by Mary Wood
‘I know, but there’s something I have to tell you.’ How could he do this without letting Ginny know that he knew how she felt about him? Or, more importantly, without hurting her even more? ‘I wanted to tell you that had things been different – I mean, you and I . . . But I couldn’t let that kind of love in.’ Her eyes held hope. His next words crushed her. ‘Something happened. I didn’t mean it to. I – I’m really sorry Ginny, but I’ve fallen in love with Leah.’
Her gasp was audible, her pain visible. Brendan waited, unsure what to do and feeling like a cad.
The chair scraped along the floor as she rose. The sound grated on him. There had been no easy way, but had he chosen the worst way? He hadn’t meant to raise Ginny’s hopes, only to let her know that he could have loved her in that way, were they free to do so.
She rushed past him, her face awash with tears, and slammed out of the room. Oh, Ginny, Ginny. What have I done?
Dinner was more than he expected, as full dishes of meat, vegetables and potatoes were put on the table. It seemed rationing hadn’t fully restricted the Pevensy household. Brendan wondered how Edith and Laurent could reconcile being able to laden a table with so much food with their charity work at Jimmy’s Hope House. But then he was cross with himself, as he realized they had probably used half of their weekly allocation of food, just to make him a welcome guest in the way they always did.
They had talked about Ginny, and how Edith had helped her come to an understanding, and how Lady Eloise had been a source of comfort to Ginny, too. This settled Brendan’s heart a little, but nothing could totally soothe the ache there.
Edith was animated and was making jokes, after reassuring him that Ginny was all right. But for Brendan this compounded the horror of the secret he held about Ania – a secret that would definitely be revealed when Elka next came home. He wished he knew when that would be, but now that she was working for the Resistance movement as an SOE agent, he wasn’t privy to all her movements.
‘Is there any news on Jhona?’
‘No, Laurent, I’m afraid not. Elka is fine and coping. She is one of the bravest people I have ever met. Look, I want to tell you something. Normally families who have someone working as an agent in the field don’t know about it; they only know that their daughter or son is doing some kind of war work. And they receive cards on a regular basis. All of these have been written before the agents were deployed and are sent out by the War Office on a regular basis. But because you are who you are, and are so well respected and trusted by my seniors, I asked them not to do this with Elka. I think it is a deception that would insult you rather than help you. I am allowed to tell you that she contacts us regularly. But I’m afraid she isn’t allowed to write to you, for it would be too dangerous for her.’
In the silence that followed, the sounds of their knives and forks were like cymbals being crashed together as they all made a play at eating. Red spots of anger tinged Aunt Edith’s cheeks. Her voice didn’t disguise this. ‘And what has Leah decided to do?’
Even though he’d known this question would be raised, hearing her name twisted the knife-like pain inside his heavy chest. ‘She has decided to go.’
‘No! Oh, this is all unbearable.’
‘As it was for our parents, Edith darling, and as it is for all parents today, and for Brendan, too. We must remain strong for our young, who have many difficulties still to come, and do all we can to help here at home.’
Edith nodded at Laurent. Her face was pale and pinched, her suffering visible in every line. But then her voice held a determined finality. ‘Well, that has made a decision that I have been pondering over much easier. The Sisters of Mercy at St Bartholomew’s Convent in Sussex contacted me recently. Sister Frances, who works as a midwife and is attached to the local Catholic Church, told them about us. They have asked if they can be involved in Jimmy’s Hope House. They are looking for more outlets for their work. I’m going to hand it over to them. I will remain a trustee, as I know Lady Eloise will, but I can’t sustain the place as it is, and losing my mainstays – in Ginny and Leah – has compounded that. Besides, I am needed more and more at the hospital. But I will make it clear that the proposed memorial to Ada has to go ahead, after all this is over.’
‘That’s a momentous decision, darling. I’m a bit cross that you haven’t discussed it with me, but nevertheless I think it’s a wonderful idea. Will you have any practical involvement at all?’
