Dark Mirror 2 - Dark Passage

by M. J. Putney

  Once they heard heavy footsteps directly overhead. They froze and Tory turned off her light until the steps moved unhurriedly away.

  She told her pulse to slow down, created another light, and they continued on to another locked door. As Tory opened it, she sensed Nick’s excitement. They must be getting close.

  Her nostrils flared when they moved into the next passage. There was a sour smell of people crowded too close together. Nick stopped in front of a massive door with a small barred slit toward the top. His gesture said, This is it!

  The old door had a new and challenging lock. Tory closed her eyes and concentrated on shifting the tumblers to the open position. Ah, there!

  She opened the door and Nick stepped inside, Tory right behind. She was startled by the number of people crowded into a small space. Ten or twelve, all women and children, all staring fearfully at the newcomers.

  “Mrs. Weiss?” Nick asked uncertainly.

  Several people caught their breaths anxiously. Then a thin, dark-haired woman with resignation in her eyes stepped forward into the light. “I’m Dr. Sarah Weiss,” she said in French. “Have you come to take me to my execution?”

  CHAPTER 30

  Cynthia cringed internally when Dr. Weiss said there were others in the building who needed rescuing, but Allarde merely said, “I knew there would be unexpected events tonight. How many and where are they?”

  “My two colleagues are here,” Dr. Weiss explained. “We worked in the same research laboratory before the war and were arrested at the same time. They are also Jewish. I fear for their safety. Can you rescue them also?”

  Allarde glanced at Jack and Cynthia. She gave a small nod while Jack said, “I don’t see why not. It will be more complicated, but not impossible.”

  “Then let us find them and release them quickly,” Allarde said.

  Dr. Weiss adjusted his improvised knapsack, which looked heavy. “I have my research notes and materials here.” He hesitated. “Their families were imprisoned with mine. Will your colleagues bring out everyone as you are doing?”

  “If they can, yes.” Allarde headed to the door. “But I can make no promises. Are any guards stationed in this building? If so, how likely are they to wake up? The more of us who are moving around, the more likely we are to be noticed.”

  “Only one man sleeps here,” Dr. Weiss replied. “A sergeant whose hearing was damaged by shell fire. He has a room by the front door, but does not wake easily.”

  “I hope you’re right. Lead us to your colleagues.”

  “I’ll use some illusion magic to age us,” Cynthia offered. “It will save having to explain how young we are.”

  Jack grinned. “A good idea. There will be time enough for them to be disbelieving about that later.”

  Cynthia laid a hand on Jack’s arm and channeled the magic to add eight or ten years. She was unsettled to realize that he’d look even better in the future than now. Turning, she did the same for Allarde and then herself while Dr. Weiss watched in amazement.

  Nerves twanging with tension, she followed the others from the cell and down the corridor opposite to free the other two scientists. Mr. Stein was a young assistant, Dr. Heller older, with salt-and-pepper hair. Allarde didn’t attempt to explain that they were being rescued by mages. That could also wait until later, when there was more time.

  For now, Dr. Weiss explained to his colleagues that these were British agents come to free them. With luck, their families would be freed at the same time. That assurance meant both men were more than willing to leave.

  The handful of minutes the researchers took to collect the few items they could carry with them seemed to take forever. How long would the power be out? Now that she’d seen the camp, Cynthia was painfully aware of how visible they would be if they didn’t have darkness to cover their escape.

  Six people made noise when they were walking, even though they were all trying to be silent. Cynthia gave a sigh of relief when they reached the front door. Allarde was opening it when a yawning soldier swung open a door on the left. He was half dressed, but carried an electric torch in his left hand and a pistol by his side.

  The beam of light swept over the magelings and escaping prisoners. After a moment of shocked disbelief, the sergeant swung his weapon up and barked, “Achtung! Halt!”

  Jack leaped forward and knocked the weapon from the soldier’s hand, but it fired before spinning into the darkness. No one was hit, but the shot was horrifically loud in the confined space.

