Operation Napoleon Read Online Free PDF Page A

cigarette.
    ‘You don’t need a guide any longer,’ he added. ‘Especially not a dinosaur like me. I’m no use to anyone these days.’ He smiled.
    ‘We’re very familiar with the route by now,’ Ratoff agreed, rising to his feet.
    ‘Tourists use it a lot in the summer,’ Jón said. ‘They run glacier jeep tours from Höfn; I let them cross my land. There are more coming every year now.’
    Shortly afterwards Ratoff emerged from the farmhouse with his interpreter. They strode over to a small vehicle with caterpillar tracks, climbed inside and set off without delay, past the farm in the direction of the foothills. There was no sign of the larger trucks now. The blizzard had grown ever more dense during the evening and visibility was poor. Their vehicle followed the trail left by the others in the newly fallen snow, its progress slow, crawling onwards through the drifts, its powerful headlights illuminating the way. By the time they reached the camp at the foot of the hills, brilliant floodlights had been erected within a rough circle of tents. Boxes of supplies lay scattered around and special forces soldiers in snow camouflage were working in an orderly, methodical fashion. Once the plane had been located, they would shift the camp on to the ice cap.
    The outline of a large satellite dish loomed through the thick veil of snow outside the tent that acted as telecommunications centre. Ratoff went straight inside. Two men were busy setting up the radio system.
    ‘How soon can we make contact?’ Ratoff asked.
    ‘In forty minutes at the outside, sir,’ one of the men replied.
    ‘Get Carr for me when you’re done.’
    Vytautas Carr was sitting in his office in Building 312 when the phone rang.
    ‘Ratoff on line one,’ his secretary announced. He pressed the button. It was 9 p.m. in the US capital, 2 a.m. in Iceland.
    ‘Everything okay?’ Carr asked.
    ‘We’re on schedule, sir. We’ll head up to the glacier at first light tomorrow. It’s snowing fairly heavily but nothing that will hold us up. As long as the coordinates are correct, it won’t matter if the plane’s been covered by drifts.’
    ‘What about the locals?’
    ‘Unsuspecting, and we plan to keep it that way, sir.’
    ‘They keep a close eye on our military manoeuvres. We’ll need to proceed with caution.’
    ‘They’ll keep their mouths shut as long as they’re making money out of us.’
    Carr ignored this. ‘Is there any other traffic on the glacier?’
    ‘We know about a rescue team on a training exercise but it’s in a different sector and shouldn’t cause us any problems, sir.’
    ‘Fine. Get in touch when you find the plane.’

TÓMASARHAGI, REYKJAVÍK,
    FRIDAY 29 JANUARY, 0600 GMT
    Kristín woke up in the early hours with a sinking feeling about the day ahead. She knew the matter with the businessman was not over and that she was bound to encounter him again, maybe even later that day. Another source of worry was the knowledge that her brother was out on Vatnajökull in the middle of winter; he was experienced but you never knew how extreme the weather might become. After a bad night’s sleep, she got up shortly before six, took a quick shower and put on the coffee. Sometimes she missed having someone there to share her worries with.
    Not that she minded living alone. She had lived for three years with a man she met after coming home from university in the States, a lawyer like her. But once the honeymoon period was over he had become increasingly domineering and she was relieved not to have to put up with his overbearing behaviour any longer. He had been so different when they first met, so witty and entertaining. He used to make her laugh and spoiled her with gifts and surprises. But all that had gradually dried up once they had moved in together; he had landed his fish, and at times she felt as if he was tearing out the hook.
    Although she had always been independent, she was by nature quiet, somewhat introverted,