by CW Browning
He finished his sandwich, still watching the rows of troops moving from the harbors out of the city. After a moment, he turned and reached for the case on the floor of the passenger’s seat. He would contact Berlin and see if they had any information for him, then he would continue on his way. If the Englishwoman was in a car, they would have stopped for petrol somewhere around Trondheim. Perhaps he would get lucky.
He set up the radio and sent a signal, prepared to wait for an answer. When it came almost immediately, his eyebrows shot into his forehead and he reached for his codebook. They had been waiting for him. That meant they had news, and urgent news at that. He decoded the incoming message quickly, his brows drawn together in concentration, the trucks bearing troops out of the city forgotten for the moment.
INFORMATION RECEIVED AN EVACUATION WILL BE ATTEMPTED AT NAMSOS ON 14TH. LIKELY TARGET JIAN. USE ALL AVAILABLE MEANS TO PREVENT EVACUATION.
His lips tightened thoughtfully as he stared at the decoded message. She was still heading north, then. Reaching into the backseat, he grabbed the folded road map he’d been using and opened it up, spreading it out over the steering wheel.
After studying it for a moment, he located Namsos, a town on the coast of what looked like an inlet from the ocean. Eisenjager pursed his lips thoughtfully. It was quite some distance north, but well within range for her to reach by Sunday. But how? What route would she take?
He studied the map for a long time before he finally came to the conclusion that there was only one spot that she would be likely to pass, no matter which way she went. Waterways separated the land between the coast and this side of Norway all the way up. With the German navy controlling the Trondheim fjord, the next possible crossing was a town called Steinkjer. There was another possibility further north, near Snasa, but that would take much longer. If Jian had to be in Namsos on Sunday, Steinkjer was the most likely crossing point.
A cold smile crossed his lips. There were battalions of SS troops moving north on the other side of the Trondheim fjord. He would contact them. They were in a position to reach Steinkjer quickly and could set up a net. Once that happened, they were all but assured to catch Jian and her two companions. They just had to get there before she did.
Eisenjager reached for the radio again. He would tell Berlin he was closing in, and then he would contact the commander of the SS troops. With any luck, he would have Jian by nightfall.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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Evelyn crept forward with Anna when Erik waved for them to move through the trees and join him and Peder. They were crouched on the edge of a ridge, and Philip had gone ahead after seeing whatever was below, silently disappearing into the trees. Whatever they were staring at couldn’t be good.
As Erik had predicted, snow had fallen through the night and morning, covering the mountains with a soft, cold blanket on top of the already existing hardened snow. Winter was still alive and well in the mountains, and while it was cold and made progress slower, it also deadened the sound of their movement, allowing them to pass through the forests almost silently. Philip had taken the rear, erasing signs of their progress with a long fir branch as they went, ensuring that no tracks could be traced to them. At least, not by an ordinary observer.
Evelyn and Anna crept forward noiselessly and joined Erik and Peder by the tree line at the edge of the mountain ridge. Far below them, a road wound its way through the mountain pass. The fresh snowfall hadn’t made the road impassable, indicating that it had been cleared recently, but the massive tree laying across it would prevent any vehicles from proceeding.
“What is it?” she whispered to Erik.
“Someone has blocked the road,” he told her in a low voice. “Philip has gone down the mountain to see if he can find out what’s going on.”
“Why do you think someone did that?” Anna asked after a moment. “Couldn’t the tree have simply fallen across the road?”
Erik pointed to the base of the trunk and passed her his binoculars.
“Take a look.”
Anna took them, looking down at the fallen tree. After a moment, she sucked in her breath and wordlessly passed the binoculars to Evelyn. Evelyn gazed through them at the tree and her lips tightened. The trunk had been cut cleanly.
“Who would do that?” she asked, passing the binoculars back.
“It could be the Germans wanting to prevent anyone from getting in or out,” Erik said with a shrug. “Or it could be my countrymen trying to keep the Germans from passing. Either way, it tells me that someone expects troops to come through here.”
Evelyn looked back at the road far below them. There was ample space between them and the blocked pavement, but even so, she felt a shiver go down her spine. She frowned at the feeling, knowing that it didn’t bode well. That particular feeling never did.
“Will Philip be all right on his own?” Peder asked after a long, silent moment. “Shouldn’t he have stayed with us? If it was the Germans who put the tree there then it’s dangerous for him to be down there.”
“No more dangerous than it is for us up here,” Erik told him with a faint smile. “Philip knows how to be silent and invisible. He’s one of the best at it.”
“Perhaps we should keep moving,” Anna said after a moment. “If it is the Germans, the longer we stay in one spot, the more chance we have of them realizing we’re here.”
“As soon as Philip returns, we’ll continue. We can’t move without knowing who blocked the road. If it was the Germans, we will have to alter our route.” Erik glanced at Evelyn. “And if we have to do that, it will put us behind even more.”
She nodded to acknowledge the warning. If they were put very much further behind, she wouldn’t make Namsos in time. And at that point, she would have no choice but to try for the Swedish border.
