Again, Graf relished the power he possessed. He strode purposefully to an abandoned car and climbed in. The engine was still running. Not caring about damage to anything, he threw the car into gear. He scraped the bumper of one car while shearing off a quarter panel of his own car. He didn’t care. His entire focus was to get to the airfield.
He eased his car enough to gain clearance. Then, he slammed the gas pedal to the floor. The car shot forward. Pedestrians leapt out of the way. He came around the end of the street, passed right next to the stalled train, and headed back to the airfield.
Gunter Graf was going to have his victory.
CHAPTER 52
Part of the official US Army training program is long-distance running. Lillian Saxton excelled in that category, even besting her male counterparts. She attributed her ability to run for a long period of time to the training she had received from Kenji Tanaka. In her time at his compound, she had learned proper breathing that enabled her to channel her energies when she ran.
The moment Lillian passed the threshold of the forest, she halted, barely breathing hard. Henry, James, and Elsa stood still. The trio had stopped to catch their breath and wait for Lillian.
“Why’d you stop?”
“Waiting for you,” Henry said.
“I’m fine.” Lillian pointed at the stopped train. “They’re coming. Let’s get a move on. Stay in the woods as long as possible. Only cross empty fields when you have to. Keep bearing southwest to the airfield.”
All four set out at a run. Of all of them, Elsa had it the hardest. Her heeled shoes were taller than Lillian’s more sturdy practical ones. Elsa slipped and fell. James was there to help her. Before Elsa stood up, Lillian stopped her.
“Your shoes. Take them off.”
“But I won’t be able to run as fast.” Elsa was breathing heavily, gulping lungfuls of air.
Lillian gave her an even stare. “If you want, we can let them get closer. Then you’ll run like hell.”
James slipped one of Elsa’s shoes off her foot. “It’s the heels.” He banged the shoe against a tree. He banged again and again.
“Keep it up,” Lillian said, lacing her voice with sarcasm. “I’m not sure they have a direct line on us.”
Henry ran back. “What’s going on?”
“High heels are slowing her down.” Lillian sighed. “She won’t listen to me. You tell her.”
Henry gave Elsa a warm smile. “She’s right. And stop that banging.”
The last strike by James resulted in a crack. He brought the shoe up triumphantly, expecting to see a shoe without a heel. What he held was a shoe broken in the middle.
“Brilliant,” Lillian said.
Elsa tore off her other shoe and threw it at her husband. He blocked the shoe.
Lillian laughed.
A bullet whizzed by them and struck a nearby tree. Then they heard the gunshot.
They all ducked low.
“Where’d it come from?” Lillian asked.
Henry peered through the forest. “Can’t tell. But they had a line on us.”
Lillian shot an I-told-you-so glance at James. “Let’s move. Stay low.”
They stood. Elsa gingerly started stepping with her now bare feet. Another bullet sailing through the air made her run faster.
But they still weren’t as fast as Lillian would like. “I only saw two behind us. The woman and the man you decked.”
Henry concurred.
Lillian grinned. “Let’s even the odds.”
James said, “Do you think that’s wise?”
“You want them to catch us?”
Up ahead, the forest got thicker. A few lay fallen on the ground, rotting. Lillian saw the way. She stopped. The other three did likewise.
“Listen, James, you and Elsa keep going. You’ll be our bait.”
“What the hell?” James blurted.
“They’re not likely to kill you. Graf said so. Me and Henry, not so much. We’ll stop, hide, let the Nazis get past us and we’ll ambush them from behind.”
James opened his mouth to reply but Henry cut him off. “This isn’t a discussion. It’s our best option.”
“Keep going until you see the airfield.” Lillian continued. “We’ll be right behind you soon. Stay inside the woods. Don’t cross the airfield to the aerodrome alone. Understand?”
Nodding, James helped Elsa back into the path they had just left and started off.
“Think this will work?” Henry took a position behind a large tree.
Lillian gave him a grim smile. “It’s our best option.”