‘No, except to raise funds. But Lady Eloise will do most of that, although I thought that if I did go through with this, I would try to persuade a team of doctors to give an hour a month to keep the free surgery open. So I would be one of those doctors.’
The conversation carried on for a few moments in this vein between Aunt Edith and Laurent, with most of it going over Brendan’s head. All he could give his mind to was Leah: how she would cope with the training, and how soon she would be deployed. What was to come filled him with trepidation. But his one shining light in all this was that she had told him she loved him, too.
26
Elka
Krakow, Early August 1940 – A Mission Impossible
Elka finally arrived at the camp where she expected to find Jhona. He wasn’t there, and there was no talk of him. Her heart hung like a lead weight in her chest; her grief was more than she thought it possible to cope with. Only the thought of being with Jhona had kept her going. It had taken all her strength to keep from breaking down and telling her mother everything, but if she had done so, she knew she couldn’t have made this journey. Her mother’s devastation would have compounded her own. As it was, being back here and with Baruch once again, and plagued with suspicions about everyone around her, was tearing her apart.
Looking across at Baruch, as he sat on the other side of the cave perched on a rock, she found it difficult to see signs of grief. Some of the dislike she’d felt for him in the past had come back to her, and once more she saw the callous, driven man she’d always thought him to be, although she kept this out of her voice when dealing with him. ‘Baruch, it’s time we discussed strategies. The exiled leaders of our country are to take charge of operations, but we will be supported by the team in London, who want to know what we need.’
Talking about clandestine operations was safe ground. Elka needed Baruch and his men to trust her, and hoped this would mean that their guard would drop and she would find out who the traitor amongst them was.
‘We are waiting for the Freedom Army to contact us. We know about our leadership through them. Until they give us directions, we have to remain holed up and undiscovered.’
Baruch stared out at the view, like a statue with no feeling. The Tatra Mountains looked beautiful through the haze. They didn’t tell of the horror they looked down upon, or of the Resistance movement hidden in their midst, but stood majestic and solid, promising a better time to come.
‘Baruch, won’t you talk to me about what happened? Have you any suspicions? Have you heard whether anything has happened to Stefan?’
There was a long silence before Baruch said, ‘Walk with me.’
The path they took led further up the mountain. The dusty surface of the rough track had not been disturbed. ‘Not many people come this way. The odd peasant or gypsy, hiding away from the Germans, may use it, but they are harmless. From a point up here we can watch German troops training. It’s frustrating not to be able to take action against them, but we have to be cautious. If we do anything, we give ourselves away.’
‘What are your plans then, Baruch? You haven’t been active for a long time now. London wants the Resistance movements to get organized, but it is frustrated, too, by the Polish government-in-exile wanting to hold all of the reins.’
‘Yes, I can imagine. It feels as if we have reached a stalemate, and yet there is so much to do. The Germans are building a camp at Auschwitz. They have taken forced labour from Krakow and Warsaw. One of our number deliberately went to Warsaw and into the streets there during a round-
up and was captured. He was taken to Auschwitz, and his aim is to set up a Resistance movement within the camp. He managed to get out some intelligence about the building of the camp and the atrocities that go on there. Many inmates are beaten to death and . . . and there is extermination by shooting. Our people are being persecuted beyond endurance.’
‘Oh God. We have to get this information to London. But, well . . . I don’t know why, but nothing we have told them so far has been acted upon. What about Stefan? What happened to him?’
‘Stefan is free. I – I put my trust in the wrong one. He is the traitor you seek. He betrayed our beautiful Ania. He now works for the Germans as a trustee – a security guard.’ Baruch spat on the ground and his tone became bitter. ‘That was his reward. Now he terrorizes his fellow Jews. The planning for the ghetto that Ania told us about is in its final stages.’
Elka walked with her head down, unable to absorb everything she was hearing. Her fight to remain strong took all the willpower she could muster.
