Page 142 (1/2)

The sound of a piston-engined plane intruded on the silent countryside Shaisted around and looked skyward, but could see nothing The plane was flying without navigation lights He judged by the sound of the engines that it was circling at only a few hundred feet above the hill Here and there the light of a star was blotted by what Shaere parachutes

Fifteen minutes later, two shadows moved out of the trees below and clius The other was stockily built In the darkness he could have passed for a huge rolling rock His name was Eric Caldweiler, and he was former superintendent of a coal mine in Wales

"How did it go?" Shaw asked

"A perfect juus replied "They practically landed on top of nal beam The officer in command is a Lieutenant Macklin"

Shaw ignored one of the cardinal rules of undercover night operations and lit a cigarette The Ah, he reasoned "Did you find the quarry entrance?"

"You can forget about it," said Caldweiler "Half the hillside slipped away"

"It's buried?"

"Aye, deeper than a Scotsman's whiskey cellar The overburden is thicker than I care to think about"

Shaw said, "Any chance of digging through?"

Caldweder shook his head "Even if we had a giant dragline, you're talking two or three days"

"No good The Americans could show up at any time"

"Might gain entry through the portals," said Caldweiler, stoking up a curved briar pipe "Providing we can find them in the dark"

Shaw looked at him "What portals?"

"Any heavily worked cos: an escape way in case the ed, and an air ventilation shaft"

"Where do we start searching?" Shaw asked anxiously