by CW Browning
“Here’s to a speedy end to this war,” she said, raising her full glass, “and to our brothers, who will do their part to help bring it to a close.”
Anna raised her glass with a smile.
“To the brothers!” She drank, then set her glass down. “Tomorrow, I will hunt down Sylvia, the nurse I was talking about. Shall we meet for lunch?”
“Yes, okay,” Evelyn agreed, picking up her knife and fork and preparing to cut into her fish. “I plan on spending the morning getting more acquainted with Oslo. By lunch I will be more than ready to get back to work.”
Anna grinned. “Enjoy your morning off,” she said. “You’ve earned it.”
“I don’t know about that, but I am looking forward to taking a few hours and spending it sightseeing,” Evelyn said with a smile. “The last time I was here, I didn’t have the chance at all.”
“Well, now you will! And just think, you won’t have any Germans right behind you!”
Evelyn laughed despite herself.
“Thank heavens for that!”
Chapter Seventeen
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April 9
12:15am
Evelyn’s eyes flew open and her heart leapt into her throat as she came awake with a start. The room was dark, with only a faint glow coming from the hearth where the embers still smoldered orange in the dying fire, and she sat up quickly, her heart pounding. She had no idea what time it was, or even what had awakened her so abruptly from a deep sleep. Shaking her head to try to clear the lingering fogginess caused by a deep slumber, she frowned, listening. Something had pulled her from sleep. What?
As soon as the thought entered her head, she jumped as a knock fell on the door to her room. With a soft gasp, she threw the covers off and got out of bed, her heart pounding once again. Who on earth was knocking at her door in the middle of the night?
Grabbing her dressing gown from where it lay across the foot of the bed, she pulled it on quickly, tying it tightly around her waist as she went across the room to the door.
“Yes?” she called.
“Miss Elfman, it’s Mrs. Kolstadt,” a voice called softly through the door.
Evelyn exhaled and threw back the bolt, opening the door quickly. Else stood in the darkened corridor clad in a dressing gown, her hair covered by an old-fashioned sleeping cap. Beside her stood Anna, bundled in the same winter coat she had been wearing earlier with a hat over her dark hair. Evelyn gaped in surprise at the two women standing there.
“Is everything all right?” she asked, looking from one to the other. “Anna, what are you doing here?”
“No, everything isn’t all right,” Anna replied. “Can we come in?”
Evelyn nodded and stepped back quickly.
“Of course! I’m sorry. I’m still half asleep. Come in!”
They stepped inside and Evelyn closed the door behind them before turning to go across the room to switch on the lamp. As soon as light filled the room, she turned to look at them.
“Marlene, you have to pack quickly,” Else told her urgently, her voice strained. “You must leave!”
Evelyn stared at her. “Leave? What are you talking about?”
“Peder is downstairs,” Anna said, unbuttoning her coat and looking around the room. “There are German warships approaching Oslo. They are outside the Fjord now, but they’re undoubtedly heading into Oslo. Where is your suitcase?”
“How...how do you know?”
“Peder got a message today from Kristian. He came to my apartment shortly after I arrived home tonight,” Anna explained. “Kristian was able to piece together enough from numerous radio messages to determine that a German invasion force is on its way. When Peder found out, he began monitoring radio traffic as well. He heard from a friend in Horten that large ships passed there not three hours ago.”
“Marlene, dear, you must hurry,” Else told her, walking over to her and grabbing her hand. “If the Germans are coming, you must leave! You can still make it to the border with Sweden, but only if you leave now.”
Evelyn stared at the older woman, trying desperately to think clearly. Her mind was clamoring to make sense of what she was hearing. Even though she had suspected it was coming, hearing the confirmation now was almost surreal.
“Yes,” she said, forcing herself to focus. “Yes, of course.”
“Suitcase?” Anna prompted.
“It’s under the bed.” Evelyn took a deep, ragged breath and turned towards the bed.
“I will help you pack,” Anna said, turning towards the wardrobe.
“I’ll go downstairs and tell the young man you will be down shortly,” Else said, turning to the door. “Hurry!”
She went out the door, closing it softly behind her, and Evelyn blinked. With the closing of the door, the fog in her brain seemed to evaporate and she gasped softly as the severity of the situation suddenly became clear to her.
“How do we know that this isn’t a false alarm?” she asked, pulling the suitcase out and lifting it onto the bed.
“We don’t,” Anna admitted, coming away from the wardrobe with an armful of skirts and blouses. “Although, I don’t see what else German ships would be doing coming up Oslofjord, do you?”
Evelyn took one of the warmer skirts from Anna and tossed it onto the foot of the bed before turning to go to the wardrobe to pull out a blouse and sweater to wear with it.
“I suppose not,” she admitted. “I don’t know why I’m so taken aback. We knew it was coming.”
Anna glanced at her. “I don’t think either of us expected it to happen tonight,” she replied, quickly folding the clothes she’d taken from the wardrobe and setting them in the suitcase. “I know I didn’t.”