‘You’re right, Elka, we have to do something! My heart burns with the desire to kill Stefan, but I can’t formulate a plan as to how to do that.’
‘I will do it. I will go to Krakow. You must help me – provide me with a contact. A job, or something that will legitimize my presence.’
‘But Stefan will recognize you. You will be in grave danger.’
‘Is he still in touch with you?’
‘Yes. We thought it better to keep him on our side, even though we all hate him. He’s playing a double game, and for some reason it suits him to keep in with us and still try to get information out to us. We thought he would betray our group and where we are hiding out, but he hasn’t. All that I have told you came from him. I don’t think he suspects that we know what he’s up to. He justifies everything, but others are informing on him.’
‘That’s good. He knows about my visits and my connections, so he will think he can use me, as he used Ania. The difference will be that I know what his game is, and Ania didn’t. It is risky, but if Stefan is kept informed about me coming into Krakow to take over where Ania left off, then he will feel completely trusted by us. As for his plans and why he remains in contact with you, he obviously doesn’t trust the Germans, so he is keeping you as a means of escape for himself, should things go wrong. If I’m right about this, then you are still safe, because betraying you would be the last thing he’d want to do.’
‘I hope so. I’ll set something up, so that you can go into Krakow.’
‘Baruch, this may sound strange to you, but I don’t want any of the others to know about this. I don’t trust any of them since . . . Well, we have to take care. If one of them lets Stefan know the real reason I’m here, then we are doomed. They must believe that I am going in to take Ania’s place, and nothing else.’
‘I understand, and I was going to suggest that myself. Elka, you do trust me, don’t you? You don’t believe that I had anything to do with Ania’s death?’
‘I have had my doubts. But I have to trust you.’ Suddenly she realized that she had regained her full trust in him, although she couldn’t have said why. ‘Yes, I do trust you, Baruch. I have been taught to trust no one, but I know of your patriotism, and how strong it is. I know that you will always work for the good of Poland.’ As she said this, she knew that he had the capacity to betray the ones he loved, if it was for the greater good of Poland and the cause, for his country’s freedom. So she left open the question of whether he had permitted Ania’s death, once she was captured, and schooled herself in the knowledge that he would do the same to her, if she became a danger to his beloved country. Other than in those circumstances, she knew she could trust Baruch implicitly.
Four days passed before Baruch took her on another walk. He’d had word from his contact, a pharmacist called Adok Górski, whose shop, Orzeł Powyżej – meaning ‘Eagle Above’ – was on the corner of Sgoda Square. Adok was willing to give Elka a job as an assistant. She knew Adok well. He was a kindly man in his forties.
Adok, Baruch told her, had been helping the Jews from the moment of the invasion and the restrictions imposed on their people, even though he himself was not a Jew. False documents were provided, and escape was enabled from the back of his pharmacy. Medicines and food were distributed from there, and social interaction – a kind of ‘men’s club’ – had grown up there in the evening, where men could discuss their fears and talk over world affairs.
The Germans seemed to trust Adok, and many of them dropped in for a chat or to buy medicines from him. ‘Adok is the one who is sending information about Stefan, although Stefan knows nothing about Adok’s clandestine work. Adok hasn’t trusted Stefan from the beginning, and asked that his own involvement be kept secret from Stefan. I went along with his wishes, even though I didn’t believe it. How I wished I did.’
‘That is good. What Stefan doesn’t know, he can’t betray. When you tell Stefan that I’m coming in, tell him that I’m using Adok. Tell Stefan that, unbeknownst to you, I wrote to Adok, a family friend, and asked him to accept me into his home. Tell him that I have London’s backing to take Ania’s place and that I intend to do whatever it takes – even work in a brothel – if it means that I can get close enough to the Germans to get secrets out.’
‘You will need to be disguised, Elka,’ Baruch told her. ‘You may come across the officer who abused Ania, or colleagues that she worked with. You must not be recognized. If you are, then Adok will be in danger.’
