“It’s now quarter to three,” he said to them. “Check your weapons one last time. Leave behind everything except for your guns, knives, and explosives. Is that clear?”

The men nodded. They looked nervous. Lockhart tried not to show that he felt similarly.

“Are you sure you know what to do, Manoli?”

“Quite sure. As soon as you have got rid of the patrol, we’ll come down to the wire to join you.”

Manoli gripped Lockhart by the shoulders.

“Good luck. I’ll either see you in a few minutes or never again,” the Cretan said.

At first, Lockhart wanted to make the obvious joke, but he stopped himself.

“Thanks, Manoli. Good luck too.”

Niko and Christos signaled that they were ready. Lockhart checked himself over one last time, and the three men went up to the edge of the ditch.

The guards had come back around to the near side of the fence again. They seemed relaxed—one of them was smoking a cigarette, and their laughter drifted up the hill. Lockhart handed the binoculars to Christos.

“Do you see your man, Christos? Yours is the one nearest us, the one with the cigarette.”

Christos nodded and passed the binoculars to Niko.

“The dog is going to be hard, Niko,” Lockhart said. “Are you all right to deal with it?”

“It shouldn’t be too difficult,” Niko replied. “I just need to bash its head with my gun.”

“And can you both see where we’re going to hide, the small bushes near the corner of the fence?”

The men exchanged the binoculars, and muttered silently to themselves. They nodded to Lockhart. Their eyes were wide open.

The guards were nearing the far corner, about to turn away and out of sight.

“Move when I move,” Lockhart ordered.

He watched as the men rounded the corner. As soon as he saw the last glint from their helmets, he stood up and started running down the slope. His heart was beating maniacally, and his legs felt peculiarly shaky as he did his best not to trip. He heard Christos and Niko behind him, their breath coming in sharp bursts. They seemed to be making a racket, but nothing stirred within the compound.

The bushes were getting closer now, and Lockhart thought they looked inadequate. Surely they would be spotted immediately! He consoled himself that the guards were probably feeling too relaxed to be observant, and it was movement that was noticed at night, not shapes. So long as they kept still, they should be safe.

They made it to the bushes in just over a minute. They slid down onto the stony surface, sharp pebbles digging into their stomachs and chests. Lockhart estimated they would now have a five-minute wait until the guards came around again. He looked down the length of the fence in the direction from which they would be walking.