Evelyn dressed quickly, her mind spinning, while Anna pulled the rest of the clothes from the wardrobe. Not only could she not be here when the Germans came into the city, but she had to get out of Norway before they closed the borders. The Gestapo and SS were already aware of her and what she looked like. She had to get out before they knew she was here. But could she reach the border in time?
“Can I make it to the Swedish border?” she asked, bending to slip on her shoes.
“Peder has his car, so it’s possible,” Anna said. “Let’s make sure the threat is real, although I’m sure it is, and then we’ll decide which is the best way to go.”
“How will we do that?”
“I know a place on the edge of the city that overlooks Oslofjorden. If there are ships, we’ll be able to see them from there.”
Evelyn nodded and stood up, crossing to the desk next to the window. She opened her square toiletries case and began packing her toiletries away quickly. Strangely, her hands were steady and she realized with a start that her heart was beating normally. The shock had worn off already, and in its place was a quiet sense of purpose. It was time to move. She had known this could happen, and now that it had, she seemed almost prepared.
“And Peder?”
“He said he will help get you out of Norway.” Anna looked up from the suitcase with a faint smile. “And that he is now willing to trade information to the British.”
Evelyn nodded curtly and finished packing her belongings into the toiletries case. She closed and locked it, then turned to look at Anna. The other woman was just closing the suitcase.
“Thank you.”
Anna nodded. “Don’t mention it. Now, is that everything? There’s nothing left?”
Evelyn looked around and shook her head, reaching for her coat.
“No, that’s everything. I travel light.”
“Thank God for that. The less we have to get out of the country, the easier it will be.” Anna lifted the case off the bed and turned towards the door. “I brought one case with me and crammed it with everything I could fit. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back for the rest.”
Evelyn looked at he
r sympathetically. “What will you do?”
Anna shrugged. “Go to my parents. They are near Trollheimen. Beyond that, I don’t know. I’ll worry about that later. Right now, let’s get you out of Oslo.”
Evelyn nodded and they turned towards the door.
“We need to move quietly,” she said. “If none of the other guests have woken already, I don’t want to wake them now.”
“If the Germans are in Oslofjorden, they’ll be woken soon enough,” Anna said, reaching for the door. “But I agree. Let’s get you out of here and leave the others to their own fate.”
2 am
Evelyn stared through the binoculars and felt her blood run cold. She pressed her lips together, her heart thudding in her chest. She counted three...no, four large, silent ships in the water beyond the opening to inner Oslofjord. The dark shapes were unmistakable in the moonlight, and their very silence was more ominous than if they had their guns blazing.
“Not a false alarm, then,” she murmured, studying the ships. “What are they waiting for?”
“Dawn,” Anna said. “At least, that’s my guess. The German ambassador will have to issue a statement to our government. They won’t do anything until then.”
Evelyn lowered the binoculars and glanced at Peder, leaning over his radio a few feet away.
“Did your friend say anything about more ships passing?” she asked him.
He looked up and shook his head. “He only mentioned those. That was a few hours ago, though. More may have gone by him since then.”
Evelyn handed the binoculars back to Anna and stared pensively out over the dark fjord.
“There could be many more behind them,” Anna said.
“I’m sure there are,” Evelyn said, turning away from the rise and looking at her. “They’ll land forces all up the western coast, not just in Oslo.” She looked at Peder again. “Will you be able to reach London?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying. Before I left, I made a crystal for the radio with your frequency. It will help, and make any connection more stable. Do you know that someone will be there to receive it?”
“Yes. Someone will receive it. We just won’t get an answer right now.” She shook her head and glanced back over the dark water far below them. “By the time they find out what’s happening, I have to be well away from here. I think Sweden is the only real option. After we get through to London, how quickly can we reach the border?”
“A couple of hours,” Peder replied.
“Good. I just might make it.”
“I think we should consider something else,” Anna said slowly. “I’m not sure going straight to the border is the best thing.”
Evelyn stared at her. “Why on earth not?” she demanded. “If we can make it in a couple of hours, I can cross the border well in advance of the Germans even getting a foothold on land.” She lowered her voice. “You know I can’t be caught here by the Gestapo or the SS.”
Anna nodded, her brows pulled together in a frown.
“I know, and that is my worry. If, for some reason, we don’t make it to the border in a couple of hours, you will be trapped. If we go east, we are severely limiting where we can go if we don’t make it in time. And, even if we do, there is no guarantee that we will be allowed to cross the border.”
“What do you mean?” Peder asked, looking up. “Why wouldn’t we be allowed to cross?”
She looked from one to the other, then sighed.
“I’ve heard some rumors at the embassy,” she said reluctantly. “Sweden was very willing to help Finland against the Soviets, but the general feeling is that they won’t be as sympathetic to us. If that thinking is correct, they could very well close the border as soon as they realize Germany is invading. And even if they don’t, there’s nothing to say that we will be at liberty once we’re in Sweden.”
“Meaning?”
She shrugged. “They could put us in a holding camp, and then hand us over to the Germans. Who knows. That’s what Romania did to the Polish.”