‘I have a black wig with me; it is parted in the middle and cut to my neck, in a straight bob. It’s made of real hair. And I have make-up that disguises my freckles. Also a pair of glasses that have plain glass in them. Even I don’t know myself when I have these items on. Believe me, being recognized is the least of my worries. Stefan is a major worry. Are you certain that he believes you trust him?’
‘Yes. He sent word saying that he was initially held under suspicion, when Ania went missing, but that the Germans decided to make him prove that he was loyal and then took him on as a security guard. He said he didn’t tell them of the escape route, but admitted to betraying another of our couriers, a boy whom he suspected was a weak link. He said he told the Germans that he was always on the lookout for suspicious people; and that he was trusted enough to have secret conversations within his hearing, and that’s how he knew of the activities this boy carried out. He swears he did this just to ingratiate himself with the Germans, and that he hadn’t thought the boy would betray the escape route used by us. We know all this isn’t true. Adok has sent word that Stefan had handed the boy in, after Ania was killed. Stefan must have betrayed her.’
‘I have always felt mistrustful of him and despised his cruelty and callousness, which Ania told me about in her letters. Stefan’s actions didn’t feel right, no matter how he tried to justify them. Oh, I know you believed he had to act that way, so don’t blame yourself. People like Stefan can make the Eskimos believe that the sun is going to shine in the middle of their dark season. But that is terrible news about the courier. What if he betrays you?’
‘He doesn’t know enough to do that. The poor boy only carried messages as far as the outskirts. He and his father were shepherds. Once they reached their first grazing stage at the bottom of the mountains, they were met by Karol.’
At the sound of Karol’s name, Elka shivered. In her heart she hadn’t forgiven him, and still questioned why he had gone along with Gabriel, when commanded to throw the hand-grenades. Karol must have agreed, and felt it necessary to kill Ania. But these questions might never be answered, and she had to work towards the future without dwelling on the past.
‘Stefan included a private message for me in his last communication,’ Baruch was saying. ‘It expressed his full sympathy and deep regret for what happened to Ania. He begged my forgiveness for misjudging the boy he’d handed in. He said he didn’t think the boy knew of our secret route in and out of Krakow, and implored me to think about what can be achieved, with him in
the position he now occupies: the Jews he can help to escape; how he can allocate them to factories, where they will work and therefore be spared; how he can ensure that they are secretly fed; and how he can get information to us.’
‘He is despicable. I will kill him – have no doubt about that.’
‘But what if he doesn’t trust you and hands you in? Oh, Elka, this situation is hopeless. He holds all the cards.’
‘I don’t think he will hand me in,’ said Elka. ‘He is probably unsure whether you still trust him. If he betrays me, he will show his true colours to you. He wouldn’t want to risk that. I think Stefan is all about saving his own skin and riding out this war in the most comfortable way he can. For that, he needs all the angles covered. As I said before, if the Germans turn on him, he needs you and the Freedom Army to help him. If the Germans continue to trust him, then he can live safely and in comfort until it is all over. Besides, when the war is over and we are the victors, he will not want to be seen as a traitor. Stefan is a very clever man.’
‘I hope you are right. I wish you didn’t have to do this, but I see no other way. Stefan knows we are all keeping a low profile. He also knows that we have no route in at the moment, and has promised to find us another one. So it is impossible for any of us to go into Krakow.’
‘I will be all right. I have the benefit of my training. We will find another route in. I’ll speak to Adok about it.’
‘Well, if you are sure, then everything is ready. You will go to Krakow by train. Adok will meet you. He is already putting the news out that he has a new assistant coming to train with him. The story is that your family – old friends of his – were bombed out in Warsaw, and that you were away in college at the time and have been staying with a family in a mountain village. He has even bragged about you to the Germans and has joked with them, telling them that they will have him to contend with, if they try to assault you in any way. He is very funny in his communications. He says that they have all promised solemnly to respect you, but ask eager questions about what you look like.’