  As the guard raised a shout, Jack slammed his fist into the man’s jaw, knocking him down, but the damage had been done. The camp had been alerted.

  “Go!” Allarde snapped. “Left toward the fence!”

  The scientists ran. Jack grabbed Cynthia’s arm. “I’m wishing you’d worn my trousers! Full speed, Cynthia!”

  She didn’t need urging. They were barely out of the building when a hair-raising siren wailed across the camp. The gunshot had been heard.

  The power station was still out, but a nearby motor engine rumbled to life and the beams of a pair of headlights blazed past the laboratory. Another engine roared to life and more headlights slashed the darkness just behind Cynthia and Jack as they slowed to pick their way over the flattened laboratory fence.

  Once they were out, Cynthia did her best to run, but her corset constricted her ribs so she couldn’t breathe deeply, her wet skirts tangled around her legs, and the continuing rain had turned the ground into a muddy swamp. Even with Jack half-carrying her, she was moving too slowly. “Jack,” she gasped, “go ahead without me!”

  “Be damned if I will!” he swore. “Keep going, sweeting, it’s not far now!”

  Ahead of them, Allarde was shepherding the scientists over the outer fence. Another engine growled behind Cynthia and Jack, and new headlights nailed the pair of them with ruthless clarity.

  Shouts sounded as German soldiers came in pursuit. Then the shooting began.

  As bullets whizzed by, Cynthia tripped and fell, crashing hard into the muddy ground. Weeping, she cried, “Jack, go!”

  He shouted, “Allarde, help Cynthia!”

  Then Jack turned to face the oncoming German soldiers.

  * * *

  “We’re not here to execute you, Dr. Weiss,” Tory said in French, thinking her female voice would be less threatening, and besides, Nick’s French wasn’t good. “We are English agents here to help you escape to England. Another team is freeing your husband as well.”

  Sarah Weiss gasped. In English, she said, “This is the truth? You are not SS agents who are tormenting me?”

  Tory smiled and brightened her light. “Do we look like the SS?”

  The scientist looked Tory and Nick over. “To be honest,” she said, still in English, “you look like friends of my children.”

  “We are young,” Nick said, “but young agents are effective because we don’t know enough to be afraid.”

  “That sounds … real,” Sarah Weiss said. “If you have a way out of this castle, I will gladly risk it. But…” She gestured at the others in the crowded room.

  A young dark-haired boy came to stand close and she wrapped an arm around him. Her son, presumably. A baby coughed wearily in its young mother’s arms. The oldest person was a white-haired, grandmotherly woman.

  A girl about Tory’s age moved forward into the light. She had dark hair and riveting gray-green eyes. “All here are family members of other scientists working with my father,” she said in English. “We will be shipped to Germany within a matter of days. Can you free us all?”

  Tory realized three things simultaneously. The girl had magic, Nick was staring at her as if she were an angel descended from on high, and this must be the complication Allarde had sensed. Though they’d considered different possibilities, having to rescue more people hadn’t been one of them.

  Sarah Weiss gasped, as did several others who must understand English. “Rebecca, what makes you say this?”

  Rebecca dropped he
r eyes. “I heard the commandant speaking outside the door, Mother. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to upset anyone.”

  Rebecca was lying, Tory realized. Not about the commandant’s intentions, but how she’d learned them. It would be interesting to know why.

  Her mother turned to Tory and Nick. “Can you take us all out?”

  “A secret tunnel runs from the cellars down to ground level. After that, we have to walk a couple of miles.” Nick’s gaze moved over the captives, lingering on the white-haired woman. “It is not a great distance, but it might be hard for some.”

  The old woman said in German-accented English, “Don’t worry about me, lad. I am stronger than I look.”

  “Good. We don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

  The young woman who held the coughing baby asked, “Will the other men be rescued with Dr. Weiss? We were told they were all imprisoned in the laboratory. My husband…”

  “As we are willing to help your fellow prisoners, our friends will surely do the same for the other researchers if they can,” Nick said to them all, but his gaze returned to Rebecca Weiss. Tory suspected that Rebecca had much to do with the fierce intuition that had driven Nick to risk his life on this mission.