Peder scowled. “I don’t think that is something that will happen. The Swedes aren’t like the Romanians,” he muttered. “And she’s not even Norwegian,” he added, nodding to Evelyn. “They wouldn’t dare detain a British national.”
Evelyn pressed her lips together, her mind spinning. If even part of what Anna suggested was possible, she couldn’t take the risk. Her identity couldn’t be discovered, not here and not in Sweden. And especially not by the Germans.
“What, then?” she finally asked, looking at Anna. “What do you suggest?”
“I think we should go north, at least until we can determine if the border is a possibility,” Anna said. “If they keep it open, we can cross to it further north. In the meantime, we’ll be ahead of the German forces.”
“That will depend on where they land,” Evelyn pointed out. “If they land up the coast, they will be coming inland as we are going north.”
“Actually, she has a point,” Peder said thoughtfully. “It takes time to land troops, and they will have to get past our army before they can come inland. We’ll have a start on them. It could buy us enough time to learn what the situation is on the border.”
Evelyn looked from one to the other and then shivered as a gust of biting wind blew in off the water. As far as she could tell, it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. She could risk being trapped near the eastern border or in the middle of Norway. Neither option appealed to her.
“And if we can’t make it to the border at all?”
“Then at least you will be moving north and closer to the coast. It will be up to your people to get you out.”
“I’m through!” Peder suddenly announced, looking up again from his radio. “I’ve connected to London. What do you want to send?”
Evelyn went over to him quickly and crouched down beside him.
“German invasion force outside Oslo Fjord. Swedish border in doubt. Heading north. Will attempt to make contact again once safe. Sign it Jian, as before.” She paused and squinted down at her watch in the moonlight. “It should be more heavily encoded, but I wasn’t given instruction for this eventuality.”
Peder glanced at her. “This simple encoding will be sufficient for the invasion forces,” he assured her. “They won’t be worried about single messages going out like this.”
She was silent and stood up again, turning away. Under normal circumstances, Peder would have been right. The incoming troops would have more important matters on their minds over the next few hours. This wasn’t a normal circumstance, however, and if the SD were monitoring radio signals out of Norway in advance of the invasion, she had just sent up a flare.
Shaking her head, another shiver went through her that had nothing to do with the cold. It couldn’t be helped. While she had been given very cursory training in sending encoded radio transmissions, she hadn’t been given a current codebook or even a list of coded phrases to alert Bill to an invasion. She was completely unprepared to be caught in the middle of a German offensive, and there was absolutely nothing she could do except what she was doing.
“When he’s finished, we need to get moving,” Anna said as she joined her again at the car. “You do understand why I’m so reluctant to go directly to the border?”
Evelyn nodded. “I understand. It is a risk I can’t afford to take, not until we have some kind of idea of how the Swedish government will react.”
“I wish I had a better plan to offer you. At least we’re moving north and towards higher ground. The mountains will offer more protection in the short term, until we can form a better plan of action.”
“What of Carew?” Evelyn glanced at her. “Have you contacted him?”
Anna shook her head. “When he finds out what’s going on, if he hasn’t already, he’ll know I’m helping get you to safety. There is nothing else I can do. I’ll be of no use to him now.”
“He’ll be evacuated to England. The entire embassy will be. They will be safe. They’re protected by international law.”
Anna let out a short laugh. “Yes, if Herr Hitler still respects that.”
Evelyn shrugged. “He did with Poland.”
“Probably because he doesn’t want to fall afoul of the United States.” Anna exhaled loudly and looked up at the sky. “God, what a mess. This is really not how I thought this night would go. When we left the hotel, I had no idea what we were in for.”
“Nor did I.” Evelyn was quiet for a moment, then she looked at Anna. “At least we had one last good meal.”
Anna was surprised into a laugh. “Very true. And Else was kind enough to put together that big basket of food for us. God bless her for that! Who knows if we’ll be able to get food as we go.”
Evelyn nodded, watching as Peder packed up his radio and came back towards the car.
“It’s done,” he told them. “Now we go?”
“Yes.” Anna nodded and turned to open the passenger door. “Let’s get out of here.”
Evelyn took one last look at the silent, dark water of the fjord. Beyond the shores, lurking in the darkness, were the forces that had been spawning warnings from all around Europe for weeks. Warnings that ambassadors and leaders alike had dismissed as unfounded and not credible. Warnings that had been ignored. A wave of anger went through her, making her inhale sharply as her hands clenched at her sides. Now German ships waited menacingly offshore to violate Norway's precious neutrality. Here was the invasion that everyone said was unlikely.
And she was stuck right in the middle of it.
Chapter Eighteen
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5 am
The door to the office swung open with force and Daniel Carew strode in, stripping off his gloves as he went, his face creased into lines of anxiety. He flipped on the light and tossed his gloves and hat onto a chair.
“What do we know?” he demanded, unbuttoning his coat. “Aside from the obvious fact that Jerry is banging on the front door, that is.”