft whistle from the porch and he picked up his sub-machine gun. "Let's go inside. I think you're in for a surprise."
     
     
She followed him across the yard and when they mounted the steps to the porch, Boyd was standing in the doorway. "There's no one at home," he said. "But there's a fire in the living room and the lamp's still warm." He broke off when he saw the girl. "Who's this?"
     
     
"The daughter of the house," Lomax told him. "She was hiding in the barn."
     
     
He brushed past Boyd and entered a stone-flagged kitchen with whitewashed walls. Another door led into the large living room which was furnishe'd very simply. A log fire burned in an open hearth and a wooden ladder gave access to the loft through a trapdoor in one corner.
     
     
'Alexias was in the act of lighting a lamp which stood on the table in the centre of the room. He replaced the glass chimney and turned. For a long moment he and the girl stood looking at each other and then she dropped the shotgun and ran straight into his arms.
     
     
He lifted her from the ground and swung her round in a circle. "Katina, my little Katina! How you've grown." He put her down and held her at arm's-length. "Where's your father?"
     
     
The young face was very white, the skin drawn too tightly over the prominent cheekbones, the eyes in shadow. She shook her head slightly as if unable to speak and the smile vanished from Pavlo's face.
     
     
"What Is it, Katina? Ten me!"
     
     
When she spoke, her voice sounded hoarse and unnatural. "He's dead," she said. "They shot him in front of the town hall last week."
     
     
She started to cry, great dry sobs wracking her slender body, and Alexias pulled her close to him and stared blindly into space. After a while, he led her across the room to the kitchen, dragging his feet like an old man, and the door closed gently behind them.
     
     

A Willingness to Kill
     
When Alexias came back into the living room some twenty minutes later, Lomax and Boyd were sitting in front of a roaring fire stripped to the waist, their clothes steaming on an improvised line.
     
     
The Greek slumped down, into a chair and took out a cigarette mechanically. He seemed to have aged ten years and his eyes were full of pain as he sat staring into the fire.
     
     
After a while, he sighed. "He was a good man, my brother. Too good to go the way he did,"
     
     
Lomax gave him a light. "What happened?"
     
     
"They caught him trying to sabotage an E-boat in the harbour."
     
     
"On his own?" Boyd said in surprise.
     
     
Alexias nodded. "Kyros is a small island. It just wouldn't be possible for any organised resistance movement to survive here. That's why I went to Crete two years ago. Nikoli wanted to come as well, but one of us had to stay: There was the farm and Katina to think of, especially as her mother had just died."
     
     
"How is she?" Lomax said.
     
     
"Katina?" Aiexias shrugged. "It was nothing-a thing of the moment only. She has great courage that one. She is making coffee and preparing a little supper."
     
     
"What's she going to do?" Boyd demanded. "She can't go on living here on her own. She's only a kid."
     
     
"She's