  Sarah Weiss turned and spoke to the others in French. The crowded room surged with excitement and people moved to the door. They had few if any possessions to collect. A young girl moved to the side of the white-haired woman to help her. The old woman might be frail, but her expression was grimly determined.

  As the room cleared out, Tory saw a door in the opposite wall with a large window in it. Curious, she crossed the cell and opened the door, then gasped with shock. It opened onto a narrow balcony on the face of the cliff with a sheer drop below.

  As the wind whipped around her, she instinctively stepped back. Far below, an eerie siren began to wail. She prayed that Allarde and his team had escaped with the scientists by now.

  Sarah Weiss joined her, laying a steadying hand on Tory’s arm. “You see why Rebecca didn’t reveal that we were about to be shipped to Germany,” she said quietly. “One of our number might choose to end it all here in a moment of despair.”

  Tory stepped forward, gripping the balcony railing with both hands. Even for someone who could fly, the drop before her was unnerving. “Did anyone jump during your imprisonment?”

  “No, but I’ll wager that most of us at least thought about the advantages of a quick end,” the older woman said bluntly. “Conditions have been difficult. If we were shipped to Germany, I doubt any of us would survive this cursed war.”

  Chilled, Tory sensed that Dr. Weiss was right. This war had just begun, and unimagined horrors lay ahead. “Do you think you were all locked up in this particular room to encourage suicide?”

  The other woman’s mouth twisted mirthlessly. “It was Colonel Heinrich’s little joke. He said that we weren’t imprisoned, we could leave whenever we wished.”

  A vehicle’s lights sprang to life in the camp below. Time was passing. Tory said, “Then it’s fortunate that we arrived when we did. Soon you’ll be safe in England.”

  “Safer, anyhow.” Dr. Weiss left the balcony and headed toward the corridor. “England may fall. But for at least a little while, we will be free. And God willing, I shall see Daniel again.”

  In the corridor outside, Nick had created a moderately bright light. No one seemed to notice that it didn’t come from an electric torch.

  Tory did a head count. Ten people: Three adult women who were wives of the imprisoned scientists, one grandmother, and six children ranging in age from the babe in arms to Rebecca Weiss. Most of the children were old enough to walk on their own out of the castle, though the smaller ones might need to be carried part of the way to the cave.

  “Move quickly but quietly,” Nick said in a low voice. He scooped up the smallest toddler. “We saw no one coming here, and with luck we’ll see no one leaving.”

  Turning, he led the way back with Tory bringing up the rear with another light. The group was halfway down the last stretch of corridor that led to the storeroom when a side door swung open and a German soldier carrying a rifle emerged from a stairwell.

  The soldier flipped a switch by the door, and the tunnel lights sprang to life. The camp’s generator had been repaired.

  As Tory blinked from the sudden glare, the soldier stopped at the sight of the fugitives, then jerked his rifle to his shoulder and barked, “Achtung!”

  “No!” Nick snapped his revolver up, holding it with both hands to steady his aim, and fired. The gunshot was deafening in the narrow passage.

  As the soldier pitched to the floor and Nick watched, aghast at what he’d done, Elspeth burst from the storeroom. “Is anyone hurt?”

  In the same instant, a little boy screamed and raced past Tory back along the corridor. She made a grab, but he was gone before she could stop him.

  “I … I may have killed this soldier, Elspeth,” Nick stammered.

  As the group churned in confusion, Rebecca pivoted and bolted after the little boy. “Aaron is running off! I’ll bring him back.”

  Sensing possible disaster, Tory sprinted after them. “Nick, Elspeth, get everyone away!” she called. “I’ll collect Rebecca and the little boy and follow. If we’re separated, I’ll meet you back at the cave!”

  Elspeth knelt by the fallen soldier. “Be careful, Tory.”

  She laid a hand on the man’s bleeding side. He moaned and rolled his head, his helmet falling off. He looked little older than Nick. “This wound isn’t mortal,” Elspeth said. “I’ll stop the bleeding and then we’re gone.”

