OPERATION GETAWAY

This account, in the first person, of the attempt by a British secret agent to smuggle out the 12 year old son of a Polish atomic scientist from behind the Iron Curtain is brave as well as bold, and manages a maximum of split-second excitement. Parachuting down on Poznina soil, Grant was first sighted by a young man on a bicycle (whom he knocked out), and then- to evade a large patrol of soldiers- found himself- literally- up a tree, but came down to be taken prisoner. Once jailed, he disposed of the guard and escaped in his clothes, to reach the house of the boy's uncle- and from there- in a truck loaded with pigs- to Jan's home. A dead man provided a second alias, and with Jan- who proved a cool collaborator- they reached a farmhouse where, in the outlet of a water tank, they escaped the pursuant PKW (the secret police). Jan, with a bad ankle, slowed the journey- but a freight train took them to their next stop- an inn- where they were betrayed- and again on the run, they were helped to the border by a smuggler who was to die on the way. Finally, on skis, they crossed the frontier- but not before a bullet had found its target- in Grant.... A touch and very much on the go affair, assisted by aplomb and favored by chance.