Before Anna could reply, something caught Evelyn’s attention and she turned her head sharply, staring down at the road below. Erik reached out and quickly took the binoculars from her, raising them to his eyes as shadows emerged from the distance. Vehicles were approaching the road block.
“Buses. It looks like German troops,” he said after a moment, lowering the binoculars and glancing up at the overcast sky. “There’s no sun, so they won’t see any reflections from anyone in the trees.”
“At least we know who blocked the road,” Peder said. “The Germans wouldn’t block it if they had troops coming through. It must have been our people.”
“Let’s hope so.” Erik pulled back away from the edge of the ridge and motioned for them to do the same. “Pull back into the trees. I’m sure we’re too high up to be seen, but it’s best to be safe.”
Evelyn slipped behind a tree and watched as the black shadows moved along the road towards the fallen tree. As they progressed, she was slowly able to make out the long, narrow outline of three buses. There were no other vehicles with them, no tanks or motorcycles. Just the buses. She began to frown, then that same chill went down her spine and she stiffened.
“Where does that road lead?” she asked suddenly, looking over at Erik. “Where are they going?”
He met her gaze and a light of appreciation leapt into his eyes.
“You are much quicker than I expected,” he murmured. “That pass leads eventually to Steinkjer. It is the only road along this mountain ridge that goes there.”
Evelyn turned her eyes back to the buses far below them. It was as she thought, then. The Germans were catching up, and would soon be ahead of them. Their journey had just become even more dangerous. If those buses were heading for Steinkjer, then others were as well. There was no way they would reach the town before the Germans.
“If they take over Steinkjer, they will control the route to the coast,” Anna breathed. “We’ll never make it to Namsos.”
Erik glanced at her. “Never say never. There’s always a way. And we don’t know that they’ve taken it yet.”
“Look!” Peder interrupted, nodding to the road below. “They’re stopping.”
Erik raised the binoculars, training them on the vehicles slowing to a stop in the distance. Despite the distance, Evelyn could see enough to know when the buses had come to a complete stop.
“They’re getting out,” Erik said a moment later. “Two officers just got out of the lead bus, and another one is coming out of the second. They’ll go to examine the blockage and see what they need to do to remove it.”
“Can they do that, do you think?” Anna asked.
“It depends on what they have on the buses with them,” he said, lowering the binoculars. “If they have some axes, possibly. It will take hours, though. More than likely, they’ll call for a tank if there is one close enough. Otherwise, they will look for another route.”
More dark specks emerged from the buses and moved towards the tree laying across the road. Even though they were far below them, Evelyn felt a strange kind of terror at the sight of the enemy soldiers. They would find a way past the obstacle, and then they would continue to Steinkjer and beyond. There would be no stopping them.
Just as the thought entered her mind, the hushed silence of the mountains was suddenly shattered by a staccato of cracks, almost like...
“Gunfire!” Anna cried, staring down the mountainside.
Erik had the binoculars up to his eyes again, but Evelyn didn’t need them to see the chaos unfolding below. Tracers of bullets were arcing out of the trees, onto the road and the hapless buses. The sound of machine gun and rifle fire, delayed by distance, seemed disjointed and almost theatrical as it echoed up the cliffs to reach them, at odds with the scene below them.
More troops were pouring out of the buses now, firing back into the trees as a virtual hail of bullets rained down upon them from the surrounding hills. As the sounds of the battle reached the party high up on the ridge, they saw the dark shadows around the buses begin falling to the ground.
Evelyn watched in shock as the lead bus suddenly went up in flames a few seconds before the sound of the explosion reached them. The front of the bus lifted up into the air briefly before the whole vehicle rolled over, engulfed in flames. And still the gunfire continued from the mountains as the German soldiers tried to take shelter behind the other two buses.
“Oh my God,” Anna breathed beside her, her eyes wide in a pale face and her voice sounding almost strangled.
Evelyn watched, her throat closing in horror, as more and more shadows became motionless against the white snow. She struggled to breathe while still unable to tear her eyes away from the grisly sight. Just as she was sure there would be no end, she saw something flutter above the second bus. Someone had raised a white flag, signaling defeat. Another one appeared near the last bus and she began to breathe a sigh of relief. It was over.
Except it wasn’t over. She and Anna stared, horrified, as the gunfire continued from the trees.
Evelyn felt the blood drain out of her face and her heart pounded against her chest as she tried to understand what she was witnessing. The soldiers trapped between the buses were surrendering! Why didn’t the shooters stop firing? They were supposed to cease fire at the sight of the international symbol for surrender.
But the gunfire continued and, one by one, more and more shadows became motionless in the road until, eventually, there was no more return fire. The white flags had disappeared into the snow, released as the ones waving them fell to join their comrades.