“I’m beginning to like the way you think, Miss Saxton.”
“Why thank you, Mr. Clark.”
They hushed. Not wanting to look around the tree for fear of giving away their position to the approaching Nazis, Lillian and Henry ended up craning their ears for upcoming footfalls. And they did so by looking at each other. Lillian regarded the tall British agent leaning against the tree. His clothes showed the signs of the action: torn sleeve, bloody collar, shirt half tucked in. The dark hair had fallen over his brow. He constantly swept his hands through it only to have it fall over his forehead again. His shirt was open, revealing the top of his broad chest and the dark hair that covered it. Despite their situation, she found the sight of Henry Clark quite appealing.
He frowned at her and she suddenly looked away. What kind of look had she been giving him?
She didn’t have time to think of it any longer. Footsteps approached. In another moment, a figure raced by them.
Henry leaped through the air. He landed on the running man. Both crashed to the earth in a heap. Henry recovered first. He landed a massive fist on the man’s face.
The man brought up his gun to shoot Henry. The Englishman grabbed the Nazi’s wrist and wrung the gun out of his grip. On his knees, Henry turned the gun around and made ready to shoot.
“Don’t!” Lillian hissed.
Henry twisted his head to her. “Why not?”
“The sound will bring the other one. Also, we’re supposed to be better than they are. We’ve bested him. You kill him now, it’s murder.”
“But he was about to murder us!”
“Doesn’t matter. Take him out but don’t kill him.”
Henry grunted in frustration.
A soft footfall sounded from nearby.
Lillian whirled to see what had made the sound, but she was too late.
The female Nazi stood there, gun drawn.
She fired at Henry.
CHAPTER 53
Henry tried to move out of the way, but spun with the impact of the slug. He fell to the ground, clutching his arm. He grunted in pain.
Lillian raised her gun but the Nazi already had a bead on her.
“I’m supposed to keep you alive,” the Nazi woman said in heavily accented English, “but that doesn’t mean uninjured.”
Lillian and the woman stood in the forest, each with their guns aimed at the other. “I could shoot you now,” Lillian said, “and be done with it.”
The woman angled her head in the direction she had come. “What about them? Aren’t you supposed to get them out of Belgium?” Louder, she said, “Come out.”
James and Elsa emerged from the darkening woods. James had a gash on his temple. The blood streamed down his cheek and into his eye.
“Sorry,” James said. “She caught up with us. Came from the side.”
“It’s okay.” Lillian assessed her predicament. She saw no way out. “What’s the play?” she said to the female Nazi.
“I shoot the British one and then bring the three of you to the airfield. That’s where you’re going, right?”
“You can’t.”
The Nazi frowned. “Can’t what?”
“Shoot him.”
“Why not?”
Lillian’s mind raced for an answer. It came with surprisingly speed. “Because he’s a double agent.”
The Nazi stared at Lillian. “You lie.”
“No,” James said in German, “she doesn’t.” He took a step forward. “Ursula, you know me and what I do for der Führer. This man is one of our agents. He worked undercover at our ring in Liverpool. He’s been there for nearly a year. His codename was Becker. This entire operation was ordered by Siegfried.”
“You lie!” she repeated.
“Maybe,” James said. “But don’t you think you ought to check with Graf first?”
“He never said anything about the British one being Becker.”
James shrugged. He stood a little taller, some swagger coming into his features. “Suit yourself. Makes no difference to me. You’re going to take us to Graf who will then take us back to Berlin. The American’s coming, too, I assume. She’s going to be a wonderful piece of propaganda Goebbels can use to shame the United States.” He took another step to Ursula. “What’s the problem with just waiting to see what Graf says?”
James gestured down on the ground to Henry. “He’s injured. He’s not in any state to fight back.” He then stepped slowly over to Lillian. He reached out and gently put his hand over her gun. “And we want this one alive. It’s the only way we can use her.”