  Tory reached the first set of doors, cursing herself for not locking them behind her. If she had, the boy couldn’t have run any farther.

  She flung the doors back and followed Rebecca, catching up with her halfway down the corridor. Ahead, their small quarry disappeared around a corner. He seemed to be running back to the familiarity of his cell. “What frightened Aaron so badly?” Tory asked between gasps for breath.

  “Nazis, the SS, broke into his home and murdered his family,” Rebecca said grimly. “Aaron hid and they didn’t find him, but he saw his parents and brother die. Gunshots and German uniforms panic him.” Rebecca was visibly tiring, worn out by imprisonment and not enough food. “His aunt and uncle, the Hellers, took him in. She’s the redheaded woman. I often rock Aaron to sleep when he cries at night.”

  “Soon he’ll be safe,” Tory said reassuringly. Privately she qualified the statement to if they managed to get away from the castle and back to the mirror.

  The child had run almost all the way back to the room where he’d been imprisoned by the time they caught up with him. Rebecca swooped him up in her arms, crooning reassurances in French.

  At first Aaron sobbed frantically, but his tears diminished as they headed back toward the storeroom at a fast walk. Since it would be slow going to get the whole group through the tunnel, they should easily catch up.

  Tory opened the doors to the last corridor just as armed troops poured out of the stairway used by the single soldier earlier. She gasped and instantly retreated, but it was too late. She had been seen.

  A shout was raised and several soldiers began pounding down the corridor after them. Tory slammed and locked the doors, giving thanks that the soldiers didn’t seem inclined to shoot two girls and a little boy. Yet.

  Expression terrified, Rebecca said, “Is there another way out of the castle?”

  Tory’s heart sank. There was no good place to hide, and she didn’t know how to get up to ground level and out of the castle, much less down the road that ran up the back of the escarpment. “Yes,” she said reluctantly. “But it will be frightening.”

  She would have to take Rebecca and Aaron off the balcony and down the cliff.

  CHAPTER 31

  When Allarde raced back in swift response to Jack’s call, Cynthia gasped, “Please, help Jack! He’s committing suicide!”

  Cynthia struggled to re
gain her footing, her gaze on Jack. He looked horribly vulnerable silhouetted against the headlights with his hands raised in surrender as a dozen armed soldiers charged at him.

  “I can’t!” Allarde said, agonized. “I have to get you and the scientists away, or we’re all doomed.” He caught Cynthia under her arms and lifted her to her feet.

  She whimpered as the first soldiers reached Jack and threw him to the ground. But he wasn’t helpless, she realized as Allarde pulled her toward the fallen fence. “Jack is doing weather magic! I think he’s trying to raise a waterspout from the lake.”

  “Then help him while we run,” Allarde said grimly. “He’s sacrificing himself to give us a better chance to escape. Don’t waste it!”

  Cynthia turned and ran blindly, guided by Allarde’s supportive arm while she concentrated on joining her weather magic to Jack’s. The lake was nowhere near as good a source as the turbulent English Channel, but with Cynthia’s help, Jack might be able to raise a waterspout.

  She stumbled going over the fallen main fence, but Allarde’s grip kept her upright. Lights flared behind them and she realized that the generator must have been repaired. They’d left the camp in the nick of time.

  As Allarde steered her into the shadows where the scientists waited, she looked back over her shoulder. The spotlights were sweeping along the fence again, and every light in the camp was blazing, turning night into day.

  The lights illuminated a massive tower of water rising from the lake like a mythic sea monster. She heard gasps from Dr. Weiss and the others as the column spun out of the lake and across the compound.

  The spout fell apart quickly once it left the water, turning into a tidal wave that crashed along the line of the fence. Vehicles and buildings flooded, creating chaos. It would take time for the Germans to regroup and come after the escaped prisoners.

  “They’re going to organize themselves faster than we’d like, so we need to get away while we can,” Allarde said sharply. “Staring at the compound isn’t going to help.”