The unholy silence that descended upon the mountains once again was deafening as the last rifle fell silent from the trees. Staring down into the mountain pass, Evelyn felt a surge of nausea roll through her. There was no movement around the buses now, and the flames of the burning shell in the front were licking towards the tree blocking the road. Seeing the motionless bodies lying in the snow, and listening to the awful silence, she took a deep, ragged breath.
“I...don’t understand,” Anna whispered brokenly. “There was a flag. They were surrendering. Why didn’t they stop?”
Evelyn had no answer, turning to look at Erik. His face was pale and his lips were pinched together grimly, but he offered no words of explanation. He looked at them and opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again without saying a word.
“Lieutenant Salvesen!” Philip emerged from the trees breathlessly. “It’s our own troops!”
Erik turned to him quickly. “What?!”
He nodded, trying to catch his breath. “Yes. I saw several I recognized, but they’ve been joined by many I don’t know. They aren’t wearing uniforms.”
Erik scowled. “New recruits?”
“More than likely.”
“How many?”
“There had to be at least fifty on this side alone.”
“Did they see you?”
Philip shook his head. “No.”
“Good. We can’t take the time to explain what we’re doing.” Erik turned to look at the others. “We need to keep moving. We must try to make it to Steinkjer before the Germans take it. After this, they will come looking for a fight.”
Anna made a choking sound and his face softened slightly. He reached out and put his hands on her shoulders.
“Look at me,” he commanded. When she lifted her face to his, he brushed tears off her cheeks. “You should never have seen that. I’m sorry that you did.”
“Why did they keep shooting?” she demanded. “They massacred those men.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“But why?”
“Because if they hadn’t, those same men would have massacred us,” he said softly. “Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, but eventually. I don’t say that I agree with the order to continue firing, or that it’s an order I would have made, but I understand it.”
Evelyn swallowed her nausea and turned to make her way back to the path, forcing herself to focus on moving instead of the horror she had just witnessed.
“I will never understand it,” Anna said, shaking her head and pulling away from him. She turned to follow Evelyn back to the trail. “If a man surrenders, you take him prisoner. You don’t kill him. They’re no better than the Germans!”
Erik made no reply but turned to follow the others back to the trail. He looked at Peder.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Peder nodded grimly. “Let’s just get moving,” he said shortly.
Erik nodded and turned to lead the way, his eyes meeting Evelyn’s briefly. In that brief second, she saw her own horror reflected in his dark eyes. He may understand the reasoning behind what had just occurred, but he was just as disturbed by it as they were.
Somehow that eased her own shock and grief and she turned silently to follow him. This war was just that: a war. And she had just witnessed the senseless slaughter that accompanied war. It was the first time she had ever seen someone die, let alone a large group of someones. They were brothers, fathers, sons and husbands. It didn’t seem to matter that they were the enemy. It was just horrible.
As she trudged through the snow next to a silent and visibly upset Anna, Evelyn knew that she would never forget what she’d just seen. She also knew that it was just the beginning and she would undoubtedly see more men, and women, killed before this war came to an end.
She just hoped and prayed she had the strength to make it through it all.
London, England
Bill looked up when a shadow fell over the table. He was sitting towards the back of the Savoy Grill, enjoying a solitary lunch. The only person who knew where he’d gone was Wesley, but it wasn’t Wesley standing next to his table.
“Jasper!” he exclaimed, setting down his knife and fork. “What are you doing here?”
“I hope you don’t mind but Wesley told me where to find you,” he said. “May I join you?”
“Of course.”
Bill watched as he pulled out
the chair across from him and sat down. Jasper’s bushy eyebrows were drawn together in such a way that he instinctively knew that this unexpected lunch date was not a purely social one. Suppressing a sigh, he sat back and considered his boss, resigned.
“What’s happened now?” he asked.
A wry smile passed over Jasper’s face. “Is it that obvious?”
“You prefer to eat alone as much as I. If you’ve searched me out, there must be a reason, and given the current climate, I can’t imagine that it’s a very good one.”
“Quite right.” Jasper looked up as a waiter approached and glanced at Bill’s lunch of poached fish. “How is the fish today?”
“Very good.”
“I’ll have the same,” he told the waiter, “and a whiskey and soda.”
The waiter nodded, moving away, and he turned his attention to Bill.
“I’m glad to see you out of the office for lunch,” he said. “I know I’m not one to cast stones in this regard, but it really is necessary to get out of that building once in a while.”
“Good for the soul?” Bill asked, his lips twisting as he reached for his knife and fork again.
“Something like that, yes.”
“I suppose it does me good to clear my head a bit,” he admitted, cutting into his fish. “Of course, now you’re here to clutter it up again, I’m sure. Do you plan on telling me what brought you, or shall I guess?”
“GC&CS decoded another message,” Jasper told him.
Bill looked up sharply. “Henry?”
Jasper nodded but remained silent as the waiter approached the table again, bearing his whiskey and soda. Bill watched as the man set the drink down in front of Jasper before turning to leave again.
“They know about Namsos,” he said, once the waiter was out of earshot. “At least, they know there will be an evacuation attempt, and they believe Jian is the intended target.”