Lillian looked into James’s eyes. What she saw there confused her. On the one hand, he spoke as he always had to her, back when they were dating and in love. Now, that look was laced with something else. Was he trying to take over the situation?
Or was it merely his way of guaranteeing her survival?
Slowly, Lillian let James take the gun from her. In her mind’s eye, she wanted him to turn the gun on this Ursula woman and shoot her between the eyes.
What he did was empty the cartridge into his hand. He threw it away. He then ejected the round in the chamber and let the bullet fall to the ground. Last, he threw the gun in the opposite direction of the cartridge.
“Can we go now?” James walked over to Elsa and put his arm around his wife. Together, they started walking to the airfield.
Ursula was attuned to the changing situation. The Nazi kept her eye on Lillian as she stepped over to Henry. She found his gun and kicked it away.
“Up,” she commanded. When Henry groaned, Ursula said, “Help him.”
Lillian, hands in plain sight, walked over and helped Henry to his feet. He wobbled unsteadily for a step or two, then got his legs under him. They looked at each other in the growing twilight of the woods.
Ursula got in position behind Lillian and Henry.
“What about him?” Lillian pointed down at the sprawled form of the Nazi Henry had struck.
Ursula nudged the prone man with her foot. He didn’t respond. She shrugged. “We’ll come back for him.”
“Are you serious?” Lillian asked, perplexed.
“Go.”
They went.
CHAPTER 54
Colonel Gunter Graf walked around the hangar of the aerodrome and waited. The sign painted on the facade was too difficult to read in the gathering twilight. Upon entering the structure and seeing what was inside, he remembered why this was one of the few airfields in Belgium the Luftwaffe had spared.
Lined up inside were six fixed-wing biplanes. He flipped on a light switch. Lights high atop the ceiling came on, illuminating the planes. He recognized the style. Stampe et Vertongen SV.4. They were trainer planes used to teach people how to fly or to take tourist up for a short flight. Hermann Goering didn’t consider small planes like the Stampe to be a threat, and airfields such as this one could be converted for the Reich’s use.
He strolled up to one of the planes. It was painted yellow. He ran his hands over the smooth fuselage, admiring the craftsmanship and attention to detail. He idly wondered where the designers were in Belgium and if they were to be captured, how much good they could do for the Reich.
With no active battle nearby, crickets chirped the twilight songs. The sound was cut through by Ursula’s call. “We’re here.” Her words echoed in the hangar.
Graf spun on his heel and strode forward. Across the hangar, about fifty yards away, five figures emerged from the twilight outside. He recognized James and Elsa Geiger leading the way. Lillian Saxton and Henry Clark followed. Graf took pleasure in noting the British agent held one arm. Blood had soaked his coat and shirt. Ursula brought up the rear.
“Where’s Wilhelm?” Graf asked.
“Back in the woods. This one”—Ursula lashed out and slammed her gun against Clark’s injured arm—“overtook him.”
“Dead?”
“Nein. Just knocked out. This stupid American convinced her ally to spare Wilhelm’s life.”
Gunter Graf laughed. “You Americans. Always thinking with your hearts.” He came to stand in front of Sergeant Saxton. He reached out and slapped her. “This is war! There is no room for heart in war. Didn’t I teach you anything when you were my student? Winning a war requires total commitment. Everything is on the table, ready to be sacrificed. Even your precious morality.”
“I saw enough of your morality on the train platform back in Brussels,” Saxton shot back. “Or all the people in the streets. Or the untold number your army has already killed in the invasion. At what cost victory?”
“Any cost. Any price.”
Graf looked down into Saxton’s eyes. He saw fury in them. Rage. He also saw defiance. Her jaw set, her chin forward, even now, captured as she was, his former student wasn’t backing down. He had been so used to having his underlings cower around him or soldiers such as Ursula who answered to someone else that it took Graf by surprise to see someone so actively standing up to him. Truth be told, it unnerved him a little.
She will make a great capture. The idea of using this foolish American to shame and humiliate President Roosevelt was too good to be true. “And you.” Graf turned his attention to Clark. “You’ve not fared very well. What have you to say for yourself?”
In German, Clark said, “It doesn’t matter if I lose today. The British Empire will never surrender and never fall.”
Graf chuckled. “Have you heard the reports from the front? We’ve been active for less than a week. We’ve nearly driven your precious B.E.F. to the sea. We’ve nearly split the French and the English lines. Your precious armies have nowhere to go. We will crush them on the beaches and then der Führer will dictate terms.” Graf’s voice rose in pitch and echoed through the hangar. “I’ve already alerted my commanding officer where we are. Once the Wehrmacht overtakes Antwerp tomorrow, he’ll arrive and I’ll present him his gift. And that includes the two traitors.”
James and Elsa Geiger faced him. Unlike on the train when James was stoic and Elsa afraid, now both of them looked scared but firm.
Graf wondered if Elsa could be turned now. Chances were small.
“Professor Graf,” Saxton began.
Graf whirled on his heel. “Colonel Graf, Sergeant.”
Saxton smirked. “Colonel Graf, then. I remember all your lectures. I used to love how organized you were. More than just about any other professor I had. Your teachings about military campaigns and strategies really came back to me when I joined the United States Army. You praised the military organizations and formalities of Germany, Britain in the Napoleonic Wars, and the Romans.”
“I’m pleased. It seems that my education didn’t go unnoticed.”
“You’re right,” Saxton said. “But you always left out us Americans.”
Graf gave her a mocking look. “That’s because you Americans usually stumble into victory. There’s little to be learned from your history.”
“Not true. You know what makes us formidable? We improvise.”
Gray opened his mouth to respond. He stopped when he saw something glint in Saxton’s hand. In the split second it took for his brain to process what it was, Saxton acted.
CHAPTER 55
One of the main lessons Kanji Tanaka taught a young Lillian Saxton was the art of biding one’s time. There will always be an adversary who will be impatient for victory. That will be his undoing.
After Ursula
had captured them, Lillian bided her time. All through the forced march to the airfield and into the hangar, Lillian bided her time. She tripped once, but that was on purpose. Henry reached down to help her up. Unknowingly, he shielded from Ursula’s view the subtle movement of Lillian’s hand to her dress pocket. When she stood again, Lillian thanked Henry and kept walking.
Upon reaching the hangar, she still bided her time. It was fairly simple, what with Graf reverting back to professorial mode. When he started his lecture, Lillian knew the time was close.
She stood facing Graf while he lectured. Henry was to her left and the Geigers were to the British agent’s left. Ursula stood immediately behind Lillian. Close enough.
In his arrogant tone and posture, Graf said, “That’s because you Americans usually stumble into victory. There’s little to be learned from your history.”
“Not true.” Lillian extended the fingers of her right hand. “You know what makes us formidable?” The knife she had taken from the kitchen in the embassy slid down her sleeve and into her palm. “We improvise.” Lillian turned the blade behind her and jammed it into Ursula’s thigh.
Everything happened at once.
Ursula screamed and staggered back a step.
Graf, who saw the blade a second before Lillian drove it home, unholstered his gun.
Henry, unarmed, dove on top of James and Elsa, shoving them to the ground and covering them with his body.
Lillian pivoted and ducked the expected blow from Ursula. The Nazi’s gun hand swung through empty air. Lillian rose and grabbed Ursula’s wrist and gun. She continued her upward thrust into Ursula’s body. The strike caught the Nazi off guard. Both crashed to the floor on their backs, Lillian on top of Ursula.
The move saved her life.
Graf fired half his magazine. All the bullets sailed overhead.
With her hand still on Ursula’s gun, Lillian brought the weapon around and aimed it in Graf’s direction. Forcing down Ursula’s trigger finger, Lillian managed to get off a few shots. They didn’t hit the Nazi colonel, but they forced him to duck and retreat behind one of the nearby airplanes.
Ulterior Objectives: A Lillian Saxton Thriller Page 27